Thinking Bear already-Lottery question

[KGPZ]

Any one know if preference goes down if you harvested a bear the previous year?

[buckhunter21]

If you got drawn the year before Im pretty sure your preference points go back to 0 regardless if you got one or not. If you shot one in No Quota then I dont think it affects your points.

[lcornice]

Preference goes down to zero only if youbuy the license. If you win the lottery but don't buy the license, you don't accrue a point but you don't lose them either. Basically, say you have 1 preference point when you apply, three things can happen:

1) Unsuccessful, get another point (2)

2) Successful, don't buy license. Get nothing (1)

3) Successful, buy license. Lose preference (0)

[buckhunter21]

Cool, thanks for clearing that up Lou I guess I didnt even know that. Its nice to have you on the board to answer questions like that.

[HNTNBUX]

Lou why do you get to keep your preference if you do not buy a license? That is a license that is not going to someone and they are losing the chance to hunt. That does not seem fair to me.

[jkcmj]

I hate to see that to. I would bet that anti-bear hunt people would be willing to pay to lock up as many tags as possible. I am sure this is going on to some degree now.

[buckhunter21]

I think the ones that are drawn and decide not to get a tag they then sell over the counter on a first come first serve basis opening on a set date. I could be wrong though.

[charliepete]

I think the ones that are drawn and decide not to get a tag they then sell over the counter on a first come first serve basis opening on a set date. I could be wrong though.

In the past I know that they only sold licenses over the counter if they had more tags than lottery applicants. Up until a few years ago you could even bait without a tag. Some local guys would bait and decide whether or not to buy a tag depending on how their baits were hitting.