Big Game Tag Application season is upon us!

Navigating the western big game tag draw system: Hunting Out Of State

If you are like me you live for destination big game hunts and everything that goes into hunting out of state.  Part of hunting out of state is the chess game of the big game tag Draw system. There are experts that spend each day analyzing the different big game draw systems for each state and pour over statistics looking for the new trends and next big hunting destination. Most of us don’t have this much time we want to find a good hunt that fits our needs and hunting goals without spending 100’s of hours playing the “tag game”. There are several companies out there like Huntin Fool and Epic Outdoors that offer tag services, you just fill out a survey of what your goals are and budget and professional analyses your account and helps you come up with long term and short term strategy. There are also companies like Go Hunt, that are geared for the do it yourself packed with resources to help you make an informed decision on where to put in for. I need a lot of tags a year to produce my web show Days in The Wild so I  employ Huntin Fool my long term goals and specialty hunts and use Go Hunt in conjunction with THC and ONX and google earth to plan my OTC and easy draw hunts. I for one kinda enjoy it.. I love looking at statistics and looking for those diamonds in the rough and finding my next honey hole.

My strategies as a whole are to maximize opportunity and still build points where I can for those limited entry hunts. I have states where I can hunt almost every year on easy to draw or OTC hunts im gonna  give you a very quick birds eye view of my state by state strategy

Arizona: Az is my home state and has a lot of hunting opportunities if you are smart about the draw and utilize left over tags and OTC hunts. When it comes to elk I am under the school of thought that I can find a big bull in almost any unit here so I really dont put in for units that take more than 3-5 years to draw. And once I draw a tag the very next season I apply for the late season archery bull tags  this keeps me hunting as frequently as possible in my home state. When talking about deer AZ has some of the best OTC archery deer hunting in the country, so I typically will apply for rut rifle tags and hunt with my bow until I draw a rifle tag about every 4 years. sometimes i will pick up a left over tag for rife coues deer. This ensures that I get to hunt as often as possible and every few years I get a prime time tag.

Nevada: Nevada for me is strictly a limited draw state as of right now. i am only applying for coveted tags in limited entry units. However, this may change to a better than average unit strategy because i am pretty far behind the point max pool for some of the really high end tags, but i may have enough points in the next year or two to draw good solid areas. But that being said i think there is a lot of opportunity to go hunting on a fairly regular basis in units that have good deer populations and low densities of hunters. Elk on the other hand is just playing the apply and pray game and when you do draw most of the units seem to be fruitful

Colorado: My stragey here again is opportunity to hunt and still have a chance at drawing a prime tag. Colorado is unique in the fact that

the point system is only weighted towards your first choice which means when i apply i shoot for the stars with my first choice on a coveted tag and on my 2nd, 3rd choices I aim for tags i can draw every other year. As for elk i dont play the point game in CO because most of the state is OTC for elk anyway and the draw tags are very difficult to draw but again you can play the same game just keep putting in each year for a limited draw tag and just hunt OTC until you draw.

Idaho: My tag strategy here is hunt units for elk and deer on the general tag that are close to or in the same units I am applying for sheep and goats. ID does not have a points system and its just luck of the draw, and since i have to purchase a license each year to apply for sheep and goats I may as well utilize that money spent to go do some elk and deer hunting. ID has great public hunting lots of access and pretty good genetics for elk and better than good for deer. its really a no brainer for me good opportunity and a chance at a wall hanger.

Utah: I put in every year for elk, deer, moose, goat and sheep in UT, I have been lucky enough to draw elk on a limited draw tag and have had several general season deer tags which proved to be fruitful for me. I plan to hunt Utah with my bow almost every year on a general tag while i build points for a limited entry tag. With a split system your points for limited entry only disappear when you draw a limited tag. Its a unique opportunity to learn the state and hunt often while waiting to draw that limited entry tag. UT also has over the counter elk opportunities as well which i have yet to try myself. They also have an extended season for archery which falls during the deer rut providing ample opportunity to score a big old buck. My only rub with UT is that when you draw a limited entry tag you are not allowed to put in for elk for 2 years not even for bonus points which i think is ridiculous since it took me 11 years to draw the first time now with the 2 year waiting period and point creep it will take me 15 years or more to draw again.

Wyoming: I love hunting in WY but i absolutely loath their draw system, mainly because the deer units are different than the elk units and

different for residents and no residents so depending on who you are speaking with the same unit can be 4 different numbers. But i do love the fact if you draw a general tag you can come and hunt the archery season by paying for a $30 archery license and if you are not successful you can go back and hunt the rifle seasons. the deer season is long and every unit i have ever hunted has its fair share of game. WY is also one of those states if you dont shoot for the most coveted units you can draw almost every year for antelope and deer and there are plenty of units you can draw every other year for elk. I am currently waiting on an elk tag that takes about 9 points to draw but i go and hunt deer in that unit almost every year so im learning the unit seeing elk and i wont be going in blind when i draw it.

Montana: MT for me is another one of those states that you can pick up a deer elk combo OTC and go and learn a unit while you are waiting to draw one of their limited entry hunts.

Oregon: This is another one of those states where you can work to build points for a limited draw tag and still go and hunt every year OTC for deer and elk. Oregon had Roosevelt elk, cascade Roosevelt elk and rocky mountain elk to the east and another cool thing about OR is you can hunt blacktail, Mule deer and whitetail deer. So there is a lot of opportunity to bounce around and notch a couple of species off the list

South Dakota: Its kinda of a tough state to hunt because of access and tons of private land but the game is abundant and genetics are good. I apply for antelope tags on occasion here but my main focus is deer. You can build bonus points up for rifle hunts but hunt on a first come first serve tag every year during the archery season. You can harvest up to 7 bucks if you are willing to bounce around the state and willing to pay to hunt on tribal lands, but strictly hunting on public land you can harvest two archery bucks and one rifle buck. There are excellent whitetail and mule deer opportunities state-wide. One of the main reasons this state is so good is the archery tags are very long season and rifle tags are rut hunts as well. I actually a couple hunts on private land in mid Nov so if you are interested shoot me an email and we can discuss it.

Here are a couple of podcasts I did talking tag strategies and navigating the big game draw

Big Game tag strategies 

Navigating the draw system

Maximizing your big game hunting opportunites

Big Game Tag Application Deadlines

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