Big Game Awards Kick Off With Contest for Lifetime Hunting License

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SAN ANTONIO — For more than 13 years, the Texas Big Game Awards (TBGA), a partnership of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the Texas Wildlife Association (TWA), have recognized the contributions that landowners, land managers and responsible hunters make to managing and conserving wildlife and wildlife habitat on Texas’ private lands.

The Texas Big Game Awards program is designed to recognize the quality of big game animals in Texas, the hunters who harvest these animals, the land managers who produce these animals through their management efforts, the importance of our hunting heritage, and the achievements of young and new hunters.

Although the TBGA program offers no prizes for entries other than recognition, this year the TBGA will again continue the “Early Entry Special” program which will allow hunters who mail in their completed entry form early and include a photo for promotional purposes, to be automatically entered in a drawing for some great prizes.

Hunters who harvest a white-tailed deer, mule deer, or pronghorn antelope this season meeting the minimum Boone and Crockett requirements for their respective region may be eligible to receive recognition in the Scored Entry category and so can the landowner from where the trophy was taken. Hunters of any age who harvest their first big game animal in Texas are eligible for the First Big Game Harvest category. And any youth hunter (younger than age 17 when they purchase their hunting license) with a Special Resident Hunting License who harvest a white-tailed deer, mule deer, or pronghorn antelope are eligible for the Youth Division whether they harvest a buck or doe, regardless of score.

For those hunters who harvest Scored Entry qualifying animals and have their completed entry form in by the 30th of each month beginning in October through December, prizes are available. Entries must include a quality field photo of the hunter and their trophy and entry forms must be complete. It is preferred that photos be emailed in to (tbgaphotos@texas-wildlife.org) or hunters can mail in their photos with their entry forms.

There will be one winner chosen for each of the three months. For the Early Entry Grand Prize, everyone who has their completed entry form in by Jan. 30, including First Harvest and Youth Division entries, will be eligible for a Texas Lifetime Hunting License! Photos for this drawing are not required but encouraged. The license reward is proudly sponsored by Smith’s Abrasives and Hunter’s Specialties.

For more information about the Texas Big Game Awards, entry information, or for a local certified TBGA scorer, please call (800) 839-9453, ext. 114 for more information. The final deadline to enter the Texas Big Game Awards for the 2004-05 season is March 15. The Texas Big Game Awards would like to thank Leupold and Stevens, Gerber Legendary Blades, Horton Manufacturing, Smith’s Abrasives, and Hunter’s Specialties for their support of the “TBGA Early Entry Special.”