The year 2010 marks the 35th Anniversary of Texas Trophy Hunters Association. It has been a good 35 years, and TTHA has influenced many changes in Texas deer hunting and the hunting experience in general. The long road to the present with TTHA had a modest start in San Antonio as the dream of a discontented hunter who wanted to bring deer hunters together as an association.

The 1970s saw a dramatic change in Texas deer hunting. Hunter numbers were at an all time high—some 560,000—and the word among hunters and landowners was “quality.” Al Brothers and Murphy Ray had published their monumental work, “Producing Quality Whitetails,” in 1975, which kicked off a movement toward big bucks that still exists today. This trend, however, was not relegated to deer. Ray Scott had been successful in developing an association called BASS, Bass Anglers Sportsman’s Society, which promoted quality bass fishing. The world of hunting and fishing was taking a turn.

Jerry Johnston loves white-tailed deer, and is an avid deer hunter. Back then, he could see a need to bring hunters together in an association that would promote quality deer and influence the economic values of deer hunting in Texas. Jerry had a vision that emerged into the Texas Trophy Hunters Association. The rest is history.

It all started in a rented trailer house on Prue Road in San Antonio. The year was l975. Jerry sat at a fold-down breakfast table in the kitchen and made a final decision to start an association that would bring white-tailed deer hunters in Texas under an umbrella group that he would call Texas Trophy Hunters. The decision was not a sudden thought that came into his mind. It arrived after many days and hours of discussion with friends like Al Brothers, Murphy Ray, Joe Hibler, Lin Nowotny, and Larry Weishuhn, just to name a few.

“I figured that if Ray (Scott) could do what he had done with bass fishermen, I could do the same thing with whitetail hunters,” Jerry said. “I had had about every kind of job that you could name by the time I was 25. I had been a painter and an automobile body man, among other things, but I was never satisfied that anything I was doing would last or keep my interest.”

In the early ’70s, Jerry became a salesman for the American Sportsman’s Club, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The company had large properties leased for hunting and fishing, and their salesmen would sell memberships to these leased properties.

Jerry was very successful in selling these memberships. In fact, after three years and an award-winning period in sales, he received a rifle for selling the most memberships. In spite of his success, Jerry left that job. He and his friend, Danny Hurtt were partners in a car parts recycling business, but Jerry still had that itch to form a Texas association of deer hunters.

“My friends kept telling me to do it,” Jerry recalled, “and I finally made up my mind to kick off the start of the association by promoting membership in any corner store that would let me paste up one of my little posters.” Word of mouth around the hunting community was also a critical measure of membership growth.

“I needed some money, so I hocked the rifle that I had won from the American Sportsman’s Club, along with some other items that I really didn’t need. Before long, I had about 700 to 800 members and I realized that I was going to have to do something for this membership besides the magazine.”

The first “meeting” of the association was held in the El Tropicano Hotel in San Antonio in the fall of 1976. The next year, the “convention” was moved to La Villita Assembly Hall, and then to the San Antonio Convention Center for a couple years. As things began to come together, Jerry moved the convention to the Joe and Harry Freeman Coliseum. Jerry took the advice of Fred Maly, who was then outdoors editor for the San Antonio Light, and called the event Hunters Extravaganza.

“After a few trials and errors, we opened our Hunters Extravaganza® in Houston, and later on, at the Will Rogers Center in Fort Worth. Our membership had increased beyond my wildest dreams, but at the time, I was still having a hard time making ends meet.”

The association’s first publication was called Texas Hunters Hotline. After a few years, Texas Hunters Hotline became The Journal of the American Trophy Hunters, and after a few more years the name was changed to The Journal of the Texas Trophy Hunters. The present 250-page plus award-winning magazine has come a long way from the 32-page Hunters Hotline!

Jerry Johnston speaks of the early days with guarded emotion. “As a deer hunter, I wanted a way to connect with other deer hunters. I wanted to share their experiences in ways that could only be done with a good association backed by annual membership gatherings and a good television show. We have accomplished all these things, thanks to some close friends who believed in me and the concept enough to bail me out a few times over the years.”
 
Today, after 35 years, the Texas Trophy Hunters Association is connecting the interests of hunters from Anchorage to Miami, and from Maine to California. Hunters all over the world read The Journal and view the national award-winning television show.

Each year, thousands of eager hunters attend the Hunters Extravaganzas in San Antonio, Houston and Fort Worth. In the beginning, it was mostly men, but today, the attendance is split about 50-50 with women. We are always proud to see the ladies participate in outdoor sports—especially deer hunting.

Thirty-five years is a long time. Through the years, the magazine has had several names, the Extravaganzas have changed location, and the TV shows have changed names and channels. We’ve jumped into the digital communications world with both feet, including an outstanding Web site, digital e-newsletters, and even our magazine is available online. The Association’s political involvement and community outreach programs have grown in support of the hunting community. The word for most of this is “progress.”

Our headquarters has seen several locations. The first was a one-room office with two people and a manual typewriter. Now, you can find us located in our new modern headquarters, complete with a full HD production studio, near Stone Oak Parkway in North San Antonio.

TTHA members can be proud of our commitment as an educational, communication, and political force for promoting hunting, the Second Amendment, and landownership rights in Texas. Because of TTHA, the future looks bright for quality deer hunting, and outdoor recreation in general, for years to come.