As if Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks complicated system to apply for special hunting permits wasn’t confusing enough, a new wrinkle was added last year without public notification.
The agency has allowed hunters to purchase bonus points for 20 years to increase their odds of drawing hard-to-get permits. The points accrue over time and are awarded after the hunter failed to draw one of their first-choice tags. In theory then, a hunter who is repeatedly denied a tag and purchases a bonus point should eventually have greater odds of drawing in a specific region.
As noted in FWP’s regulations, “Bonus points essentially offer you additional drawing chances and are used for first-choice drawings only. Existing bonus points will be mathematically ‘squared’ prior to the drawing. That means if you already have three ��base’ bonus points, those will be ‘squared’ and you’ll then have nine points going into the drawing.”
Read more from the Missoulian here...