I adopted the strategy that I'd like to hunt more even if it is a so so area. I've drawn something every year. This year was the worst. Only one tag. But I missed the deer draws because I thought I had the nursery sold and would be moving. When that didn't pan out I applied for a lot of pig hunts.

Yeah, I struck out on whitetail, but drew two pig tags. I'm excited to hunt Mad Island, as that terrain looks amazing.

Stick with it OP; just expand what you put in for.

Next year gonna just apply for everything, lol

Booms can be worth it though…

That's awesome!

Nice Muley. Hey guys, when you log in and it shows all the hunts you did not draw and the number of points next to each hunt, are those cumulative points?

Wow!! Amazing! Where’d you hunt at?

At the top in the list of hunts you put in for, those points are what you entered the drawing with. Scroll all the way down and you’ll see the number of points you have per category.

Thanks Spoon

Full Story:

https://www.texasbowhunter.com/disc...72207-tpwd-mule-deer-hunt-horseshoe-buck

I have been applying for ten years and have gone on five hunts. I apply for seventeen hunts on average. Also have applied for the doe permits in National Forest and won them three times. Never been picked for Gun Deer - Either Sex and have ten loyalty points for that.

Funny, I was just looking at my turkey points and I am at 10. I won it once, 10 years ago obviously, but is that abnormal for turkey draws or am I having bad luck like alligator where it took me 14 years?

I have drawn a few hunts since the 1990's. The very first year I put in for Pronghorn back in 1992 i was drawn. I could not believe that. I have put in every year since then with no more drawn Pronghorn

It's not abnormal at all due to the way the draw works. Take Gene Howe in 2022 with 518 applicants. You have 10 points so your name is in the draw 1000 times.

If we assume an average of 5 points for everyone else (just a guess on my part) than 517 x 125 = 64,625. Add your 1000 and we have 65,625 total entries.

Your 10 points cubed to 1000 entries makes you a whopping 1.52% of the total entries. 20 points in this scenario would be 11% of the total pot which is still a far chance from being a guarantee.

Plus all the unsuccessful applicants get another point next year so the cycle continues...This shows how having points can give you an advantage over someone with less points, but the still do not guarantee a draw.

Between Youth, Adult and E-Post we had 33 entries this year.
Got lucky in youth as he had 4-5 points in most categories. (This was his last year in youth)
Picked up Youth Doe/Spike at Nannie Stringfellow (seen plenty of deer but no shots closer that 300 yds.)
Youth Hog at Mad Island (2nd draw) this weekend.
La Sal Del Rey ( WT, Hog, Javi, Exotic) New year's weekend.

We drew adult hog at Mad Island in April with 5 points.

we did not put in for any adult draws that were same days as the youth hunts we had put in for.

Next year we will be entering most categories within reason.

Point creep is getting bad with the TPWD system, I have 20 points in some categories now. Whats bad is they are fewer and fewer permits every year, they lost all Fairfield this year for example, its only going to get worse.

I drew Mad Island for hog in March.

I applied for 54 draws, in 22 different categories.