Some of you may already know this – but I didn’t and thought I would share this information. I wish I had known this strategy a long time ago! 
I live in MN and turkey hunt in WI. In WI you fill out several choices (1st choice, 2nd choice etc…) up to 6 choices total and fill out which zone and time period you prefer to hunt. Being that I’m non-resident I always ended up drawing a tag for one of the later seasons (E or F) and it was usually one of my 2 last choices that I filled out on my application. Reason being is that residents draw over non-residents (assuming that you have the same preference point level). In WI, there are usually excess tags available for these last two seasons as well and you can just buy one over the counter.
I’ve accepted this over the years and always stated that it really doesn’t matter being a non-resident if you apply or not because residents draw over non-residents and that you could just buy an excess tag over the counter for one of the last two seasons anyways.
Thanks to little g, I now understand that there’s a way for non-residents to hunt an earlier season and that I’ve been doing this wrong. 
Here’s what you do:
When you fill out your application, just list one early season that you want to hunt and do not fill out your other choices. Being non-resident, you will most likely not draw for that earlier season. You will end up with a preference point and then you can buy an excess tag over the counter for one of the later seasons and still hunt that same year.
Then the following year, you will most likely draw a tag for one of the earlier seasons since you have built up a preference point and that preference point puts you ahead of all of the WI residents who you do not have a preference point. You do not lose your preference point if you buy an excess tag over the counter. Here’s what I did not understand. I thought you lost your preference point if you bought an excess tag. 
That is not the case. The same rule applies for MN.
This strategy can help a non-resident hunter draw a tag for an earlier season every other year. 
