Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game OREGON DRAWS: What do the R, Y, X, A mean at the end of the unit designation?

I'm so confused about the Oregon draws...alas, the draw odds I've read for NR tags are 0% to near 0% unless I have 10-15 points...

What do the R, Y, X, A mean at the end of the unit designation?

I'd like to start applying so that maybe before I die in my 80s I have a slight chance of drawing

You'll never draw the premium tags in your life, anything else is bout like otc in most states, cheap sheep app though...

I missed the draw deadline. It was too complicated and I had to work late. Sounds like it's almost better to do OTC, DYI in Colorado or some-such than to spend thousands of dollars for 10+ years to draw a good tag in Oregon.

If anyone has any ideas for next year, please feel free to PM me.

Good tag in Oregon, now there's a guy with a sense of humor. Oregon isn't managed for good hunts, it's managed for maximum income for the Dept of Fish and Wildlife.

Oregon has okay OTC blacktail deer and Roosevelt elk hunts. Washington does not. As nonresident, skip CA and OR and WA draws. Come fish those states but the hunt draws are too expensive for too few quality draw tags.

Me too. I also stopped applying to California. Way too many hunters, too little chances, too expensive. Better to go with outfitters in some of these states; if at all. Good pig hunting, but for pigs, you can still find cheaper and better in Texas and for Javalina in Arizona.

This said, there are some states where it's worthwhile and Colorado is one of them.

The hunt number is "xyyz". x is a single digit indicating species or hunt series, yy is the unit number, and z, which is optional, indicates which hunt within the species/unit. If it is M, it's muzzleloader, if it is R, it's archery. X and Y are usually first and second rifle seasons. Sometimes they'll use other letters if there are even more choices of seasons for that species and unit or if the tag is only valid for part of a unit (or sometimes parts of adjacent units).

It's really not that complicated.

If you've studied the numbers you already know this but it might bear noticing that it's not just non-residents, some hunts are near 0% even for residents unless you have the maximum number of points accrued since the preference point system was introduced 20-ish years ago. On some of those point creep continues because there are still 1000 or more people with the max possible number of points putting in for 20-30 tags.

Y' know what? You pay your money and you stand in line for a chance. Everyone else is doing the same thing. Or, you don't pay your money and you don't get in line, you go fishing or take up golf instead.

Tom

TOM, that's the best explanation I've seen; you should have that written up in the regulations booklet for Fish and Wildlife !

Thank you. I might just pay my dues for next year and wait out the decade...