Longer Draw Priority Waits

[dicknormal]

PROPOSED CHANGES
Alberta Environment and Parks is considering the following changes for 2020.
l Beginning in spring of 2020, in order to reduce draw wait times and encourage draw applicants to actively hunt in the upcoming
season, hunters must purchase a Wildlife Certificate prior to applying for a special licence draw. Currently, approximately 25% of draw
applicants do not purchase their Wildlife Certificates for the year of application, which, depending on the type of draw, may increase
draw wait times.

I'm just throwing this idea out there, increase the cost of the Wildlife Certificate and drop the price of the tags a little.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by dicknormal

PROPOSED CHANGES
Alberta Environment and Parks is considering the following changes for 2020.
l Beginning in spring of 2020, in order to reduce draw wait times and encourage draw applicants to actively hunt in the upcoming
season, hunters must purchase a Wildlife Certificate prior to applying for a special licence draw. Currently, approximately 25% of draw
applicants do not purchase their Wildlife Certificates for the year of application, which, depending on the type of draw, may increase
draw wait times.

I'm just throwing this idea out there, increase the cost of the Wildlife Certificate and drop the price of the tags a little.

Keep the Wildlife Certificate the same price, but automatically charge anyone who draws a tag, the tag fee. If their credit card is no longer valid, disqualify them from future draws until the price of the tag is paid.

[Byron]

Eliminate the wildlife certificate it's a money grab!

[dustinjoels]

Originally Posted by ram crazy

Eliminate group draws, there easily fixed.

Only apply for the most coveted highest point zones that you have no chance to draw in order to build priority.

Like was previously stated, when individuals priority only their draws, often they allow others to jump them in the queue thus decreasing others wait times. Like the guy that pulled an antlered moose tag on P18 in a P11 zone. 7 hunters got to draw ahead of him over the last 7 years.

Be careful what you wish for. By eliminating priority only draws, everyone will draw tags when their turn is actually up and wait times will increase.

[DRhunter]

Originally Posted by Jamie

You all know that for the vast majority of the draws, we are sitting on the best system in the world?



A very few of these should be changed to a once in a life time random draw. but thats it. Perhaps throw some extra weight on the entries by those that have been putting in forever but really, we are sitting on a gold mine if you know how to use it.

Exactly my thoughts. Blows my mind that people can complain about our draw system compared to any others.

DR


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[1bowhunter12]

I don’t understand where people get the idea that simply charging more money or taxing more will resolve thise issues.. this is a problem that can be surely fixed and not by just jacking up the prices .. I however do not have the answer

[CBintheNorth]

Originally Posted by ram crazy

Eliminate group draws, there easily fixed.

How about we eliminate draw opportunities for everyone except yourself? Is that what you're after?

There are 10's of thousands of people that wish to hunt a limited number of animals, and we have a great system in place to help deal with the imbalance. We just need to add a few rules to ensure everyone is playing within the boundaries. And then we need to enforce them.
It can all be done without taking away opportunities for eligible hunters.

[ram crazy]

Originally Posted by CBintheNorth

How about we eliminate draw opportunities for everyone except yourself? Is that what you're after?

There are 10's of thousands of people that wish to hunt a limited number of animals, and we have a great system in place to help deal with the imbalance. We just need to add a few rules to ensure everyone is playing within the boundaries. And then we need to enforce them.
It can all be done without taking away opportunities for eligible hunters.

Why would I not be in the same boat as everyone else? You see I don’t have to kill anything I can still get out and enjoy the hunts, even if it means I can take others out to try and kill an animal. I’d even be perfectly fine with all draws on a lottery system like it was back in the 80’s it was truly like Christmas Day when you found out what tags you got and didn’t get. In a nut shell I’m happy with the way the system is run now. I just don’t understand the greed with some people I’m going to throw a hissy fit because I have to wait so long for a tag. There are lots of general tags to purchase.

[Lefty-Canuck]

One of the best ways to help with draw wait times is to take steps to remove “ineligible hunters” and hunters who are claiming resident status when they are not. There are steps being taken to define an eligible Alberta hunting resident. For far too long this has not been well defined and people are taking advantage and hunting as a resident in Alberta and other provinces at the same time.

LC

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by dustinjoels

Only apply for the most coveted highest point zones that you have no chance to draw in order to build priority.

Like was previously stated, when individuals priority only their draws, often they allow others to jump them in the queue thus decreasing others wait times. Like the guy that pulled an antlered moose tag on P18 in a P11 zone. 7 hunters got to draw ahead of him over the last 7 years.

Be careful what you wish for. By eliminating priority only draws, everyone will draw tags when their turn is actually up and wait times will increase.

Exactly. last year I used a P-13 to draw a tag that I could have drawn with a P-4, I could have drawn that tag three times, but I chose to wait, and draw it once, which let other people draw it while I was waiting.

