Soa hunt question

Why does it say I’ve only got two preference points when I register for the hunts? I’ve registered for every single deer, turkey, and duck hunt since it’s conception but only have two preference points?

Is it one point per year not selected, or one per hunt applied for and not selected?

I think it’s one point per specific hunt you apply for, not a blanket thing for all hunts.

Alabama does probably the worst job of any state I’ve seen at explaining their point system.

That can’t be right. There was a guy on here that posted a picture showing that he has 28 preference points

If I was that guy, I’d be getting looking into a new identity by now.

I was selected for Portland bow hunt on Oct 15 but haven’t received an email from the state..

I haven’t gotten mine for the Fred Simpson archery hunt I got either.

Because it’s Alabama and we have morons running this crap! I’m done applying for these hunts

Me and the wife both have been selected for hunts and neither of us have received a confirmation email. In another thread I learned that it would likely come from a lady by the name of Kara. Hope I see it soon. Very excited to know what unit I will get to hunt.

That sounds great! The less people who apply....the better chance for the ones who do.

Best of luck to ya

Hevi I'm in the same boat as you. I've registered every year and I only have 2 points.

It says I have 9 preference points but still haven’t been selected

Just learned today that if you accept an alternate spot, it deletes all your preference points, even if you don’t end up getting drawn. What a crock of chit.

That’s crazy.

Here are their supposed rules for how preference points points are calculated. Something is still up though. Too many people reporting not enough or too many points.

As we all figured, something is jacked up with their system.

I talked to a guy last year on the crow creek duck hunt that said he had been drawn for that hunt 3 years in a row. That’s some bull crap when there are thousands applying that will never been drawn.

Meemaw says just be patient fellas

There was another reply on their FB the other day where they (AL WFF) indicated that there have only been an average of 2700 applicants for the SOA hunts. I don't know if that was deer/turkey/duck/small game combined or just deer. That seems a surprisingly low number to me even if it's for only the deer hunts.

I call bull on that one. I agree with you, that number is way too low.

IDK, I’ve talked to a lot of guys that just don’t bother with it or don’t know about the SOA hunts.

Wish i would not have read this, as i accepted the alternate at Stimpson. Probably will not be selected as a hunter, and i just dropped 9 preference points.

Same here. I accepted as an alternate for a Cedar Creek hunt. I probably wouldn't have if I'd known I was gambling all my preference points.

Wait, so if you accept the "alternate" that is offered, you automatically lose all your points EVEN IF you don't get selected to hunt?

That's some f'ed-up BS right there.


Y'all are straight-up getting played for your money. Might as well just send a check to the Gump every year.

In my case, I'm not spending any more than normal. I hunt WMAs anyway so I would be buying that license regardless of SOA results.

Lucky for you. If my figuring is right. You actually have a better chance of being drawn with no points. That’s how coosa and others got drawn a bunch. They divide available spots up in to 2 pools, a big one and small one ( don’t remember the break down). The big one, is used for everyone with preference points to draw from, their name goes in to the hat however many times they have a point for. The small one (seems like 15% of spots) is drawn for from the applicants with no points. Well, after 4 years, it only stands to reason that a whole lot more people are in the pool that have preference points, than people who are applying for the first time, or hunted the year before. The system gets top heavy with unsuccessful applicants who have at least 1 pref point, and the number of new applicants dwindles making that 15% pool a lot better odds.

As I’ve said before, only in Alabama.

Wait until they have a "random" drawing for "turkey tags" since the population is in grave danger.

I don’t think my getting drawn so many times was due to not having preference points since they just started really doing think last year. I don’t know what was up with it, it was like the system just chose the same people year after year. One of the guys that worked one of the hunts I went on even said it wasn’t just me, that he saw the same groups of people year after year. Whatever glitch it was causing me to get drawn is fixed now....and I hate it lol

They’ve been doing the points for 3 years. And the guy working the hunt is right, there are a lot of people who have drawn multiple times.



If the DNR employee who told me about the system was giving accurate info, then there is no way that pool reserved for no preference points doesn’t have better odds than the larger pool.

But no matter how it’s happening, it’s bull. They aren’t transparent at all about how the drawing works, and there should never be a possibility of people drawing nearly every year, while 9/10 applicants have never drawn. Every other state I’ve hunted with a draw is very simple. You need a certain amount of points to ensure you get drawn. If you apply, no one with less points will draw ahead of you. In Georgia it was nice, the wma I liked to hunt was a 2-3 year wait. On the 3rd year, I would get drawn and could plan for it ahead of time. If I wanted to go somewhere sooner, I could apply for a less desirable hunt with 1 point and draw. Or if I wanted to be real patient, I could wait 7 or 8 years and draw one that was awesome. But it was all above board. None of this back room chit, that has you two weeks from deer season with no unit assignments or a scouting day announced.

You don't even have to purchase the WMA license until after you find out whether or not you've been selected.

This, yes. Yes, a million times yes.

I've looked at draws in other states. While I haven't applied, I've examined and looked in case I wanted to. And it's pretty straightforward. Apply, earn a point, maybe in 3-4-7 or more years depending on the unit and animal, you get drawn. Then you start over. And you can plan for it, by knowing there will be no backroom or questionable BS and after x years you'll get drawn with 4 or 7 or 15 points.

And yet here we are with a questionable draw system, BS regulations about "game check" in which processors are now agents of the state, a phone app that may work - perhaps, maybe, sorta, possibly - and we're less than 10 days from the start of deer season.