Hunting News

Applications open for Drawn Hunt Permits

Applications open for Drawn Hunt Permits

By Texas Parks & Wildlife Department

Hunters can now apply for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Drawn Hunts. The online system is accepting applications.

This year about 9,500 permits in 49 hunt categories are up for grabs for drawn hunts on public and private lands. Among the offerings through the online system are hunts for white-tailed and mule deer, pronghorn, turkey, alligator, exotic gemsbok, and scimitar-horned oryx.

In addition to drawn hunts managed by TPWD, the system includes applications for hunts administered by other entities, including almost 2,200 deer and exotic hunt positions on four U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges in Texas and 2,500 antlerless deer permits for U.S. Forest Service properties in East Texas.

Among the program changes this year, all drawn hunts associated with the $48 Annual Public Hunting (APH) Permit will not be available for application until Aug. 15, when APH Permits go on sale. Applicants for e-Postcard hunts and USFS Antlerless Deer Permits must have a current APH to apply. The change is intended bring the postcard hunts back to the way they functioned before the draw system went on-line.

“The second big change is limiting the number of youth applications per hunt category to three,” said Kelly Edmiston, public hunts coordinator. “To ensure more youth have an opportunity to participate and increase attendance, this year applicants will only be allowed to select up to three hunt areas in the same youth hunt category.”

Drawn hunt opportunities can be viewed online by category or by area via an interactive map and all applications, fee payments and permit issuance is handled electronically. To participate, applicants will need internet access, an email address and a credit or debit card. The Customer ID number from the applicant’s hunting or fishing license is one of the easy ways to access the system.

Last year, the department received 155,000 applications for drawn hunts.

Aug. 1 is the deadline for the alligator hunt categories, pronghorn, youth deer, and the new private lands dove hunts, and Aug. 15 is the deadline for archery deer, exotic, and javelina.

Application deadlines are on the 1st and 15th of each month. A full list of category deadlines can be found online.

For more information or to get started in the application process click here.

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