Deadline approaching for entry into Texas Big Game Awards Program - The Dallas Morning News

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Texas’ 2021-22 general deer season rolled to a close in January. It wasn’t a record year for giant antlers, but some hunters likely enjoyed their best deer season ever.

Hunters who brought down a good buck have until March 1 to have the antlers measured for entry in the Texas Big Game Awards Program. There also are scored entry categories for mule deer, pronghorn antelope, javelina or bighorn sheep.

TBGA it is a hunter/landowner recognition program run jointly by the Texas Wildlife Association and Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. since 1991. The non-profit program recognizes hunters who harvest quality big game animals and the land managers responsible for producing them, while stressing the importance of our hunting heritage.

In addition to the scored entry categories for free ranging and high-fenced properties, there are youth and first harvest divisions to recognize the achievements of youngsters and new hunters. The program is free for anyone to enter, and hunters don’t have to go public with the name or location of the property. Scored entries must be measured by a certified TBGA scorer or an official B&C scorer.

There are dozens of TBGA scorers around the state. A full list is available on the program website, texasbiggameawards.org. All scoring is performed using the B&C scoring system.

Minimum net green B&C scores for program eligibility are as follows: Typical white-tailed deer, 125 to 140 (depending on region), and non-typical white-tailed deer, 140 to 155 (depending on region); pronghorn antelope, 70; typical mule deer, 145, non-typical mule deer, 160.

Successful hunters are awarded certificates at informal banquets held during late spring or summer. Participating hunters are invited for a free meal and to bring their trophy mounts for display for others to see. Youths can win college scholarships. It’s a really neat deal for everyone involved.

Following the regional banquets, the top three animals in each category are recognized at a statewide gathering held in conjunction with TWA’s annual convention. These hunters get special gifts.

Upcoming awards banquet dates:

Regions 1, 2 and 3: June 4, Stephenville

Regions 4 and 8, June 25, New Braunfels

Regions 5, 6 and 7: May 21, College Station

State banquet, July 14-17, San Antonio

Entries small

Texas deer hunters shoot thousands good bucks each season. Most hunters are usually forthcoming about showing off their trophies.

Sadly, you wouldn’t know it by the number of scored entries turned over to TBGA.

The program has topped 2,000 overall entries only twice since it started 30 years ago. TBGA’s best year was 2003, when 2,062 entries were recorded, according to David Brimager, TWA director of public relations.

The total has hovered at around 1,000 entries since 2011, a figure that is sure to be laughably low compared to the number of qualifying hunters/animals that go unrecognized each year.

The worst season for entries during the last decade was 2020-21. Only 831 overall entries, including 466 scored entries for white-tailed deer were recorded statewide that year.

Some may speculate that COVID-19 stifled interest in deer hunting, but it didn’t. Texas hunters shot nearly 450,000 deer during the 2020-21 season, according to annual harvest estimates from TPWD. The poor TBGA participation can’t be linked to a lack of hunter success.

Alan Cain, who heads up the white-tailed deer program for TPWD, says he thinks the number of qualifying bucks killed in Texas that are not entered in the program might shock the imagination.

Cain says he knows one taxidermist in Pearsall who took in about 1,700 bucks for mounting during the 2021-22 season alone. Many of those deer would make the minimum score required for TBGA entry in the South Texas region, Cain said.

“Multiply that by the number of taxidermists across the state, and there could easily be 100,000-plus bucks that would qualify,” Cain said. “That’s a just a wild guess, but I think it’s legit. Of all the deer that are likely eligible to be entered in TBGA, a very small percentage are actually entered.”

Rally around TBGA

It’s anybody’s guess why participation in such a worthwhile program is so light in a state with a close-knit deer hunting community of nearly 800,000 licensed deer hunters.

A lack of awareness after 30 years doesn’t seem logical, but with new generations of hunters constantly entering the sport and limited promotion/marketing schemes to reach them, it is a possibility.

It could be many hunters don’t want to put forth the effort to make contact with a certified scorer and follow through with the necessary paperwork to finish the job.

Some may have concerns that advertising a good buck could invite unwanted company. It is also possible that hunters no longer see the prestige in entering an 18-inch, 8-pointer that barely makes the minimum qualifying score in some regions.

Brimager thinks a lack of awareness may be the root of the problem.

He says TWA is looking for ways to remedy the situation and generate some interest.

“We don’t know for sure what is going on with why people don’t know about the program, but I think a lot of it has to do with marketing,” he said. “That’s something we discussed at our summer committee meeting. We hope with some bigger backing sponsors we can swing this thing upward. I think it would also help to get more taxidermists involved in getting the word out.”

Brimager added that Ram Trucks recently came onboard as a supporting sponsor, which should help with TBGA’s marketing budget.

The TBGA program promotes hunting and quality deer management while at the same time offering a little recognition to the animals themselves and those hunters who happen to get lucky in the field.

Texas’ deer hunting fraternity should embrace and rally around the program. We owe it to the future of the sport and to our hunting heritage. It doesn’t cost a dime to play the game.

TBGA entry forms should be mailed to: Texas Wildlife Association, Attn: TBGA, 6644 FM 1102, New Braunfels, TX 78132

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached at email, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com.

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