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Thread: Wyoming preference point elimination

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master


    Join Date
    Apr 2017
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    Aberdeen, South Dakota
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    Wyoming preference point elimination

    I got some great news in an email. Wyoming is considering eliminating their preference point system for big game, and going to a bonus point weighted random draw system. All I can say is it is about damn time. I'll post a link below to their survey they have where you can submit your opinion. I hope even the older hunters with 15+ points in the current system can realize how detrimental preference points are to the future of hunting. For example, if I were 20 years old today, and bought my first preference point for bighorn sheep, realistically with the rate of points creep, I would be in my 50's, if not 60's before I drew a bighorn tag. I shouldn't have to explain how problematic it is to be having retirement age hunters getting all of the most physically demanding tags. With the new system, there is no way to guarantee you will draw a tag soon, but at the very least you have some small chance of drawing right from day one.

    https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Wyoming...Points-System?

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master


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    Huh, not a lot of talk with this one. Definitely read what is being proposed in that link. This is one of the most important changes that can happen to western hunting. That, along with the recent attention to the checker board land issue Wyoming has had shows that people are getting fed up. This change can happen.

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
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    New Mexico
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    I don't hunt, so it's more or less a don't-care for me.

    To be honest, I don't really even know what a preference point is. All I know was that when I lived in CO, most of the elk tags in good units seemed to go to rich out of state trophy hunters and the local folk were left with scraps...Would "preference points" change that type of situation in any way?

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master


    Join Date
    Apr 2017
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    Preference points are the current system, and no they don't help. They strongly favor older folk who have applied since the systems started. They also favor the rich, since they have the money to apply in a bunch of states, and eventually get lucky. The best way to describe the current preference point system is that it is a waiting line. Every year you pay for a point, and one point can be $150 or more, and you keep building points until you have more than anyone else. That's an overly simplistic view, but that's the basic setup. Some states allow a TINY amount of tags as a random lottery, but just as often they auction them off. A good moose tag I'm sure brings over $10,000, which sounds like a lot, but it's not that much crazier than all the preference points you buy.

    What Wyoming is considering going to is a bonus point system. Personally I feel their bonus points are too weighted, and I said that in the survey. The best way to describe this system is it is a random lottery, and every year you don't draw, you buy a bonus point. What Wyoming is proposing is to square your bonus points. The example they give is that at 12 bonus points, you will have your name 144 times in the drawing. While I feel this is too weighted to the higher points, this system will at least see more younger hunters getting tags. About the only drawback I can possibly see is that with a lottery, you can't guess when you will win. It might be year one, it might be year twenty. Some people like knowing the exact year they will draw.

    Preference points are acceptable in some instances. The best use of them is in tags you can draw regularly. Deer tags where you draw at 1 to 5 preference points is a perfect use for that system. What Wyoming is talking about is rare big game like Moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, and elk. Hopefully they consider mule deer as well. It will never be easy to draw moose, goat, or bighorn tags in the lower 48, but at least this gives younger people, and less rich people a fighting chance. It will spread the distribution so to speak, rather than every single hardcore mountain hunt going to a wealthy and or 50+ year old. And with preference points, this will only get worse. Points creep means every year the front of the line gets farther away. It will eventually level out, but it's already WAY out of hand.

    P.S. Wyoming, and most states already give strong preference to residents. Wyoming gives 90% of tags to residents. This is the way it should be.
    Last edited by megasupermagnum; 06-30-2022 at 12:07 AM.

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    New Mexico
    Posts
    480
    Ah, ok...I think I get it now. Thanks for helping me understand.

    Sounds like the proposed changes will be a step in the right direction.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check