Yes, but it was announced a couple of months beforehand. Not defending it in any way, there are several folks, mostly older hunters that do not do social media, and who can barely manage to work email without an issue. Since they mailed a copy of the hunting guide to me(and I assume all Sportsman's license holders, not sure about annual license folks), they should have at least mailed a postcard months ago outlining the changes to everyone who had bought a license last year that outlined the changes. I know several people that would put in solo, or with one or two family members, that only want to hunt with that (admittedly small)group of people. The 4 person group was an attempt to fix the complaint that the Tier 2 blinds went unhunted more often than they were occupied. I understand wanting consistency with Tier 1 and 2 in that respect, but with the lack of birds and the weather we had last season I doubt it will do anything at all to address that issue.
For the Tier 2 and Quota hunts, it makes sense to do an online drawing, but Tier 1 should go back to handheld in person. They have had a 3 year experiment now, and have had issues with it every year. It is time to back up and punt for next year, and go back to what works, and what a large portion of hunters want.