Hornhunter,

I was talking with Linda Campbell at Texas Parks & Wildlife about the cost of hunting in Texas and she had some great comments about the underutilized the Public Hunting opportunities.

Read page 108 in the new Outdoor Annual for 2008-2009.

Or, visit http://tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/hunt/public/

I had no idea they gave away 5500+ large game hunts each year; or that there is 55000 acres of walk-in birding hunting near urban areas; or 49 walk-in youth hunting areas, or that they give away 1200+ youth hunts for large game, exotics, and turkey each year.

For example, I looked up buck hunts in Travis County and there were only 632 applicants for 18 permits that include 1 buck, 2 does, and unlmited feral hogs. Last year of the 18 hunters, it says 4 harvested a buck. Not bad for a $10 raffle ticket with a 1 in 35 chance of winning.

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Computer Drawings for Supervised Hunts

Drawings are held to select a limited number of participants in high quality supervised hunts for white-tailed and mule deer, pronghorn antelope, exotics, feral hogs, javelina, turkey, alligators and guided hunt packages. 

Application deadlines for the categories of 2008-2009 Computer Drawn Hunts are as follows:

• Alligator, Archery Alligator, Youth Only Alligator - August 5, 2008
• Pronghorn Antelope, Archery Deer, Archery Mule Deer, Archery Exotic - August 14, 2008
• Gun Deer (Either-Sex, Antlerless/Spike, Management Buck, Youth Either Sex, Youth Antlerless/Spike, Youth Management Buck, Private Lands Either Sex, Private Lands Antlerless/Spike) - September 4, 2008
• Gun Mule Deer, Exotic Only - September 18, 2008
• Javelina, Youth Javelina, Guided Deer, Guided Gemsbok, and Guided Waterbuck - October 2, 2008
• Guided Bighorn Sheep, Guided Scimitar-horned Oryx, Guided Exotic, Feral Hog, Spring Turkey, Youth Spring Turkey - November 4, 2008