2nd best public land state

hoshour

Veteran member
California and Arizona are the two states in which a tag-holder is most likely to shoot a B&C buck, but a nonresident will never get drawn in CA and you'll wait many years in AZ. The next best are NM and NV, then UT and OR.

NM has had several fantastic bucks lately, including the new world record, but it is a random draw state and tough to draw and many people don't like their system. You can buy landowner tags but they are expensive for the best areas.

The best combination of opportunity and quality is Wyoming, assuming you have 2-3 points to get a decent area and put in the special draw, though you can hunt poor areas as a second choice while you build points. While the ratio of B&C bucks to tags is low for the state overall (but great in some areas), there are a whole lot of tags and thus a whole lot of chances for someone to shoot a big buck. That's why for sheer number of B&C entries, WY dominates.

Montana, mentioned by someone else, has opportunity but is dead last for odds of shooting a trophy buck.
 

HuskyMusky

Veteran member
Nov 29, 2011
1,337
183
IL
2nd best state that you can hunt regularly?

Montana...

Maybe Colorado?


not sure why you'd need a 2nd state after Wyoming, unless you want to hunt Antelope every year! ha. and switch off between states.
 

BOHNTR

Very Active Member
Feb 28, 2011
652
511
Lakeside, AZ
Because of that it actually has more B&C entries PER TAG than any other state.
Interesting. Do you have a reference to source that information I can review? I know as an official measurer for both clubs (B&C and P&Y) I have acquired an extensive amount of data that doesn't suggest that. Perhaps I'm reading mine incorrectly.
 

Gr8bawana

Veteran member
Aug 14, 2014
2,670
602
Nevada
If you're looking for a state to hunt regularly between hunts in other states I don't think NV would be a good choice. Draw odds for non-res are very low and then if you are successful in taking an antelope you must wait 5 years before you can even apply again.
Nevada would be someplace to apply if you were looking for a B&C buck and you don't care how long you have to wait.
 

kidoggy

Veteran member
Apr 23, 2016
9,855
10,861
58
idaho
idaho is a tough one to draw (no point system . luck o the draw)but there be some good bucks here.