1.) Wild Bob - 08/02/2017

Finally! All three of us drew antelope tags this year!

Hooooo-haaaa! Let the planning, scouting and fun begin!

2.) Swamp Fox - 08/02/2017

:grin:

3.) DParker - 08/02/2017

Excellent! I enter for public land drawn antelope hunts in the panhandle every year, but we have a better chance of being struck by lightening on a sunny day than being drawn for that.

4.) Triton Rich - 08/03/2017

[B]Congrats Bob! Happy hunting and don't forget pics![/B]

5.) luv2bowhunt - 08/03/2017

Good deal! Maybe the boys will show you how it's done.:grin:

6.) luv2bowhunt - 08/03/2017

[QUOTE=DParker;50578]Excellent! I enter for public land drawn antelope hunts in the panhandle every year, but we have a better chance of being struck by lightening on a sunny day than being drawn for that.[/QUOTE]

How many tags do they give out? I hope they don't sell any to non-residents if you can't get one.

7.) DParker - 08/03/2017

[QUOTE=luv2bowhunt;50585]How many tags do they give out? I hope they don't sell any to non-residents if you can't get one.[/QUOTE]

IIRC there will be 12 entries drawn for this year's hunt. But the drawing isn't for tags, but for spots in a scheduled public land hunt. Every year TPWD holds scheduled hunts for specific game animals on units of public land (or private land that the state temporarily leases for the purpose) that are either not normally open to hunting, or that are usually open but are closed to the general public for the duration of that hunt (usually 3-7 days). The land unit is subdivided between the drawn hunters and you have exclusive access to your assigned area during the hunt.

Anyone from anywhere with a valid TX hunting license can participate, but AFAIK it's pretty much all residents. I always enter for the Pronghorn hunt because, despite the looooong odds, it's the only way I'd ever be able to hunt them in TX, given that all of the land populated by huntable TX antelope is privately owned...and I'll be damned if I'll pay for any of the guided hunts available ($2,500-$3,000 for 2 days, last time I checked.).

8.) luv2bowhunt - 08/03/2017

Thanks for the explanation and I'm with you on not paying for hunts.:tu:

9.) Swamp Fox - 08/03/2017

Oh, c'mon...Lots of people on here would love to have you come hunt with them and give you the good-buddy price...You should consider it. ---LOL

10.) luv2bowhunt - 08/03/2017

Yes, I remember Floyd and the ladder you almost killed him on. If I was climbing to that stand, you'd probably have the pointed sticks for me to fall into when the ladder 'failed'.:re:

11.) luv2bowhunt - 08/03/2017

[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;50588]...Lots of people on here[/QUOTE]

That's an oxymoron is it not?

12.) Swamp Fox - 08/03/2017

I had a good run with permit hunt drawings for a while, but until recently my luck seemed to run dry. I did get pulled for a turkey hunt this year, but on the drive in realized why I had been skunking out on permits the last seven or eight years (besides occasionally forgetting to apply--LOL): they've drastically increased the number of permits they award to people who aren't me and/or a lot more people are applying. I guarantee you the turkey population hasn't exploded, but the quotas have. Same for deer.

I used to be able to win a permit and have a place to myself or almost to myself. No more. Kinda sucks the fun right out of it. I will have to devise an even more ingenious strategery for applying in the future, apparently, since the old ways seem to have worn themselves out.

13.) Swamp Fox - 08/03/2017

[QUOTE=luv2bowhunt;50589]Yes, I remember Floyd and the ladder you almost killed him on. If I was climbing to that stand, you'd probably have the pointed sticks for me to fall into when the ladder 'failed'.:re:[/QUOTE]

Yeah, THAT'S your excuse...:-)


[QUOTE=luv2bowhunt;50590]That's an oxymoron is it not?[/QUOTE]

LOL

14.) Wild Bob - 08/03/2017

"Good deal! Maybe the boys will show you how it's done." - Luv2

- I hope so! They have not had a chance to kill an antelope yet, so my goal is to basically just be their guide and hopefully help them get one. Then if we achieve that; may be dear old dad will get the chance to try for something. :wink

"and I'll be damned if I'll pay for any of the guided hunts available ($2,500-$3,000 for 2 days, last time I checked.)." - Parker

-Yikes! That's steep for a speed goat!! You could do a week long DIY hunt in Wyoming for about half of $2,500...cheaper probably if you are thrifty or pair your travel expenses up with a buddy. (Driving straight thru or sleeping at rest stops along the hwy really keep your costs down too.)

