The "luck of the draw," or lack of it, has long intrigued me.
With big game permit drawings going on right now in most western states, I hear from friends and acquaintances about their successes and failures. A young friend of mine named Ed just drew a coveted elk permit in Nevada and is still reeling from his good fortune. (Depending on how you calculate things, with five preference points going into the drawing, and Nevada's squaring of an applicant's points, he beat odds of several 100-to-1.)
Now, this is the same fellow who drew a bighorn sheep permit in Colorado two years ago with only five bonus points, and last year drew a 14C Dall sheep permit in the Chugach Mountains of Alaska on his very first try! He beat odds well in excess of 100-to-1.
I also should tell you that Ed applies for about three dozen permits in many parts of the West every year, which certainly increases his odds in drawing something, also that he failed to draw a leftover deer permit in Montana where he had an 85 percent chance!
I know a couple other guys who were not so lucky. A friend of mine from Cody, Wyo., who has maximum points for bighorn sheep in that state, had a 45 percent chance of drawing a bighorn permit in Area 5. He failed to draw so will try again next year when he is 60 years old. (Like many of us old sheep hunters, he is running out of time, because no matter what kind of physical condition you are in, sheep hunting is a lot easier at age 40 than at age 60.)
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Another fellow I know from North Dakota told me a story last year about applying for a pronghorn antelope permit in that state. "There were 36 applicants for 35 permits in the unit where I applied," he said. "I was the only applicant who did not draw a permit!"
Now that is some very bad luck.
I have written before about the various preference systems that have been instituted during the last 10 to 20 years in most western states. They came about because a few incredibly lucky people beat odds that mathematically were almost impossible, and it raised the ire of many hunters who had applied for 20 or 30 years with no success. One fellow from Fairfield, Mont., drew an upper Rock Creek bighorn sheep permit, beating odds of about 200-to-1, and shot a beautiful ram. After the mandatory eight-year hiatus from applying, this fellow once again applied for the same permit, drew it again on his first attempt and took another beautiful ram!
Thirty years ago I met a couple from Wyoming who have had outrageously good luck. I think Bill and Sue have drawn eight or 10 moose and sheep permits in Wyoming, before the preference system was instituted and during its operation!
By the way, Wyoming's system is more equitable than most, giving non-residents up to 20 percent of permits, and placing 25 percent of permits into an open drawing where even a person applying his first year could conceivably draw a permit. A couple weeks ago the Wyoming Game and Fish Department sent a questionnaire to all long-time applicants. They are proposing to place 50 percent of permits into an open drawing. As it is, 75 percent of the permits go to the holders of maximum points, which this year is 16. I think it is a good idea because it gives the younger applicant a shot at a permit.
Last year in Jamestown I visited with a reader named Larry who is 49 years old and interested in hunting bighorn sheep. Like most people he has been busy the last 25-plus years, working, raising a family and paying bills and never has applied for a permit.
Wyoming's proposed change in permit allocation will give hunters like Larry a chance at drawing a sheep permit at odds much better than winning the lottery!
