Drawing a Deer License in 2018

Following a law initially designed to phase out old Game and Fish Department paper license books, all hunters who applied for a deer gun license in 2018 did so electronically.

That was new.

The way the results of the deer drawing – plus drawings for pronghorn and spring and fall turkey – are presented to readers of North Dakota OUTDOORS is new this year, too.

The tables provided show the first-choice results in the first lottery. Using deer hunting unit 2B for any antlered deer as an example, the numbers read like this: 972 hunters, with zero bonus points, applied for an any antlered deer license and 11 were successful in drawing a license (11/972); 882 hunters, with one bonus point, applied and 36 were successful (36/882); 714 hunters, with two bonus points, applied and 51 were successful; and on it goes.

In short, the tables show the results for those hunters with the same number of bonus points applying for a particular license in a particular hunting unit.

It’s important to note that the deer lottery results do not include the 1 percent of licenses state law requires the Game and Fish Department make available for nonresident applicants every year.

Those nonresidents who do apply for a deer gun license in North Dakota compete only against other nonresident hunters for that 1 percent.

Also of note, the results in the 2018 deer gun lottery show only those hunters who were actually in the drawing, not those hunters who bought bonus points and had no intention of hunting deer last fall.

2018 Lottery Notes

For the third year in a row, the number of deer gun licenses made available to hunters increased in 2018.

Here’s a quick look:

• 2016 – 49,000 deer gun licenses.
• 2017 – 54,500 deer gun licenses.
• 2018 – 55,150 deer gun licenses.

Drawing a buck license in 2018 was, like most years, not easy. Randy Meissner, Game and Fish Department licensing manager, said after 13,098 resident gratis licenses and 525 nonresident licenses were subtracted from the overall license allocation, just 22,559 buck licenses were available for the 66,998 hunters who applied for them as their first choice in the lottery.

For the fifth year in a row, following hard winters that significantly impacted the state’s population, Game and Fish made available 1,075 pronghorn licenses in 2018, or 665 more than 2017.

Ten pronghorn hunting units were open in 2018, five more than 2017.

How the Lottery Works

There are always questions concerning the Game and Fish Department’s lottery.

Using deer as the example, though turkey works the same way, this is how it works.

If you fail to draw your first license choice in any given year, you receive a bonus point. You do not have to apply in the same unit, or for the same deer type each year, to qualify. You get an additional bonus point each year you apply and do not receive your first license choice. You maintain your accumulated bonus points as long as you apply in the first drawing at least once every two years.

You receive additional chances in the drawing for each bonus point accumulated. For points one through three, you are entered in the drawing two times the number of points you have. So, if you have two points you would get four additional chances to be drawn, compared to a person who got his or her first choice the previous year. If you’re both competing for the same license, you have five chances, he or she has one.

When you accumulate four or more points, the number of additional chances is determined by cubing your bonus points. So, when you have four points, you will be in the drawing 64 additional times, 125 times if you have five points, and so on. Bonus points are accumulated as long as you do not draw your first license choice and apply in the first drawing at least every other year. You do not receive bonus points in years you do not apply.

Each drawing is still random, but the more bonus points you have, the better your odds. When you receive your first license choice, you lose your bonus points and start over. Bonus points can only be earned, or used, in the first drawing for each species in each year.

The license lottery consists of four separate drawings, one for each choice on the application. First, we hold a drawing for the first unit/first deer choice. When those are issued, we draw for the first unit/second deer choice, then the second unit/first deer choice, and finally the second unit/second deer choice.

2018 Lottery Stats

• Deer
  • 55,150 – Number of deer licenses available, up from 54,500 in 2017.
  • 79,406 – Number of people – not including 13,375 gratis applicants – who applied for deer gun lottery licenses, up from 77,622 in 2017.
  • 43.43 – Percent of successful applicants, excluding gratis and nonresidents, for deer gun and muzzleloader licenses.
  • 1.41 – Average number of bonus points of applicants who received their first choice.
  • 16 – Maximum number of bonus points for any applicant (nonresident mule deer buck applicants).
  • 12,683 – Applicants with four or more bonus points.
  • 13.39 – Percent of applicants with four or more bonus points.
  • 4,327 – Number of applicants with four or more bonus points who drew their first choice of license.
  • 34.68 – Percent of applicants with four or more bonus points who applied for a muzzleloader buck license.
• Turkey
  • 5,662 – Number of spring turkey licenses available to hunters, down from 5,685 in 2017.
  • 71.2 – Percent of applicants who received their first license choice in the spring turkey drawing.
  • 3,710 – Number of fall turkey licenses available, up from 3,505 in 2017.
  • 80.2 – Percent of applicants who received their first license choice in the fall turkey drawing.
• Pronghorn
  • A limited pronghorn season was offered for the fifth consecutive year in 10 hunting units.
  • 1,080 – Number of licenses available to hunters, up 667 from 2017.
  • 11,169 – Number of people who applied for available licenses, up 2,413 from 2017.