2023/24 TP&W Draw Hunts

[Phorizt]

39 preference points and still not drawn. Pending 2nd drawn which we know what that normally means. Maybe another 0 for 33 year in the making.

what GDE hunts did you apply for? Have they really been keeping track of points for 39 years?

I think many still underestimate how incredibly low the odds are to draw some of these bc we see people post on here about getting lucky. Assume you applied to Matador. There are 2200 people applying to that hunt and if the average number of preference points is 12, then even with 39 points you still only have about a 25% chance of getting drawn. Odds for Powderhorn with 39 points would be about about 1/10 with 39 points. Odds for the Chap would be slightly better than Powerderhorn. I just picked 12 as an average points number but I don't think that is too crazy and it may be higher than that. The odds are that most people won't be around long enough to draw any of those premium rifle hunts based on todays numbers.

[Snapperhead94]

It's referred to as Point Creep, and has already happened for most premier hunts in many states. For the number of applicants and amount of permits, there no chance of drawings unless you've been applying for many prior years.

[bigchiefj]

It’s not point creep because everyone has a chance to draw a tag in any year. Some applicants have a better chance because they have more entries in the drawing because of the loyalty point system. Points do not guarantee a draw in Texas. It's hard to draw a hunt because there's a lot of applicants for very few permits.

Take Chaparral last year with 5611 applications. If you assume 10 points for 5610 of them, that's 5,610,000 after cubing. The gentleman with 39 points would add another 59,319 applications for a total 5,669,319 entries. 39 points gives him approximately 1.05% of the total entries which is far from being guaranteed a draw. That doesn't mean he has a 1.05% chance; his applications just make up almost 1% of the pot.

Point Creep is what happens in Colorado where the number of points required to draw a given hunt increase every year. Elk in GMU 2 is a classic example of point creep because the points required to draw increase every year. If you have less than maximum points, you will probably never have enough points to draw that hunt, unless the old applicants die. I think GMU 2 took roughly 15 points in 2005 and takes over 25 now. Colorado instituted a hybrid draw years ago to try to address point creep. Arizona and Wyoming also have a portion of their tags issued randomly also. I believe Arizona is 50% random and Wyoming is 25% random.

[brokeno]

They Tpwd started using preference points 39 years ago. I begin putting in for hunts when I was 23 years old and have every year since so if you add those years before the pp i have not been selected for GDE is 47 years. Sure I apply for the prime hunts especially now since I have such a high number of preference points that I don’t want to waste on a sorry hunt. I’ll be 70 in a couple of months so I’m still hoping for that senior division. I’ll see you there for standby. Good luck for those who were drawn. Mr Public you amaze me. Lol

[osochuck]

I wonder if Aransas has the deer population to support hunting like at Amastad and Big Thicket (probably others), a walk in hunt, but you have a smaller limit in deer.

i would also like to see TPWD do an urban archery hunting to help curb the numbers of deer where there is just tooo much development.

I also i think gator hunting should change, there is a ton of gators in some places, Aransas and Brazos bend. I don’t want a monster 15 footer, but a nice eater would be great.

[bigchiefj]

I wonder if Aransas has the deer population to support hunting like at Amastad and Big Thicket (probably others), a walk in hunt, but you have a smaller limit in deer.

i would also like to see TPWD do an urban archery hunting to help curb the numbers of deer where there is just tooo much development.

I also i think gator hunting should change, there is a ton of gators in some places, Aransas and Brazos bend. I don’t want a monster 15 footer, but a nice eater would be great.

I think Aransas NWR could probably support more hunters because it's such a difficult hunt. Opening it up to more archery hunting wouldn't hurt anything. Of course it's not difficult to get a hunt there under the current system.

TPWD could definitely increase opportunity for hunting but I believe they don't want to deal with the extra traffic on WMAs. They could at least lock the gates and let people walk in for small game and archery pig hunting.

I think the same applies for some Federal lands. The controlling agencies don't want to deal with the extra traffic.

I think some hunters hurt the cause for all of us when you see the amount of trash that's left on public land that's wide open for hunting. Of course some of that trash could be from local residents dumping, but most parking areas are pretty trashed.

[Txfire409]

I've drawn three so far. Archery at Nannie Stringfellow, Gun antlerless/spike at Colorado Bend SP, and NWR gun at Aransas.

[qjt7609]

I got drawn aransas archery, any pointers? I’m probably going to bring a tripod.

[Texas Grown]

Nothing for me or my groups so far. pending 2nd on this draw. Still some draws to go.

[SwampBuck]

Anyone ever deal with a gov shutdown cancelling a hunt on NWR ? Refund or no refund?

Hasn’t happened yet but my buddy mentioned it today because he has a son in the mitilary that was told they’re likely not getting paid soon.

[justletmein]

Good question. Last time I believe Amistad closed, no employees but the park rangers were still there to keep you out. I'd imagine it's possible. We've got a Laguna hunt coming up 11/10 so I hope not.

[SwampBuck]

I’m fine with a hunt getting canceled because of it…not the park folks fault. But I dang sure expect a refund. If I got burned on that y’all would have one less person to contend with on any NWR hunts next season.

[justletmein]

I'm not fine with it, it's our land and belongs to us so let us use it.

[Huntindad]

Anyone ever deal with a gov shutdown cancelling a hunt on NWR ? Refund or no refund?

Hasn’t happened yet but my buddy mentioned it today because he has a son in the mitilary that was told they’re likely not getting paid soon.

I hadn't, but like what was said above. the federal hunts may be in question. I'm in the 11/10 hunt as well.

OP, I hope the son in military gets his deserved back pay if we get shut down.

[osochuck]

OMG I didn’t think about this.
Freaking would sux.