Official Montana 2025 Draw Thread

[LostWapiti]

You're right. I should've said I could have not applied this year and then bought a point in December.. but either way, I would've lost my point from last year and been at 1 point again. I didn't want to draw this year. When I bought the point last December, I jumped the gun and thought I could buy a 2nd point this year without applying and then have 3 points for next year.

Once I was in that situation, my only option in order to not lose that point was a) apply and not buy a point, don't draw, then buy my 2nd point next spring with my application and have 2 for the 2026 drawing, or b) buy the point and apply with my buddy who only had 1 and then we'd average 1.5 and should also not draw..

I cant speak for everyone that ended up with the same point values as I had, but thats just how I got into that situation.

But now I get what you were saying earlier.. MT FWP assumes everyone with 1 point bought it at the time of application, so had they not applied at all, they could've just bought that point the following December.

This makes sense as you were forced to apply or lose the point you bought last year. Very annoying system they have that you lose your point after a single year of not applying. I lost a point when they first started the PP system and vowed to never buy another and just slum it with my 0 point friends.

You had no chance of drawing in regular draw but as we are finding out, anyone has a chance in the reissue draw, unless you select option 3 above. Is there not an option for the reissue draw to still keep your party together?

 

[cornfedkiller]

Is there not an option for the reissue draw to still keep your party together?

It sounds like nobody is really sure how it all works. Based off the fact that peoples' entire parties got reissued tags, I assume they had to keep the party together for at least some people, but I certainly have no idea how any of the options I selected while applying would seem to have any effect on that.

 

[matchu865]

Exact same thing happened to me.. am I the only one that didn't know they'd split a group and give one guy a (returned) tag and not the other party member? I don't want to hunt solo - that's why I applied as a group.

Screws us for next year too because now my buddy has points (that he has to use or lose), and I won't have any.

Edit: I guess my buddy drew as well.. He had 1 point.

My buddy also drew. See you all in Montana, we'll be a couple clueless idiots stumbling around somewhere trying to find an Elk. We both had 1 point each.

 

[Legend]

Anyone who speaks with certainty on how the intricacies of the MT draw works is WRONG. I know one of the former programmers for the draw system. It's been a few years but when they asked for the specifics in writing so they could get the code correct they were told "no." All they could do was write the code to the oral conversation that changed based on whom they talked to. True story.

So how does the MT draw really work?????? Depends who is in charge that day.

I would love to see a technical audit on the draw system. Comparing the legislative requirements against the software code.

 

[Mdfowlman2]

This makes sense as you were forced to apply or lose the point you bought last year. Very annoying system they have that you lose your point after a single year of not applying. I lost a point when they first started the PP system and vowed to never buy another and just slum it with my 0 point friends.

You had no chance of drawing in regular draw but as we are finding out, anyone has a chance in the reissue draw, unless you select option 3 above. Is there not an option for the reissue draw to still keep your party together?

I think that's what makes their system the best. You cannot bank points, use them or lose them. Montana doesn't want to be someone's backup option.

 

[Mdfowlman2]

For most guys saying they had one point, they in fact have two. Guys go into the draw with one point; they then check the box to buy a point not understanding that the point they're buying counts towards this year's draw, thus giving them two points.

 

[Riplip]

I think that's what makes their system the best. You cannot bank points, use them or lose them. Montana doesn't want to be someone's backup option.

Couldn't agree more. Point banking and the resulting point creep have gotten ridiculous.

 

[DLIP]

Didn't draw big game combo w/ 2 points. #nextyear

 

[matchu865]

For most guys saying they had one point, they in fact have two. Guys go into the draw with one point; they then check the box to buy a point not understanding that the point they're buying counts towards this year's draw, thus giving them two points.

I did not click the box, nor did my partner. I was very careful as I didn't want to draw this year, but here we are. Can't really complain about going Elk hunting, but the original plan was to hunt mule deer in 2026.

 

[Jlosee]

I have drawn before with 1 pp, 2pp and 0. Drew with 2 this year

 

[ez_willie]

My brother and I applied for the Elk Combo at a 1.5 avg (2 & 1). We both drew in the released pool. We didn't want to draw either due to a pending CO app that is expected to burn a lot of points. I couldn't just buy a PP this year, so we went the group route to try to avoid drawing. I called MT FWP this morning and he said the released tags DO go by PP, and that groups are NOT split unless there's a difference in members' applications in some way. Then they could potentially be split.

His only explanation for us drawing at 1.5 pts was that it must have dropped this year from prior years, but he said they didn't have the data yet to know the specific point requirements this year. He estimated a month for those stats to be available. Does anyone know when they historically post them? I think we have a case for a refund if it shows a requirement of 2.0 pts, given that it's still supposed to go by PP.

For anyone in the same boat with CO, I think you can "decline" the tag immediately after drawing. Regs say a full reinstatement of points and tag fees. But deadline is like June 2, so you've only got a couple of days.

Same exact happened to my group of 2 and our other group of 2 trying to not draw. They screw up something royally every year, see if they come out and admit it or not.

 

[ez_willie]

hmm

 

[Riplip]

Big drop in the 2 point odds from 90% in 2024 to 83% 2025.

 

[josef]

Seems strange that they were only 1 app off of the 2024 numbers in 2025.

hmm

 

[schur7559]

hmm

Where did you pull this from? Do you have a link?

 

[ez_willie]

https://myfwp.mt.gov/getRepositoryFile?objectID=112967

Where did you pull this from? Do you have a link?

 

[LostWapiti]

This year more people moved from 1 point to 2 points. The number of people applying with 1 point dropped dramatically this year. I expect to see the draw odds for 2 points to jump back up again over 90% next year.

If somebody is on the sidelines this year, it would probably be a good year to buy your point this fall, then buy another point next year and go in to the draw with 2 points, that is unless lots of other people have the same idea.

I drew this year but will be sticking with my 0 point friends and hoping I get lucky again rather than building a point.

 

[schur7559]

Ok so I just got off the phone with FWP yet again. This is the way I understand it but someone point out if there is a flaw in this thinking. My buddy and I drew released tags at 1.5 points. This means we were initially unsuccessful in the primary draw, but the second round does account for preference points (1.5 in our case) and the second round is also not included in the draw stats (which they should be up front about). So if 17% of applicants at 2 points did NOT draw a tag I’m assuming these are all people who initially drew and then failed to draw their permit so the tag went back in and that’s how we ended up with tags at 1.5 points.

Does this make sense? Still trying to wrap my brain around it. Of course someone will come on here and say they didn’t draw a general tag with 2 points and never applied for the permit drawing we’ll be back to square one.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Ok so I just got off the phone with FWP yet again. This is the way I understand it but someone point out if there is a flaw in this thinking. My buddy and I drew released tags at 1.5 points. This means we were initially unsuccessful in the primary draw, but the second round does account for preference points (1.5 in our case) and the second round is also not included in the draw stats (which they should be up front about). So if 17% of applicants at 2 points did NOT draw a tag I’m assuming these are all people who initially drew and then failed to draw their permit so the tag went back in and that’s how we ended up with tags at 1.5 points.

Does this make sense? Still trying to wrap my brain around it. Of course someone will come on here and say they didn’t draw a general tag with 2 points and never applied for the permit drawing we’ll be back to square one.

I did not draw a general combo at 2 points

 

[ez_willie]

Someone should really make another survey with all the different scenarios to draw.