Montana Draw Odds Question

[Elkwhisper]

So I am getting ready to submit my application for Moose / Sheep / Goat / Bison, and have bee doing my due dillegence in researching and selecting areas to apply for. Part of that research has involved taking a close look at the historical odds for drawing in each unit.

The chart included in the regs shows the number of first choice applicants for each unit, but it does not include the use of bonus points. Since Montana give you an extra "chance" for each bonus point, is the data included in this chart even useful???? You have to figure that many, if not most applicants have multiple bonus points. So when sheep unit 680 says that it had 5019 applicants last year, isn't it true that there were really more like 25-30,000 names in that hat?

Any thoughts?

Elkwhisper

 

[The Hedgehog]

Your odds will absolutely suck no matter what way you look at it. I've applied for years in areas that I thought might have slightly better odds than other units, then sometimes the next year, they have worse odds because there's thousands of other people with the same ideas. My thoughts on single digit odds (or in the case of sheep, less than one percent) are pick where you want to hunt most, regardless of odds and when you draw, you'll be that much happier.