I will have my 5th Wyoming Preference Point after this season. Will I ever draw for this state? I had heard that Wyoming had a lot of tags, so I thought it would be a wise place to invest my money in applying. How many points should I accumulate before acually entering my name in the draw? I am 28, so do I have a shot at a hunt before I turn 50? It sure is depressing that sheep populations cannot get to the levels of the whitetail deer so that more of us could enjoy hunting them.

I am 37 and I have 2 points.

I had 5 points then moved to Alaska, changed my residency and points got to be $100 each. So I was pissed off and a bit confused and quit buying them for about 7 or 8 years.

My dad has 10-12 points (I Can't remember), and he'll probably draw within the next 3 or 4 years if we hunt the Shoshone wilderness, and maybe within 5 if we hunt the Wind Rivers.

Point Creep is the phenominon that is killing us all.

Every year it takes more points to do it. I think if I am lucky I'll kill a ram on my 58th birthday.

At current point creep you probably have 15-18 years go to.

Then again if you have the money to do it keep buying points and eventually you'll get to hunt sheep.

I'd also buy in Colorado and Montana (though they require the entire fee up front), Washington state,AZ, NV, and Utah.

And buy mountain goats points in Montana, Washington States, Colorado, Utah and Nevada.

Sorry for your 2nd question.

You have a very small chance for drawing every year in the big areas.

That being said, you don't gain any senority on points until you have the most points.

80% of the tags go to those with the highest points. 20% go to everyone else.

You have just as much of a chance of drawing on your first try as you do on your 13th try if it takes 14 points to draw.

As for being depressing well, not exactly.

There are lots of wild sheep on the planet, not just the ones in North America. So there isn't much depressing about it. And globally there are tons of wild sheep available for hunting, though the cost can be huge. I got a quote for a Blue Sheep hunt in Pakistan today for $24,000 US. Probably one of the greatest sheep hunting adventures on the planet for a completely beautiful species of wild sheep in a very exotic location. Heck of a deal compared to $50,000 for a desert bighorn in Mexico or a $28-40,000 Alberta or BC Bighorn hunt.

Only a small percentage of North America is wild sheep habitat, and between human enroachment, the spread of the wolf, the ranching industry, and the complete lack of any immune system in NA Wildsheep they are doing pretty well.

We only think we lost 1 variety of wild sheep the Audobahn Bighorn during Western Expansion. So they have never done really spectacular anyway.

I'm in your boat, going to buy PP for sheep in WY for the first time this year, and I hope I hunt before I'm 50. I've been looking at their draw, and I would apply to hunt every year and hope you get the 1 or 2 tags given to those of us below max points. Only the areas with 16 or more total tags have nonresident random draw tags available though, so keep that in mind (1 NR random tag for each 16 tags offered.)

On westward expansion, here's an article about the Audubon bighorn, or lack thereof.

http://fwp.mt.gov/mtoutdoors/H...4/audubonbighorn.htm

I sure wish I had started buying points sooner!