That means no one could have more than 4 priority points in 2009. In 2010, no one will have more than 5, thus anyone with less than 5 had zero chance.

That means no one could have more than 4 priority points in 2009.
In 2010, no one will have more than 5, thus anyone with less than 5 had zero chance.

Birddog...

This is the way it works....

The draw is set up on a 'priorty preference point' system.

Which means that if you apply for any WMA hunt and are unsuccessful, you are awarded a preference point.

Those with the most points (5 going into next year's draw) will get the first choices of WMA hunts, then those with 4, then 3, and so on down the list.

There are just under 400 folks out there with max points (5). The majority (actually ALL) of us with max points are holding out for PI. There are 80 PI buck hunts, which means not everyone with max points will get drawn in a given year. Those unsuccessful are awarded another point for next year's draw.

but that also means that noone with less than max points has a chance at PI.

In theory, it should be another 5 years for those with 5 points to all draw, but there's a handful of people who drop out of the application process, screw up an application, forget to apply, etc... so realistically, it'll be another 4 years for all those with current max points to cycle through and then those with max points -1 (who then become by default the group with max points) will start to draw.

If you start from scratch, TWRA thinks you'll be able to draw in 8 years. However, I've been playing this game for tags out west, and I suspect it'll be closer to 14-15 years to get drawn if you start out with zero points. Really, it would be pretty easy to determine how many years... just add the group with max points with the groups with 4, 3, and 2 points (since those are the ones holding out for PI), and you'll know just how many are ahead of you in the game.

Hope this made sense

Here's the numbers.
5 pts 318
4 pts 363
3 pts 541
2 pts 1,126
1 pt 12,232

You can almost say that everyone with 3 or more pts are holding out for PI. Thats 1,200 people. At 80 a year, that will take 15 years if noone dropped out. Then what about the ones with with 1 and 2 pts. Good chance a majority of them will wait on PI as well. I say no way someone with zero pts makes it back in 8 years. I go with megalomaniac's prediction of 14 years or so. Hope I'm wrong, cause I got zero pts now. But I plan on holding out and trying to get drawn for the Island again.