To whom it may concern, In…

To whom it may concern,

In regards to the proposed changes much of what has been proposed I am in agreement with. My main area of concern lies in the changes that negatively effect group draws and party hunting. I fundamentally disagree with eliminating the group draw. In fact it is my belief that hunters should have to apply as a group to receive a tag. Applying as a large member group should be rewarded with higher percentage of success and smaller groups with lower percentage. It takes time, effort and organization as well as a knowledge that perhaps 10 hunting members will knowingly share at most 1 adult moose between them. Group members are aware of this and happy with the chance to harvest that 1 animal every year. Most moose harvested are accompanied by other moose at the time of harvest having only 1 tag between a group allows those other moose to walk free. Thus keeping harvest levels low and population high.
My second concern lies with your proposed point system. This again rewards individual hunters who will automatically have higher point levels then any of those who have been applying as a group member. Hunters who have been applying in groups have and rightfully so been rewarded with tags over the years thus we will be entering the new system with far less points then individual applicants. Yet again limiting draw success of those hunters who have worked to organize groups.

To finalize the proposed changes are directed towards improving hunting opportunities for individual hunters who have either not tried hard enough or have no interest in working with other hunters to obtain tags and harvest moose and will punish those who have been members of groups. My proposed system would be-

Cap the group numbers at 10 applicants
Have a lottery system where maximum group applications have 10 balls in the lottery groups at 7 have 7 balls and so on down the line. Some years those large groups will get unlucky and some years smaller groups will get more lucky. Those who apply as groups and are willing to split 1 adult moose between them should have a better opportunity to be rewarded!

If my opinion is not shared amongst the majority of hunters and these changes go through I hope at a minimum you will provide hunters who have been applying as members of groups additional points initially so that they are not all starting at the lower end of the point system.

Hunting has and hopefully always will be something that is enjoyed by groups of friends and family that work together. Any changes to the drawing system should be designed to reward these groups not punish them!