Hunting Sam Houston National Forest in 2026-27: The $48 Permit, the Dates and How Digital Tagging Works

A reader asked us this week whether Sam Houston National Forest is "still mostly Type II, where you have to buy a permit to hunt." The short answer: it isn't mostly anything. The entire Sam Houston National Forest is a Wildlife Management Area, so every acre of it requires the permit hunters still call "Type II," which today is TPWD's $48 Annual Public Hunting (APH) Permit. Below is what that permit covers, what else it opens up within a short drive of Houston, the 2026-27 dates, and how Texas digital tagging works now that most of us carry our license on a phone.

What "Type II" means

"Type II" is the old name for the Annual Public Hunting Permit, and it hasn't died. The Forest Service's own hunting FAQ for the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas still lists the requirement as a Texas hunting license plus the Annual Public Hunting Permit "also referred to as 'Type II' permit" on WMAs. TPWD notes you'll still see old Type II boundary signs in the woods.

The Forest Service is blunt about it: the entire Sam Houston National Forest is a wildlife management area. That is different from Davy Crockett, Angelina and Sabine, where only certain units (Alabama Creek, Bannister and Moore Plantation) are WMAs and the rest is general forest. Some online guides still describe Sam Houston as free with just a license. On Sam Houston, that's wrong.

What you need in your pocket for Sam Houston

• A Texas hunting license with any required endorsements.
• The $48 Annual Public Hunting Permit if you are 17 or older. TPWD's rule for the area: hunters 17 and older must possess an APH permit and a valid hunting license. Hunters 16 and younger don't need the permit but must be licensed and supervised by a licensed, permitted adult 18 or older.
• Electronic on-site registration (eOSR). TPWD's 2025-26 public hunting rules require all Forest Service hunters to register electronically through the Texas Hunt & Fish app or website to access Forest Service hunting units. Do it before you walk in, not after.
• Hunter orange. TPWD says that, with few exceptions, hunters and anyone with them must wear hunter orange on the area. The Forest Service adds that a camo-orange pattern does not count toward the vest requirement.
• A separate permit for does. See below. Your license antlerless tags do not work on the national forest.

2026-27 deer dates on Sam Houston

Sam Houston spreads across Montgomery, Walker and San Jacinto counties. All three are in TPWD's North Zone and carry the same 2026-27 deer dates:

Bag limit in all three counties: 4 deer, no more than 2 bucks and no more than 2 antlerless, all seasons combined. Of the two bucks, only one may have an inside spread of 13 inches or greater; the other must have at least one unbranched antler.

The doe rule that catches people: the county pages allow antlerless deer by license tag during certain seasons, but each one adds "no antlerless harvest on National Forest Service property." On Sam Houston WMA, does are taken only with a Forest Service antlerless permit drawn through TPWD's public hunt system. You need an APH permit to apply, winners get their tags by mail in mid-October, and the permit is good only on the WMA it was issued for. If you didn't draw this year, you are a buck hunter on Sam Houston until next fall.

Other game: squirrel season in these counties runs Oct. 1, 2026 – Feb. 28, 2027, plus May 1 – 31, 2027 (10 a day, 20 in possession). Feral hogs are open year-round, but on WMAs hog hunting is daylight-only, and Sam Houston has an archery-only area where no firearms are allowed. TPWD also lists ducks, dove and rabbit on the area. Check the Legal Game Box for the Sam Houston unit in the current Public Hunting Lands Map Booklet before you hunt anything other than deer.

Rules on Sam Houston that differ from a lease

From the Forest Service's hunting FAQ and the WMA rules:

• No buckshot. Slugs only for shotguns, and even possessing buckshot on a WMA is illegal.
• No baiting. Game cameras and doe urine are not considered bait.
• Stands: none left on the forest more than 72 hours, and none within 50 yards of a designated road, marked unit boundary or designated campsite.
• No dogs for deer, turkey or hogs. Dogs are allowed for squirrel, rabbit and some other game.
• No target shooting anywhere on Sam Houston WMA, and no shooting from, into or across roads, trails or parking areas.
• ATVs and UTVs only on designated trails, including to retrieve a deer.
• Camping: designated sites only. The general limit is 14 days in a 30-day period, with longer stays allowed at selected sites such as Stubblefield sites 20–29.

For where to set up, read our East Texas public-land whitetail guide, which covers Sam Houston's pine-hardwood edges, pressure patterns and the other three national forests.

What else the $48 permit opens, and when it pays for itself

Sam Houston alone is about 162,984 acres on TPWD's map. But the permit isn't a Sam Houston pass. Per TPWD, the APH permit gives "full access to hunt white-tailed deer, feral hogs, dove, quail, turkey, waterfowl, rabbit, squirrel and more" on public hunting lands statewide. By TPWD's counts in recent years that's roughly a million acres across more than 180 areas, including about 120 leased dove and small-game tracts.

