ODESSA, Texas — Deer and fall turkey seasons have opened across most of the state, and many are wondering about the seasonal outlook.
We've been getting some pretty nice rainfall recently, but during the early spring we really missed out on a lot of precipitation.
Rainfall during late winter and early spring is really important because this is the time that fawns and poults are being born.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist Hilary Schneider, rainfall provides vegetation for shelter as well as nutrients to raise fawns.
“The springtime is when the does are having their fawns, and so having that winter and spring moisture is really critical for them, so they can have not only a place to hide the fawns from any kind of predators, but also to provide the nutrition for the doe so that she can support those fawns and grow them,” Schneider said. “Turkeys are going to be impacted just like the other wildlife species are, just because we didn't get the spring moisture whenever they were breeding. So, even though we did get some late rain and there is some cover, it’s going to be really spotty because, like we saw, the rains happen all summer long. They'll pop up here, but then across the street you won't have any rain. So, you might have localized really good populations of turkeys, but then right across the street you might not have as many because of how spotty that rain was, and what kind of vegetation was able to grow.”
Although West Texas had a dry spring, it really wasn't anything too out of the ordinary, as we do live in a desert environment where drought is common.
The wildlife here are adapted to a dry climate, so their populations won't be too negatively impacted.