The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) commission changed the way preference points affect 36 limited draw seasons at their January Commission meeting.

The Commission decided to take the number of times a person is in the draw and cube that number (number of preference points + 1 for the current application). This adjustment is intended to provide those hunters with a higher number of preference points a greater chance of drawing a limited license than currently exists.  

While this will improve the odds for people with a higher number of preference points drawing a license, it will not guarantee them a license. GFP licensing supervisor Shon Eide stated in January that the proposal doesn’t change the drawing to a true top down preference point system, and that a hunter with the most preference points would still not be guaranteed a license before another hunter with less preference points who is in the same draw pool, but their odds of drawing a license would be increased over someone else in the draw pool with fewer preference points. 

….Read on in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal.