How to apply for Alaska draw hunts (2027–28 drawing)

Step by step

1. Get a hunting license first (or in the same cart)

   You need an Alaska hunting license to apply. ADF&G accepts a license for the current year or the year of the hunt, and you can buy the license and the applications in one order at the ADF&G online store ↗. Alaska residents 17 and younger don't need a license. If you're drawn, you'll still need a valid license and any big game tags when you hunt.

2. Pick your hunts

   Hunts are listed by species and area in the drawing supplement. Use our draw odds tool to compare all 332 hunts listed for 2026 by odds, unit, and residency, or browse by game unit. Then confirm each hunt number in the 2027–28 supplement once ADF&G posts it: new hunts get added and old ones get dropped.

3. Use up to six entries per species

   You can submit up to six applications per species, counting individual and party applications together, and you can put more than one entry on the same hunt. Go over six for a species and ADF&G rejects all of your applications for that species. A few hunts have their own limits (for example some Koyukuk Controlled Use Area moose hunts and guided nonresident Kodiak brown bear hunts), so read the hunt's notes.

4. Decide: individual or party

   A party application is two hunters sharing one draw number per hunt. If it wins, both get permits. It doesn't improve your odds; if you just want at least one of you to get a permit, applying separately gives you more chances.

5. Set your choice order

   If you win more than one hunt for the same species, you only get one permit, and your choice order decides which. It doesn't change your odds of being drawn.

6. Nonresidents: sort out the guide question

   Nonresidents need a registered guide or a qualifying Alaska-resident relative for brown bear, Dall sheep, and mountain goat, and some hunts need a signed guide-client contract so the guide can apply for you. Check each hunt's requirements in the supplement and ADF&G's guide requirements page ↗.

7. Pay and check out before Dec 15, 5 pm

   ADF&G's FAQ lists $5 per hunt entry for brown bear, black bear, caribou, elk, mountain goat, moose, and sheep, and $10 per entry for bison and muskox, on top of the license. Fees aren't refunded. You can change an order with ADF&G's change tool until the period closes. Fees for 2027–28: confirm in the new supplement.

Rules that trip people up

• Missing a permit report makes you ineligible for drawing, registration, Tier II, and targeted permits the next regulatory year. File every report, even if you didn't hunt.
• Same hunt two years running: you can't be awarded the exact same drawing hunt in back-to-back years.
• Youth hunts (marked "Y") are for hunters 10–17 at the start of the hunt, and every youth hunter needs hunter education certification.
• Moving to Alaska? There's a checkbox for residency changing in the next 18 months when you apply for resident hunts.
• There's no point system. Alaska's drawing is random each year; past applications don't add chances.

Use the odds before you spend your six picks

Applications per permit tell you more than the hunt's reputation. Our pages show seven drawings (2019–2025) for each hunt, plus harvest success where ADF&G publishes it:

Moose Dall sheep Mountain goat Caribou Brown bear Black bear Elk Bison Muskox Every hunt page By unit

After the drawing

Only winners are notified. ADF&G posts the winners list on its drawing results page and mails most permits in early July. Some permits have to be picked up in person, and some hunts require an orientation or a shooting proficiency test first. Read the conditions printed on your permit, and note the report deadline on our deadlines calendar.