Time for an upgrade on those hunting and fishing licenses.
The annual rite of purchasing new licenses for outdoor-lovers is here, with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announcing new licenses to hunt and fish will become available Sunday.
The only license which doesn’t become invalid at midnight on Aug. 31 is the year-from-purchase, All-Water Fishing Package.
More than 2.7 million people purchase hunting and fishing licenses each year in Texas, and those license fees directly fund conservation efforts and recreational opportunities, including fish stocking, wildlife management, habitat restoration, public hunting leases, river fishing access and the Texas Game Wardens.
There are several ways to buy licenses. Hunters and anglers can go online at the official TPWD website at https://tpwd.texas.gov/business/licenses/online_sales/
Or you can purchase via phone at (800) 895-4248 during regular business hours or in person at more than 1,800 retailers across the state.
TPWD encourages repeat license buyers to use the expedited checkout process, which speeds up re-purchasing the same license bought in recent years.
People can access their past and current licenses in several ways: (1) an electronic photo of one’s license, (2) an emailed receipt of your purchase; (3) one’s account in the online license sales system; (4) via License Lookup in the Outdoor Annual app or in the My Texas Hunt Harvest app.
Hunters and anglers must still have a physical license for any activities requiring tags, like keeping an oversized redfish.
Hunting and fishing regulations for the 2021-22 season are available online at outdoorannual.com, on the Outdoor Annual mobile app or in the printed Outdoor Annual booklet. The mobile app is free and can be used without an internet connection, so as long as you have bars on your mobile, you can access regulations even in remote locations.
Printed copies of the Outdoor Annual booklet can be picked up at license retailers or at TPWD offices.
