10-20 Year Application Strategy

[Sand Wrench]

I'm not trying to discourage you, but the numbers on Wyoming are pretty sobering. There are currently 208,681 nonresidents in Wyoming's preference point system. You said you started applying last year, which means there are 169,589 people with more points with you, and another 39,092 at your point level. Wyoming is currently issuing 4755 nonresident general tags per year, and about 3000 more limited entry tags. And remember, 25% of the tags are issued randomly, so some of them will get issued to people behind you in line. All of this to say, the chances of you drawing an elk tag in Wyoming with preference points in the next 10 years are about the same as Congress passing a balanced budget. You would be much better off submitting an application every year and trying to draw a tag in the random pool. There is still plenty of elk hunting opportunity in the west, but you have get your name in as many hats every year as you can reasonably afford. You've got a couple guided hunts booked, so I'm guessing you have the budget to apply in a few more states. With a 20 year horizon, Arizona is definitely worth it, but you've got to apply every year so that the combined draw odds give you a decent chance of drawing a tag in the random pass. Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana are all worth it. Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington are all pretty marginal. Good luck in Montana!