Well, I guess I'd go ahead and start it. Here are the upcoming hunts for 9/15/20 TPWD draws:

E-Postcard Quail
E-Postcard Youth Deer
E-Postcard Youth Archery Deer

Gun Deer - Antlerless/Spike
Gun Deer - Either Sex
Gun Deer - Management

National Refuge General Deer

USFS Antlerless Deer Permit - Adult
USFS Antlerless Deer Permit - Youth

Youth Only Gun Deer - Antlerless/Spike
Youth Only Gun Deer - Management
Youth Only Javelina

The only one I am somewhat excited about is Gun Deer - Management with 12 points. Everything else has been set back to 1 or 2 points so not expecting anything but my yearly donation.

How about you guys?

Gun deer - Either sex 2
Gun deer - Management 1
Gun deer - Antlerless Spike 0
National Refuge General Deer - 0

I have had decent luck the last two years, but wasted my points on hunt's that weren't that great. But I had fun at all of them, so I can't say it wasn't worth it. Only problem now is the cubing system I would imagine is going to take me out of the running for a while.

My 10 year old has 1 in Management and 2 in Antlerless/Spike

This is the big round! Plan on drawing the Chap!

Erny, how many points do you have in that category?

4 so I will need to be mighty lucky. But if you don’t apply you can’t win.

Same here.

4 in Gun- Either Sex
4 in Gun- Antlerless/spike
4 in Refuge General
My daughter has 1 Youth A/S, Youth Either(No luck there), and Youth Mgmt. It's her first year applying.

Already struck out on the Archery, Refuge Archery, and Youth Either.

Oh well. More time in the duck marsh is certainly not a bad thing! I prefer duck hunting anyways.

Gun Deer - Antlerless/Spike - 2
Gun Deer - Either Sex - 2
Gun Deer - Management - 9

There is always the possibility of standby........

This is the first year I've ever put in. I never get lucky, so I'm happy to donate to TPWD.

It's almost that time boys and girls, everyone excited yet

I only thought about it 10 times today.

Gun Deer Either Sex - 27 points. Cubed that's 19683 drops in the hat. I betcha I still don't draw.

When did the cubing system start? I am at 4 GDE, 2 in GDM, and 1 in GDA/S. Grad school knocked me out of applying as regularly and strategically as I used to. I'm only a few miles from Sam Houston, I expect my hunting will be confined to youth with my kiddos there and muzzleloader season.

This is the first year the points are cubed. My best guess is they realized there were a lot of hunters like me who had been putting in for some categories for over 20 years who were likely going to grow too old or die before they ever draw the hunt. And many of those with 20+ points may never draw still as anyone with those kind of points are only putting in for the hardest to draw hunts at that point.

Had no idea that points are cubed now. Must have missed it somewhere.

hehe, well that means you only got to think about it like 30 more times before the drawing!



Yeah, I think that's really how some people got so many points - submitting a limited number of applications per hunt category (but I could be wrong). I've only been applying for 3-4 years to the TX public draws, but so far I've won 3-4 draws every year.... but I've never worried about points and just applied to everything. Which I guess this results in two things: 1) my name is in more hats, and 2) the state makes a lot more $$$$ from people like me than they do people who do selective applications (I have pretty close to 100 applications in this year).

I have what I consider an interesting question on this topic... Does anyone know if the draws are done by a computer (I've always assumed they are)? And if they are, I wonder if there other "factors" outside of points that effect draw odds - namely, the $$$ factor... I ask because if I had programmed the draw system, I would 100% have advocated that total $$$ contributed by an individual be a factor in the odds. Similar to the loyalty point system and running parallel to it. After all, $$$ is the most important thing to TPWD - it's what drives their preservation efforts.... which means that the people who donate the most during the draws are more important to TPWD... keeping those people coming back every year would seem to me to be an important goal of TPWD (or should be). Perhaps an undisclosed parallel system that keeps people like myself winning a few hunts every year so that I don't start thinking that I'm just throwing money into the wind? It would be the smart thing to do for TPWD.

