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Hunting lottery tough to win By Mark Freeman Jim Frings has spent the better part of 28 years stalking another one of the most wily targets out there for Oregon hunters, and it�s been as tough to find for Frings as Bigfoot. In 28 years, he�s gotten close ... oh, so close. But Frings still hasn�t bagged that elusive pronghorn rifle tag for hunting in Eastern Oregon. Frings says he has applied for a hard-to-get antelope tag each of the past 28 years, and each year he�s failed to land one in the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife�s controlled-hunt lottery process. "I started applying when I was in my 30s and a healthy man," says Frings, 62, of Jacksonville. "Now, I�m on Social Security disability, two steps from a wheelchair and still can�t get one of those suckers." There�s no conspiracy to keep Frings out of the antelope hunters� fraternity. If anything, his case is a study in how the controlled-hunt system can work to a hunter�s advantage or disadvantage, depending upon what hunters apply for. Unlike Western Oregon deer-rifle tags that are doled out to all licensed Oregon hunters who buy one before the fall deadline, pronghorn tags are divvied up through the ODFW�s lottery system. When Frings first started applying for Oregon pronghorn tags in 1972, it was a pure-luck lottery drawing. In an effort to make the draw more than pure luck, ODFW officials have created a system that gives out preference points to hunters who have previously failed to get a specific tag. This year, Frings had seven preference points � the highest number of pronghorn preference points � and he was convinced that he�d finally draw a tag. So Frings applied for the highly coveted Hart Mountain pronghorn tag to hunt there Sept. 2-10 as his first choice, with the East Beattys and West Beattys tags as his backup choices. The Hart Mountain hunt has just 10 tags and about 2,000 applicants, but eight of those tags are earmarked for people with the highest preference points. Yet, says Brenda Miller in the ODFW�s controlled-hunt department, there were 116 hunters with the same number of preference points as Frings who applied for the Hart Mountain hunt as their first choice. So, even though he�s had 28 years of non-success, Frings� odds of success were still about 1 in 14. "You�d have to have pretty good luck," Miller says, "to get this tag." That kind of luck has eluded Frings for the better part of three decades. "I don�t know what it takes," Frings says. "When you start calculating the odds of not getting an antelope tag in 28 straight years, they got to be way up there. "It�s like, when the computer sees my name, it yells, �NO NO. Don�t give him a tag,� " Frings says. Ironically, the computer would have belched YES YES to Frings if he had set his sights a bit lower. Seven preference points would have gotten him the East Beattys tag, if Frings had placed that hunt as his first choice, Miller says. But that was his second choice. He also could have won a tag for the Steens Mountain and Whitehorse hunts as well. It just goes to show you, Miller says, how success in the hunt lottery hinges upon which hunts Oregonians apply for. Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470, or e-mail him at [email protected] ) Outdoor Journal Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA