• I do not like the new system. There are three or four X Zones I like to hunt. If I had my choice I would never hunt an A, B, C, or D zone again. It has been more years than I can count since I received any of my three choices, and now they want to limit it to one choice, which is what the new drawing system amounts to.

The only fair way I see is a point system — at least I could get a better chance when my points got high enough.

Bob Telford

• What makes those idiots in Sacramento think that this new "draw by choice" is a better system? They may as well take the second and third choice blocks off the application. The bottom line is that all the best tags will go in the first round. Why should I have to sacrifice a chance of drawing a good tag just because I apply for a premium tag as first choice? They say, "The majority of the hunters wanted it." BS, I haven't found one who thinks it's a good idea yet. I can't wait for the DFG survey to come out.

Bill Kirkpatrick
Ridgecrest, CA

• I believe that a preference point system is greatly needed in California. People who have put in for tags for years without success should have a better chance of drawing than a first timer. I know a guy who has put in for California tags for 5 years without success and another guy who drew a tag the first time he put in. It is possible to put in for 20 years without drawing. California's current system is based on luck and nothing else; somebody who puts the time in deserves a better chance of drawing.

Sincerely,
Ken Gunderson

• Stupid me! I've been applying for deer tags the last six years assuming that the old system was run the way DFG is telling us the new system is going to be. Why have your 3 choices been listed as first choice, second choice, and third choice if they weren't in order of preference ( this is regarding the old system ). There are two areas that I prefer to hunt, X9a and G10, but I never put them on the same application because they (under the new system, the way I thought the old system was run ) had 2 to 3 times more applicants than available tags and would have been gone in the first round of picks. Now I know for sure that this will be the case if this new system is implemented. Now people are going to have to pick only one hard-to-draw area as their first pick ( preference ) and use their other two choices for areas that rarely fill their tag quota and, I might add, rarely see any deer! I support an accumulated point system so I can probably count on an X9a tag maybe every 3 years or so rather than never in 6 years.

Thanks for this site to allow me to vent my frustrations and share my love of hunting.

Matt Berg

•California needs to deal with more than just deer. Due to the large population of hunters vs. a very limited number of tags, there needs to be a preference (or more likely a bonus point) type of system put into place. The system would include elk, bighorn sheep, and antelope in addition to deer.

Good Hunting,
Brenton Scott
Trabuco Canyon, CA

• The REAL reason they did this was because they could implement this system without making any changes to the computer selection and workload associated with tracking a preference point system. It's as clear as day to me! I think it's a travesty that these systems are put into place without input from the majority of the hunters they are doing this to! Notice I say to, not doing it for, because that's the way it is! I think there is nothing wrong with this system except that there needs to be a preference point system in place to ensure you have a reasonable chance to draw a tag over time. Keep us posted!

Thanks for all you do!

Ray

• I think their new draw system is great. Why wasn't it done like this before? But I think they still need to implement the point system also for the unsuccessful drawers of deer, elk, etc. tags.

Richard McCullough

• In your article about the new drawing system for California deer, it states that it is unclear as to why the new system is being adopted. The "new draw-by-choice" system, as you call it, is a combination of the present computerized systems and the old system in use before they went to computer drawings. I am one of the hunters who complained about the computer system.

I feel it is a more appropriate system when the DFG "sort(s) all hunt applications by the hunters' first-choice zone". I know of hunters who, under the system used last year, made three selections on their tags, and receive a relatively early number. When they are chosen for the third choice on their tag, instead of the first or second, they decide not to hunt that zone and the tag goes to waste. In the meantime, a hunter who may have had that zone listed as his first choice is denied his chance at being drawn for that hunt.

I have not participated in any "preference point" drawings, and from what I have read about other states' drawings, they also appear to have their problems. However, as a California Master Hunter Education Instructor who talks to about 200 hunters a year, I can tell you that most of them seem to prefer a system that will give them "a better shot" at getting their first choice as listed on their tag.

Bill Tidwell

• I don't like the new system at all. I think a preference point system sounds like the way to go for deer hunting. Some people never get drawn for a hunt.

I wanted to put in for D9A this year for the rifle season as first choice and then A16 archery season for the same zone as second choice. For the last couple of years I drew the A16 tag. It looks like this year I may not get either choice.

I did send a letter to the DFG.

Bill

•EDITOR'S NOTE: I was reading these comments to my wife, Diane, and she said that regardless of the draw method, it seems like the mountain lions have the important preference points for California's deer. Until something can be done with the overabundance of them, hunters are just going to get a portion of the declining deer numbers. (She has a point.)