Preference Points

The final aspect of limited license draws—preference points—is often the most misunderstood and confusing. Preference points move you up in line, giving you a better chance to get the license you want.

When a group of people enter the draw for the same license, you are ordered on the basis of the number of preference points you have. Imagine 100 people applied for the same license. Of those 100 people, the hunter who has the most preference points is at the front of the line; that person would definitely get the license.

So, how do you get preference points? There are two ways to get a point.

• First, if you apply for the draw, and you don’t get your first choice license, you get a preference point.
• The second way to get a point is to apply for just a point. Just like there are hunt codes for licenses, there are codes for preference points. If you enter one of the codes below as your first choice in a draw, you will be awarded a preference point.
  • Deer — D-P-999-99-P
  • Elk — E-P-999-99-P
  • Turkey — T-P-999-99-P
  • Pronghorn — A-P-999-99-P

  And so on, only the species indicator changes.

Note: The preference points you earn are specific to a species—you earn points unique to deer, elk, bear, etc. If you apply only for deer licenses, you will get only deer preference points.

Every year you enter the draw, you will earn a preference point, unless you draw your first choice hunting license. When you successfully draw your first choice, your preference points will reset to zero for that species. The hope is that every time you don’t get the license you want, you are moved up in line via a preference point, giving you a better chance at success the following year. The only other way your preference points can reset to zero is if you don’t enter the draw or purchase a license for that species for 10 consecutive years. If you don’t do anything for a decade, your account will reset.