LAST EDITED ON Jan-02-07 AT 11:24PM (MST)[p]OddNut, I might be able to help you quite a bit with your strategy for your kids. My son is 19, and I've been applying him in AZ since he was 10, as well as for just about every other western state that offers points. In Arizona, I've always applied him for actual hunts, not points, since you couldn't go "points only" until recently. What I would do is apply him only for very good hunts, some of Arizona's best, and figure that he almost certainly won't draw. If he draws, well its a great tag and justifies taking him out of school for a few days for a great hunt experience. So far, he's drawn 2 tags in Arizona. He drew an early muzzleloader bull elk tag in 5BS at the age of 16, I think he had 5 points at the time, and shot a bull that scored 334". This year, he drew 12AE late for mule deer with 9 points, and shot a 188" buck. I figured that both of those hunts were long enough odds that he was very unlikely to draw them, but he did and we had great hunts. He's got 11 points for sheep and antelope, and is back to building points for deer and elk in Arizona.
I'd be very happy to discuss this whole thing with you in greater detail, as I've built points for him across the west and he's gonna draw some super hunts when he gets out of college and is in his 20s & 30s. When he graduates from college, I think he'll have 13 moose points in Wyoming, and should be able to draw a super moose tag any time he wants. He'll also have that many sheep points and is young enough that he'll draw a bighorn tag while still reasonably young. Also has lots of points in Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Montana, California, Nevada. It takes some dedication and expense over time, but he's going to have a great shot at drawing tags that most of us will have a tough time drawing. Yes, its expensive, but I figure that with all of the stuff we spend money on for our kids, this is one of the more wholesome things I can spend money on for my son. I wish my daughter would take up hunting, I'd do the same for her in a second.
Here is a photo of the buck he shot on 12AE on December 2nd.