Due to storm impacts of Hurricane Harvey, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge regrets to announce the Refuge Archery Deer Hunt (9 day hunt) scheduled to begin September 30 has been canceled. Significant storm damage and flooding have created uncertain conditions throughout the Refuge affecting infrastructure including roads. In addition, many trees are down, snagged, or unstable from water saturation. This combination has created unsafe conditions.
“We are just beginning to assess damage from Hurricane Harvey. Our staff is not even back at work yet. There is high uncertainty regarding how safe conditions really are on the Refuge. We are not willing to risk the safety of our hunting community and have made the very difficult decision to cancel the archery hunt”, stated Refuge Manager Joe Saenz.
Currently, the Refuge still plans to conduct rifle deer hunts starting in November as normal.
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge took a direct hit from the hurricane when it made landfall on August 25. Since that time damage from the high winds, storm surge, unprecedented rainfall, and flooding have impacted the Refuge and to date it remains closed.
Conditions in South Texas are changing daily as recovery efforts begin. For more information and updates please visit the Refuge on-line at https://www.fws.gov/refuge/aransas/
