The Outdoor Annual and stuff you should know
Man – technology has taken the fun out of everything, even the Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW) Outdoor Annual. Until a few years ago, August was always a cool transition period for game wardens. The TPW fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31, so somewhere around the middle of the month every August, the new Outdoor Annual would come out. We’d all get a big ol’ box of them to distribute, and it was always a big fun to go around to various landowners, hunting camps, fishing camps and civic organizations and such and pass them out.
Why was it fun? Well, you might not believe this, but not everyone is happy to see a game warden approach. But a game warden with a box full of shiny new Outdoor Annuals hot off the press?? Heck – everybody was glad to see us then. And even in those situations where people weren’t happy to see us, like right before getting ticket, Outdoor Annuals made things better after the ticket was issued; kind of like a gameshow contestant who misses out on the brand-new car but nonetheless gets to take home a case of Rice-A-Roni as a parting gift.
But like a trophy buck on the opening morning of deer season, the days of finding a hard copy of the TPW Outdoor Annual are numbered. Technology is taking over. And for everyone but game wardens who enjoy playing Outdoor Annual Santa Claus in mid-August of each year, that’s a good thing.
Digital copies of the entire Outdoor Annual can be accessed in a number of ways. From the TPW homepage (tpwd. texas.gov) you can click on the “Get the free Outdoor Annual” tab about midway down the page, or you can get there directly at OutdoorAnnual. com. The annual can also be downloaded for free from the iOS and Android app stores. The cool thing about the downloads is that they can be accessed offline, and they will automatically update each year. Enough about the Outdoor Annual, let’s talk licenses. The new ones are already out and can be purchased at various retail locations across the state and at TPW headquarters or field offices. If your dead-set on buying one in person from a retailer, you can click on the “Find a Retailer Near You” tab from the TPW homepage and find one by city. The “Purchase Online” tab is just below the retailer option.
But wait – there’s more! You can choose between paper and digital licenses. The paper ones, of course, work like they always have as far as tagging requirements go. If you go the digital route, the “Texas Hunt & Fish” app is used to execute tags. There’s a YouTube video, appropriately titled “Digital License and Tagging Information” (it’s only a minute and 45 seconds long), that explains how it all works that can be accessed from the TPW website or YouTube channel.
If you find all that info hard to get a handle on and you have questions about licenses or any TPWD regulations, you can call a TPW office. If you’re still confused, call a game warden.
Nowadays, every game warden in the state is issued a smart phone. The directory for those numbers is available, by county, on the Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) website. Simply go to the TPWD website, scroll down the “Game Warden” menu at the top and choose the “Game Warden Home” tab. Once you’re at the “Game Warden Home” page, you can pick any one of the 254 counties in the state under the “Find a Warden” section and get any field game warden’s phone number.
All this talk of technology has given me a headache. Dove season will be here soon, and you can read all about it in the new Outdoor Annual. Happy hunting!
.png)
