California Deer M9 — M9

Devil's Garden Muzzleloading Rifle Buck

What you may take
Devil's Garden Muzzleloading Rifle Buck
Weapon
Muzzleloader
Where
Season (2025)
Oct 25 – Nov 9, 2025
Tags (2025)
15
for 572 first-choice applicants

Showing nonresident results. Switch to resident

Odds by point level — 2025 draw

Prior-draw probability for a first-choice nonresident applicant. 14 tags, 572 first-choice applicants. Source: 2025 Deer Tag Drawing Statistics · p. 1.

Points Your chance Applicants Drawn
0 <1% 37 plus 2 party applications averaging just under 1 points
1 <1% 47
2 <1% 35 plus 3 party applications averaging just under 3 points
3 <1% 30
4 <1% 35
5 <1% 46
6 <1% 42
7 <1% 35 plus 3 party applications averaging just under 8 points
8 <1% 21 plus 2 party applications averaging just under 9 points
9 <1% 29
10 <1% 23
11 <1% 35
12 <1% 23
13 <1% 19 plus 4 party applications averaging just under 14 points
14 <1% 7
15 <1% 14
16 <1% 11
17 <1% 11
18 <1% 11
19 <1% 15
20 <1% 16
21 86% 14
22 100% 2
23 100% 0

Points pass + random pass, from published pools. A dash means California Department of Fish and Wildlife did not publish a count for that level — it prints exact counts around the cut and folds the rest into a band. How we compute these.

What it costs (2025 nonresident fees)

Cash to apply
$588.01
Out of pocket if unsuccessful
$588.01
Total if drawn
$588.01
Refunded if unsuccessful
$0

At the 2025 odds, expected cost per hunt-year ranges from $588.01 (enough points to draw) to $328,130.58 (lowest published odds).

Nonresident hunting license · paid at application $219.81 source
Nonresident First-Deer Tag Drawing Application (full tag price fronted at application) · paid at application $368.20 source

Next application window: opens Apr 15, closes Jun 2, 2027 (expected) · results ~June 15. Last cycle's schedule rolled forward — confirm when the agency publishes.

Point creep & years to draw

Insufficient history (0 of 3 draws) — a creep trend needs at least three draw years with a published drew-out level.

Seasons (2025)

Split 1: Oct 25 – Nov 9, 2025 p. 1

Year by year

The standard draw for nonresidents, one row per year. California runs a second, random pass after the points pass; it is shown beside the year it belongs to.

Year Tags Applicants Applicants per tag Points needed Random pass Source
2025 15 572 38.1 1 tag 2025 Deer Tag Drawing Statistics · p. 1
2024 15 701 46.7 1 tag 2024 Deer Tag Drawing Statistics · p. 1
2023 15 721 48.1 1 tag 2023 Deer Tag Drawing Statistics · p. 1
2022 15 773 51.5 1 tag 2022 Deer Tag Drawing Statistics · p. 1
2021 15 786 52.4 1 tag 2021 Deer Tag Drawing Statistics · p. 1
2020 15 815 54.3 1 tag 2020 Deer Tag Drawing... · p. 4
2019 15 864 57.6 1 tag 2019 Deer Tag Drawing... · p. 1
2018 15 930 62.0 1 tag 2018 Deer Tag Drawing... · p. 1
2017 15 814 54.3 1 tag 2017 Deer Tag Drawing... · p. 1
Spot a data error on this page? Tell us.

Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

How to read these numbers

Every percentage on this page is a prior-draw probability: the chance an applicant with that many points would have drawn in the draw year shown, computed from the agency's published results. It is not a forecast — quotas, applicant numbers, and point creep change every year. Every figure links to the agency document it came from. Where a state does not publish a number, we show a dash, never a zero. Hunts with fewer than five tags show counts instead of percentages. Fees show the fee year used. Read the methodology for the engine details.

Not an application service

This page is informational only. Draw rules, quotas, fees, and deadlines are set by the state agency and change by commission action — confirm everything on the agency's own site before you apply, and apply through the agency, not here. We disclaim all liability for reliance on this page.