I saw this multiple times when I would put in for waterfowl reservations while stationed in CA.

You would see that same ID# getting drawn over and over again. Some people hypothesized that the computer program somehow favored those numbers in some kind of "loop theory." You were lucky to draw 1 or 2 ressies per waterfowl area per year. It was really frustrating.

The best way to beat the system is to have buddies who are also applying, but everyone needs to have some kind of "deal" deciding who gets to go as the extra.

Another consideration would be the "sweat line" option. AL would issue less that the maximum SOA hunts, and allow people to show up and wait for the open spots. We used to show up at least 3-4 hours early, around 11pm, to put our names on the sweat line list. People are going to say, "that sucks it's a waste of time," but if you don't want to hunt that bad, I bet someone there does.

Just my thoughts.