Hunting Heritage

What Animals Qualify For TBGA?

Article by KARA STARR Photos courtesy of TBGA

Pop quiz time! How many animals does Texas Big Game Awards (TBGA) recognize—and can you name them?

Every year we get a few entries that we have to disqualify for one simple reason— it’s the wrong animal.

Five animals are recognized by the TBGA: white-tailed deer, mule deer, pronghorn, javelina and desert bighorn sheep.

Because not every big game animal that can be hunted in Texas qualifies for entry into the TBGA, let’s take a look at which animals do qualify. Here are photos of each qualifying species along with a past TBGA awardee. Each of these animals can be entered into the First Harvest and Youth Division categories along with the varied Scored Entry categories. There’s even a new category that has just been established this year for white-tailed deer.

More information on our newest category along with all other categories can be found on the website, www.TexasBigGameAwards.org.

Desert bighorn sheep 2018-2019 TBGA Awardee Marcus Dennis

White-tailed deer 2020-2021 TBGA Awardee Ty Tinsley

Mule deer 2019-2020 TBGA Awardee Alan Howry

Pronghorn 2019-2020 TBGA Awardee Tracy Gilliam

Javelina 2017-2018 TBGA Awardee Matt Grayless