Slugging in Wyoming
 

The main office of our firm is in the Washington, D.C. metro area. In that area there are main commuter roads or special lanes that require High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV). There are some cheap commuters that line up in certain locations and other commuters that need another person in the car to access HOV will pick them up and give them a ride for free. These are locally called slugs, and the process is known as slugging.

I recently heard another fellow refer to guys that seek out others with more points than themselves and convince them to apply with them as a party in Wyoming as slugs. I thought it was pretty funny, and a good description.

Wyoming averages the points of everyone that applies as a party. Some guys with only a few points (or none at all) cruise the internet seeking rookies with a pile of points saved up and offer to "show them the ropes" if they apply as a party. Slugging is alive in Wyoming!

I see no problem with it whatsoever because it's legal and was passed by the G&F themselves with no input from NRs when the PP scheme went into effect in 2006. I even did it with a fellow from Idaho in 2012 that came on a website asking for help to take a good buck antelope out there. I needed a couple more points to hunt the area I do that year or would have had to wait a couple years and then worry about point creep. We partied together and with his extra PPs we drew the tags and part of the deal was that I provided the camper for the hunt and showed him all the best spots in my area. He ended up taking a real nice buck that scored in the high 70s the third day and I got a nice one the 4th morning, so it was a win win situation for both of us.

If you are not a class A driver, go home. I haul 98,000 lbs of logs down the road. My insurance/license cost is 6 grand a year?! Slugs? Lot Lizards? Go away please, and let the big boys work.

By the way big uncle no offense intended, i'm just stating reality, carry on, and shut down slugging!! I had guys try to get my points to. Shut it down

What in the world do you mean "guys trying to get your points"? IMHO both your posts are a little bit of a waste of time when we're talking about a serious subject here that you seem to be just making a joke about and I must say doing a pretty poor job of it at that!

Trying to figure out what you are trying to say here Gjersy. Doesn't seem to follow the OP. What am I missing?

Glad I'm not the only one scratching his head!!!

I would like to see Wyoming change the party system to eliminate the point averaging. It is not very fair to guys trying to get points the right way. Maybe someday it will get fixed but right now that is the way it works.

The term slug does not refer to the little crawling creature but rather it was picked up in D.C. to be the same as a fake coin that could be put into a vending machine. I have not heard the term used in other cities for this form of commuting. I just thought it was funny and appropriate when someone used it in connection with the Wyoming party system.

It actually works both ways because when a party averages their PPs and gets drawn they all go back to 0 the following year, so it actually can also speed up someone trying to get drawn the following year because all in the party are at 0. It's my understanding that the G&F did averaging to try and get more people in the field, especially families.

I can understand the concept for families but not for slugging. Slugs ride with strangers.

It does not speed up the process for someone waiting in line if someone jumps the line ahead of them for a limited quota. A commuting slug usually does the same thing every day, and an internet slug can do it every year if they can find someone that has points to which they can attach themselves. For example someone could hunt a 3 point unit every year if they can find someone with 6 points that is willing.

In the DC area the term slug is not offensive to anybody. It is just a simple term for the process. One of my neighbors is a Marine bird colonel that slugs to the Pentagon daily. He says he does it to get a kick out of drivers' reactions when he jumps into their car while in uniform, especially if the driver is an enlisted man. He is a fun guy and I like him, but truth be told he is just too darn cheap to drive himself.