Fitting right in line with most other western states, Wyoming was not alone in seeing more applicants than normal this year for big game draw hunts. For the most part, this was a record setting year in Wyoming in many respects.
To start with, the Wyoming elk draw saw an actual decrease in applications this year for nonresident hunters. Mostly due to the deadline falling right smack in the middle of the Covid shutdown. For the first time in years nonresident applicants for elk actually dropped by roughly 9% for the 2020 hunting season. Resident applications however have continued to skyrocket and elk was no exception this year with an increase of 8.3% versus last year for Wyoming resident bull elk tags.
If you were lucky enough to draw your favorite bull elk license as a nonresident hunter this year, don’t be surprised if you find yourself waiting much longer for the next one. The overall number of nonresident hunters inside the preference points system in Wyoming is literally skyrocketing. To put it into perspective in 2017, only three short years ago, there were a total of 67,256 nonresident applicants with elk preference points inside the Wyoming draw computer system. Contrast that to this year, for the 2020 application season there were over 103,000 applicants all vying for roughly the same amount of nonresident bull elk tags. This is a net increase of more than 54%! To say the Wyoming system is being overloaded with applicants could be the understatement of the week.
The pronghorn draw saw roughly a 10% decrease in buck tags for this year versus 2019, while applications increased by 7.2%. As a result, the antelope left-over list is as anemic as ever this year with a total decrease of nearly 26% in available leftover permits. There’s no question, hunting for a buck antelope in Wyoming this year will be more appreciated than ever as the opportunities have continued to shrink.
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