Texas Wildlife Management Tax Exemption

To qualify for a Texas wildlife management tax exemption, your land must already be in agricultural or timber appraisal by the county tax appraiser.

To apply, you create a wildlife management plan for your property. It’s not a complex plan as you are basically outlining for the appraisal district your practices you will be undertaking towards managing wildlife on your land. There is a list of 7 practices that qualify: you will be confirming that you will undertake 3 practices out of the 7 on an ongoing basis to qualify your land.

Some examples are: supplemental feeding such as corn feeders or planting small patches of wheat or peas for deer, creating a new water source, creating shelters like birdhouses or brush piles and by census counts.

Your management plan can be submitted to the appraisal district on a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife management form. You are not required to consult with TPWD or have them approve your plan.

The appraisal district and chief appraiser will primarily be looking to see that you meet the criteria for a wildlife management exemption status by currently being in agricultural or timber appraisal and that you have completed the form and stated your management practices you intend to undertake for your property.

You may choose to manage for what is considered non-game wildlife like rabbit, squirrel and songbirds. Creating brush piles and box houses for habitat and control of predators (trapping) are good practices that can increase wildlife populations especially on smaller acreage properties. Managing for fish however does not qualify for wildlife management, but may qualify as aquaculture.