TPWD Drew 14 Big Time Texas Hunts Winners After Entries Raised More Than $1.35 Million
TPWD drew 14 Big Time Texas Hunts winners from 149,114 entries that raised more than $1.35 million for wildlife research, habitat work and public hunting. The next entries go on sale May 15, 2027.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department on Monday named 14 winners of this year's Big Time Texas Hunts, drawn at random from 149,114 entries that raised more than $1.35 million for wildlife research, habitat work and public hunting, the department said in a Nov. 9 news release.
Kevin Mote, TPWD's private lands program director, called the hunts "a win-win for hunters and conservation." "Revenue generated from these hunts help support habitat improvements and public hunting facilities on department land."
The department's Big Time Texas Hunts page says entries for the next round will be available starting May 15, 2027. The release had said only that they go on sale May 15. The program is supported by Toyota and the Texas Bighorn Society, the release said. All of the prize hunts include guide service, food, lodging and on-site transportation.
Where the money goes
The department's Where the Money Goes page says proceeds "support public hunting opportunities and wildlife habitat conservation in Texas" and lists examples, not a complete ledger of this year's $1.35 million.
On the conservation side, the page says entries have helped pay for annual desert bighorn sheep helicopter surveys in West Texas, so biologists can collect population data and identify animals for relocation or harvest. It says desert bighorns have been restored to eleven distinct mountain ranges and areas where the animals had been gone since their extirpation in the early 1960s.
The same page says food plots have been planted for white-tailed deer, turkey and other wildlife at Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area, and that a seed spreader bought for Guadalupe Delta WMA is being used to expand plots for dove and other game. It also says hog traps have been placed at selected East Texas wildlife management areas. The department's page states that feral hogs "destroy $52 million annually in agriculture products and natural resources habitat." That figure is the department's, not a calculation made here.
Habitat projects listed include giant cane control at Black Gap WMA, brush control at Yoakum Dunes, Matador and Elephant Mountain WMAs, 20 acres of native-grass reseeding at Tawakoni WMA, and mulching of dense woody understory at Gus Engeling WMA.
For public hunters, the page cites new or expanded camp shelters and camping areas at Sierra Diablo and Pat Mayse WMAs, fire rings and picnic tables coming at James E. Daughtrey WMA, new hunting blinds at several areas, including ADA-accessible blinds with ramps at Chaparral WMA, improved check-station equipment at multiple WMAs, and changes to the online draw system, including stand-by permits payable by credit card at wildlife management areas with internet access.
The 14 winners
The release listed these winners:
Big Time Bird Hunt, Phillip Pearson of Coppell; Exotic Safari, Stewart Smith of Marion; Gator Hunt, Nicholas Centofonti of Round Rock; Nilgai Antelope Safari, Levi Best of Hutto; Premium Buck Hunt, Daryl Long of Yorktown; Texas Grand Slam, Jarid Malone of Friendswood; Lone Star Javelina Hunt, Daniel Marshall of El Paso; Ultimate Mule Deer Hunt, Wendall Housler of Cloudcroft, N.M.; Whitetail Bonanza, Chanler Devore of Burnet, Desmond Porter of Spring, Morgan Flake of Claude, Mark Young of Rockwall and Nolen Anthis of Conroe; and Wild Hog Adventure, David Gonzalez of Bandera.
The program's home page calls Lone Star Javelina Hunt "Our Newest Hunt" and notes that javelina are now eligible for Texas Big Game Awards and Boone and Crockett records. The official 2026-27 rules describe 10 hunt packages and say the drawing deadline for this cycle was 11:59 p.m. Central time on Oct. 15, 2026. A winner is required to have a valid license to hunt in Texas at the time of the hunt and must abide by state hunting laws. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Gordon Darby Inc., and their immediate family members, were not eligible.
How to enter next year
The department's How to Apply page says entries cost $9 online or $10 at a retailer, with no limit on how many a person may buy. A $5 administrative fee applies to an online transaction, but a buyer can purchase unlimited entries and other licenses in that transaction and pay the fee once. A hunting or fishing license is not required to buy entries. A person must be at least 17 to purchase them; hunt participants must be at least 8, the rules say.
Fourteen names out of 149,114 tickets is a long shot. The conservation work paid for by those tickets is not. Buying a regular license and hunting public land remains the ordinary way most Texans go afield, and it still comes with the duties we described in Texas Hunting Incidents Rose to 26 Last Year. What the State Report Says Hunters Should Do Before Deer Season.
Psalm 24:1 says, "The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." Habitat, honest counts of the herd and a place for the public to hunt are a form of that stewardship. The next entries go on sale May 15, 2027.
