Why does it take so long to conduct drawings for big game licenses?
A. The actual drawing only takes a matter of hours. It”s the preparation for the drawing that takes time. Wyoming is a state that has numerous drawings for numerous species. Since Wyoming law allocates certain percentages of licenses to residents and nonresidents, those drawings are conducted separately, and have their own separate application periods and deadlines. We feel we must allow ample time to apply for licenses, so depending on the species, most application periods are a month or more. Since it seems to be human nature to procrastinate, most of the applictions do not reach us until the last week of the application period. We also need to have seasons and quotas set before drawings can be conducted. Since we are a state which periodically gets harsh winters, we do not set seasons and quotas until after the effects of the winter on game populations are known. The season setting meeting is usually the first week of May. We make an exception to this for the nonresident elk drawin
