Will tpwd ever make changes to prioritize resident in the draw? All the hunts available I heard have equal odds for both residents and non residents. Is there any benefits to being a resident hunter in texas?

Maybe they could start with handicapping just New Mexico residents 'cause...they hate our arse, especially in their public hunting program.

That is the truth, NM can go pound sand. All they've done with their insane quota rules changes is increase poaching in their state.

How so?

Maybe Texas should make NR buy qualifying licenses like other states before registering for the draw. Also increase NR draw fees like other states. JMO

Non-resident applications are not the reason you are not getting drawn. You’re not getting drawn because now everyone can enter in as many hunts per category as possible.

That is the reason TPWD started limiting youth to three hunts per category. Before this limitation, there were kids that were aging out and never getting drawn.

non residents absolutely affect draw odds. To say other wise is dumb. Where else can you apply for $3? Lots of NR apply in Texas. Do we need to Limit choices per species yes, but we need to require licenses upfront like everyone else and no less then 85% off all hunts go to residents. We NR especially Texans fund a large parts of others states Wildlife department, so other states and their hunters that love to persecute NR should have their residents done the same here. In fact we need to raise NR licenses to $510.

What I pay in other states just to enter draw(not including tags, fees, PP, etc), required to enter draw. I left a few states off but you get the drift. The disparity is absolute BS


Okla-$209
CO-$93 plus $10-100 for PP
ID-$264 + front tags
AZ-$160
UT-$150
NV-$155
NM $92 plus front tags



Texas is way behind the times on licensing for NR, We already max out Pittman Robertson money just via residence so there is ZERO down side to raise application cost and limits for NR

I emailed TPWD last year and they said the average is 11.7 applications per individual. They also said nonresidents are typically 2% to 7% of total applicants so they don't see a need for quotas right now.

^^^humm, 7%.
Sounds like you all need to pay more for those draw hunt apps to get your odds down some.


Joshing on that as Wyoming legislators are trying to get more blood from the turnips applying in Wyoming by raising app fees to pay LOs for grass elk are eating. It never ends it seems.

"They said". I would have asked for a copy of that breakdown because given such a range instead of a known number sounds like the person you emailed to was just guessing and really does not know. The problem is common sense and what I have seen on actual hunts is the non residents are not applying for the same group of hunts as a general resident. They are mostly only applying for the best hunts. And for the same cost as a resident. They are also the drawn hunters most likely to not actually show up to hunt. Last night I was going to apply for some small game hunts in Kansas that I have been on before and boom I was denied. Turns out all of the more sought after hunts have been separated from the whole as "resident only" now. I know it is not big game, but same concept and there are other states that do it for their better draws including their most sought after big game quota hunts. Maybe that is the solution. Take all hunts that get the highest number of applicants and make them for Texas Resident Only. If it is only 2% to 7% of total applicants then it would not have an impact on revenue. Those Texas resident applicants who can't afford to go to another state due to high non resident fees would at least assuming the number is right have a 2% to 7% better chance of drawing one of those more sought after hunts at home. For someone applying for a hunt every year for most of their lifetime, that small number is actually a big deal. Every time there is a TPWD survey or public hunt comment section to fill out, etc. Residents need to bring this up every time. Shoot emails to commission members about it. Squeaky wheels get greased.

That’s a good point.

About 7% seems legit to me. The TPWD rep said the number of nonresident applications was low enough that they considered the problem to be "self limiting".

I personally like the $3 per application and being able to apply for a lot of hunts every year. I don't want to pay more.

It would be silly for them to not be truthful when the records could be obtained by the public. I have no need to request records because I know those evil nonresidents aren't drawing all the hunts.

The reason he said 2-7% is because nonresidents comprised approximately 2-7% of the applicant pool in any given year.

I did respond on the basis of that number being true.

