Last year I drew an Archery Exotic Only hunt at Garner State Park for February 1-5, 2021, and paid my permit fees in hopes of fliggin' sticks at axis deer or other exotic critters. Fast forward to today and I called Garner State Park Office to let them know that I will be unable to attend the hunt due to a very busy work schedule.

For all you stick flippers out there that may have some spare time on your hands this upcoming week, you may want to reach out to Garner State Park and ask them about at least ONE available standby position since I can't go. There were only 4 applicants chosen for next week's hunt and since I've bailed out there may only be 3 hunters. It should be a good hunt and the weather forecast looks very promising. From what I've been told it's a target rich environment...

Good luck in advance in case any of you lucky Ags wants to take a chance at a great hunting opportunity. Shoot straight and DON'T MISS!!!

Thank you for sharing!!!

I'm pretty sure stand by opportunities are created only when drawn applicants don't pay their fee by the deadline.

In your case OP, the hunt manager at Garner is happy that there is one less paid hunter that they have to accommodate, while the program garnered (pardon the pun) revenue through your payment.

And based on the interwebs, the late season archery axis hunt at Garner is one of the most challenging TPWD drawn hunts offered.

So you're going?

Didn't mean to crap on the OP's post, as It was obviously well intentioned.

Merely providing some insight on my end.