WY Mule Deer advice

[LukeDuke]

Hey everybody...hope you all had a good 4th of July. During my drive home from the in-laws, I was daydreaming about archery elk hunting in MT and then a reminder popped up on my phone that I needed to buy points for WY. My hunting priorities have changed a bit since I started buying pts for WY as I now mostly hunt with family and friends in MT. I have 4 deer points and 4 antelope points. Not sure when I will cash in the antelope points, but the two guys I have hunted with out there are really wanting to cash in on the deer points in the next couple of years(all NR with same pt totals). I tried to find something on the WYGF website regarding avg pts needed to draw/etc. I found the tab for draw odds, but nothing that lays out avg points needed or anything like that. I am familiar with the NR special vs regular tags, as we have gone that route in the past for antelope, so I apologize if I am missing an obvious link someplace. We are just looking to head out there and enjoy the beauty of WY and hopefully find a representative mule deer. For MN boys, those mule deer racks sure look a heck of a lot bigger than the whitetails we chase around here None of us are trophy hunters, but we also have some patience when it comes to looking over animals. Part of me wonders if we just hit up a general unit tag and go for it, or do we hold out a couple more years and continue to build pts for a limited unit? Of course if we just want a good representative buck, is a limited unit really necessary? Don't know as I have only hunted Antelope in WY and in doing so, we really didn't see that many deer. I am happy as heck to chase mule deer in MT. I have spent much more time there vs WY and have familiarized myself with our hunting areas and have come to have realistic expectations on the size and age class of the deer. I just feel I am vested to a particular point in WY and its time to pay or play. Appreciate any inputs you all may have.

Thanks

 

[Goatshoes]

I believe I understand the point system well enough so assuming I understand your question clearly here is your points answer. The points will be averaged and the party leader will be effectively treated as an individual holding the number of points equal to the average. So if you have three hunters with points of (4, 4 and 1) the party leader will be treated as having three points. If you, the party, leader are drawn then everybody in the party receives a tag (even if there aren't enough tags remaining in the zone at that point).

I hope that helps.

 

[LCH]

The preference point draw results is what you're looking for. Sounds like you were looking at the random draw results.

I pretty well expect point creep for most tags these days, so if I really want to draw a tag, I only apply for something that had 100% draw at my points pool the previous year.

There are a lot of tags you can draw with 4 points.

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

4 Pts means you can have any Region tag except G and about 75% of Unit specific tags. There really isn't much reason to hold on longer because if you can't get it with 4 points its going to be a long wait.

 

[LukeDuke]

Ok thanks guys. We have 5,4, and 4 points respectively. The above helps. I was trying to see if there was a way to figure out what type of points would be needed to draw an ok tag. Sounds like we are in the ballpark. I subsrcibe to eastman's so I will look back thorough some of that to come up with some sort of plan on units or regions that we can focus on and narrow down.

Thanks again.

 

[Flatrock]

I don't think they have a plain list or anything where it shows the points required to draw a tag. Like LCH said, you'll just have to go into the draw tables and see which units take however many points to draw. Tons of antelope options for you. I would try to draw next year. No reason to go past 5 points.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

The draw odds are exactly what you need to look at to see about what the PP levels are needed to draw a tag in any particular unit. IMHO they are very simple to read and with past years the G&F has up there it's not too difficult to see the trend and whether it's taking 3PPs for a 100% chance at the tag or a lot more, etc. 75% of the tags go into the PP drawings and 25% to the random where no PPs are used. The PP drawings are further broken down to 60% of the tags going to the regular draw and 40% to the higher priced special draw.

 

[jlh321]

http://toprut.com/hunt/wyoming-mule-deer/
This site will let you put your points in and show you the units you can draw.

 

[LukeDuke]

Geez...my bad. I clearly see it now. I was quickly running through it the other day when I had a free minute and I looked under the random draw vs pref points draw. Thanks TopGun and thanks jlh321. I will have to check out that site. Right now I need to turn the IPad over to my three yr old so she can watch paw patrol...my research will have to wait