For a Houston-area hunter, that includes:

• The other national forest WMAs: Alabama Creek (Davy Crockett), Bannister (Angelina), Moore Plantation (Sabine) and the Caddo National Grasslands. Each takes the same permit, and each runs its own antlerless permit draw that you can only enter with an APH permit.
• Coastal and bottomland WMAs run by TPWD. J.D. Murphree near Port Arthur and Justin Hurst near Freeport are the best-known waterfowl areas near Houston. Some of these hunts run on daily Regular Permits or drawn hunts rather than pure walk-in, so check each area's page.
• The leased dove and small-game units that open each September.
• Fishing, camping and hiking on many of the same areas. TPWD says the permit carries "full privileges including hunting, fishing, camping, hiking and other recreational uses."

The math: where TPWD issues a daily Regular Permit for small game or waterfowl, it charges $20 per permit, and waives that fee for anyone holding an APH permit. Three days on a Regular Permit area would cost $60 without the APH, so the permit pays for itself on day three. Add the fact that it is the only way onto Sam Houston at all, and the only way to enter the national forest doe draws, and $48 is the cheapest season of hunting access in Texas. Kids under 17 hunt the APH lands free with a permitted adult.

What it doesn't cover: TPWD's special drawn hunts (state parks, guided hunts and the like) are a separate system with their own applications. TPWD says you don't need an APH permit to apply for those.

How Texas digital tagging works

Since the 2025-26 season, TPWD has offered fully digital versions of every recreational hunting, fishing and combo license and tag. If you bought yours online and chose digital, you won't have paper tags. Here is how tagging a deer works, taken from TPWD's digital tagging instructions.

Before you go

1. Download the Texas Hunt & Fish app. Digital tags only work in this app. Older articles mention the My Texas Hunt Harvest app; TPWD's current instructions point to Texas Hunt & Fish. The Outdoor Annual app can display your license but can't tag.
2. Connect your license: tap "View My Licenses," then "Add Account," follow the prompts, and confirm your license and tags are correct. Your APH permit shows up there too, as a separate item on your digital license.
3. Load it while you have signal so your tags are on the phone even where there's no service. Sam Houston has plenty of dead spots.
4. Charge your phone and bring a backup battery. TPWD requires your digital license to be available while you hunt.
5. Check your Harvest History in the app. TPWD's rule: don't take an animal unless you're certain you have a tag available.

When you kill a deer

1. Tag it in the app immediately. TPWD says the digital tag must be executed "immediately upon take."
2. With service: submit the harvest report. The app gives you a confirmation number. Write it on something durable and attach it to the deer.
3. Without service: the report saves as "Unsubmitted." Write your first and last name, your hunting license customer number (it's in the app) and the date and time of harvest on something durable, and attach it to the carcass.
4. When you get service back, submit the report and add the confirmation number to the note already on the deer.
5. Keep that note legible until the deer reaches its final destination.

On a deer, a handwritten physical document is always required, digital license or not. A zip-top bag with an index card and a wire tie works. On Sam Houston you'll also have done your eOSR in the same app before you walked in.

Paper license? The old rules still apply: fill out and attach the paper tag. Reporting a harvest in the app doesn't replace a paper tag you're supposed to use. If you hunt a county with mandatory harvest reporting, executing a digital tag counts as that report.

Other states are going the same way. Minnesota dropped its physical deer tag this year; we covered that in Minnesota Killed the Deer Tag, and the national picture is in The Rulebook Changed While You Were Scouting.

Checklist before your next Sam Houston hunt

• License and $48 APH permit (both show in Texas Hunt & Fish if you went digital)
• eOSR completed in the app
• Solid hunter orange, not camo orange
• Slugs, not buckshot, if you carry a shotgun
• Bucks only unless you drew a Forest Service antlerless permit
• Phone charged, tags loaded offline, a pen and a durable tag for the carcass
• The current Legal Game Box for the Sam Houston unit, from the map booklet

Statewide dates and bag limits for every zone are in our 2026-27 Texas deer season guide. Regulations change, and some Forest Service guidance conflicts with older handouts, so confirm anything critical with the WMA office (936-553-7641) or the current Outdoor Annual before you hunt.

Sources, checked Nov. 11, 2026: TPWD Sam Houston National Forest WMA rules and hunting pages; TPWD Annual Public Hunting Permit page (2026-27); TPWD Public Hunting "What You Need to Know" (2025-26); TPWD Outdoor Annual county pages for Montgomery, Walker and San Jacinto (2026-27); TPWD white-tailed deer regulations (2026-27); TPWD Digital Licenses and Tagging; TPWD Public Hunting FAQ and Public Hunting Lands table of contents (Regular Permit fee); USDA Forest Service, Hunting on the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas and its hunting FAQ.