I do wonder though, if WYOGA gets the keys to the castle as they are asking, and the available NR bull tags for the unwashed public is reduced by half, what happens to draw odds for cow tags? There will have to be a ripple affect.
What’s this applying thing you speak of? Despite my best efforts, Wisconsin remains an OTC state for all.
Nah, we need you to tell us at least ten more times that you drew an elk tag.Well on a positive note, there’s 25 points I won’t have to worry about getting cheapened anymore. Because Colorado burned them all for me on a unit 61 elk tag. And the Red Army members who labeled me a “point hoarder” should be pacified?
Yeah that's a good point, especially under the current request.
It's already started. Look at total applicants for cow/calf tags. They were all up. In a unit that me and my friends have applied for in previous years and drawn, this year it was 1 out of 6 drawn. We applied as individuals.
Lol, But first time in this thread about point creep. I thought everyone would be happy since I did my part to get rid of points. 25 this year, and 90 over the last 3.
So you're saying there's a chance...This is a great point.
Also if you think about Bonus point systems it's even crazier in some ways...
For instance at like year 10 you might have 100 people out of the top point pool being taken out of the running because collectively their cohort might hold 25% of the total tickets. So at year 10 you might be like "oh bonus points kinda work we are clearing out people"
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but then as the years go along, because you are letting some people at lower levels have tags, the system slows down profoundly with people with max points getting drawn at a much slower rate.
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And this is with a pillared point pool same year after year, it's a mountain in reality 5000 at 0 points 10 at top. Basically meaning that every year you are in a bonus pool your odds are probably getting worse in reality because for every squared point you gain 3000 folks are joining so at 40 bonus points your still losing ground to the onslaught of newcomers.
So who wants to buy points?
I'm starting to come to the same conclusion, or even that tag cuts are more impactful than a lot of the other commonly blamed sources
Just this past weekend I mentioned a cow tag when talking to my hunting buddy who is 61.
It's a huge part of it no doubt. Oak shed some light on shifting baselines in mule deer quotas in another thread though, that make me think CO and CPW are probably quite happy to see social media take the blame
There's over 5 million acres of land in Wisconsin open to public hunting.
No elk, no mule deer and no pronghorn....meh.
.... so the largest demographic in hunting are boomers?
Bingo. I've been banging this drum for a few years with regards to points, destination moose/sheep/brown bear hunts, etc. The largest cohort of hunters by far is hitting retirement with 5-10 good years left, they've had 10 years of above average stock market performance, if they were smart they downsized houses and made a nice profit or no longer have a mortgage, and even the mildly serious hunters have been building points for their dream hunts for at least 10-15 years (or more.)
Agreed. I think that likely there are several different trends that are all creating the situation and that it's problematic to over emphasis one.
