I have been hunting the unit I want for 25 years. In that time I have taken some great bucks. The number of tags allocated has dropped over the years and the demand stayed high. I know the area well and in the past 10 years have seen some great bucks (180 to 200+)while antelope hunting. I am not willing to take a chance on other units that I have never hunted.
I get what you're saying 100% because I do the same here in Colorado, hunting the same unit year after year. I may not always have a tag in my pocket, but I get to hunt with my buddies.
I see. IMO no reason to wait 6-8 years between tags. Better off to hunt more often IMO.
Ditto- I will be 63 this year as well. I want to hunt the area that I selected from the start, but I most likely will never draw there, so it may come down to another area to draw. I know my time is running out and at some point, I just may pull the plug. I'll see how I feel in a year or so. I use to hunt Wyoming every year for Deer and Antelope, and love the country, then my kids started college and I went to Canada a few times and now hope to get back this fall to hunt Muley's again.
This is pretty much spot on according to all of the spreadsheets I have created and research I have done over the last couple of years trying to formulate plans. People are like sheep. I swear if someone sees a unit go up a couple points they feel the need to jump on the train and hunt the area. The weird part if that you would think there would be stability in other areas since more people are flocking to certain areas...but that doesn't appear to be the case. Almost all of the units experience it.
WY publishes a report each year with how many people and at what point level going into the year. You have to save that data each year. Here are the numbers for number of people each year going into the draw with points:
Yes they do. Sheep and moose as well. I was super surprised by the moose and sheep numbers. I assumed with the price increase on points, a bunch of people would drop out but the dropout rate really didn't change when compared to years past.
I'm sure G&F will notice as well. Time for another price increase for sheep, moose, and mtn goat. Griz will go up as well due to how many put in for what was going to be a very expensive bear tag.
In my opinion the driving force behind these numbers is publicity. Hunting application publications have rapidly expanded. In 1996 there was only a pamphlet stapled together by HF. But since then we have EMJ, Epic, goHunt, Hunters Trailhead, Toprut, etc, etc coming on the scene, spreading the message........Apply Apply Apply. Add to that all the hunting YouTube shows & podcasts, and the result was inevitable. By now it seems obvious most states are regretting their poorly thought out tag draw systems that are alienating the ground floor applicants, and more importantly, their MONEY. Guys like me with 20+ points in many states are now walking with targets on our backs, just waiting to get screwed. Sad but my top priority each spring is studying which states I have the most potential to get my points hosed in, via a "system change". And I strategize to burn these first. That is just the reality.
I get where you?re coming from Zim. However it?s the theory of is the glass half full or half empty. If I had those number of points and as many species and states that you have, the glass would be near full. Id hunt a second tier unit for a different species every year and probably be tagging a booner. Best of luck to you my friend.
lol that's one option.