The state of Arizona is about to make a handful of folks very happy. It seems the state has decided to bring back their Big Game Super Raffle. From Ammoland:

Still searching for the perfect gift for all the hunters on your list? Tickets for the 2018 Arizona Big Game Super Raffle are on sale and by buying tickets now you’ll be entered to win an early bird prize.

While 10 lucky individuals will win one of 10 special big-game tags (bighorn sheep, elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope, bison, turkey, black bear, javelina and mountain lion) for the 2018-2019 hunting season, the real winner is Arizona’s wildlife.

The 2017 Big Game Super Raffle netted a record-setting $673,600, and every dollar raised for each species through the raffle is returned to the Arizona Game and Fish Department and managed by the Arizona Habitat Partnership Committee for that particular species.

Those who buy tickets online in December will be entered to win one of 10 Canyon Coolers as part of the “Buy Early, Buy Often, Win Big” incentive drawing program.

Additional incentive drawings take place for all tickets purchased online through May. Buyers will receive one incentive drawing entry per order regardless of the number of raffle tickets purchased in that order.

Raffle tickets can be ordered online, or a ticket order form that can be printed out and mailed in is available on the website. Tickets range from $5 to $25 depending on the species.

Winners will be able to hunt these species for a full 365 days, meaning there’s no season for those lucky few. In other words, they’ll be able to hunt when there’s absolutely no hunting pressure on these species, making they far less skittish.

As a hunter, this is a wonderful thing, a virtual gift from God. Or the state of Arizona and whoever buys the ticket, at least.

It’s also a hell of a way to raise money. The handful of these winners won’t be enough to really hurt the herds as they grow throughout the year, but people buying tickets will make a nice contribution to the budget from people who are voluntarily forking out their hard earned cash.

This will allow any number of projects to be funded without having to worry about the politics that might otherwise infest such programs. After all, legislators aren’t nearly as likely to get ticky about things if they’re not expected to fund it.

In fact, I can’t help but think about how something like this could benefit a lot of states. My own home state of Georgia is probably not a good candidate because we have great whitetail deer hunting, but not a whole lot of other favorite large game animals. At least, not that actually have a season (I’m looking at you, wild hogs).

However, there are still plenty of other states that could really take advantage of this one as a revenue generator. I sincerely hope they’ll follow Arizona’s lead and not just raise some money, but give hunters a golden opportunity to do some hunting when it’s just them.