Texas Hunting Leases

The odds of winning a Lotto Texas drawing usually exceed a million to one.  But, the odds of being drawn for one of the positions offered in special drawn hunt categories by TP&W are much better.  Last year, 44,298 applicants vied for the opportunity to hunt some of the state’s managed wildlife areas and habitat.  This year, 5,700 hunters will be selected for hunts that include white-tailed deer, mule deer, pronghorn, javelina, alligator, exotics, feral hog and spring turkey.

In years past, the process for applying for these opportunities was somewhat antiquated.  Using a large TP&W booklet, a hunter had to flip back and forth through pages in order to determine what hunts they wanted to apply for.  After that, the process involved cutting out applications and mailing checks before the deadlines listed.  The application fee for most of drawings is $3 per adult and there may be other fees as well. 

Today, TP&W has modernized its process to take online applications and have added a nifty search feature by species and area to make it easier to apply.  In looking through the choices, I did not see the highly prized “Big Time Texas Hunts” linked here.  To access these hunting opportunities, one must go to the dedicated website and apply.  By applying online, you save 1$ off the regular application price of $10.  Not to mention the hassle of using “snail-mail”.  These hunts will be available sometime in mid-August (See the Big Time Hunts Video).

Kids are not forgotten with this program either.  There are eight free youth-only hunt categories for hunters between the ages of 8-16.  These, like all hunt positions, are randomly selected in a computer drawing from all correctly completed entries received by the specified deadline.

With the online application process, TP&W has dramatically improved its public hunting program for hunters and the many opportunities available to them.  With that, the chances of winning a “hunt of lifetime” just got a lot easier to go for.

Growing up in Texas does not mean that you frequent every part of the state on a regular basis, or even in your lifetime.  I, for one, have not really seen much of West Texas – except from the window of a commercial jet.  But even from that vantage point 30,000 feet in the air, it is amazing to see all of the pad sites with well-heads and pump-jacks dotting the landscape below.

I have not researched it, but I am sure there was some opposition to the incursion of the oil and gas industry’s equipment upon the ranch lands there.  Questions almost surely arose about the effects on the cattle industry and the degradation of the vast vistas the area is known for.  All of that must have quickly subsided when the first checks came in the mail box.  And, I am sure it will again when the next century of energy production covers this land in the form of wind turbines.

According to the American Wind Energy Association, Texas is is ranked #1 in the the USA by existing capacity and #2 for potential capacity.  This should come as no surprise since Texas has large land areas and coast lines which are perfect for the construction of wind farms.

But, like most fledgling industries, there will be growing pains and conflict.  A recently planned wind farm in the hill country was met with strong opposition.  An article online in the San Antonio Express-News reported that many residents were shocked that an energy company obtained leases to build here with very little oversight from governmental agencies.  The group later found out that there is little or no state or federal oversight governing wind farms.  And many observe that you don’t even need wind to make them profitable due to the tax breaks and write-offs earned just by building them.

Hunters are not immune either.  There is concern that the income from wind farms will provide more incentives to land owners than the dollars earned from hunting leases.  This, in turn, will limit access.  Some wind energy contracts signed by land owners limit the use of hunting with rifles and hunters are beginning to loose their leases.  Although no one is successfully arguing that these 100 meter monstrosities will harm wild game populations, hunters have reason to be concerned.  In the meantime, the US Fish & Wildlife Service has also issued a press release naming 22 individuals to serve on an advisory committee who will advise on measures to avoid or minimize the impacts to wildlife and their habitats from land-based wind energy facilities.

On the other hand, industry officials say that they are not anti-hunting and that most leases have full hunting privileges.  And, for land owners who have low incomes from their land operations, this is a way to increase income and hopefully retain larger ranches within the family by not having to sell. 

As the energy capital of the world, Texas will need to be a leader in taking the world’s demand for energy in a different direction.  Open ranges and the wind that blows over them are two things we have plenty of and are arguably endless resources as compared to fossil fuels.  Hopefully, the two learning to live together will fight off the biggest threat to hunting in general - population growth and urban encroachment.

I was surprised when I saw the title of National Geographic Magazine’s Feature article on their website. “Hunters, for the Love of the Land” by Robert M. Poole, is a wonderful story which validates the benefits of hunters and hunting to our wildlife and their habitat.  I have always enjoyed National Geographic’s pictures and stories about the world we live in.  But, I have to admit that I was surprised to find a “pro-hunter” article among pages that most would argue are usually not so favorable to a conservative viewpoint.

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Poole, a hunter himself, writes about the various ways hunting and hunters help the very animals they seek to harvest.  Through the support of scientific research to habitat protection, America’s hunters (and more specifically their dollars and voting numbers) have done more to preserve and restore wildlife then any other group.  This especially includes the so-called environmentalists groups combined.

Traveling across the country, Poole observes how local communities and ranchers still survive on hunting dollars.  Even media-mogul Ted Turner advocates the use of hunting to manage free-range herds of wild game on his large ranch lands.   The article also contains a series of pictures to chronicle the author’s travels.

Looking forward, Poole recognizes the threat of population growth and the urbanization of our youth.  The number of people who hunt are dropping across the country.  And, one can only surmise that this will have a direct correlation to the health and abundance of our wildlife.