How the Utah Draw Works

The short version

Utah gives out limited-entry and once-in-a-lifetime permits in a spring drawing. About half the permits on each hunt go to the applicants holding the most bonus points. The rest go to a random draw where every bonus point buys you one more random number, and your lowest number is the one that counts. Apply and miss, and you earn a bonus point for next year.

Before you apply

You need a valid Utah hunting or combination license before you can apply for a permit, a bonus point or a preference point. If you were born after Dec. 31, 1965, you also need proof that you passed a hunter education course approved by DWR.

Each species or bonus point you apply for carries a nonrefundable application fee: $10 for residents and $21 for nonresidents in 2026, plus a 2.2% card transaction fee. You pay the permit fee only if you draw. In 2026 the application period ran March 19 (8 a.m. MDT) to April 23 (11 p.m. MDT), and results were emailed on or by May 31. The 2027 dates are not announced yet; see draw dates.

How you earn bonus points

Every time you apply for a limited-entry or once-in-a-lifetime permit and do not draw, you get one bonus point for that species. You can also apply for a point without applying for a hunt by choosing the species point code, such as ELK for limited-entry bull elk or DEE for limited-entry buck deer. Points belong to the species, not a unit, so they work on any hunt for that species. Rule R657-62-8 also awards bonus points for unsuccessful CWMU applications.

Residents may apply for one limited-entry species and one once-in-a-lifetime species a year (a permit or a bonus point for each). Nonresidents may apply for all limited-entry and once-in-a-lifetime species. Nobody may apply for a permit and a bonus point for the same species in the same year.

The 50/50 split

For each hunt, half the permits are reserved for the bonus draw. They go to the applicants with the most bonus points, starting at the top point level and working down until those permits run out. If a point level has more applicants than bonus permits left, the tie is broken at random.

Everyone who did not get a bonus permit, including hunters at a top level who lost the tie, moves into the random draw for the other half.

How the random draw works

In the random draw, each applicant gets one random number for the current application, plus one more random number for each bonus point they hold. Only your lowest number is used, and the lowest numbers draw first.

• 0 points: 1 random number.
• 4 points: 5 random numbers, so 5 tries at a low one.
• 9 points: 10 random numbers.

Points help, but anyone with a number can draw. That is why hunters with few points still draw hard hunts every year.

A real hunt, step by step

Book Cliffs, Bitter Creek/East archery bull elk (hunt EB3160), residents, 2026 draw. See the full odds table.

Notice the random half. Hunters at 7, 6, 3, 1 points drew, while nobody at 8 or 5 or 4 or 2 points did. More numbers raise your chances, but the draw is still random.

Nonresidents draw from separate nonresident permits. This hunt had 2 nonresident permits for 73 nonresident applicants in 2026, drawn by hunters with 5 and 19 points.

Drawing order and the one-permit rule

The 2026 guidebook lists the big game drawing order:

1. Buck deer (all limited-entry permits)
2. Bull elk (all limited-entry permits)
3. Buck pronghorn (all limited-entry permits)
4. Once-in-a-lifetime permits
5. General buck deer, lifetime license holders
6. General buck deer, Dedicated Hunters
7. General buck deer, youth
8. General buck deer
9. Last: draw-only youth any bull/hunter's choice elk

You can draw only one limited-entry or once-in-a-lifetime permit a year. If you draw a limited-entry permit, you are left out of the once-in-a-lifetime draw and get a bonus point there instead. If you draw limited-entry buck deer, you are left out of the general-season buck deer draw and get a preference point instead.

Waiting periods

Draw a limited-entry permit and you sit out that species for a while: five years for buck deer, five years for bull elk and two years for buck pronghorn. General-season permits have no waiting period. Once-in-a-lifetime species can be drawn only once.

Group applications

Up to four hunters, residents and nonresidents mixed, can apply together for general-season deer, limited-entry deer, elk or pronghorn. If any hunt your group picks has no nonresident permits, the whole group is left out of that hunt when a nonresident is in it. Group applications are not accepted for once-in-a-lifetime hunts.

General deer is different

General-season buck deer uses preference points, not bonus points. Each time you apply and do not draw, you get a preference point. Draw a permit and your deer preference points are gone. Twenty percent of general-season buck deer permits are allocated to youth. Bonus points vs preference points.