- Banned
- #1
There are many people asking me how the preference point system works. I tell them but it is too much to really understand in the 30 seconds people want to listen about it. In this article I try to explain it not by the numbers but by the philosophy. The first thing you have to know is that if you do not apply you cannot draw. The second thing to know is that some tags are hard to draw. Some are easy and there are many in between. The third thing to know is that sometimes it is luck if you draw or not. The last key thing to know is you can draw without luck. You have to earn it. You earn it by years of applying or applying where the tags are easy to get. Some tags you do not need to draw. Usually these tags are not as good as the draw tags or are all on private land or have some other unique factor. The stories are always told that go like this. I have been putting in for 15 years and I have never drawn. I know a guy who has drawn that same tag 3 times. Well that is the luck part. In most cases i only draw the tags by earning them. If you go by the numbers I would have drawn way more tags than I have. I give an example. I put in for a great deer ares in Colorado. My son and I thought we had enough points to draw. The rules in colorado are if you have the most points you draw. And the only luck part of it is those who have the most points get thrown into a hat and you are drawn if there are not enough tags to give to everyone who has the most points. We did not draw. And I looked on Colorado’s website and it said that there was some who drew with less points than we had. I said he wait a minute and called them because I knew the rule. If you have the points you will draw. Well there was 23 tags left for those with the points we had. There were 24 people who put in. I put in as a group with my son and we had to be the last name drawn out and since we wanted 2 tags they said we do not have 2 tags and gave the tag to a person with 1 less point than we had. I call that luck. Luck that we did not draw. Make your best plan on where you want to hunt and start applying. Sometimes they add more tags to a place you are applying and you can get the tag sooner. The key thing is you have to apply. If you are lucky you might draw sooner than others. If you are unlucky then keep applying and someday you should get some good tags. There are places where you can just buy tags. Often the success rates are lower but you get to go hunting. It does not hurt to apply for some really hard to draw tags because someone has to draw. Make sure you do not miss applying. i wrote the PointHunter app to remind me to apply and to keep track of my preference points. Because I consistently put in I should draw a fantastic tag every year. But it took me quite a few years to get to this place. I do not know how to tell people to have luck. I do know that I will apply in case someday I get some luck. You also can be on the earn it plan.
