AUSTIN – This season, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) Big Time Texas Hunts program is awarding ten lucky winners with premium guided hunt packages, offering some of the very best hunting opportunities in Texas.
In the last 26 years, Big Time Texas Hunt (BTTH) participants have helped raise more than $19.5 million to fund wildlife research, habitat conservation and public hunting access. The 2022-23 hunting season was the biggest revenue producing year for the program, raising over $1.4 million, and the third year in a row with sales exceeding $1 million.
Conservation efforts funded by BTTH include desert bighorn sheep restoration work in West Texas, thousands of acres of brush control work across the state for the benefit of species like mule deer, pronghorn and quail and multiple grassland restoration projects. Public hunting efforts include the funding of numerous public hunting leases and the purchase of hunting equipment such as ADA-accessible blinds for several Wildlife Management Areas.
“Revenue generated from the sale of BTTH entries cover the cost of next year’s hunts plus provides funding for wildlife habitat work and improves the quality of public hunts across the state,” said Kevin Mote, TPWD’s Private Lands and Public Hunting Program Director. “In our 27th year, we are extremely excited to continue offering hunters a chance at once-in-a-lifetime hunting opportunities and raising important wildlife conservation funding at the same time.”
Some of the most popular hunts in this year’s drawing include an Exotic Safari, where the winner and a guest will have a chance to hunt gemsbok and scimitar-horned oryx at Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area — plus receive a YETI Limited Edition Red Tundra 65 hard cooler, donated by Yeti Coolers, LLC. Another hunt, the Texas Grand Slam, offers the winner four separate hunts for desert bighorn sheep, white-tailed deer, pronghorn and desert mule deer. The Ultimate Mule Deer Hunt offers a three-to five-day hunt for mature mule deer in the Texas Panhandle.
The 2023 – 2024 Big Time Texas Hunts will include the following guided hunt packages:
- Texas Grand Slam (one winner of four separate hunts for big game, with non-hunting companion)
- Texas Nilgai Antelope Safari (one winner of a hunt, with one hunting guest)
- Texas Exotic Safari (one winner of a hunt for exotics, with one hunting guest)
- Texas Whitetail Bonanza (five winners of a hunt for buck white-tailed deer, with each winner permitted to bring one hunting guest)
- Texas Powderhorn Cast and Blast (one winner of hunting and fishing on ranch with one hunting/fishing guest )
- Texas Big Time Bird Hunt (one winner of three separate hunts for game birds, with three hunting guests on the dove and duck hunts, and one hunting guest on the spring turkey hunt)
- Texas Premium Buck Hunt (one winner of a hunt for buck white-tailed deer, with one hunting guest)
- Texas Gator Hunt (one winner of a hunt for an alligator, with one hunting guest)
- Texas Wild Hog Adventure (one winner of a hunt for feral hog, with up to three hunting guests)
- Ultimate Mule Deer Hunt (one winner of a hunt for buck mule deer with one hunting guest)
Big Time Texas Hunts entries are available online for $9 each, or at license retailers or by calling 800-895-4248 for $10 each. The deadline to purchase entries is October 15 and winners will be announced within two weeks.
