Time to Vent/Complain about the drawing system...i'll go first

[BRWNBR]

I've done well on drawings in the past, so i'm not really complaining here for the sake of yelling about my frustrations.
But i would like to see Alaska go to some sort of points/random drawing system. There are some tags, that we realistly have little or no chance of drawing...ie buffalo, 14C, bear on kodiak, muskox....it would be neat to know that the money we are throwing at fish and game has at least accumulated a better chance at a tag....
anyone from states that have a point system please feel free to share how your system works....
and what can we do here in AK to maybe spur a change?

[AlaskaCub]

Dont give up yet

There hasn't been a single yeehaw yet, and I have checked over 120 names like 20 people that I know put in and 100 random and havent seen one person issued a draw yet. Somethings up, and there might still be hope!

[Littlebadger]

Break out the cheese cause the whining is about to begin. The system isn't broke so don't try to fix it. Why is it every time permit results come out we have people posting like this is the shoulder to cry on. If drawing a permit is the only way you feel you will get hunt for that species then you need to move to the lower 48 where if you don't draw you don't go!! Please please stop the crying I also did not draw but please nobody wants to hear it. This isn't a babysitters club so go tell it to your mama.

[BRWNBR]

easy tiger

i'm guessing you didn't read that top post very well....stated that i'm not complaining....there are plenty of areas to hunt in ak without drawing a tag, was just posing the issue of maybe improving the drawing...didn't say it was broke, didn't say it sucked or was a waste of time and no one ever draws and they need to fix it so daddy gets a tag every year did i?!? pull your horses back, relax read it again and then write something constructive. i hate the winny posts just as much as you do, now is just the permit time of year and i was curious to get some imput on different ideas to IMPROVE the system we have....you got any problems with that then YOU can go to the lower 48!

[echolmbe]

Give us all a break.

Break out the cheese cause the whining is about to begin. The system isn't broke so don't try to fix it. Why is it every time permit results come out we have people posting like this is the shoulder to cry on. If drawing a permit is the only way you feel you will get hunt for that species then you need to move to the lower 48 where if you don't draw you don't go!! Please please stop the crying I also did not draw but please nobody wants to hear it. This isn't a babysitters club so go tell it to your mama.

Sounds like this guy didn't get one either.

[fullkurl]

Wow.

first of all--respectfully--chill out, littlebadger-guys have a right to vent. They pay their dues-literally--with permit tags, and this is the place to kick about the system. Many lower 48 hunts are o.t.c.--sans draw.

With that said, I didnt put in for this Spring draw, so, no harm, no foul. (We won a tag in the Winter draw anyway.)
But to think no one on this site has posted a drawn permit??? Holy cow, c'mon!
How many peta followers out there in la la land holding winning permits? possible?? I think you have to hold an AK hunting licence to apply?....
Any thoughts?

[Littlebadger]

I'm sorry if I came on a little strong I just don't like crying I won't tolerate it from my wife or kids either. It doesn't look like I'm succesful in this goround either but Alaska has been good to me in 5 years I've drawn 2 goat, 1 Koyukuk moose, 2 14C sheep, and a muskox permit. To me it is the difference between a goal and a fantasy. You build up to a goal but the whole time you know what you are going to get, not alot of excitement in that, but w/ a fantasy if or when it happens the feeling can be overwhelming and w/ our draw system that's what you get. I guess it's just my opinion.

[WinMag]

gift horse...

lil'badger congrats on your success... From the sound of things you have'nt seen the other side... Can you imagine a guy reading your post after living here 10, 15 even 20 years and still not drawn...

Does'nt mean "he" has'nt gone out there and done it himself... finding, hunting and harvesting game in non permitted areas...

But come for a complete random system it sure seems to less than fair...

There are guys who have been here 5 years and have drawn every year while another has gotten skunked for 15 or 20...

Is it a conspiracy.... NO
Is it perfect... NO

It's guys like us who could make changes which could make it more fair... Ya, YOU'd likely be hard pressed to want to change anything but justice is fair - It's not easy...

