I posted regarding the Yuchi WMA Turkey Hunt drawing, asking how many Priority Points one needs in order to be drawn for one of these high-demand hunts (with only 10 permits allotted per hunt). I had 4 Priority Points and was not drawn. My post on a couple of Facebook Groups generated a ton of discussion, and likely some misinformation. So I reached out to TWRA to get the actual Yuchi Turkey Hunt Drawing Results.
Emily Buck, TWRA Director of Communications and Outreach, provided those results yesterday. Hopefully this will help folks understand the process a bit better, and it answers my own original question - apparently you need 6 Priority Points to be assured of being drawn for a high-demand Yuchi Turkey Hunt. With 5 Priority Points you have pretty reasonable odds, unless you only try to draw for only one hunt choice.
TOTAL APPLICANTS FOR EACH OF 4 HUNTS:
3/29-3/31 Hunt - 1,557 applicants
4/19-4/21 Hunt - 1,300 applicants
4/26-4/28 Hunt - 1,159 applicants
5/10-5/12 Hunt - 1,036 applicants
NUMBER OF PRIORITY POINTS FOR SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS
-- 3/29-3/31 Hunt - One successful applicant had 6 Priority Points (only person with 6 points), nine had 5 Priority Points (out of a total of 38 applicants who had 5 points)
-- 4/19-4/21 Hunt - Seven successful applicants had 5 Priority Points (out of a total of 19 applicants who had 5 points), Four had 4 Priority Points (out of a total of 54 applicants who had 4 points) - (The hunt was allowed to overfill by one because of a successful Party application)
-- 4/26-4/28 Hunt - Seven successful applicants had 5 Priority Points (out of a total of 18 applicants who had 5 points), three had 4 Priority Points (out of a total of 47 applicants who had 4 points)
-- 5/10-5/12 Hunt - All 10 applicants had 4 Priority Points (out of a total of 29 people who had 4 points) Footnote: 13 applicants for this hunt had 5 Priority Points, but all 13 had already been awarded one of the earlier hunts)
The
South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (where I hunt almost every year) promptly post their quota drawing results online for every one of their quota hunt drawings. It is the ultimate display of complete transparency, IMHO. I wish the folks with TWRA could copy that process. I believe it would do a great deal to allay any distrust and/or confusion regarding their quota hunt drawings.
Does anybody have any idea how many priority points you might have to build up to have a good chance to get one of those Yuchi hunts? At least I'll have five points next year.
