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Bonus Point Program Guidelines
The Wildlife Commission has adopted a number of changes in the state's bonus point program since the program was first enacted. The following is provided to assist you in understanding how that program now operates.
Residents and nonresident tag applicants receive bonus points for all hunts that have a quota set by the Wildlife Commission when they are unsuccessful in drawing a tag through the computerized random draw system. In addition to deer, elk, antelope, sheep and goat, applicants also receive bonus points for swan and wild turkey.
Bonus points are awarded by specific species categories, each encompassing all separate weapons hunts available in that category. Those categories are:
- Antlered mule deer
- Antlerless mule deer
- Mule deer depredation
- Antelope buck
- Antelope doe
- Bull elk
- Spike bull elk
- Cow elk
- Elk depredation
- Desert bighorn sheep
- California bighorn sheep
- Rocky Mt. Bighorn sheep
- Mountain goat
Those points cannot be transferred to another person or into another species category.Applicants are only able to accumulate one bonus point per species category each year. So, if you applied for any legal weapon tag and were unsuccessful, and then applied for an archery tag, and were unsuccessful, you still only accrue one point because these are both in the antlered deer category.
However, if you apply for any legal weapon tag, and are unsuccessful, and then apply for a doe tag, and are unsuccessful, you would receive a bonus point for each because they are in two different categories- antlered deer and antlerless deer.
Those applying as a "party hunt" will have their points averaged (total points of all hunters in the party, divided by the number of hunters) and rounded to the closest whole number. Bonus points are squared by species category, resulting in the number of draw numbers that an individual hunter or hunt party will receive in that drawing.A hunter's bonus points revert to zero in a particular species category when he is successful at obtaining a tag or fails to apply for two consecutive years.
Bonus points are not earned if an applicant requests and receives a hunting license refund.
View past Bonus Point Statistics.
The tag hunt process is administered by Wildlife Administrative Services. If you have questions about a tag or your online application, please contact them at Wildlife Administrative Services Office, 1-800-576-1020 or (775) 423-7577, or by email.