[Blink]

I dont put in for permits anymore. I'm strictly a bear hunter and kodiak doesnt interest me sooo...

Last fall my wife was proxied a tier 2 for the nelchina herd and she got a real nice bull but while we were out there I was talking to a guy who was jazzed cuz he was only in the state for 3 years and he already drawn a tier 2. Now last I checked there are restrictions to put in for the nelchina herd. Fins and feathers are trying to fix the problem and I talk with them all the time and some are just as frustrated as everybody else. They know the system isnt perfect.

For those that did get drawn, congrats.

[Littlebadger]

Ok, well I don't think it is fair either that a person should put in year after year and never draw, but you have to consider the success rate for the areas that you apply for. If it were made so that only people who have lived in the state for at least 10 years could apply and absolutely no nonresidents could apply for special permits I'd be cool w/ that. Instead of complaining about things we cannot change we should just play the hand we're dealt. I'm not sorry for the tags I have drawn but if I knew there were stipulations for drawing when I moved here I would accept that. What people may not realize is just because you have a draw permit doesn't mean the hunt will be cheaper or easier. When my wife complains about the cost of some of these hunts I tell her that I have to go because this is a once in a lifetime hunt and it pretty much is. I have never reapplied for the hunts I've already drawn except for 1 goat hunt and succes rates there are fairly good. The "crying" that I do not want to hear is the one where someone wants an alternate list this cannot be and no matter how many times the answer is brought up someone still asks. The F&G is a racket out to make money just like any other buisness, and they are going to put out the draw system that makes them the most money.

[Maineguide]

Maine isn't any better

I know where you guys are coming from. Here in Maine we have only one drawing each year, the coveted moose hunt. Aprox 3000 lucky hunters out of about 90,000 apps. We each donate money every year that we never get back. I could probably afford an Alaskan Moose hunt for the amount I have donated in the last 24 years (an still have not been picked). It really wouldn't bother me that much except I see names on the list of people who have drawn two, three, four and even five times.

One change Maine added about seven years ago is an extra chance added for each consecutive year you remain in the drawing. Just another money making scheme to suck you in every year, because if you drop out one year then you lose all your built up points. One thing they do though is if you were lucky enough to be drawn then you can't reapply for two years (but there are ways around that as well).

[AkHunter45]

Permits

Nothing here either, looks like i'm back to plan A again.

[AlleninAlaska]

Been here for 32 years and have not been lucky enough to draw a Farewell Buffalo tag after 23 attempts. No biggy.

[AKmud]

Something to think about...

It may not be a "fix" or whatever, but what would be wrong with having it set up so if you win a tag, you are not eligible to win that tag again for 4 years? This would take a few names out of the hat for the next go around. It is done in many areas for brown bear...the 4 regulatory year thing. Or, how about leaving your name in the pool for next years draw if you didn't get anything? That way when you apply the next year (for the same permit #) you have two chances at the permit. If you don't re-apply for the same permit number then you are back to only one chance. So, after 15 years of applying for a permit, you will essentially have 15 entries that year. Eventually the stars will align and that dry spell will end.

I have to admit that I get frustrated seeing some familiar names with great permits every year. It would be interesting to go back 10 years and see how many permits each individual person has already won. I know it is supposedly random, but I'm betting that there are a few names that would stick out on the list with a pile of permits under them.

I've done resonably well with permits over the last 20+ years and I've also had 4-5 year running dry spells. I agree with brwnbr that it seems like the permits could be spread around a little better.

Anyway, I got lucky this year and drew a DM406. My 3 year dry spell is over!

[AlaskaCub]

seems a little fishy

Some call it luck, some call it faith, sometimes I call it BS! It should not be under any circumstance as far as I deam fair for people to draw the same tag 2 years in a row and or twice in 3 years or twice in 5 years and others continue to strike out. Random drawing? Random my ass. Dont mean to sound agitated but the system isn't a very good one! I get the same feeling season after season after season. You put in for the dream hunt areas and then you put in for some of the easier % areas and some (me) dont get nothing and others always get something. Aint fair in my book. I will still hunt, and I will still kill stuff, but sure would be nice to draw every once in a while.