Online service, public hunting program aid hunters across Texas

August 1, 4:03 PMDallas Hunting and Fishing ExaminerWill Leschper

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The largest barrier to hunting in our great state is the fact that upwards of 95 percent or more of it lies in private hands. However, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department again is offering a free service to make it easier for hunters across the state to gain access to prime hunting locales for a variety of game.

The Hunt Texas Online Connection, which the agency debuted early last year, again invites landowners to list hunting opportunities of all kinds for the average Joe to check out. The department doesn’t endorse or verify the landowners or outfitters who apply to list their lands on the Internet-based service, but that shouldn’t deter anyone without a place to hunt from registering for free and seeing what’s out there.

Another way TPWD is attempting to provide hunting opportunities to the public is through its annual drawings for everything from deer and antelope to turkeys and alligators. Almost 5,000 hunters will be chosen through random drawings for hunts this fall, including those on wildlife management areas, and with application fees ranging from $3 to $10, these are a bargain. The standard period hunt permit if you are chosen has risen to $80, but when you consider you could pay more than 20 times that much just to lease some decent land for one gun, the value shines through.

Hunters who applied for hunts last season will receive booklets and applications at their mailing address, while others may get them by calling 1-800-792-1112.

Another drawing TPWD conducts is its Big Time Texas Hunts, which offer a variety of amazing guided opportunities simply by purchasing $10 drawing entries wherever licenses are sold. The entries also can be bought online for $9. Among the drawings is the Texas Grand Slam, which features hunts for a desert bighorn sheep, a whitetail buck, a pronghorn antelope and a desert mule deer.

For more information on the Hunt Texas Online Connection, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/exptexas/programs/hunt-texas. For more on public hunting, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/hunt/public. For more on Big Time Texas Hunts, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/hunt/public/btth.

Lifetime license clock ticking: TPWD has increased the cost of hunting and fishing licenses 5 percent across the board for 2009-10 when they go on sale beginning Aug. 15, but lifetime licenses are set to rise much more come Sept. 1. The state’s lifetime hunting and fishing licenses will rise from their current rates of $600 to $1,000, while the lifetime combo license will increase from $1,000 to $1,800 at the end of the business day Aug. 31. If you buy these licenses before then, you still get them at the reduced rate, but only if you’re a Texas resident.

According to TPWD figures, a hunter buying a lifetime license breaks even after about 14 years, while the break-even mark for anglers and combo license holders is after about 15 1/2 years. It was because of decreased revenue that these licenses are set to go up in cost, pushing the time it takes to lose revenue on them to near a quarter century.

While the extra expense may be a bit much for many hunters and anglers, the math certainly supports purchasing a lifetime license if you can afford to simply as an investment for coming decades, especially since license fees certainly won’t go anywhere but up in future seasons.