Texas Hunt Lottery

 

Fort Bliss runs an annual lottery for Oryx and Aoudad (Barbary Sheep) hunts on the Texas side of the installation. The lottery is run through the Fort Bliss iSportsman website. Anyone may enter the lottery, regardless of military status or state residency. Winners must be able to acquire a Texas hunting license and must carry proof of hunter education certification (unless exempt) during the hunt. The oryx winners will receive an authorization permit to hunt one (1) either-sex Oryx, and the aoudad winners will receive an authorization permit to hunt one (1) either-sex Aoudad.

 

Lottery Information

The 2024-2025 season Texas Hunt Lottery OPEN 29 July - 18 August 2024!

The winners for the Fall 2024 hunts will be drawn on 19 August 2024. A second lottery will be drawn in November 2024 to draw hunters for the Spring 2025 season.

 

The Texas Hunt Lottery will be open for two-three weeks through Fort Bliss iSportsman, at which time any iSportsman user may enter the lottery for an oryx tag, aoudad tag, or both. Users will not be able to see the entry permits before the lottery is opened. All Fort Bliss iSportsman users will receive an email announcement when the lottery opens. Make sure the email address associated with your account is accurate.

How to enter the lottery:

  1. Create an iSportsman account or sign into your account.
  2. Take the Hunter and Range Safety Briefing (under My Safety Briefs). Note: safety briefing validations expire on March 31st of each year and must be retaken annually.
  3. Go to "Available Permits". If the lottery is open, at this point the entry permits for both TX Oryx and TX Aoudad should appear for you. 
  4. Add the desired entry permit/s to your cart and fully check out. Lottery entry is free at this time.

 

Once you have checked out with an entry permit the Lottery for that species will appear under the "Lottery" tab, where you may view the status of your entry. 

Winners will be drawn at the conclusion of the lottery and will receive an email notification. Winners must acquire a Fort Bliss Hunting and Recreation Access Permit through iSportsman (permit info here). Winners must schedule their hunt with the Fort Bliss Hunt Program representative.

 

Draw Rates

Half of available tags for each species are awarded to active duty military and half are awarded to civilian or youth entrants. Over the past three years of lotteries, there have been 300-400 military entrants each year and 800-900 civilian or youth entrants. Draw rates have varied due to the number of tags awarded each year. 

 

Texas Hunts

The Texas Oryx and Aoudad hunts are scheduled around the military training schedule for select weekends September-March. Each hunter will be assigned one weekend to hunt. Hunters will receive hunt-specific information and hunt maps by email prior to their assigned hunt. Texas Oryx and Aoudad hunts are unescorted hunts. Texas State hunting regulations must be obeyed while hunting on Fort Bliss.