Starting in 2028 50% of all elk, deer and pronghorn tags will be going to highest preference point holders.
However the big change will be 50% of all tags will be going in a random draw where preference points won’t matter.
Another big change will be all tag splits now will be 75% resident and 25% nonresident. Other than the big 3 units in the past the percentages have been 65% resident and 35% nonresident.
A couple of key takeaways from this news are.
1 Point creep is going to get insanely worse than what it already is.
2 Units that a newer hunter once thought they never could draw will have a chance to draw on the random side of the draw. Some of the units that would fall into this are 2, 10, 201, 40, 49, 61 and 76.
Keep in mind there is no more OTC Archery elk for nonresidents either.
When I started building points 12 years ago for elk it took 10 points for unit 76 archery elk. Last year it had 28% success at drawing with 18 points for nonresidents. Point creep is a terrible thing across much of the west.
I am officially getting out of all western draws. I could draw a random tag (I haven’t done it in 14 years yet) but I will never catch up on the preference point side. I have been in the Utah draw for 14 years and I just can’t catch up to point creep for any elk units and a booke cliffs muley tag.