One of THEIA’s missions is the support of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department volunteer hunter education instructor. As part of THEIA’s mission we as an organization provide Incentive Awards to hunter education instructors that the department recommends and can verify has earned the number of required points to be awarded an Incentive Award.
TPWD is a state agency and therefore is limited in it’s ability to provide awards, and other Incentives that exceed a statutory defined value. THEIA being a charitable non-profit is able to pick up Incentive Awards funding where the state’s limitations on funding preclude them from offering Incentive Awards in excess of a statutory controlled value.
The majority of your membership dues go to help fund the Incentive Awards.
Incentive Award recipients are determined by an Instructors records maintained by the department. Once a Instructor has earned enough points to be awarded an Incentive Award the department then provides a list of those individuals to THEIA. THEIA then verifies the information and funds the award.
Typically Incentive Awards are presented to the hunter education instructors during the Hunter Education Conference which is held annually.
Currently the top three Incentive Awards provided by THEIA are:
- Pistol = 2500 points with a value of $250.00
- Rifle = 3000 points with a value of $300.00
- Shotgun = 3500 points with a value of $350.00
Currently all firearms Incentive Awards are provided to the hunter education instructor in the form of a gift card, no actual firearms will be exchanged.