Bowie County has an open spring turkey season and specific deer antler rules

The Piney Woods deer that move through Bowie County fall under antler restrictions, and the rules are stricter than just a head count. You can take four deer a season here, no more than two of them bucks. Of those two bucks, only one may carry an inside antler spread of 13 inches or wider, and the second buck has to be smaller. The point is to let young bucks walk and reach maturity instead of being shot their first big year.

US Highway 82 draws a hard line through the county for turkey. North of it, there's an open spring season; south of it, none at all. The window runs from late April into mid-May, though the exact dates shift year to year, so the current Outdoor Annual is what governs. That open season alone sets Bowie apart, since only a handful of East Texas counties get one.

Everything game here still rides on a valid Texas hunting license, plus the right endorsements: upland game bird, migratory game bird, and a federal duck stamp where the bird calls for it. You can buy a license in minutes online at tpwd.texas.gov, or pick one up at a sporting goods counter on your way out of town.