The Wyoming Game and Fish Department switched from a lottery to a modified preference point system for resident moose and bighorn sheep licenses a few decades ago. It’s modified because it’s not a true preference point system. There’s still a 25% lottery involved, and if you draw a license through the lottery instead of the preference points, you don’t use any of your accumulated points. You still have to wait five years to draw again, or even to buy preference points, if you draw a moose or sheep tag.
Nonresidents can get preference points for elk, deer, and antelope, in addition to moose and sheep. Both residents and nonresidents earn a preference point if they apply for a license but fail to draw one, and you can buy a preference point if you don’t apply for that tag. However, you can only get one point per year per species, so if you put in for a license, you can’t buy another point. But make sure you do one or the other every year. If you don’t earn a preference point, either by failing to draw or buying one, for two years in a row, you lose all the points you had accumulated.
It’s pretty easy to buy a point, though. Before Oct. 31, go to the Game and Fish website, go to Licenses, and follow the links to buy your preference point. Points are $7 for moose and sheep for residents, but nonresident points are a bit more expensive. They’re $10 for nonresident youth elk, deer and antelope, but adults have to pay $52 for elk, $41 for deer, and $31 for antelope. And nonresident sheep and moose points are $150 each.
But if you have a good total of preference points already, it’s well worth it to keep buying them. You don’t want to lose all the points you’ve saved up. Make sure you do it before Oct. 31.
