I am getting a little frustrated with this quota system!! I did not get drawn for ANY hunts during phase one. During phase two, there really wasn't much that I was interested in. During the first come/first serve phase, I guess I just wasn't fast enough to get a permit even though I was on there at 10am each week. Now, with this weekly drawing, I have put in for more than one choice on each of the hunts and I still get nothing.
A couple of years ago, a friend had a couple of preference points for archery. My wife had never put in for a quota hunt so she had no points. Well guess what....he got no permits and my wife got everything I put her in for....how does that work??
Sorry for venting, just getting aggravated with this system!!!
Welcome to the world of FWC quota's. The Phase 3/4 drawing chances are going to be slim to none. Think of how many more people are putting in for those hunts now that you don't have to be online at 10 on Tuesdays. Then the fact that there's 1 or 2 permits on top of that.
The best advice I can give you is get with a couple of friends and put in for opposite weeks in the 1st phase. If you each get drawn, then you guys can guest hunt that wma more than once. If they're low quota hunts, you won't get them every year, but at least you'll start building your points.
They'll never fix the system in Fl. I apply for all quotas during phase 1 and if I get something I'm happy. I only apply for hunts that are difficult to get to build points. This year it paid off and got some very good hunts, but had up to 5 points for some of them. If I get something on the weekly draws, that's a plus but I don't care much about the weekly draw.
The reason I look at it that way is because after hunting a lease in north Florida for 3 years, I found out that the National Forests, in my opinion, are the way to go if hunting public land. My lease was a few miles from Osceola NF. I spent every weekend I had a chance, exploring the forest and saw a lot of deer, never a huge buck, but lots of deer and I'm ok with that as I don't trophy hunt. I also spend a lot of time in Ocala NF and the same thing. Lots of deer and I've seen some nice bucks in there. I have a couple hunts planned there this year. Besides, the NFs are huge and you don't usually see other people (at least in my experience). When you look at the harvest report for Ocala, you can see they killed over 500 bucks last season. That is only those registered at the 8 or so private check stations operating around the forest, so I'm sure the harvest is probably more than that.
If you don't mind driving (i'm my case I don't), you'll probably want to try the National Forests at least one season and see if you like it.
My 2 cents.
yea the whole hunting quotas is Fuxked.
It is like people that apply for a job, only the people that get hired are happy and all others are ticked off! Yeah I got hired... this year I got 3 quotas for "area 51" and can carry a guest if I so choose so I'm happy. The rest of the times I'm ticked off!
:saluting
