Those that buy and apply for a special permit are still a minority in WA. From what I can find there were a total of 65,421 total applicants for all special hunt permits for all species while there were 131,133 people who bought a deer tag. With less than half of WA hunters purchasing special hunt applications I don't see us going to a permit only system just so those of us who do apply have better odds at drawing.
Special hunts are just that. Special. There are very few of them and it is a gamble to buy your app and try for that special hunt. If we up the odds at drawing that means more hunters in the field during that hunt which to me makes that hunt less special.
For me if we want to increase odds for deer and elk special hunts we need to make it so if you draw a special hunt for deer or elk you can't draw for that species for 2 seasons. You could still buy a points option but not draw. That takes a lot of names out of the drawing.