[ditch donkey]

The priority option lets me pull a tag when I know I can have the time to hunt it. This year I used priority only for all my draws, because my work schedule is up in the air, and I don’t know what type of shift I’ll be working in hunting season and if I’ll have time to hunt that tag properly. I have enough points for antlered elk and moose in the zones I like to hunt. So, someone else can have those tags this year.

Put it on a straight lottery system, and I’ll have to apply every year, and hope I can use it. If not, then the tag gets wasted.

[NCC]

It’s been explained on here a hundred times that the draws times are a result of the number of animals killed, not the number of tags drawn. If only super hunters are drawing tags, less tags will be given out and the wait time will be the same.

Control the predator populations in the West Country so that there are more critters available to hunt on public land and that will alleviate the pressure moose and elk draws.

[Wrongside]

Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck

One of the best ways to help with draw wait times is to take steps to remove “ineligible hunters” and hunters who are claiming resident status when they are not. There are steps being taken to define an eligible Alberta hunting resident. For far too long this has not been well defined and people are taking advantage and hunting as a resident in Alberta and other provinces at the same time.

LC

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

Keep the Wildlife Certificate the same price, but automatically charge anyone who draws a tag, the tag fee. If their credit card is no longer valid, disqualify them from future draws until the price of the tag is paid.

Agreed. The murky resident rules should’ve been cleaned up years ago. And autopay should’ve been mandatory too. You get drawn- hunt the tag, or not- you’re paying for it.

[marky_mark]

Originally Posted by NCC

It’s been explained on here a hundred times that the draws times are a result of the number of animals killed, not the number of tags drawn. If only super hunters are drawing tags, less tags will be given out and the wait time will be the same.

Control the predator populations in the West Country so that there are more critters available to hunt on public land and that will alleviate the pressure moose and elk draws.

That doesn’t make sense
There has been no mandatory harvest reporting
They can’t accurately know how many animals have been killed?
Your giving these bios too much credit
They can’t count antelope on the prairies never mind anything that might hide in the trees.

[RZR]

Originally Posted by marky_mark

They can’t count antelope on the prairies never mind anything that might hide in the trees.

And yet there are those that think our sheep population is in trouble! What makes you think they can’t count antelope as there aren’t too many trees on the prairies.

[marky_mark]

Originally Posted by RZR

And yet there are those that think our sheep population is in trouble! What makes you think they can’t count antelope as there aren’t too many trees on the prairies.

From hunting antelope in 3 different states as well as Alberta last year
By far the most hunters here and the least amount of animals
From talking to landowners in Alberta that all said I was wasting my time because they the herds were decimated from the snow
Even After knowing that there was a major die off they never reduced the number of tags
At least the bio in High level was smart enough to recognize this with the bison

[ram crazy]

Originally Posted by marky_mark

From hunting antelope in 3 different states as well as Alberta last year
By far the most hunters here and the least amount of animals
From talking to landowners in Alberta that all said I was wasting my time because they the herds were decimated from the snow
Even After knowing that there was a major die off they never reduced the number of tags
At least the bio in High level was smart enough to recognize this with the bison

I tried telling you people that last year that the pronghorn numbers were way down and everyone basically told me I didn’t know what I was talking about.

[Jamie]

Originally Posted by NCC

It’s been explained on here a hundred times that the draws times are a result of the number of animals killed, not the number of tags drawn. If only super hunters are drawing tags, less tags will be given out and the wait time will be the same.

Control the predator populations in the West Country so that there are more critters available to hunt on public land and that will alleviate the pressure moose and elk draws.

Quit with your common sense ideas. Way more fun to complain about things we cant control. Sheshhh Being reasonable just doesn't cut it Yah know....

[marky_mark]

Originally Posted by ram crazy

I tried telling you people that last year that the pronghorn numbers were way down and everyone basically told me I didn’t know what I was talking about.

You were 100% right

[WildBillG]

I have always felt our government is keeping our game numbers to low. Their excuse now is CWD if populations rise. Why then Is it not an issue is Texas who have more deer then the country of Canada.
There is no problem with the draw system it works when run properly. The problem is they to often hand out way to many tags. This happened years ago on my first Antelope draw they said numbers were way to high. My cousin and I each recieved 2 doe tags and a buck tag. The next year they said numbers were way down well dah what did they think would happen. We need some game managers that know what tey are doing our Province can handle more game I'm pretty sure we all know that.

[JTRED]

Originally Posted by Jamie

You all know that for the vast majority of the draws, we are sitting on the best system in the world?

A very few of these should be changed to a once in a life time random draw. but thats it. Perhaps throw some extra weight on the entries by those that have been putting in forever but really, we are sitting on a gold mine if you know how to use it.

