Not sure if there's any chance of IDing this to species level, since there are 14 species in Texas and apparently ID requires capture and examination, but hey...
This is definitely a male--he's got the little hooks on his front two legs, and of course he was out in the open clipping along, likely trying to avoid becoming someone's lunch. Biggest wild tarantula I've seen!
Aphonopelma is a genus of tarantulas including nearly all of the North American tarantulas north of Mexico and a considerable part of the tarantulas which range into Central America. Only a few species are described from South America. About 90 species have been described, but many, if not most, of these are inadequately studied and very little is known about them. Most are large and, like other New World tarantulas, they have urticating hairs. Most are...
