Anyone know the ins and outs of the Alberta draw system?

[RyoTHC]

Have had a buddy in Alberta for a few years now in giant mulie territory, and finally convinced him to get his hunting license and gun license luckily just before this shit storm...

Just wondering if anyone has any tips or suggestions on how to navigate their draw system or if there are any tricks to it like some of the US draws.

also figured this forum could use some hunting related banter lol

[fuzzybiscuit]

Have had a buddy in Alberta for a few years now in giant mulie territory, and finally convinced him to get his hunting license and gun license luckily just before this shit storm...

Just wondering if anyone has any tips or suggestions on how to navigate their draw system or if there are any tricks to it like some of the US draws.

also figured this forum could use some hunting related banter lol

What do you want to know? The draw system is pretty simple. Put in with your friend as a group and just choose “priority draw only” until you both have enough points to get a draw tag. You can look on Alberta Relm to see what draw points were required the year before and that will give you a good idea if you have close to enough points. It’s obviously dependant on the priority points of the individuals entering each year so it can go up or down by a few points.

Muley’s in a good non-CWD zone go anywhere between 5 and 10 years. A high CWD zone where they give out a ton of tags will be 3-4 years but the odds of getting a good buck go down greatly.

[shleebs]

Agree with the comment above. I'm from Alberta as well and there isn't anything special about it. I personally like the system in Alberta a lot more than BC's as it let's you plan your draws out versus the somewhat random draw system we have in BC. It is pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

[Huevos]

If it is a good mule deer area down south, expect to be putting in for a at least 6 years before drawing. Priority system, but does not have extra preference points that can be purchased like some of the draws in the states. You can 999 your draw to build points if you don't plan on hunting but want to build priority. Lots of guys prefer Alberta system to BC but not me. I like that everyone has a chance to draw here every time. In Alberta, you are just paying to wait in line. Good luck to your buddy. Hopefully you can get over there and teach him the ropes! Spot and stalk mule deer hunts are a lot of fun.

[fuzzybiscuit]

I put in for LEH Roosevelt Elk on the Island for 25 years straight without ever being drawn but at least here in Alberta I know when I’m getting close to having enough priority points to draw a certain species and can actually plan a hunt for more than a few months in advance. If you are a lucky kind of guy then I can see the benefit to the BC system but that’s not me...

And if you want to just gain priority points choose the “priority only” application box. The draw code “999” has not been used for several years now. A lot of people still call it 999 but every year there are people who spend considerable time looking for the 999 box and it doesn’t exist anymore.

[Blacktail]

yup what Fuzzy said.
Easy and simple

[RyoTHC]

yup what Fuzzy said.
Easy and simple


so if I have my WIN card. I can start building priority points and then I’d just need to hunt with him if and when i get a draw?

[Blacktail]

so if I have my WIN card. I can start building priority points and then I’d just need to hunt with him if and when i get a draw?

No as a resident Canadian ( non Albertan ) you have to apply with an Alberta Resident in order to enter the draw.
You can't apply on your own.

[Farmer001]

Correct me if I am wrong but if you apply you need your sponsors # and that burns up his draw on that animal also. Fuzzybiscuit sounds like this is the case. As long as sponsor is OK with that draw. Also as draws for out of province are pretty limited what I remember.

[fuzzybiscuit]

Correct me if I am wrong but if you apply you need your sponsors # and that burns up his draw on that animal also. Fuzzybiscuit sounds like this is the case. As long as sponsor is OK with that draw. Also as draws for out of province are pretty limited what I remember.

You both need to apply but you can choose “priority application only”. No chance of getting a draw and no loss of points. I have a buddy from BC who has been gaining priority points with me for 6 years on Bull Elk. If he decided to pull a draw one year with someone else he could. They would both just have to put in together that year. If the resident he put in with only had 5 years priority then that is all the points they would have towards the draw.

[Walking Buffalo]

Correct me if I am wrong but if you apply you need your sponsors # and that burns up his draw on that animal also. Fuzzybiscuit sounds like this is the case. As long as sponsor is OK with that draw. Also as draws for out of province are pretty limited what I remember.