The system here in BC is straight up lottery, with some reduced odds for those who are successful. I've been putting in for Shiras moose in region for 12 years, each year the odds keep getting worse because more and more people apply for everything just on the off chance they might get drawn. I know people who have been putting in for nearly three decades and have never been drawn. We don't even have a system where if you don't intend to even hunt to turn the tag back in so someone else could get it.

I'm just really glad that we have a lot of regular season opportunities.

[MOAhunter]

Eliminating the outfitter tags for anything the rest have to put in draws for would free up some tags and drive priority down.

[Ken H]

Originally Posted by MOAhunter

Eliminating the outfitter tags for anything the rest have to put in draws for would free up some tags and drive priority down.

Do you ever intend to hunt somewhere else other than Alberta? Just because we live here does not mean we are entitled for every animal in the province. If every province or country did eliminated tags for non residents we would not be able to hunt anywhere else. No I’m not an outfitter, I do enjoy hunting outside of Alberta when I get the opportunity to do so.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Ken H

Do you ever intend to hunt somewhere else other than Alberta? Just because we live here does not mean we are entitled for every animal in the province. If every province or country did eliminated tags for non residents we would not be able to hunt anywhere else. No I’m not an outfitter, I do enjoy hunting outside of Alberta when I get the opportunity to do so.

Try reading what he posted again, he specified the animals that residents have to draw for, not every animal. So if we can buy an over the counter tag for that wmu then let non residents hunt that species in that wmu. That would still allow non residents to hunt deer , elk and black hear in Alberta.

[sns2]

Originally Posted by MOAhunter

Eliminating the outfitter tags for anything the rest have to put in draws for would free up some tags and drive priority down.

Absolutely

[hal53]

The biggest issue with our long wait times is the massive increase in population here in Alberta. Until you can convince the million+ people that moved here to go home all the "fixes" that have been mentioned will do very little. For sure there is some tidying up that can be done but the fact remains we have too many people that want to hunt too few animals

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by hal53

The biggest issue with our long wait times is the massive increase in population here in Alberta. Until you can convince the million+ people that moved here to go home all the "fixes" that have been mentioned will do very little. For sure there is some tidying up that can be done but the fact remains we have too many people that want to hunt too few animals

Toughening up the residency requirements to eliminate the people that work in Alberta, but that have their homes elsewhere would reduce the number of hunters. Many of these people simply provide an Alberta address, and hunt here.

[jrileyw]

IMO:
The draw system in Alberta is a very good system. Problem with the long wait times is, 1) Population increase in the province and elsewhere, which is going to put more pressure always. Be thankful we are not like a state like Pennsylvania where there is 21 rifle hunters per square mile or 9 Archery hunters per square mile. 2)General licenses need to disappear, majority of the long wait draw WMU's have Whitetail, Elk, Sheep, Bear across the counter so people hunt these areas because they can just go buy a tag without any sort of planning or even knowledge of these areas. If you want to manage people or wildlife properly the draw will assist in this.
3)Season dates need to align from top to bottom in the entire province, take Sheep for instant if the public wants the August 25th as the opener then that is the opener from Grand Prairie to Waterton.
4)Also the ability to apply for all the draws, male or female. If someone wants to hunt cow elk and bull elk in the same season let them
5) Lastly increase the licensing and tag costs. It is ridiculous how little we all pay to hunt and fish in this province. It's time we start bringing attention to this natural resource we have here. Like everything if it is not showing some worth it will be taken away.

[oilngas]

Hal; you r right, in 1960 population of Ab. was about 1,000,000 (Ab. Gov. website) folks, and it seems to me we are likely pushing 4,500,000 to 5,000,000 folks today.

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by oilngas

Hal; you r right, in 1960 population of Ab. was about 1,000,000 (Ab. Gov. website) folks, and it seems to me we are likely pushing 4,500,000 to 5,000,000 folks today.

Hal is wrong.

The increase in Alberta's population has NOT correlated to an equal increase in hunters. The number of licenced hunters has been a relative flatline for decades. The direct evidence of static hunter numbers proves this theory to be completely wrong.

The increase in draw applications can be directly attributed to the reduction of general licence opportunities. People have few options but to apply in the draw.
In addition, the typical hunter today is much more willing to travel to hunt.
Back in the 70's/80's, very few would travel far to hunt, nor did they have to as general licences were readily available. Back then the only animal fully on draw was Pronghorns, and most hunters simply did not bother to apply and travel to hunt them.

Now, with much thanks to hunting media, everybody wants hunt as many species as are available, and typically HAS to apply in the draw to obtain a tag.

Another issue is the great reduction in Allowable Harvest %'s authorized by F&W. More and more draw populations are being managed with a greatly reduced hunting mortality. Much of the thanks for this can be directed to APOS and ABA. The push for more "Trophy" animals means there must be fewer licences issued. Which of course increases wait times for rifle season Resident hunters.