Wyoming ?

[JP20]

So I've been collecting deer points for some time now and was curious if I was wasting time not just burning them. I have 9 now and am considering hunting region G next year, so my question is good idea or bad idea? i'm sick of not hunting outta state and feel like I should just draw the tag and go as deep as possible. Any opinions would be great, thanks

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

It depends on what kind of hunt u want to do and your expectations are as far as numbers and quality. I'm not sure what units you can draw with 9 points but there are some units that have a ton of deer with decent quality. G has the best quality but is not an easy hunt.

 

[JP20]

I plan on doing a backpack hunt as far in as I can make it, I an on being picky and trying to find a 180" or better buck

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

If you want a 180+ buck then your options are limited. G is the best bet I would say. Some other harder to draw units may have that but not many

 

[johnsd16]

To the question you posed.... you probably have been wasting time accumulating 9 points in WY. It is reasonable though to wait for populations to recover and buck quality to go up, but having 9 points for WY is excessive. By my count there were only 6 limited entry units that in 2016 that were not 100% draw in the regular PP NR draw with 8 PP.

Unit (# of tags) - regular NR PP draw
87 (5)
90 (3)
102 (12)
105 (3)
119 (1)
130 (3)

Region G was 100% with >5PP so you are assured a tag unless something crazy happens like drastic tag cuts, or a ton of guys in PP pool ahead of you jump to G. You are not alone though, this year 8 people with 10 points and 8 people with 9 points drew G, so it is attracting high point holders still. For how much hype and pressure it gets the LE units may be worth a look. I know nothing of any of this but have studied the WY PP situation hard and am building points for MD, Elk and PH currently. For what my expectations and desire to hunt I don't see going over 4-5 points for any one species at any time. Holding out and playing the point chase is crazy, though things can always change and mild winters, tag increases and hunter dropout could always decimate the upper point pools.

 

[204guy]

If it was me I'd be trying to draw 90 in the special. It's a high desert hunt, low deer densities, but some really good deer. Most people never leave the road to actually hunt. There's a lot of country not visible from the road. I can't see using 9 points on G, it's good but the pressure is unreal and really degrades from the hunt.

 

[dguthrie85]

I hunted G for the 1st time this year. Beautiful country and some pretty good deer. I am a nonresident as well so I don't know much about any of the other units. What I can tell you is G is rough country, it holds some great deer and I had an awesome time. We saw a few 180+ deer on the archery hunt and one 180+ deer on the rifle. Dumping 9 points is a personal preference, I didn't kill a giant deer but I had a great time exploring new country.

 

[LaHunter]

I think the odds for drawing a mule deer tag for unit 90 are poor even with max points.

 

[johnsd16]

I think the odds for drawing a mule deer tag for unit 90 are poor even with max points.

Last year all 3 tags in the regular PP went to applicants with 10 points, and those were the only 3 that applied so it was 100% with 10 points. There were however 91 applicants with <10 points. How those applicants points are distributed is not clear.

In the special PP draw there was one applicant with 10 PP who took one tag, then none until 9 PP where there were 8 vying for the 2 tags for 40% draw in the special with 9 PP.

So last year max points in either the regular or special was 100% but that can always change with the low tag allotment in a unit like 90. I suspect this year it will draw some max point holders from other units or idle and again take max or near max points in the regular for sure, but the OP could quite possibly draw 90 in the special for 2017.