If I understand this question....

There are few draws that are not available to NR.
Mostly this includes antlerless draws, and most of the sheep/goat draws.
Pretty much all of the antlered deer, elk, moose and pronghorn draws are open to NR.

Or it you meant percent of allocation.
Alberta currently doesn't limit how many NR are successful in a particular draw, unlike some jurisdictions that limit the NR allocation to say 10% as an example.

Alberta is probably the most NR hunter friendly province in Canada.
I wish other jurisdictions would act the same way rather than continually becoming more restrictive to NR hunters.

[Farmer001]

I applied for a antlered elk and application asked for hunter host win #. Later when my host went to apply "his draw" for elk apparently was used up on my application. Unless I entered something wrong in process?

[fuzzybiscuit]

I applied for a antlered elk and application asked for hunter host win #. Later when my host went to apply "his draw" for elk apparently was used up on my application. Unless I entered something wrong in process?

Something sounds kind of funny here. If you apply as a group then it goes in as one chance at a draw instead of 2 separate chances but if successful you both get a draw tag, so 2 animals. The year your host lost his points did he also get a tag? He should have if he lost his points.

The system works really good once you figure out how to make it work in your advantage. I’ve had a Moose tag in my pocket 7 out of the last 8 years. I didn’t put in for a draw or purchase an undersubscribed late-season tag last year only because a good friend of mine wanted to bag his first bull moose and he had the priority points to get the draw. We were going to share the animal so I didn’t put in since we didn’t need or want two of them. Planning like that can’t be done under the LEH system in BC. Since I received a late-season undersubscribed tag the year before last I’ll have more than enough points to get a draw in my area this year.

[Rackmastr]

If it is a good mule deer area down south, expect to be putting in for a at least 6 years before drawing. Priority system, but does not have extra preference points that can be purchased like some of the draws in the states. You can 999 your draw to build points if you don't plan on hunting but want to build priority. Lots of guys prefer Alberta system to BC but not me. I like that everyone has a chance to draw here every time. In Alberta, you are just paying to wait in line. Good luck to your buddy. Hopefully you can get over there and teach him the ropes! Spot and stalk mule deer hunts are a lot of fun.

I find that you can still get into a really good quality mule deer hunt with a lot of zones requiring 2-3 points. For sure you can have a great hunt in a zone with 6-8 points, but some of the country I've hunted a lot can be hunted with 2-3 points and if you're willing to hike you can get into some good bucks still. Especially when talking about a BC resident and hunting the prairies of AB, where you can see a lot of 'decent' bucks in a day and if willing to hold out you may get lucky as well.

Best bet is start applying, and hopefully the opportunity remains in the next couple years!

[fuzzybiscuit]

I find that you can still get into a really good quality mule deer hunt with a lot of zones requiring 2-3 points. For sure you can have a great hunt in a zone with 6-8 points, but some of the country I've hunted a lot can be hunted with 2-3 points and if you're willing to hike you can get into some good bucks still. Especially when talking about a BC resident and hunting the prairies of AB, where you can see a lot of 'decent' bucks in a day and if willing to hold out you may get lucky as well.

Best bet is start applying, and hopefully the opportunity remains in the next couple years!

The results I had in 2016 and again in 2019 would support Rackmastr’s claim. I shot pretty decent bucks both years and saw even better bucks each year that alluded me. The area I’m hunting though is a CWD hotbed and while I don’t know the exact percentage of positive animals I do know that your odds of getting one with CWD seem pretty high from the amount of people that I personally know that received positive results this past year. My hunting partner and I dropped both our samples off this year on November 12th and did not receive results until mid March, so that is a long time to be taking up freezer space with something that may have to be disposed of in the end.

Get off the road though and there are miles upon miles of good area that they can hide in so even though there are a ton of tags given out each year the season is short and the area is immense so some decent bucks still survive.

I sure wish I had been around for the hay-day.