AUSTIN – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is offering licensed hunters and anglers free entry in the Win Your Dream Year Outdoors drawing, which will give one lucky license holder the opportunity to enjoy the outdoor season of a lifetime.

Only Texas residents with an annual or lifetime license are eligible to enter the drawing for the grand prize package that includes a guided hunting trip, three guided fishing trips, $2,000 in Cabela’s gift cards and gear, a Franchi 12 gauge shotgun, free lodging at La Quinta Inns & Suites and a 2017-18 season Super Combo License.

The grand prize package also includes two unique trips that give the winner and their guest the opportunity to accompany fisheries biologists on field trips to the Devils River and to the Gulf coast. The winner and their guest will join a TPWD inland fisheries team in kayaks on the pristine Devils River where they will have an opportunity to fish while also getting an inside look at the kind of field work biologists do to keep river fish populations healthy. The other trip is with TPWD coastal fisheries biologists, accompanying them on an offshore research vessel in the Gulf of Mexico to help with a gulf trawl or longline sampling.

“We wanted to send a big thank you to our hunting and fishing license buyers for their purchase and for their support in helping keep hunting and fishing world class in Texas,” says Janis Johnson, marketing specialist at TPWD. “We are truly excited to be able to offer such a valuable grand prize package, plus three great runner-up prize packages, which were made possible in large part by our generous sponsors and prize donors.”

The winner will also experience some of the best Texas has to offer with a guided dove hunting and three fishing adventures, including a bass fishing trip with Cabela’s TV outdoor show hosts that will be televised and shown nationally, fishing for trophy blue catfish on famed Lake Tawakoni and a guided saltwater fishing excursion on Matagorda Bay. Each fishing or hunting trip is for the grand prize winner and a friend and includes lodging at either a La Quinta Inns & Suites or a lodge at the trip location. Three runner-up winners each get a $300 Cabela’s Gift Card, a Cabela’s Polar Cap Cooler (25 QT) and a one-year subscription to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine.

“One doesn’t often get a chance to bass fish with TV celebrities, dove hunt with a premier outfitter, kayak and fish the Devils River with a team of TPWD experts and take home several thousand dollars’ worth of fishing and hunting gear,” said Josh Havens, TPWD Director for Communications. “We are excited about the uniqueness and quality of these prizes and we know they will be revered by our hunters and anglers.”

To be eligible for the drawing, participants must have a current annual or lifetime license, sign up for free Texas Parks and Wildlife Department email updates on hunting or fishing, and agree to all drawing terms and rules. All entries are free but can only be made online at www.tpwd.texas.gov/DreamYear before the Nov. 30, 2016 drawing deadline. The winners will be drawn in early December and notified by email.

Sponsors of the Win Your Dream Year Outdoors prize drawing are Cabela’s, the world’s foremost outfitters, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, the nonprofit funding partner of TPWD. Prize donors include La Quinta Inns & Suites, McBride’s Guns, Inc., Texas Dove Hunters Association, Coastal Conservation Association Texas and Lake Tawakoni Guide Service.