Can You Legally Hunt Alligators in Texas? License, Season, and Limits

You can legally hunt alligators in Texas. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) regulates the season, and the rules that apply to you depend on which county you hunt in, since the state is split into a core zone and a non-core zone with different seasons, bag limits, and tagging procedures. You need a valid Texas hunting license, a CITES hide tag for every alligator you take, and you must report each harvest to TPWD within a strict deadline.

License and Tag You Need

There is no separate “alligator hunter’s license” in Texas. A resident hunting license ($25) or a non-resident general hunting license ($315) covers you.¹²

Every alligator you harvest also needs a CITES hide tag. How you get that tag depends on where you hunt. In core counties, TPWD issues tags directly to landowners or their agents after a site inspection, and each tag is tied to a specific property. In non-core counties, you hunt first using a Wildlife Resource Document, then pay a $21 fee (check or money order only) to receive a permanent CITES tag by mail after you report the harvest.²

When and Where You Can Hunt

Texas divides its counties into two zones. The 22 core counties sit in the historical alligator habitat of Southeast Texas, including Chambers, Jefferson, Orange, Brazoria, Galveston, and Matagorda among others. The core season is short: September 10 through September 30. Every other county in the state is non-core, with a much longer season running April 1 through June 30.³

Non-core hunting is generally restricted to private property with the landowner’s consent. You can hunt an alligator in public waters from a non-core county, but both you and your taking device have to be on private land.⁴

Lawful hunting hours run from one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. You cannot set a baited line capable of taking an alligator, or remove one from a line, between sunset and one-half hour before sunrise.²

Bag Limits

In core counties, you can take one alligator per valid, unused hide tag you hold, and those tags are tied to specific properties and can’t be moved.² In non-core counties, the limit is one alligator per person per license year.³ Texas does not set a minimum size.

Legal Methods

Four taking devices are allowed:

Hook and line, or line set, using line rated at least 300-pound test, secured on private property, with a portion above the water.
Alligator gig, which is a pole with immovable prongs, spring-loaded grasping arms, or a detachable head.
Lawful archery equipment with a barbed arrow.
Hand-held snare with an integral locking mechanism.

Gigs, snares, and archery equipment all require a float on the line, and every baited line has to carry a visible gear tag with your name, address, and hunting license number. Line sets must be checked daily, and any alligator on the line has to be killed, tagged or documented, and removed right away.²³

Firearms

Firearm rules split by zone. In non-core counties, you can use a firearm as your primary method on private property, including private waters entirely within private property. In core counties, firearms are for dispatching an alligator already caught on another lawful device, not for the initial take.⁴ Either way, you can’t shoot across, from, or over public water. Rimfire ammunition and fully automatic firearms are always prohibited. Silencers are lawful if you comply with the federal, state, and local rules that govern them.⁵

Tagging and Reporting After the Kill

Every harvested alligator has to be tagged, and the paperwork deadline is short.

In a core county, you must have a valid CITES hide tag on you before you start hunting. After the kill, complete a hide tag report immediately and fasten the CITES tag to the alligator within 10 inches of the tail tip. The hide tag report (Form PWD 304) has to reach TPWD within seven days.²³

In a non-core county, you hunt without a pre-issued tag. As soon as the alligator is dead, attach a completed Wildlife Resource Document to it. Within 72 hours, complete the Non-Core Alligator Hide Tag Report (Form PWD 304A) and mail it, with a $21 check or money order, to TPWD at 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, TX 78744. TPWD will mail your permanent CITES tag, which you attach within 10 inches of the tail tip when it arrives.²³

Possessing an untagged alligator hide or undocumented alligator parts is illegal in either zone.³

If You Don’t Have Private Land Access

Most Texas alligator hunting happens on private property, but TPWD runs a small drawn-hunt program on Wildlife Management Areas including Angelina Neches/Dam B, Guadalupe Delta, J.D. Murphree, and Mad Island. Applications typically run $3 per adult, group sizes range from one to four, and hunt dates fall during the September core-county season.⁶ Slots are limited. Check the TPWD drawn hunts page well ahead of the application window.

Guided hunts on private ranches with landowner-held CITES tags are another route. Daily guide fees typically run $500 to $850 per person, generally not including taxidermy or meat processing.

Alligators That Aren’t Being Hunted

If an alligator turns up in your yard, driveway, or pool outside of season, you cannot legally kill it. Texas handles nuisance alligators through a formal protocol. Call the TPWD La Porte Law Enforcement Communications Center at 281-842-8100. A dispatcher will classify the situation. An emergency is an alligator that has attacked someone or is in a road, parking lot, playground, or similar location. A non-emergency is one on land that can reasonably be expected to return to water on its own. Only licensed Nuisance Control Permittees may remove the animal, and only after TPWD assigns a complaint number.⁷

Penalties and Federal Rules

Violating Texas alligator regulations is a criminal offense. Hunting without a license, taking one out of season, possessing untagged hides, or failing to file reports can bring misdemeanor charges, fines, and loss of hunting privileges, with the exact classification depending on the violation and any prior history.

Federal law adds another layer once alligator products cross state lines. The Lacey Act makes it a federal crime to transport, sell, or purchase wildlife taken in violation of state law. Knowing sales or purchases of illegal wildlife products worth more than $350 carry fines up to $20,000, up to five years in prison, or both. Lesser “should have known” violations carry up to $10,000 and one year.⁸ The wildlife itself and any equipment used can be forfeited.

The CITES tag also matters for resale value. Alligator skins are traded internationally, and a hide without a valid CITES tag cannot be exported from the United States. TPWD reports harvest and population data to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the federal CITES Export Program.⁹

Selling the Hide or Meat

Keeping the hide or meat for personal use is fine once you’ve completed the standard tagging and reporting. Selling is different. Commercial dealing in alligator products, and holding live alligators in captivity for commercial purposes, requires a TPWD Alligator Farmer Permit.¹⁰ Untagged hides remain illegal to possess or transport regardless of what you plan to do with them.

1
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Hunting Licenses
2
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Alligator Seasons and Regulations
3
Legal Information Institute. 31 Texas Admin Code 65.49 – Alligators
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Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Alligators in Texas – Rules, Regulations and General Information
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Legal Information Institute. Texas Code 31 Texas Admin Code 65.11 – Lawful Means
6
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Alligator Hunt Category Details – Drawn Hunts
7
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Nuisance Control Protocol for Alligators
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 16 USC 3373 – Penalties
9
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. American Alligators in CITES Export Programs
10
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Alligator Permits