Good luck to everyone. This is probably the last best chance for nonresidents. Scuttlebutt is that there will be far fewer tags for nonresidents next year. Fingers crossed!

Not me.

Me neither.

quote:

Originally posted by Navaluk:
Good luck to everyone. This is probably the last best chance for nonresidents. Scuttlebutt is that there will be far fewer tags for nonresidents next year. Fingers crossed!

***Nothing regarding fees or quotas will take place before 2016 as the Legislature is done for this year. Anything voted on and approved during the legislative session next year would not take effect until the 2016 season at the earliest.

My buddy in Sheridan drew a bull bison tag with 3.3% odds. I hope he makes at least one hunt in the Fall while I'm out there to tag along and help as the season runs from 8/15/14 to 1/18/15.

Buffalo cow. Got a bull in 2006. Whoopee!!!

Looking for some info'on Wyoming.

Does anyone know how many Preference points it takes to get the top Trophy producing areas for:

Sheep

Moose

Elk

Which units are the best for each of those three animals.

Looking for Outfitter Recomendations for the above 3 animals. Thanks.

Wyoming's points work like this: 75% of tags are given in order of preference points, and 25% are given randomly to all applicants. The tags given in the preference point drawing all go to hunters with the max number of points. If there are 100 people with max points and 15 tags, and you have 1 fewer point, you have 0 chance at those tags. The 15 tags are randomly given to 15 of the 100 hunters, and 85 guys are left with max points (which is now 1 more point) for next year's drawing. That's called point creep - the max points goes up by 1 just about every year, so you can buy points but you never really catch up.

I looked into sheep and moose a couple years ago. I added up all the hunters who had already started applying, and divided by the number of tags given out every year. For sheep there were about 140 years worth of tags spoken for in people ahead of me in points, and for moose it was 100 years. Basically if you start buying points for those two species now you better be very young and hope that lots of people in front of you die or quit before you do.

Elk are a lot better situation than sheep and moose. I just looked at the 2013 results and there were lots of bull tags given out to hunters with fewer than max points. If you start buying points now you'll be able to get a bull tag in a few years. The best trophy units and units with good public land access will probably have point creep and you may never catch up in the max points race, but lots of other units will be possible to draw.

Does anyone know when they do the Supertag drawings?

I pulled a moose tag. Not a great unit, but it feels good to finally get out of the moose draw game. I think we will see some major permit allocation and fee changes in the next couple years in WY. I'm not against them doing that, but I'm glad I'm out. Any legal bull better watch out.

Dan, how many are max points ?

Elk, Deer, Antelope

Moose and Sheep

These links show how many hunters (resident and non-resident) have how many points. Moose and sheep have been on this system longer, so the max points going into this year's draw was 19. Elk, deer, and antelope started later, so the max points is 8.

The catch is the max points will go up basically every year. Take sheep for example - I added up 45 nonresident sheep tags in the preference points system. If a nonresident started buying points now, the 7,815 nonresidents in front of him would get their tags first. 7,815 / 45 is 173 - so basically 173 years worth of hunters are in line in front of you. These tags won't go exactly in that order - some guys might draw a year or two early by using their near-max points on a lesser unit, some will quit, some will die, etc. But overall, I don't think it's worth applying for sheep or moose in Wyoming starting now.

Elk, deer, and antelope are going to work the same way - the max points will go up just about every year. The difference is they give out a lot more tags for those species every year - in 2012 Wyoming sold 69,000 elk licenses. What that means is that 1) more hunters in front of you every year will draw tags and return to 0 points, and 2) more units will stabilize at fewer than max points to draw. You might never catch up to the max points for the best unit in Wyoming, but you might find a good unit that only takes 4 or 5 points to draw.

I finally drew a NR moose tag in Wyoming!
It took 15 years. It was worth the wait but...

If a guy is currently sitting on 13-14+ points, he's in great shape to have a moose tag in the next few years. If you're points total is too much less than that you'd better think in terms of a decade+.

Sheep are somewhat harder to draw and an applicant better enjoy currently sitting on 16+ points or he's looking at well over a decade to aquire a sheep tag in a better unit (if quotas don't change).

If I had to start over for sheep or moose in Wyoming I would forgo an application in that State. An applicant simply will not live long enough to get a tag especially if/when tag quotas are slashed in half!

Congratulations to those who drew and better luck next time for those who didn't.

Zeke

Now all you have to do is find one that hasn't already been chewed.