Received a surprise in the mail today: my NYS doe permit. When I purchased my license online last month I entered my unit of preference for the doe permit. I was informed immediately that I would not be issued one and was given a preference point.

Well today I received mail from the DEC and it contained a doe permit for my unit and a letter explaining that they incorrectly estimated the number of hunters who would request a doe permit. Therefore they had a lottery for those who were rejected and I was selected. Best part is I did not lose my 2 preference points.

Has that happened to anyone else?

I've had this happen twice in the past. This is not uncommon and outlined in the NYS Huting Guide on page 28 under "Backend Selection Period". It describes how undersubscribed areas may have a lottery for unissued tags, which is what happened to you. The goal is to issue the full number of DMU tags that they had planned on.

Good luck filling the tag!

Thanks erict. I plan on filling it with a nice big, fat doe, but those are hard to come by. Unfortunately 1.5 year old deers are the rule where I hunt in East Durham. Frustrating to say the least.

I was told the same thing went I applied in person for the WMU I wanted, and I find out a month later that this WMU was available. Stinks

A few things you guys can consider when it comes to NYS Deer Management Unit (DMU) "doe" permits:

1. They are transferrable - even if you don't get one for your area, you can accept up to two DMUs from others and use them as if they are your own. You have to be carrying them with you during the hunt and they have to be accounted for on the face of your tags under the DMP part of your report panel (see page 26 of the guidebook).

2. They can be legally traded or even sold.

So, even if you don't get one, you don't necessarily have to give up on getting one. You might also try to contact the DEC regional wildlife offices to inquire about properties that may be interested in getting hunters to come in to take antlerless deer (outside of hunting season) pursuant to a DMAP (deer management assistance program) permit. Quiet a few farms get these and you may strike it "rich" if you find one locally that wants you to harvest a few of their problem does.

That's some good information. Thanks erict.

here is a copy of the email i recieved about these tags


Dear Instructors;
FYI: Some of you may hear of or get Qs on this.

Yesterday Albany started mailing some Deer Management Permits (DMPs) to a random sample of hunters who were denied the first time around, but shouldn't have been.

This is called the "Intermediate Batch Process" (IBP) - it is intermediate (in between) the standard instant "lottery" period (from mid Aug thru Oct 1) and when the First Come, First Serve (FCFS) "leftovers" are made available on Nov 1.

This happens when we overestimate the number of applicants in a unit, and during the instant lottery period, end up giving out less total permits than the quota.

Not everyone who was turned down will get one; We then take the number of applicants who were denied when they shouldn't have been, divide it into the number of permits remaining, and use the resulting ratio to apportion permits back to this group randomly. The questions will likely come from hunters who have a friend or relative who got a permit in the mail, but who didn't get one themselves, and want their share of the pie.

The units in our region where this is happening are 8R, 8T, 8X, and 8Y. The number of permits mailed range from 56 in unit 8X to 1363 in unit 8T.


This process is completely different from the First Come, First Serve (FCFS) issuance period which starts November 1, and is designed to get rid of the extra permits resulting from a lack of applicants during the instant lottery. The units that will offer FCFS permits are:
1C
3M, 3R, 3S (bowhunting only)
8A, 8F, 8G, 8H, 8J, 8N
9A, 9F