15.) Wild Bob - 08/03/2017

Additional piece of advice tho on the part about sleeping at rest stops...
When someone comes knocking on the door of your truck in the wee hours just outside of Kansas City...don't talk to them. :lol:

16.) Swamp Fox - 08/03/2017

[QUOTE=Wild Bob;50594]"Good deal! Maybe the boys will show you how it's done." - Luv2

- I hope so! They have not had a chance to kill an antelope yet, so my goal is to basically just be their guide and hopefully help them get one. Then if we achieve that; may be dear old dad will get the chance to try for something. :wink

"and I'll be damned if I'll pay for any of the guided hunts available ($2,500-$3,000 for 2 days, last time I checked.)." - Parker

-Yikes! That's steep for a speed goat!! You could do a week long DIY hunt in Wyoming for about half of $2,500...cheaper probably if you are thrifty or pair your travel expenses up with a buddy. (Driving straight thru or sleeping at rest stops along the hwy really keep your costs down too.)[/QUOTE]


I had the same thought about the price.

As far as the road trip aspect goes: I wish I had a picture of a truck I saw in either Wyoming or Colorado one time. It was early-to-mid September, so hunting season, and it was either an old extended cab pickup or an SUV (I don't remember). It was crammed full of gear and it was obvious the guy was living in it, at least until he killed something.

It had a curtain made out of a quilt or something separating the driving compartment from the living room/storage area, and every inch of that truck had some piece of paraphernalia, fast food detritus, paperwork or family heirloomage on it, in it or under it.

In order of apparent chaos and awesomeness, I would say that guy, my Bronco, and the Clampetts. :grin:

I'll have to check the other laptop to see if I have a pic. It might have made it to one of the old BCs.

17.) DParker - 08/03/2017

[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;50591]I had a good run with permit hunt drawings for a while, but until recently my luck seemed to run dry.[/QUOTE]

Ditto. I got drawn for multiple deer/hog hunts (2-3) every season for the first few years I entered. But the past 3 years have been complete busts.

[QUOTE=Wild Bob;50594]You could do a week long DIY hunt in Wyoming for about half of $2,500...cheaper probably if you are thrifty or pair your travel expenses up with a buddy. (Driving straight thru or sleeping at rest stops along the hwy really keep your costs down too.)[/QUOTE]

I've actually considered that a few times. My son and I already did one long road trip to the Bitterroot Mts for a bear hunt, about 200 miles (road travel distance) past West Yellowstone, just on the Idaho side of the MT/ID border...so anywhere in Wyoming would certainly be doable. It's on my "might have to do that" list.

18.) Wild Bob - 08/04/2017

[QUOTE=DParker;50604]Ditto. I got drawn for multiple deer/hog hunts (2-3) every season for the first few years I entered. But the past 3 years have been complete busts.



I've actually considered that a few times. My son and I already did one long road trip to the Bitterroot Mts for a bear hunt, about 200 miles (road travel distance) past West Yellowstone, just on the Idaho side of the MT/ID border...so anywhere in Wyoming would certainly be doable. It's on my "might have to do that" list.[/QUOTE]

Nice! Contact me when you get to the planning stage of it...I can offer some thoughts based on my experiences that might save you some time/money.

19.) DParker - 08/04/2017

[QUOTE=Wild Bob;50618]Nice! Contact me when you get to the planning stage of it...I can offer some thoughts based on my experiences that might save you some time/money.[/QUOTE]

Will do. I just need to find the time to do it before Yellowstone blows up and ruins....well....everything. :p

20.) Swamp Fox - 08/04/2017

[QUOTE]"The location and focal mechanism solution of this earthquake are consistent with right-lateral faulting in association with faults of the Lewis and Clark line, a prominent zone of strike-slip, dip slip and oblique slip faulting trending east-southeast from northern Idaho to east of Helena, Montana, southeast of this earthquake," said the USGS.--[I]Newsweek[/I][/QUOTE]


Insert Futurama meme here:

[I]"Not sure if good news, or impending doom."[/I]