SDBugler,
Look, I really, really don't want to sound rude, but I believe you are incorrect. They did pull the nonres quota of 1 tag from 121-00 before the drawing. Please let me explain. You are correct that only "up to 3" tags were actually available in the drawing in region 1. Since there were only 3 nones tags in the region and 4 hunt codes, at least one nonres hunt code won't have a chance for a tag. However, you are incorrect as far as the reason no nonres drew 121-00 instead of one of the other 3 hunt codes in the region. The reason no nonresident tag was drawn in 121-00 was NOT that nonresidents drew the other 3 region 1 hunt codes first and depleted the regional nonres quota before a 121-00 nonres applicant got lucky or residents drew all the 121-00 tags first. It was because there was not a nonres tag available in 121-00 when the drawing occurred. MT sets the actual "max" nonres quota per hunt code before the drawing is run. Sometimes a hunt code listed on the nonres application form ends up having zero tags available for nonres when the draw is run. Any nonres that applies for one of these hunt codes has exactly zero chance of drawing. The decision on which hunt code will not be drawn in a region by nonresidents due to the 10% regional nonresident cap is made by MT before the drawing occurs every year.
Look at the 2012 draw statistics. The Region 1 tentative NR quota before the draw deadline was "up to 4 tags", 10% of the "tentative" total of 42 tags. That's why there were four region 1 hunt codes listed on your 2012 application form. Then after the application deadline they cut the actual Region 1 tag quota to 36 total (122-00 tag quota was reduced by 6 tags, from 10 to 4). There were now only up to 3 nonres tags in the Region 1 quota, and they were specifically only avail in 122-00, 122-30, and 123-00. In fact, all the region 1 tags that were available to nonres in the draw were drawn. There was not a tag in the 121-00 quota avail for nonres, even though 502 nonres applied for it. Their applications were completely worthless, except to get a bonus point if they paid for it. How do we know this? Look at the draw statistics. They show the nonres quota at the time the drawing was run. The table shows the actual "max" nonres quota per hunt code. You will see that the quota for 121-00 was 0, no tags would ever be awarded for a nonres in 121-00, even if a nonres that applied for 121-00 had the BEST random number of every nonres that applied in the entire region 1, or even the best random number in the entire state, res or nonres in 2012.
No Nonres drew in 304-00 and 622-00 for an entirely different reason. There was was an actual quota of "up to 1 tag" for nonres in each of these hunt codes, but a nonres didn't get lucky enough to draw before residents drew all the tags. Completely different reasons why a nonres didn't draw 121-00 (no quota) vs 304-00 and 622-00 (no luck). The 304-00 and 622-00 nonres applicants would have drawn if they had a better random number than at least one resident that drew.