Would you give up your points?

I would gladly give up all of my points in all states. The fairest way to allocate scarce public resources is a random draw. My biggest frustration with point systems is how for many states it was essentially a grant of the states best wildlife resources to the group of hunters who applied or got in on the base level. For example, Wyoming started their system in the mid 2000's I believe...for their top units - it was basically a grant of 75% of the very best tags to those first year applicants. What about that years applicants entitled them to 75% of the best tags for the next several decades?

It is encouraging to see CO introduce this hybrid draw. I think that is the only way states wean themselves off these point schemes. Slowly start ratcheting down the proportion of tags that are allocated to preference and bonus point holders, while increasing the proportion of tags randomly allocated to all applicants. While a portion of us would support abolishment of point systems...it would never fly politically.
 
Im beginning to think points don't mean anything in MT - reviewing the draw statistics for example:

-14 bonus pts....10 resident applicants...only 2 drew the tag?
-11 bonus pts....11 resident applicants...nobody drew the tag?

I'm having a tough time understanding the weight that bonus points have and if they truly give you any better odds? Anybody with better knowledge or insight I would love to learn more

Thanks in advance
 
Sounds great and I can guarantee you will never see it. It's about money with these states and applicants are gonna be pretty pissed when they loose points that's cost them thousands over several years built up. I try now to only play those point games on what I consider OIL tags m/s/g unless it's say a tag that I think can be drawn within a few years.
 
Do Wy and MT for instance start seperating out archery season and rifle seasons into multiple hunts say like AZ or NM?. To try and make people use up points faster and pick a weapon. MT maybe is a bad use for an example as it is a lot of general areas and not as many limited. But should a guy be forced to choose either archery or rifle? Just seeing what others think.
 
Why not compromise... split the pool between purely random draw and a bonus point draw. Only catch is you have to pick your game, can't play in both.... Of course someone is going to complain about the split, but it could be adjusted accordingly to reflect the percentage applying for each draw...
 
You also have to consider those points bring money in for conservation. Many programs implemented by these agencies are funded through license sales, which includes preference point $$. That and you could possibly never draw a tag if it went to random draw. New Mexico is an example where you can apply your entire life and there is a chance you will never draw....
 
Why not compromise... split the pool between purely random draw and a bonus point draw. Only catch is you have to pick your game, can't play in both.... Of course someone is going to complain about the split, but it could be adjusted accordingly to reflect the percentage applying for each draw...


This would greatly devalue points since there would be much less chance that they would help you draw. If fewer people bought points, then revenues would suffer. With so many state Fish and Game departments heavily or totally dependent on money from licenses, tags, and points, this may be tragic to their operation.
 
This would greatly devalue points since there would be much less chance that they would help you draw. If fewer people bought points, then revenues would suffer. With so many state Fish and Game departments heavily or totally dependent on money from licenses, tags, and points, this may be tragic to their operation.


Don't think that it would decrease the value of points at all. Some people value knowing that they will draw such and such tag within "x" number of years. Some people are fine knowing they stand a chance of drawing any year, possibly never, possibly watching someone hunt an area 30 times and never drawing it themselves. Some states like Colorado don't charge crap for points so it likely wouldn't make a difference. Most states its a hunting license and small application fee not a bonus point fee. The one that really bends people over for points is Wyoming and its only non residents, if they instituted a hunting license or application fee for res and NR they could easily account for the shortfall. Only difference would be if you played random, you get no points.... If you played points you'd get no random.... one could switch at any time, the rules still apply, and you don't get a point when you are applying in the random pool, thus constant point pool applicants stand a better chance...
 
Im beginning to think points don't mean anything in MT - reviewing the draw statistics for example:

-14 bonus pts....10 resident applicants...only 2 drew the tag?
-11 bonus pts....11 resident applicants...nobody drew the tag?

I'm having a tough time understanding the weight that bonus points have and if they truly give you any better odds? Anybody with better knowledge or insight I would love to learn more

Thanks in advance

It's a bit hard to know what is going on in your specific example without knowing the species and unit, I couldn't find a unit for any species that had only 10 resident applicants of 11 resident applicants so I think you might be looking at just the applicants with that many bonus points instead of total applicants.

The key with Montana is that points just put your name in the hat a number of times equal to your bonus points squared plus 1.

Bonus points are just chances, remember its possible that if you had your name in a hat 999 times and your buddy had his in there 1 time, 1000 total, that if you were to pick out a single name it's possible that it would be your buddy with just 1 chance in a thousand.

Max point holders are statically the most likely to draw, but given the number of applicants max point holders names make up only a small portion of the hat.

Below is how you would calculate your odds for Moose given 11 bonus points, if only you had bonus points and no one else did.... but in reality for the example in question the number of names in the hat (number of applicants) was 37618 because almost everyone has bonus points. Therefore in that unit with 11 points your draw odds are more like 3%

odds.jpg
 
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