I just read this in the Houston Chronicle. It appears if the bill allowing the use of silencers while hunting is passed by TPWD then it would allow a deer season in Galveston County for the first time in a very long time. 2 bucks 2 does bag limit could be here by next fall.

I had no opinion on the silencer issue before but if it allows me a chance to get a lease close to home I'm for it 100%!!!

Check out the article. 'Silencers' on firearms could get loud response

i didn't think there were any deer in galveston county.

its pretty heavily populated as well

I used to live and work near NASA and saw deer all over the place!!! They even have a nature center with a good population of deer!!!

your right, they do have a population there.

i was thinking more along towards the bay.

Galveston County covers area up to Webster and out towards Hickman if I'm not mistaken!!!

There are deer on Johnson Space Center and Ellington field and isn't Armand Bayou Nature Reserve in Galveston County too? I used to see deer all the time on the side of the road driving on Red Bluff between Pasadena and Webster. I dunno how developed it has become though.

The deer are really small though, from what I remember.

The deer must be over in the Boliver area because there arent any deer in Santa Fe, Hitchcock, Dickinson, Bacliff, Friendswood, Pearland. The deer on Ellington and Space Center are like pets.

That's not true. I used to live in Pearland and would see a herd of deer everyday feeding at 288 and Highway 6, although I believe that is just inside the easternmost Brazoria county line. I know live in Galveston and I do see deer in the cities you mentioned. Yes they are smaller but that's because they are of the coastal subspecies of whitetail. I will refer you to a great article RocksandKittens posted last week.
Different Whitetail Subspecies

Yes 288 and hwy 6 is in Brazoria county so is Alvin. I grew up in Santa Fe and there are not deer in that area. There used to be some in Clear Lake and towards Baytown but they have either moved on or been killed out.

I live in Clear Lake near Bay Area Blvd and Middle brook drive (about a mile from Armand Bayou nature center). If I take Middle brook drive over to Space Center Blvd and hit the backside of NASA, I'll usually see 5 or 6 deer in the fields along the road. They're also all over the U of H Clear Lake campus. As others have said, NASA is crawling with deer and I believe NASA will occasionally do lotteries to let people come on site and cull the deer (at least they have in the past). The fields with the power lines that run from Boeing on Bay Area up to Ellington flied are also usually active with deer and it's not uncommon to see 5 or 6 deer in the various fields around dusk or dawn. I actually had an 8 point standing in my yard one night eating acorns. We’re in Harris though, not Galveston.

I agree on the pet comment. My sister in law used to work onsite at JSC. She told me that during the rut, they would occasionally get stuck in their buildings because the deer were blocking the paths from the building to the parking lots.

They definitely aren’t afraid of people or cars.

Ain't afraid of trams either, lol. There were some tours that got to view their buildings a little bit longer due to ruttin' bucks. They have no fear, or sense.

Pockets of deer left all over that county.

The two proposals regarding silencers and opening deer season in galveston county are not tied together. They are two separate proposals. There will not be a "silencer season" in galveston county. Both proposals have nothing to do with each other.

in seabrook there are tons of deer and there was a nice 9 point that died of natural causes in our yard about three years ago while i was still in the army......


really just died parents didnt harvest illegally or anything dad came out back and there he was

I am sorry but there are not large herds of free roaming deer in Galveston County.

OK, so I went and did a little reconnaissance today because there were some people who dispute deer being in Galveston County. There were perfect conditions today, heavy cloud cover with a morning rain. Saw a couple of deer in Dickinson off Highway 3. Then traveled up to the Clear Lake area and saw up to 15 in a herd along 270. Took some pics of a doe herd near University of Houston at Clear Lake campus. Before you nay-sayers comment, note the low fence and open gate in the background, those deer are free to come and go. We also saw the herd at NASA but because they are fenced off I don't count these. Back toward 146 and saw 2 more does just North of Dickinson. The deer are in patches but they are in Galveston County and southern Harris County. The trouble will be in if/how residents will be able to hunt those areas and by what means.

I lived in Clear Lake for about two months and rarely ever saw deer, sometimes near the red bluff/bay area blvd intersection. Only thing is thats harris county im 99.9 percent sure.

I always laughed being from the hill country how my family would always freak out and point out any deer they ever saw while driving around down there.

And TPWD will never pass the silencer thing.. Sounds cool, but i never see it passing!

Where would you plan on hunting them TP4L? I don't know of any public land around the area that would hold good populations. I would laugh my [censored] off if I saw you walking along 270 in blaze camo. Seriously though, I knew some people that found a couple of good bucks off of 3436 in Dickinson years ago that died from old age.

I've lived in El Lago, Webster, and Clear Lake for the last 21+ years and yes there are pockets of deer around here but not many. However, we are in the SE corner of Harris County. The Galveston Co. line is Clear Creek and and the center of Clear Lake. Univ. of Houston CL, Armand Bayou, Seabrook, NASA - all Harris Co. Galveston Co. has very few deer that I have noticed over the years but there are some....

I got on google earth a few days ago, there arnt very many large landholdings in Galveston county period.

I would say a 75 acre tract would be huge

I saw 2 does on 270 the other day just south of clear creek. Crazy thing was both came running across the street and nearly got hit...they were running into a field that looked like it had recently been cleared of trees/brush.

Yeah, I live down here and I know there's no public land so I contacted someone with TPWD about how the heck someone could try and hunt the small pockets of deer. They replied that hunting would be allowed on private land only. As stated before, the deer in Galveston Co. and Southern Harris Co. are in small pockets and unless you're one of the few landowners with good habitat, there's no chance.

Armand Bayou Nature Preserve (Southern Harris Co.) has an estimated 450 deer across 2,000+ acres at last count. According to their management plan the area should have a maximum of 150 deer, but they do not believe in reducing the population by lethal means. They tried trapping and relocation with little success and sterilization. Why not do a public hunt drawing?

They get you all fired up about something and then pull the chair out from underneath.