An owner's wildlife management use must meet all the requirements to qualify for agricultural use, defined in Chapter 23 of the The Texas Property Tax Code . The following is a short discussion of the principal issues involved in agricultural use of land used for wildlife management. For a thorough discussion of these components, please refer to the State Comptroller of Public Accounts Manual of the Appraisal of Agricultural Land. The law requires agriculture to be the primary use of the land.
Wildlife management is an agricultural use under the law.
The primary use requirement is particularly important for land used to manage wildlife. For example, land devoted to wildlife management can be used as a residence for the owner. The chief appraiser must gather and consider all the surrounding facts to determine whether the land is primarily used to manage wildlife. While the law does not require the owner to have a management plan, a plan is clear evidence of the owner's use of the land primarily for wildlife management. A good plan will usually list wildlife management activities with the appropriate seasons and the sequence of events.