Thanks for the responses, guys. I have just a few more questions. What’s the application price? I only saw the $492 for the deer permit and $90 something for the license. The whole price includes one buck and one antlerless, correct? What are the odds of being drawn? I assume everybody pretty much gets drawn if they have leftovers for sale.
If you are putting in for WT only then you pay the current price of the permit IIRC only to apply. Then if you get drawn they keep the money and you have to buy your NR license to be able to hunt. For example if you are hunting Unit 5 you can put in for Unit 5 and Unit 6 or Unit 5 and Unit 15 or Unit 5 and Unit 16 or Unit 5 and Unit 17 or Unit 5 and Unit 4 or Unit 5 and Unit 2. You put in two for units that join each other in any combination. I picked the unit that was more likely to get me drawn if I wanted to hunt a unit next to it that was less likely to get drawn. You apply for 2 adjoining units and IIRC you get 3 different chances to apply for when you enter(I may be wrong on the number of chances so someone may correct me on that). Used to be the more central or east you were the more likely you were to get drawn and the more likely there would be left over permits to buy over the counter when they became available. Not so now though. I know of guys who did not get drawn and there were no left over permits available. The western units generally have less cover and less deer so there are less tags available. I know the years I was drawn in the Units I applied there was no left over WT tags.
If you are wanting to hunt a mule deer you have to put in for the whitetail permit first then check the box to enter into the mule deer draw after that. You have to draw the WT permit to then be able to draw the MD permit and you permit is now for one buck of either species. So you can hunt WT or MD off the same permit. MD are only in the western part of the state and they offer very few NR permits each year making it harder to draw.
There are different seasons for different choices of weapons. You only get one permit and it is for that weapon and specific season. Muzzleloader, archery or rifle. Archery is the longest by and during the rut. ML or rifle are shorter and in Sept or late Nov-Dec with each season 12 days long.