Wdfw drawing fiasco explanation

[Karl Blanchard]

What about those of us who didnt get any email at all?

emails meant absolutely nothing.  Simply a notification.  Had no bearing on successful or unsuccessful.

[BULLBLASTER]

I don't think it was a fiasco either. It just took much longer than expected. The problem nowadays is everyone is online 24/7.

In the past everyone would be working during the day and would be unable to check until they got home in the evening.

The biggest issue was them telling us results would be available EARLY. It was 4:40 PM. That's not early.

Didn’t it say they would start early? I can’t remember the wording but it did start early.

I will say it would be better if they took it offline then updated it all then allowed access again.

[bearpaw]

I'm not so sure taking it offline will actually solve much, as soon as they turn it back on the impact would be even greater than leaving it on and spreading out the initial impact. I don't have a problem with the way it went. I do agree that it would be smarter to not send an email for each application but rather one email for each applicant after the process is completed. I think part of the fun is anticipating the results, I know the anticipation was better than the results were for me! 

I'm just happy that the forum didn't fail, yesterday was our busiest day ever on H-W.

[Tbar]

That is a sad excuse, and lack of taking ownership for a failure. Instead of all the excuses and a deferral an apology would probably be the correct course of action.

[trophyhunt]

I'm not so sure taking it offline will actually solve much, as soon as they turn it back on the impact would be even greater than leaving it on and spreading out the initial impact. I don't have a problem with the way it went. I do agree that it would be smarter to not send an email for each application but rather one email for each applicant after the process is completed. I think part of the fun is anticipating the results, I know the anticipation was better than the results were for me! 

I'm just happy that the forum didn't fail, yesterday was our busiest day ever on H-W.

One or two times I couldn’t log on the forum for a second or two, I thought, “holy hell” this can’t be happening!!  can you imagine if the forum crashed yesterday , a black hole would have formed and the world would have ended!!! 

[trophyhunt]

Like I said, they do watch huntwa and if you guys have ideas, keep them coming.  I will let her know which thread so she can look for herself, by the way, I keep saying her and she because I really don't want to say her name.  She probably doesn't need a thousand phone calls. I like the idea of shutting down the whole system until the draw is done, but I think that would stop people from buying stuff who don't care about the draws or may need a pass or fishing license at that moment. One Idea I have is to get her on board here as a member so we can get answers straight from her.

[trophyhunt]

That is a sad excuse, and lack of taking ownership for a failure. Instead of all the excuses and a deferral an apology would probably be the correct course of action.

What was their failure?  The email they sent with the date of the results was sent because this forum and all those people asking what the heck was going on.  They thought they were helping by communicating, that was their only mistake.

[Karl Blanchard]

That is a sad excuse, and lack of taking ownership for a failure. Instead of all the excuses and a deferral an apology would probably be the correct course of action.

what was the failure?  Draw was completed and results posted on the day they said they would be 

[Wacenturion]

It is clearly Al Gore's fault!!  If he had not invented the internet, this would not be a problem!! 

It just seems funny that "we" have all gotten used to instant results and therefore expect it from everything and everyone.  I cannot imagine the pain and angst it would cause today if they went back to the pre-internet days.

Imagine the horror of having to put your application card in the mail and trust the post office to deliver it.  Then have to trust that your card didn't get lost or put in the wrong box while waiting to do the draw.

Then hope and pray that it doesn't get lost or destroyed in a car wreck while being transported to the various regions where they were dumped into a rolling drum and pulled out one at a time by hand...ohhh the agony!!!

Could things be done differently, yup sure could, would it be better...who knows!

Oh, I almost forgot, the part about waiting for them to mail you your permit and hoping all the things you worried about when you sent the application in not happening before it gets back to your mailbox... 

When I first went to work for the old Dept. of Game back in the early 70's, I was involved for several years with the traveling barrel and individual card submittals that were dumped into the barrel.  Worked well although it took several days just in Region 2 where I was....Okanogan, E. Wenatchee, etc.  People showed up and witnessed the unit draw they put in for.  Funny at the end some wanted to look through and see if theirs were actually there.  In those limited cases, they were.  Funny what we used to see.  Heavy tape around edges of cards, sticky stuff occasionally, wrinkled, crumbled cards....whatever to make them feel different when we reached in to draw.

