Every spring, hunters lose tags — or years of accumulated points — to small administrative mistakes: an expired license, a party application mismatch, a credit card that declined at 11:58 p.m. on deadline day. None of it has to happen. This checklist takes twenty minutes.
Field briefing
Before any deadline: confirm your license is valid for the species you're applying for (some categories require species fees paid first), verify your customer account shows your correct points total, decide party applications deliberately rather than accidentally, double-check hunt codes against this year's regulations (codes change annually), and submit days early — systems slow down exactly when everyone else remembers. Confirmations get saved, not assumed.
Best for: anyone applying in Washington's or Oregon's 2026 draws.
Key takeaway: treat application day like a season opener: prepare early, verify twice, finish with margin to spare.
The ten-point pre-submit check
- License current? Both states require a valid hunting license — and some applications require the applicable species fee already purchased. An elk application without the elk fee = rejected.
- Points verified? Log into your account and read your point totals per category. Discrepancies take weeks to fix; find them now.
- Hunt codes re-checked? Codes reshuffle every year. Copying last year's list applies you for... whatever those numbers mean in 2026.
- Unit boundaries confirmed? Names stay similar; boundaries move. Five minutes with the regs book beats a tag for the wrong drainage.
- Party applications decided. Parties draw as a unit under both states' math. Joining a casual party can dilute strong points — know the rule before linking accounts.
- Youth applicants handled separately. Youth drawings run apart from general categories; verify age eligibility dates carefully.
- Payment method alive. Expired card + deadline night = classic disaster. Update payment info before submission week.
- Contact info current. Results go electronic-first now; a stale email has cost people drawn tags they never knew about.
- Submit before the final 48 hours. Servers strain, help desks close, mistakes compound. Early submission also leaves room to fix an error you catch rereading.
- Screenshot everything. Confirmation number, hunt list, party members, timestamp. When disputes happen, documentation wins them.
State-specific notes
Washington: special permit applications typically run into late May. Points post per category; verify yours after last year's drawing posted. Raffle entries are separate purchases — don't assume buying a raffle ticket entered you in anything else.
Oregon: the big-game controlled hunt window historically closes May 15, with results in June. Spring bear and turkey permits run their own earlier windows. Oregon's points-only purchase period is separate from applications — calendar it if you're sitting out a year.
All dates are patterns from recent cycles; confirm this year's exact windows at wdfw.wa.gov and myodfw.com when rules finalize each winter.
After you hit submit
- Calendar the results announcement date.
- If unsuccessful: verify points incremented correctly within a month.
- If successful: note the tag purchase deadline immediately — drawn tags expire back to the pool fast if unclaimed.
- Start unit scouting now; a drawn tag deserves more than a weekend of e-scouting.
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Sources Checked
- WDFW special permit application pages — windows, requirements, point rules.
- ODFW controlled hunt application guidance — deadlines, party rules, points-only purchase periods.