For many game units in Oregon, hunters must apply for a controlled hunt in order to get a tag to hunt that area. Controlled hunts are a limited-entry draw hunt system that state fish and wildlife agencies use to allocate tags. A draw hunt system is a common in Western states where the number of hunters exceeds the number of deer that can be harvested in a particular unit while maintaining healthy wildlife populations. Typically, hunter success rates are higher in controlled hunt areas compared to general season areas. “Controlled hunt” is the term that Oregon uses for our big game tags that are awarded by random drawing, but also allow hunters to accrue preference points if they are unsuccessful at drawing a tag. More on that process later.
To apply for a controlled hunt tag, you must purchase a hunting license and apply for hunts online at Huntfishoregon.com. You can also apply at an ODFW office or local vendor that sells hunting and fishing licenses. Before applying, it’s a good idea to study the area you intend to hunt and get familiar with the draw odds and success rates for each hunt. Every year, hunters make mistakes Below, you’ll see a list of these resources to help you prepare.
PRO TIP Know what tag you are applying for and triple check your application. Every year, hunters win tags where they don’t have hunting access or burn precious preference points on a hunt that takes no points to draw because of a typo in their tag application. After ODFW closes the application period for Controlled Hunts, there are no takebacks.
In Oregon, hunters receive a preference point if they are unsuccessful in a controlled hunt drawing. The more preference points you have accumulated, the better your odds for drawing a tag. Some hunts can be drawn with no preference points, but these tend to be low-quality hunts. It can be worth building up points to increase the quality of your hunt for the years that you do draw.
For deer and elk hunting, you can always buy a General Season hunting tag for some areas of the state if you do not win a controlled hunt tag. For other big game species, you’ll need to win that controlled hunt tag since there are no general seasons for those species.
A “party hunt” is when several hunters apply for the same controlled hunt. A party hunt application is considered as a single entry, not a handful of individual entries. Party hunts are an option for groups that know they want to hunt together year after year. This would not be possible if half the people in a hunting party drew a tag, but the other half did not. With party hunts, either everyone gets the tag, or nobody does. If a party hunt application is unsuccessful, everyone in that party application receives a preference point. It’s worth noting that just because someone is in your party, they are not required to buy a tag or go on the hunt. They will lose all preference points if your party is selected for a controlled hunt.
To calculate preference points for party hunt applications, ODFW adds each hunters preference points and divides this value by the total number of hunters on the application. That is the preference point value used in the drawing. Each party has a “Party Hunt Leader” whose job is to enter the application and receive draw results. Anyone can be the party hunt leader.
EXAMPLE John and Mike are brothers. They each have 3 preference points and decide to create a party application with their friends from work, Bill and Sam. Bill has 1 point and Sam has a whopping 12. What is their application point value? It is 3 + 3 + 1 + 12 / 4, which is 19/4 or 4.75. In the controlled hunt draw, their application will be considered as having 5 preference points since ODFW rounds up any point averages at 0.5 or higher.
RESOURCES
ODFW Electronic Licensing System (ELS)
Buy your hunting license and apply for controlled hunts
ODFW Big Game Regulations: Controlled Hunts
Overview of controlled hunt terms and process
Oregon Tags (Draw Odds Website)
Oregontags.com is a private website that helps hunters predict their odds of drawing a big game tag in Oregon based on your preference points, past draw trends, and available tags for the current year.
GoHunt is one of several subscription services that help hunter analyze big game drawing odds and tags across the West. It is useful for doing macro research across many states and a good resource for learning the draw hunt landscape. However, we feel their Oregon information is not fine-tined enough to help hunters make the best decisions for drawing tags in this state. The Oregon Tag Draw Percentages site above is a truer look at numbers here.