I know at least a dozen people that only apply for 1-3 hunts per year - like just the best most desirable hunts (I'm sure there are plenty of other people that do the same)... That quite literally means that TPWD will make more money in a year off me than they would any of those individuals for DECADES (assuming they apply every year for decades)...an entire century for the 1 app guys, if they lived to apply for 100 years LOL

Just something to ponder on.

When are they drawing?!??!??!?! Lordt

So Binary....I assume that you spent over $300 on chances to win?

Oh yeah, easily...because I do all $10 draw ones too (private lands and guided packages) and all the Big Time Texas Hunts as well (think those are $9 a pop). I go more like $500 in on draws. I win 3-4 hunts every year, nothing spectacular yet but something that gets me out of the house and hunting public land (or private as the case may be, but I haven't won a private one yet). Honestly, I probably spend too much on the draws for the end results LOL... I rationalize it as 'it goes for a good cause' hehe.... I suppose there may come a time when I don't think it's worth it anymore...like if TPWD did something silly that eliminated even my low-end draws (like cubing points maybe? Guess we'll see what the results of that new system are), but for now I'm content with giving that size donation for a few wins.

I'm the same way. I'd rather donate my money to TPWD than a private property owner. I'd rather hunt on property through TPWD too. After going to a place for a year or so I'm already over it and ready to move on. I'd hate to do all that work on a lease and then leave for various reasons.

Oh the whole TX private property hunting lease system is completely idiotic, I absolutely refuse to participate in that nonsense LOL. I'd rather hit up the range or stay at home and beat my head against the wall rather than participate in the TX hunting lease system. And let's be honest, it should be referred to as the Texas harvesting lease system...because there's not a lot of hunting going on.

HAHA...calling it the Texas harvesting system is crap. I'll have you know I've spent decent money on leases and not seen a dang thing.

LOL... your bad! JK. well, I didn't mean to suggest that hunting on a TX hunting lease in any way guaranteed the harvesting of anything. I was more taking a dig at the predominate method of "hunting" on private leases, the feeder/baiting method vs fair chase... I personally consider the use of feeders/baiting as merely harvesting and fair chase as hunting. However, I do understand that not everyone agrees with me on that topic. And I'm not in any way claiming that one way is superior/better than the other - to each his own..feeder harvesting is more successful than fair chase hunting, no doubt. And feeder harvesting is definitely the smarter way to put meat in the freezer.

lol. I was just messing around. I don't get very entangled in what ones idea of "fair chase" is and what isn't. It always ends in a scenario driven nightmare that ends up being nonsense.

If hunting over feeders isn't fair chase then can you hunt over acorns?

If the animal should have a fair shot at eluding the hunter why would you use a rifle over a Compound bow?

If it truly is you vs the deer why would you use a compound bow over a traditional?

Fair implies each animal has an equal chance at success. The deers success being eluding the hunter. The hunters success being killing the deer.

Why bring so much technology into it that you lean the odds in your favor? The deer aren't out there wearing Kevlar.

A lot of the answers to the weapon questions is, "I use a rifle to ensure a clean and quick kill".

Well, I have had far more broadside shots at deer under feeders than I have anywhere else. You could argue feeders increase the ability to have clean kills.

I've always thought fair chase was a load of BS. I don't hunt high fences because seeing 40 deer under feeder has no appeal to me. There is no challenge on hunting "feedlot" deer. The thing I enjoy about hunting is the work you put in to be successful. At the end of the day it's about why you enjoy hunting that dictates what fair chase means to you. It's always seems like a form of moral superiority from people. Which I always thought was weird. I mean it's not like anyone out there is eating fair chase ribeyes...

Didn't mean to start a rant when I started. lol my bad.

I'm through reminding, specifically, when you can apply for a certain hunt that has VERY limited tags and is pretty much the pinnacle of the draw system, IF they issue tags this year, which they don't always issue every year, based on surveys, but...that day is today.