TPWD offers 9,500 public hunts; application deadline soon

Published 4:06 pm Saturday, July 21, 2018

With 9,500 slots on 110 locations for hunters, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Drawn Hunts program may not seem like a big thing compared to the total number of hunters and days spent afield statewide each fall.

However, for those who roll the dice hoping to get picked to hunt white-tailed and mule deer, exotics, turkey or alligators, it could be a gateway to future hunting experiences or their lone opportunity to hunt.

Hunting has gotten expensive. Day leases, thank goodness, are all but a thing of the past. That leaves hunters with three options, including getting on a lease (and even small acreage has gotten pricey) or buying a package hunt, which has always been expensive. The third is the draw system for a hunt on a state wildlife management area, state and county parks where hunts are being held to control wildlife populations, or national forest or wildlife refuges where access permits are part of the state program.

Last year there were about 155,000 applications for the 9,500 slots. Application numbers have spiked in recent years after the department put the process online.

According to TPWD, 90 percent of applicants were males about 40 years old. About 77 percent of those came from an urban ZIP code. Of the total number of applicants, 14 percent were young people. Only 4 percent of all applying came from outside Texas.

Kelly Edmiston, TPWD public hunts coordinator, said that while the department does not survey the question, some of the hunters use the program because it is their only opportunity to hunt. Others, he said, use it to supplement their other hunting opportunities for exotic species and species like mule deer that they do not otherwise have access to.

This year’s application process is already underway, with the deadline for alligator, pronghorn, youth deer and the new private-lands dove hunts being Aug. 1, and Aug. 15 for white-tailed deer, exotics and javelina.

To apply, adult hunters must pay an application fee ranging from $3 to $10 depending on the hunt category. Those drawn typically pay a permit fee of $80 for regular hunts and $130 for extended hunts. There are some cases, such as dove hunts, where there are no permit fees. All application and permit fees are waived for youth categories.

There are changes to the program this year. One is that youth applications will be limited to three per category.

“When the new online drawn system launched, you could apply to as many different areas as you wanted within a hunt category. Because of this, we have been experiencing a number of no-shows in cases where youth hunters were selected for multiple hunts within a youth hunt category. To ensure more youth have an opportunity to participate and increase attendance, this year applicants will only be allowed to select up to three hunt areas in the same youth hunt category,” Edmiston said.

He said of the 4,706 special-permit hunts and e-postcard hunts, along with the 536 hunt groups 1,255 are youth positions and 37 are for youth groups. There are another 375 youth permits on U.S. Forest Service lands and 94 on national wildlife refuges available through the program.

No-show numbers have also led to another change. The e-postcard hunt application deadline is moving to Aug. 15, and hunters must have a 2018-19 annual public hunting permit to apply. That creates a tight squeeze for hunters because the APH permits, along with hunting and fishing licenses, do not go on sale until that day.

“Approximately 70-75 percent of the drawn hunters show for their selected hunts. In most case, there are standby applicants available to take advantage of these open slots. E-postcard hunts and youth-only hunts seem to have the largest number of no-shows possibly due to the fact that they are free to apply and have no permit fees to attend,” Edmiston said.

A new hunt this year is for Sambar deer and white-tailed deer on the 17,300-acre Powderhorn Wildlife Management Area in Calhoun County.

For more information or to get started in the application process visit the TPWD Drawn Hunts web page, https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/public/public_hunt_drawing/_ga=2.131257935.1799028475.1531744374-1284175726.1385405927. For questions, contact hunt@tpwd.texas.gov or call 512-389-4505 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.