Those are some good numbers. Its safe to say that almost every year you're going to get drawn.
My son got drawn two years in a row for TYHP. Last year we struck out, hoping this year he draws.
I hope my luck continues year after year! I thoroughly enjoy the fair chase hunting of public lands. It definitely has made me a better hunter! Really need a mule deer hunt , then I might slow down some
I've probably applied for 30 of the Big Time Texas Hunts and of course no luck there. For me and my kids I've applied to exactly 300 hunts over the past 5 years(290 in the past 4 years).
I've drawn e-postcard archery 3 times. NWR archery twice. Those are probably the easiest of all hunt to draw for with 10-50% draw odds on some of them. My kids have now drawn 2 hunts out of close to 100 apps(I have 3 kids who have applied). One of those was an easy to draw and not very good archery hunt at a state park where only 2 kids even showed up for the hunt.
So we've drawn 6 of the pretty easy to draw hunts out of about 30 applications in those easy categories. My son drew Powderhorn this year which is our only draw out of the other 270 apps in all categories not including e-postcard archery and NWR archery.
Just curious, is there a difference between the TYHP and the youth drawn hunts?
yes they are completely different programs run by different organizations with a different draw process. TYHP actually gives preference to those who have never been selected before so first time applicants are the most likely to get drawn and some of their hunts they don't have enough applicants to fill the spots. They'll post on Facebook at the last minute that they still need youth hunters to fill spots.
Pending the rest of this years draws. This is only my 6th year and I've drawn at least something every year. I didn't make it to all of these hunts mostly due to scheduling or work conflicts.
19'/20'- Drew Archery @ Chaparral, LANWR Archery, Muzzleloader @ Trinity River NWR(Brierwood), Muzzleloader @ Trinity River NWR (Hirsch)
20'/21'- Drew National Refuge General Deer at Balcones Canyonlands NWR, My oldest Daughter drew Youth Antlerless/Spike at Chaparral
21'/22'- Drew National Refuge General Deer @ Trinity River NWR, LANWR Archery
22'/23'- So far this year, Archery @ Trinity River NWR (I hunted here last year on rifle and I bashed it as terrible, decided to put in for the archery because I had a couple nice bucks on camera before archery season and then when rifle season came around it was a ghost town, We'll see if this archery hunt pans out differently. It's only an hour from my house.)
Can’t see anything before this but had 3-4 points in 2014 apps and hadn’t drawn anything before that year. (Makes sense) joined this site in 2009 and that’s when I learned about it/started applying.
2014-12 apps (looks like this was the last year of applying 1 app per category), 1 draw- archery chaparral- killed a javelina
2015 25 apps, 1 draw Private land antlerless killed 3 does I believe
2016- 23 apps, 0 draw
2017- 27 apps, 1 draw Alligator(hunt cancelled due to hurricane)
2021- 21 apps,1 draw rifle antlerless (pedernales) saw a nice buck and no does, slow hunt for all there but said it’s usually a great place. Shot a pig.
162 apps - 5 draw, 4 hunts conducted due to weather cancellation over 8 years I can see records for. I’m at 3% draw for number of apps I’ve placed. Calculating the other years (was this still postcard days) probably close to 2%.
I’ve gone to standby twice and been drawn 1 time so 50% on standby (much better)
2008 daughtrey gde 0pts
2012 gene Howe gde 4pts
2016 daughtrey archery 4pts
2021 EM mule deer 15pts
2021 daughtrey mgmt 6pts
2022 chap archery 5pts
2022 hag Seg c 2pts
It's been interesting reading the posts and seeing the numbers. However, the numbers are not a true indication of what kind of luck you may have.
It totally depends on the type of hunt you're looking for & the quality of the trophy you expect to have an opportunity for, on any given hunt.
Personally, I'm not interested in most of the hunt categories, spikes/does, pigs, etc. Therefore, I typically only apply for quality Whitetail & Mule Deer. Although, the last few years I have been putting in for alligator, also.
In many of the category hunts you have a very high chance of getting drawn. And many others of these hunts, you have a very slim chance of getting drawn. Therefore, if you're just looking for a place to go hunt (and there's nothing wrong with that), you could probably get drawn "somewhere" just about every year. But if you're not willing to "burn all your points" on just "a place to hunt", your chances start getting slimmer as you only select the "harder to draw" places, where your chances for a true trophy are increased.
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