Purchase your Wyoming points
 

It is time to go to the Wyoming Game & Fish Department's web site to buy preference points for future applications. July 1 through October 31 is the window for purchasing points. It is easy to forget to buy your points if you wait too long.

Are you not going to be a Wyoming resident for the 2020 hunting season?

can you send me me more details

You have to live here for a year to be a resident for tags! Wife and I have been here since March and we have all non-res tags (2 antelope, 1 deer, 1 elk each). Went all doe/cow as it's much cheaper and we will be learning to do this on our own and learning the area.

I am not a fan of the point system. I had a bad experience with Colorado and decided that in the future I wouldn't be part of it.

Point creep is like playing the lottery. Throwing your money away. No thanks.

No way around it if you want to draw those tags. Unfortunately

-Jake

True enough and I might think differently if I were 40 years old. Some time ago the points system was fairly inexpensive and in Colorado if you had a previous big game license the year before it was just a small handling fee. Looking over some of the other western states points system it is clear it is just a huge money maker with the sportsmen being held hostage. You want to hunt you have to pay. I saw Colorado's NR elk tags go up around 70% over the 10 years I hunted there. Still no problem with that. I expect as time goes on prices rise. Now bring in the other side of it and if you want to hunt a decent area you have to play the PP game which costs extra. I look at it like buying the multiplier on the lottery. No winners but paying more gives you hope. I would have absolutely no problem with the PP system if they allowed banking. If a person has 10 points and he wants to try for a tag that is middle of the road and traditionally has taken 6 points then when he draws he should still have 4 points left in his account. The way most of the western states do it once you draw you lose all your points. In the case I mentioned above that person who had 10 points affects the bottom line when they do the math to determine how many points will be needed for next year. If for some reason there were more than a few who drew with more than the needed 6 points that all goes into the math that determines the points needed for the next year. That is how point creep works. Every year the bar rises often faster than you can catch it. I have a very good friend in Colorado that has in excess of 20 points for more than one big game animal. I am sure flags has somewhere around the same. My friend is getting older and I am not sure what he plans to do. He is close to being able to draw one of the primo GMU's but as time goes on there has to be a point where he might like to try for a tag in one of the better areas and not wait any longer. If there were banking he could safely draw for 3 or 4 years on some pretty nice GMUs and get some great hunts in. As it stands if he puts in a tag request he loses all his points if he draws. I suppose the DOW really wants all the 20 something PP owners to die off. No thanks I won't play their game. I have had some decent luck just buying OTC elk tags.

remind me in OCT,

Thanks :biggrin:


I mark my calendar, and wait until the final week. Rather gain interest on my Cash until then and not give WY and other states interest free loans.

It's the final week!

I bought my deer points(3). Got the wife antelope points (1). Dad also put in for deer points (1).

Does anyone know if I can buy points for kids? Can I begin piling antelope points for my young kids to use when they turn 12 or 13??

I'll look into it more this evening.

-Jake

That's basically what the points system does. The money they make is insane.

This point system is going to get dad and myself into some nice mule deer around 2024 or so :s2:.....

-Jake

A youth applicant wanting to be awarded preference points must be at least eleven (11) years old at the time of submitting an application for a big game limited quota license in the initial drawing and must be at least twelve (12) years old when in the field hunting.

The above is from the WG&F regulations.

I saw that but I'm going to have to call for clarification.

That sounds like I can apply for preference points for all the kids and build points up but not put in for a license until they are of age.

-Jake

And if thats the case my youngest will have 11 points by the time he's old enough to go. That's a heck of a 12th birthday present lol.

-Jake

That is wishful thinking, but I do not believe it works that way. If it did work that way you would see a train load of guys building points so that they can point average later.

I agree. But look at the highlighted. It doesn't actually give an age for buying preference points ONLY. Only an age for submitting application for a LICENSE and for HUNTING in the field.

But not for buying a preference point only. I'll call either today or Monday

-Jake

I would be willing to place a small bet on this one. The bet I would offer would be: I would put up one U.S. dollar and you would put up a shiny U.S. nickel, all winnings to be placed in a Salvation Army kettle. I do hope you get the answer you want but unfortunately I doubt it. Please post the result of your inquiry.

I do not think most fellows realize how much they will be forfeiting if they ever want a "good" tag in WY and they did not think to bank a handful of points. Three or four points gets a fellow in a much better unit for elk, deer, or pronghorns, and of course it takes more points to get into one of the "premium" units. WY is not as bad as Colorado where the best units are becoming almost a once-in-a-lifetime draw. It is a sad state of affairs but those are the facts that we must all face if we want to hunt our public land in some states.

Some further reading on the Wyoming site and I finally found the answer we both expected.

. Youth can apply for preference points when they are 11 years old at the time of submitting a preference point only application and must be at least 12 years old by December 31 of that year.

So the most a youth can build up would be one point before being eligible to hunt.

-Jake