Montana Preference points

[deadyote]

So question for you folks in the know.  I've read the regs and can quit figure it out.  I bought a preference point last year after the draw and am going to put in this year for the deer combo.  Will I have 1 point or 2?  Or do you get the 2nd point after your not selected?  Thanks fellas.

[MADMAX]

You have one
Another $100 when you apply and you’ll have 2

[deadyote]

So if I don't get drawn this year, ill have that second point?  Or do you only get a point if you buy the preference point for $100?

[MADMAX]

I bought a pref point last year
Didn’t get drawn
Bought one this year
Now have 2

If we don’t get drawn
Next year will have 2
Then will buy another and put in with 3
I don’t see you get a point unless you buy one
You can see that on my FWP when you search your info

Some info

https://www.gohunt.com/content/insider/tips/montana-point-system-breakdown

[grundy53]

So if I don't get drawn this year, ill have that second point?  Or do you only get a point if you buy the preference point for $100?

The only way you get points is buying them. If you don't buy the point and aren't selected you don't get a point.

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[andrew_in_idaho]

And if I remember right and you elect not to pay the preference point fee on your application then they don’t actually apply your currently held preference points.


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[Stein]

And if I remember right and you elect not to pay the preference point fee on your application then they don’t actually apply your currently held preference points.


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I believe that is true since you lose your points if you don't buy one every year.  It's not clear if you would lose those points before the draw or after though.  If you don't draw you would lose them for sure.

The big question is whether the reverse odds will change or not.  If it doesn't the only people that will buy points are those that don't understand or want to hunt for sure x years from now but don't care about this year or next.

If that doesn't change, I would expect a quick revision to the rule making it a true preference point draw or something similar.

[jstone]

So you can’t buy points until after the draw? I just want to buy a point this year.

[Karl Blanchard]

And if I remember right and you elect not to pay the preference point fee on your application then they don’t actually apply your currently held preference points.


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This is not correct. If you apply, your points are in play whether you buy another or not. If you have one point and elect to NOT buy a point at application time you will go into the draw with 1 point.

[Karl Blanchard]

So you can’t buy points until after the draw? I just want to buy a point this year.

points only purchase period is post draw. You can purchase between July 1 through December 31. Do you currently hold any preference points Jstone?

[jstone]

No points, I drew last year. Just buying points for Montana this year.

[jstone]

Thank You for the info Karl

[Karl Blanchard]

No points, I drew last year. Just buying points for Montana this year.

ok good. They no longer allow you to buy points for consecutive years. 

[ninthunt]

Looks like those with 0 preference points had greater success last year than those with 1 point across all big game combo licenses last year. Apparently they set aside a certain number of licenses for those with 0 points regardless of how many people apply with 1 or more points. They do not do so for those with 1 or more points. If the amount of applicants continues to go up like it has the last couple years, you'll likely have greater odds to draw with zero points than 1, but you lose the opportunity to apply with 2 points the following year. Makes no sense to me that you have greater odds with less points. MT may need to change the rules with the increased number of applicants.

[Karl Blanchard]

There are two tag pools within the NR quota. 75% go to point holders and in a preference point system those with the most points wins. They allocate 25% to zero point holders. As you can see last year there were enough people with 2 or more points to eat up most of the 75%. That left more tags in that 25% pool available to zero point guys than there were tags left for all you losers with 1pt (I was a 1pt loser last year ). If you look at the number of folks who had 1 last year and will have 2 this year you'll see that once again your odds with 1pt will be worse than zero points. The new rules will start to fix this however since people can't as easily build points.