Texas Lawmaker Who Breeds Deer Wants to Abolish the State Wildlife Agency That Regulates Deer Breeders

Yahoo

17-03-2025

In one of the more brazen acts of the 2025 Texas legislative session, a lawmaker who breeds high-fence deer has introduced a law to abolish the state fish-and-game agency that also helps regulate the breeding of high-fence deer.
Texas Rep. Pat Curry (R-Waco) says his proposed legislation is an attempt to reform and improve the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, an agency that he claims has 'lost its way.' It's one of several bills filed in the Texas legislature that seeks to overhaul the state's management of Chronic Wasting Disease and appears to be written explicitly for the Texas deer breeding industry.
Curry's bill, H.B. 4938, would dissolve TPWD and transfer its primary functions to other existing state agencies. Among those responsibilities, TPWD oversees and manages the state's fish and wildlife resources, along with its parks and other state-owned lands. The agency also has a law enforcement arm made up of 493 game wardens and other professionals. All told, TPWD employs more than 3,000 people full-time, according to the agency.
Under Curry's bill, however, those employees would be transferred to the 'appropriate [entities].' The General Land Office would oversee the management of state parks, hatcheries, wildlife management areas, and other public lands. The Department of Safety would take over law enforcement, and the Department of Agriculture would be in charge of managing and conserving the state's fish and wildlife.
Importantly, that bounty of fish and wildlife includes the whitetail deer that are bred and kept on high-fence ranches in Texas. (Under Texas law, pen-raised whitetails are treated not as livestock, but as a state-owned natural resource that is used by breeders until they're released from a pen — at which point they can never be brought back inside.) And this is where the intentions behind Curry's bill are laid bare.
It's no secret that Texas deer breeders have, at times, butted heads with TPWD regarding CWD and steps the agency has taken to contain the disease. Some of the biggest flare-ups in recent years have been around state-ordered depopulations, containment zones, and other rules restricting the movement of breeder deer. Citing these onerous regulations, which are meant to protect the state's wild deer herds, several breeders have told Outdoor Life that they believe TPWD is using CWD as an excuse to put them out of business.
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A separate bill filed by Curry this month would abolish the Texas Animal Health Commission, which has traditionally regulated livestock but now oversees captive deer herd depopulations along with TPWD's wildlife division. The TAHC also plays a major role in CWD testing and surveillance across the state.
Curry did not respond to a request for comment from Outdoor Life Monday. He did, however, issue a statement that was shared in an online forum for Texas A&M students and alumni on Sunday. (In addition to being a self-described rancher and deer breeder, Curry is a former Aggie himself. He is also the president of an investment firm, an owner of a mining company, and a franchisee of Urban Air Adventure Parks, according to his LinkedIn page.)
'I have the utmost respect for game wardens. My legislation is not an indictment on the game warden community,' Curry said in the statement. 'Rather, the reforms I've offered are an attempt to improve upon a critical agency that's lost its way when it comes to fulfilling its role of protecting landowners, farmers, ranchers, parks, water ways, the hunting community, and business rights — which includes the deer breeding industry which accounts for hundreds of millions of dollars to the Texas economy.'
Curry, who failed to mention the agency's role of conserving deer, other wildlife, fish, and habitat across the state, has introduced another bill that would severely limit TPWD's ability to regulate deer breeders. H.B. 3607 would eliminate certain provisions around permits, remove some existing regulations, and reduce the penalties for most breeder violations. It would also raise the minimum required height for breeder fences from seven to eight feet. A companion bill was filed earlier this month by Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood), who has repeatedly claimed that TPWD and TAHC 'have been weaponized' with the purpose of 'ending deer breeding in Texas.'
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Accordingly, Hall has introduced a separate bill this session that would make pen-raised whitetail deer private property. This goes directly against the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, which emphasizes wildlife as a public resource that is managed by state and federal governments for the benefit of all citizens … regardless of how tall their fences are. Hall's bill would likewise run afoul of a 2020 Texas Supreme Court decision, which reaffirmed that the state's whitetail deer, including those held by breeders, are owned by the public.