I think I made some selfish and biased arguments last year on this topic but I have come around a bit. I think they should absolutely charge for a qualifying license of some kind just like most every other state does just to get some money to support the administration of the program and potential acquisition and leasing efforts. They already do this for some of the annual postcard hunts where you have to buy the public hunting permit prior to applying. The difference in the cost between a non resident and resident license is comparable with the disparity in other states so seems fair to keep it approximately where it is, but at least require a non resident to purchase the annual hunting permit or a small game license prior to applying. If a hunter gets drawn I think the cost of the permit for the hunt should be the same no matter resident or non-resident; non-residents are already paying more for an out of state license. I can see wanting to institute some quotas for resident vs non residents in the most difficult to draw hunts and categories but I don't know that making them resident only would be justified. Frankly I would probably quit applying because the quality is not there to justify the travel and expense for all but a handful of hunts for me. This may be the goal to reduce applications, but instituting a quota like other western states seems like a more even handed approach. There are also a handful of hunts that should probably be once in a lifetime. It would not take many out of the pool but it is the principal of the matter. The sad fact is the demand far outstrips the supply; non residents may not apply in large numbers but the opportunities are so slim it can have an impact. Limiting the number of applications per category just seems to make common sense. If they are worried about losing money on application fees increase the dollars for an application to make up the difference. Personally I only put in one application for the categories I apply for but there are people who put in many and it seems to inflate the numbers and probably leads to no-shows or returned/standby permits rather than permits going through the draw.

It is also pretty sad to see some of the season dates and you see how between the youth and adult season for rifle and bow and number of permits, they absolutely run tons of hunters through these places to increase opportunity placing massive pressure ultimately decreasing the quality of the hunt. You add in the fact people are waiting for 10-20 years for a middling quality hunt, and people feel they must leave with something, and it further reduces quality over time. You can draw 0 point rifle Mule Deer tags all day long in Colorado as a non-resident and have a much higher quality hunt and opportunity at a nicer buck than most of what is offered for mule deer in Texas. Just food for thought. If you are after a particular type of hunt don't get stuck on tunnel vision trying to draw what is effectively a lottery ticket. Speaking for myself the main reason I apply for these hunts is there is some nostalgia related to a particular property or region of Texas. I have a specific reason for applying for every hunt I apply for and tend to apply for the same hunts about every year.

I gotcha.

That’s spread across all categories as an average. There are lot of random area’s that are focused on just deer that don’t see heavy or any NR apps. You take Aoudad, Niligi, Desert Bighorns, there is a heavy heavy NR applications as there are Application services that have started including those choices in their services. It is cheaper for Res in NM to apply for Aoudad in TX as a NR than for them to apply in NM as a Res.

When I hunted Aoudad at Caprock Canyons, there were guys driving from as far as Colorado just to try for a standby spot.

Yelp, every forum on the internet highlights oryx, nilgai, aoudad and desert bighorns. Epic outdoors and huntin’ fools offer those in their app services.

I think it’s pretty bad that it’s cheaper for NM res to apply and most cases hunt big horn, Aoudad, oryx cheaper here then in thier own state

Welp I have made my annual donation.

New Mexico is more expensive to apply, but they offer way more public tags for all species in the draw plus the odds of drawing most NM tags are way better than Texas. The same is true with most western states.

I've driven from Wyoming. Of course being a native Texan with family down there to visit helps.

State hunting permits on state land should go to state residents. Period.

Non-residents have no business hunting our wildlife on state land, like Desert Bighorns, especially western state residents, like NM, that discriminate so badly against non-residents for hunting on FEDERAL land.

The non resident issue is constantly brought up every year. I agree that nonresidents should not be able to apply for the super high demand hunts such as Big Horn sheep, pronghorn, oryx and etc.

It seems to me that Texas should require you to have a valid hunting license when applying for hunts. Similar to the epostcard hunts requiring you to have an APH when applying. Most all residents already have a license. Requiring nonresidents have a license would certainly be revenue positive for TPWD and reduce numbers of applicants at the same time.

I would agree with you, if they would restructure the non-resident licenses. All the western states that require a $150 license have millions of acres of state or federal public land, where the NR can go and use the license. Buying a full price Texas NR license with 5 WT, 2 MD, and 4 turkey tags included is a waste of money, since 95% of Texas is private and those tags are unusable without paying another $3-5000 for guided hunts.