My understanding is it's basically like raffle tickets. You have an entry for every point you have. So does everyone else.

Yes the published odds are deceiving. They give the number of how many people applied the year before without taking into account loyalty points. It still gives you an idea of how popular a hunt is compared to other hunts in the same category. It would be interesting to see just how many true "entries" there are in some of the big hunts like the Chap because those big hunts are going to have the bulk of the high loyalty point accumulation hunters entered in them. As well as the percentage of non resident entries there are in a hunt like that one.

... to the conversation D55
Ron

D55, I'm sure that if you call TPW at 800-792-1112 or 512-389-4800 and ask about how the Hunting Lottery & Loyalty Points program works, someone can explain it to you, better than they did with me. My downfall apparently was when I got off on another direction by asking about Non Res Applicants participation & were NR's participating at te same level of access as Residents.... and the conversation went off the rails, when the comment about "Only the Legislature is in charge of that aspect of the Program & TPW does not control that and cannot address the problem". ..is what I understood the TPW Rep to say. That guy must have the Patience of a Saint.

FWIW the well spoken young man on the phone was courteous and as succinct as he could be with all my "Douh ...well whatabout this or that ??"s. Good Luck. & Have Fun with the beaurocracy speak. I won't call and bother any body at TPW again.

For the Record: I did get drawn for a GDA Hunt at Ft Boggy last year...and got Notice Letter that I had been selceted in error and cancled my Permit. TPW's excuse was that the computer had gone frizzled and "Over Allocated" the # of Permits available, and that mine was not the only Permit that had been canceled...how would I know if that is actually what happened or not though. FWIW TPW did restore my LP's and refunded the Hunt Fee to my CC too....and I skipped applying at Ft Boggy this year to not get my hopes up at that location again. ..less than 2 hours from the house. GIGO happens to everybody....Right?
Ron

So the answer I got today from the one person I talked to is. The number shown on applications is the number of applicants. So if you see 2000 applications this number does not reflect loyalty points. So if there is an average of 5 loyalty points on a 2000 applicant hunt and you have 10 points.. your are looking at odds of 10/10000

1 in a thousand or .1% chance of winning, but your chances increase if there is more than one spot to win.

I think I have 8 state hunting license just to apply in other states. We need to be reciprocal, I know we are max capped on Pittman Roberson funds but still we are really missing out on revenue on draw system for not at a min requiring small game license

Correct but if the went to a true PP system most of applications would die before drawing any chance of drawing and thus decreasing all applications into the system. This way you atleast have a chance.

If we had enough hunt choices we could do random and max PP like AZ but that’s not the case

I agree a true point system would be disappointing at best. The system we have now is pretty good.

Yelp I watch point creep in several states that I have double digit points in and it hurts.

If we had enough hunt choices we could do a hybrid like AZ, but we don’t, and I don’t think people want 1 choice per species either

Au Contriar...I'd be lots more happy about only having one shot for a Category each year...and that sounds life it was with mail in paper apps, like it was before all the "never fail computereze" took over. Back then I put in for lots of places I had studied up on for years of the App #'s and success %'s as reported in the paper Catelog Booklet. Actually went out and visited lots of sites to see what the place looked like and the other surrounding amenities were.
IMO this current system is going to kill interest levels of New to the System Applicants after no success in getting drawn anywhere after a few years of Zero Permits IMO Millenials have no patience or lack of success tolerance.
JMHO & YMMV
Ron

I think it's just the opposite. With the entry by computer, you have made it much easier for anyone to put in applications. The "old" way you had to manually fill out each application and mail them in. I think the computer application opened up a whole new population that was too lazy to take the time to do manual applications. Population increases in the state have not helped individual drawing odds either. Lastly, all the talk of public hunt drawings on internet sites (just like this one) have opened another pool of applicants. Go back and look at how many folks who have never put in before start asking questions and then start putting in themselves. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but every time it happens it's decreasing your odds of selection. Put a post up about where you slayed dove on public land and you will have a lot of guests the next time you go out. It's the same with the draw hunts.

You know, maybe you're right. It probably has nothing to do with so many older hunters being so vocal about how horrible the upcoming generation is. We almost all got into this because we looked up to an older hunter when we were young. If you want the future generations to be in the outdoors, guess what? They use the "never fail computereze."

When you feel like knocking millennials, remember which generation raised them. After all, It wasn't the millennial kids that wanted participation trophies; it was the parents.

- 30 year old millennial

Not every parent wants their child to get a Participation trophy has been my experience in knowing a wide spectrum of athletes, both Professional and Non Professional's. But it is the municiple Youth Athletics Programs where that mindset is started at the parents request in my opinion FWIW. I got my 2 boy's OUT of our town's Youth Athletics programs as early as I could, but took out a coaching license to learn the Rules of the Game when they were too young to play anything else.and coached for 4 years. Don't Complain...Get Involved Personally and take Responsibity was what my Instructor kept pounding on us in both Litttle League Baseball and Soccer. BTDT
Ron

Well, there you go, Wiley. Looks like we both know all millennials aren't bad.

Got lucky on the 2nd draw and will be hunting at Richland Creek (archery) in a couple of months. Totally stoked about this one!!!

The hunt brochure says ATV's are recommended, but that a "safety course certification" is REQUIRED.
Does anyone know where to get that certification? I am south of San Antone, and don't mind going there, and would even drive to the DFW area if needed.
All the online research I've done has turned up nothing. I called DPS and they say they know nothing about that and are not affiliated with anyone. But the brochure states that it MUST be a "DPS approved" certification.
Google turned up numerous places in San Antone, but a phone call to them and they do ONLY motorcycle safety training.
Any help will be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Neither TPWD nor DPS was helpful. When I searched online for DPS "approved" safety courses, there was a map with "lots" of training centers. I called all of the places listed in the greater DFW and San Antonio area. None of them offered a course for ATV's. Only for motorcycles. I finally found a place called ATV Safety Institute. They offer a FREE online course. Takes a couple of hours to complete. Then I called RCWMA and was advised that this was sufficient. I also ordered the OHV stickers for 2 ATV's and my 4WD truck. The truck does require that sticker if it is going to be used "off road". The OHV stickers are $16.00 and are good from 9/1/2019 - 9-1/2020.
With that the RCWMA guy said that we should be good.
BTW, the ATV Safety Inst. will push you to take their "hands on" school; but I did not. Don't know what that cost is or where it is offered.

Well I finally drew out after years of trying we drew out on 2 today. Bandera private lands and lake McClellan youth.

My son is 0-fer thus far in the six years he's been eligible. We've still got some hunts that have yet to be drawn, so there's still a chance.