It was a labor intensive effort although it was great PR.  We got to meet and visit with sportsman in different towns and get to know them over a period of a couple years.  They too could put faces on Department names.  That was always a win for the agency.  Things were simpler then, seasons were more open and offered unbelievable opportunities to sportsman.  I miss those days.  Today's system as Bobcat pointed out is absolutely stupid.  Too many categories, too many choices.  It just makes it much harder for any of us to draw our favorite hunts.  WDFW has trained the younger ones of us to think the system is state of the art and fair while paying more and accepting less.  It's all about $$$$$.

[bearpaw]

I really can't see where yesterday was that big of deal but a few people have their underwear bunched up for some reason.

Some states have separated the antlered and antlerless draw dates. Some states publish in their regulations a date that the results will be available. They could consider making results available at midnight or 4 am. They could draw different species on different days.

I think Colorado sells the most big game licenses in the west and a lot of the hunts are draws. I would suggest that WDFW ask Colorado what they do?

[Bob33]

Draw results are the most highly anticipated event of the year for many hunters.

In my opinion there were two issues which hurt WDFW’s credibility. First, they stated the results would be available “early” on June 21.  I doubt that most applicants consider mid-afternoon as “early”.  When other states like Wyoming indicate that results will be available at 8:00 a.m., they are almost always available at 08:00:00 to within a couple seconds.

Secondly, the emails were inconsistently issued: if the emails weren’t processed correctly, what else wasn’t processed correctly? In retrospective this appears to have no effect on draw results, but still leaves WDFW with somewhat of a black eye.

[Pathfinder101]

I said it countless times yesterday, the "fiasco" yesterday was the hysteria of grown men that can't just keep their composure until OFFICIAL DRAW RESULTS WERE ACTUALLY POSTED!!  The draw was not screwed up yesterday it ran just fine we just couldn't be patient adults and wait until results were actually up. Yes I think the email after every category was kind of stupid but that doesn't negate the fact that we couldn't just wait until they were out.

They said the 21st and they were out the 21st.  If people weren't frantically trying to check every three seconds they would have been out in the a.m. as well.  I hope next year they lock it down until it's all done.  Send an email out the day after.

I am just glad that I was on the road yesterday, not at work.  If I would have had my computer up, I probably would have gone nuts checking too.  Instead, we drove from Colville to Walla Walla (I checked when we got home once-nothing posted), then had to get my son to his baseball game.  When the game was over we went to dinner and I checked again.  That's when I found out that we were NOT SELECTED straight across the board. 
I'm just glad I was busy yesterday...
I think the problem was that the draws happened a week later this year than usual.  Generally, we have results by the 15th, and I text friends and family to go check their results.  This year, everyone was sitting there by the 18th with bated breath waiting for the draw.  That, combined with the email caused all the angst. 

[Karl Blanchard]

I really can't see where yesterday was that big of deal but a few people have their underwear bunched up for some reason.

Some states have separated the antlered and antlerless draw dates. Some states publish in their regulations a date that the results will be available. They could consider making results available at midnight or 4 am. They could draw different species on different days.

I think Colorado sells the most big game licenses in the west and a lot of the hunts are draws. I would suggest that WDFW ask Colorado what they do?

Colorado also takes 2 full months.  You wanna see adult children lose their minds go to that system

[Pathfinder101]

I do like the idea of seperating the antlered tag results from the antlerless tag result dates.  That would help a little anyway. 
Like Ricky Bobby's kids said in Talledega Nights  "Yaaay... Two Christmases!".

[bobcat]

Yes, that was the other problem- we expected results a full week before we got them.

Here are all the draw result dates back to 2009 for reference:


6/12/2009 (Friday)
6/18/2010 (Friday)
6/14/2011 (Tuesday)
6/8/2012 (Friday)
6/19/2013 (Wednesday)
6/11/2014 (Wednesday)
6/12/2015 (Friday)
6/10/2016 (Friday)
6/15/2017 (Thursday)
6/21/2018 (Thursday)