I'm a believer in building points wherever possible. I've been gathering bonus and preference points for my son and I in all the western states, for nearly every hunt that offers them. I began building points for my son as soon as he was old enough, and as a result he's one point ahead of that big glut of applicants for moose and sheep in Wyoming. My strategy with my son has been to put him in for very tough to draw tags to get him the point, but if he beats the odds and draws, he'll have a great tag. He's only 19 and already has 11 sheep and antelope points in AZ, and he drew a late Kaibab deer last year and muzzy elk in 2005. Took a very nice 6 pt bull at 16 years old, and an outstanding buck last year. Most of the points he's building will get used after he graduates from college, which is still 4 yearss off. When the time comes, he'll have 13 or 14 moose points in WY, and will pretty much be able to decide when to take a great shiras hunt. He'll probably draw his WY sheep tag by the time he's in his early 30s. Here's what we each have points for:
Oregon, deer, elk, antelope
California, deer, elk, antelope, sheep
Arizona, deer, elk, antelope, sheep
Nevada, deer, elk, antelope, desert,CA and Rocky sheep, goat
Utah, elk, rocky Mtn. sheep
Montana, combo license, sheep, moose, goat
Wyoming, deer, elk, antelope, sheep, moose
Colorado, deer, elk,antelope, sheep, moose
That's a big commmitment each year to pay for all those applications, but we usually draw a good tag or two. This year was the first time in a while that neither of us drew anything special. We'll have some outstanding hunts over the next twenty years or so.