WELL !!! ..... OK Then....

I just checked my last 5 pendings and got what I had been expecting all along... I JUST SCORED A BIG FAT ZERO for this year....and turned 78 2 weeks ago.

In years past I had always put in for a dozen or more places to hunt on TPW ground + whatever guest invites my friends and customers invited me on ..... and more than a half dozen APH chances too, and yet totally forgot to buy a APH License ....duh.

Some Body above must be trying to tell me something ....go home ...get healthy again and go FISHING 'cause you ain't gonna win nuthin' from TPW's Hunting Programs anymore. Go make enough $'s next year to get back on a new lease somewhere with some new guys since you are the very Last of that era's MOHICANS and all your hunting pards have gone to the Happy Hunting Ground in the Sky....mebbe every Last one of them, from Vince who's Cancer got him last year and had climbed power line poles in Nam wearing 3-4 bandoliers of buck shot shells for his WW I Issue shotgun to clear the ground underneath him so's he could get back on the ground alive,,, Crazy Horse....if you knew Crazy Horse that's all I need to say, to Ralph the semi deaf crazy 'Nam vet who was never afraid to make the Thunder Road artillery ammo runs in Nam. Then there's Larry, the Scotch drinking Coast Guard Admiral from CG New Orleans and called it day after running that last oil platform blowout recovery after Katrina was done with , but he's house bound nowdays tied to an air tank. ...and Dudly Grounds is gone after repping Wby for over 25+ years , the Wby guy Roy fired during the New Orleans Shot show, and you traveled with when you still had SAKO and gave the 5 state Glock rep info to after you turned it down in Denver.

Oh well it was fun while it lasted.
Ron

I drew one of the anterless/spike hunts On the Gene Howe WMA in Nov. Looking forward to putting some meat in the freezer.

I’ll be there as well.

Hey Ron,

You can still apply of the Neches NWR doe hunts. That’s right in your backyard. You can always go standby on Gus Engling and Richland Creek. Those are also close by. I don’t know if you have looked at the cost of leasing but it’s pretty high. I did see a Managment hunt being offer in the outfitters section for 2k near Cotulla. That might be a bargain if you get the size deer he is talking about. Good luck on the rest of the draws and take care.

Erny, thanks for the kind words, and yes I'll follow up on the Neches info. My SS Marlin 270 was bought specifically to use at Neches. Have tried several times to try and catch the Neches Office open as I'm about 30+ minutes away from the entry to north access road on Hwy 79 and the office has never been open. I'd already planned to try and get in on a standby Hunt at Fairfield, rather than the Gus from what I've been told by some of the Palestine locals.

LOL It is tempting to try and land a job with one of the Prison's as at least one of them has a hunting area & tall wooden stands for Staff at no charge, according to the owner of the ReSale Antique furniture shop we have a booth in (he retired from one of the prison's), on Business Hwy 79 at the old Blake Furniture store, inside the Loop and almost across the street from the almost legendary Shep's BBQ place.

Just very frustrated with TPW's way of offering hunts to Texas residents vs non resident's and has been a sore spot with me for a very long time. Ray Sasser, the now long deceased Dallas Morning News Outdoor Editor used to talk about this from time to time when we were traveling somewhere. Ray made a living off the pictures and stories he wrote with pictures of his adventures on the Encinal Ranch owned by the Houston Dealer that got printed in even some of the national Gun Rag's Ray wrote for. Look at the Texas Insurance Dept and see how it treats out of state applicants for a Texas Insurance Sales License on a tit for tat basis based on how the non residents Home State treat a Texas resident. Eye for an Eye dollar for dollar.

Yes I'm not surprised at Lease cost's in today's market... just used to have a network of folks that always had a spot if I wanted one, who wanted to curry favors from me with what I was selling & I got spoiled with the open handed favors. Yes it still is a who do ya know world and always has been, but even more so these days. As I type this there is a 10Pt Mule Deer hanging on the wall above my head that came from a Hunt and covered round trip travel expenses by a very large Houston customer of the dozen + Gun Industry Reps that were invited. That was a very long time ago though but the customer ran a top notch program in every aspect of the business...and got the Gun Industry's attention any and every time one of his managers even intimated he wanted something....THAT customer never had to ask twice for anything and was a class act all of us Rep's were pleased to satisfy.
Ron