LopeHunter
Well-known member
Things will settle down after another two draws. Points only folks who had been accumulating as non-residents saw the rise in tags (bison, ouch) and preference points and see the writing on the wall is WY is going to extract much more per year to apply and then much more for the license.
If you were patiently sitting on max elk, deer and pronghorn and decided to jump in to the actual draw then there are not enough primo tags for the max point holders. Several of them assumed they "earned" any tag in the draw by patiently buying points for over a decade but that is simply not true. A lot of max guys did not get their first choice.
If you had drawn elk, deer and pronghorn in the past decade and were again building up points but short of the max pool though were in the sheep and moose game then you realize 2018 may be a great time to plan an exit plan. Few of us could hunt multiple WY tags in a year so will take a while.
Between the max guys realizing they may need to drop down to just below the blue chip to draw in 2019 and the guys wanting to burn up points one or two tags per year, there will be point creep accelerating at the mid-tier units while the odds for max point applicants will get better though in many cases are only 20% or less for primo tags in 2018. Could take four years to burn off the Max elk/deer/pronghorn guys nervous about possible cost increases well beyond inflation and the chance quota gets lopped in half for non-residents.
Buckle up, is going to be bumpy for a few years then will settle down to be Colorado East where the primo tags are effectively once per lifetime if have regular luck. Elk units needing 40 points to draw in the preference bucket is just a matter of needing to burn off the Max pool and the next 5 point levels. See sheep and moose to see how worthless 10 points are for getting you into anything but the 25% random bucket for the next decade or two.
Point systems are not your friend. And certainly not your future kid's or future grandkid's friend.
If you were patiently sitting on max elk, deer and pronghorn and decided to jump in to the actual draw then there are not enough primo tags for the max point holders. Several of them assumed they "earned" any tag in the draw by patiently buying points for over a decade but that is simply not true. A lot of max guys did not get their first choice.
If you had drawn elk, deer and pronghorn in the past decade and were again building up points but short of the max pool though were in the sheep and moose game then you realize 2018 may be a great time to plan an exit plan. Few of us could hunt multiple WY tags in a year so will take a while.
Between the max guys realizing they may need to drop down to just below the blue chip to draw in 2019 and the guys wanting to burn up points one or two tags per year, there will be point creep accelerating at the mid-tier units while the odds for max point applicants will get better though in many cases are only 20% or less for primo tags in 2018. Could take four years to burn off the Max elk/deer/pronghorn guys nervous about possible cost increases well beyond inflation and the chance quota gets lopped in half for non-residents.
Buckle up, is going to be bumpy for a few years then will settle down to be Colorado East where the primo tags are effectively once per lifetime if have regular luck. Elk units needing 40 points to draw in the preference bucket is just a matter of needing to burn off the Max pool and the next 5 point levels. See sheep and moose to see how worthless 10 points are for getting you into anything but the 25% random bucket for the next decade or two.
Point systems are not your friend. And certainly not your future kid's or future grandkid's friend.
