Texas Hunting Forum: Public Land Hunting

I have a "love to go to these locations" / hate the frustration of the system" relationship with these Lottery Hunts. I've been putting in for lots of years, lost my all Preference Points once when I stopped putting in on an every year basis like I have been for the last 8 ummmebbe 9 years this year...but would offer a few random comments based on being drawn 4 times over the last 8 years.

The Texas Lottery Hunt is not managed like the Rocky Mountain States and some other Western States where you can pretty much be assured of being drawn for a particular hunt if you have accrued enough Preference Points. In Texas, as other states do also, PP's are accrued thru repeat applications for a particular Hunt Category and not being drawn. However in Texas all the PP's do is to add another chance in your name added to the General Pool of a given Category instead of what the Western states do with folks having higher PP counts being drawn from a pool comprised only of other folks with the same number of PP's which allows someone to be drawn eventually before some one with only one PP is drawn. IMO the Texas system makes for a frustrating effort with many many years being wasted in trying to reach a particular Hunt instead of selecting a non high interest Hunt location.

In Texas you are also competing against Non Resident Hunters as equals as well, instead of being in a pool for Resident Hunters and another pool for Non Resident hunters like every other state in the country does.

Texas also does something else I find strange about the way the Category Pool is administered, on a multi hunter application the Average Number of PP's among all hunters is rounded off to the lowest number and that is the number of PP's that is used as a single entry....not the aggregate of all the PP;s held by all 4 hunters...which skews the Hunter Success ratio shown in the Guide when compared to the number of Permits available for a particular locations Hunt. A single App entry may have up to 4 hunters on the App for most Hunts. What makes this an important distinction is that for example, when I was applying for Lottery Hunts by myself I was drawn often enough to keep me interested, until I got into Leases with a gang of buddies and stopped hunting alone, then a new work buddy got interested after my last old lease gang fell apart, and we got got drawn 3 times together - more on that later - but my new partner had about the same number of PP's as I did, because I had used all mine up or had them disqualified for lack of participation in those in between App years.

I also have lost PP's from Hunt Category's that Taxas has re named in the effort to single out a particular specie instead of a group of like kind non native critters. Last year I took on a "new" Lottery partner after my previous buddy and I split the sheets, and I/we got skunked on 11 entry's that I felt like should have generated at least 2 or mebbe 4 Hunts...because my new partner was from the old lease gang and had lost all of his 10+ years worth of PP's for lack of participation like I had back in the '90s and we had our App's PP's averaged and most of the Categories historically have taken 3-5 years worth of PP's or more to get drawn & needless to say after the "averaging" we didn't have that many.

I have spent lots of time learning how to accrue PP's to game the system, and it can be done to some extent. It's a shame Texas's Lottery Hunt System is not run like other states but it is what it is... the only game in town... and I ain't driving the bus. I also would like to see Texas adopt a "No Category Location Choice" app that would in essence allow you to buy a PP without having to put in for a location you didn;t really want to make a hunt on because you couldn't get off work, or were ill that year. This would protect the PP's you've already accrued & continue to participate in the system without jepoerdizing the PP's you already have in a given Category.

I expect to put in again this year, but will make an effort to select Hunts I do not expect to be drawn for...simply to accrue PP's since I cannot afford this year to take off work during the week to make a Hunt, and my "new" partner has opted out all together as his work schedule has intensified to the point where he is on call 24x7 12 months a year for a nation wide Homeland Security response.

Also, be sure to check into the walkup straw lottery for abandoned Permits that's done at the gate the day of the Hunt right before the Hunt Meeting. Another way to get into the game without going thru the App scenario. Good Luck
Ron

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Edited by WileyCoyote (07/06/08 07:05 PM)