Who else got bumped out of a deer tag from point creep for the 2016 Colorado deer seasons? It looks like pushing all 4 deer seasons back by a week for 2016, it seems a lot of people are investing long-saved points to get a season that much closer to the rut. Can anyone confirm this effect for the 2016 draw?
Colorado Point Creep
- Thread starter jroplanner
- Start date
NDHunter
Veteran member
You're probably right. Take a look at this link and it will give you your answer. http://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Hunting/BigGame/Statistics/Deer/2016DeerDrawRecap.pdf
colohunter
New Member
- May 25, 2016
- 26
- 1
Virtually every tag has been creeping for some time now. It is a product of the growth in popularity of hunting Colorado and the success of hunting in bringing animal populations into objective. It is a bit of a conundrum.
NDHunter
Veteran member
I took a quick look at a few elk units and was quite surprised that 1 unit went down by about a point. Surprised to see that.
Ridgerunner
Active Member
- Feb 21, 2011
- 308
- 0
Later dates definitely brought out some high point guys but point creep has been going on for sometime.
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sheephunter
Active Member
I can't say that it's "point creep" that knocked me out, more like the "point bankers" did it (I think there's a difference). A tag that took 4 points to guarantee last year saw people jump in with 8-10, and 1 even with 15 points; thus NOBODY with 4 points drew it this year. I saw some odd things happen in my elk hunting unit too, even with cow tags that were always sold as leftovers in prior years.
Zim
Very Active Member
Unfreakinbelievable. With 20 points in most states I failed to draw anything this year. In fact this is my 3rd straight year without a tag. Didn't happen once in the previous 17 years. And guess what. Checked the stats and there were 10 NR's who applied for our CO deer unit this year with 9 points. 8 of them drew tags. Guess who were the only 2 not to draw? That would be my partner and I.
Just can't win. Statistically I should have drawn 2-3 tags in each of the last 3 years. Brutal 3 year drought. No doubt when the dam bursts I'll be buried with way more tags than I can possibly use.
Just can't win. Statistically I should have drawn 2-3 tags in each of the last 3 years. Brutal 3 year drought. No doubt when the dam bursts I'll be buried with way more tags than I can possibly use.
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JimP
Administrator
Your luck sounds like mine. I can put in for a unit that has 99 tags with 100 applicants and I'll be the one that isn't drawn. I've done that a number of times in different states. But look at it this way, you are ahead of the game for next year.
Zim
Very Active Member
Ya no. The year my chance goes to 100% they will "change" the draw system by devaluing points like AZ just did. Just watch and see.
Slugz
Veteran member
I think so many factors go into this that its impossible to even formulate a solid data based answer. Age of the person applying, horn size, ease of hunt, dates, prior experience, male, female, ranching for wildlife access, animal vs weather movement, past GMU stats, probable first snow dates........the list could go on and on.
I'm in the camp of hunting a half decent deer unit every 2-3 years (sometimes even 4th season rut hunt), years I don't draw a deer tag we hunt off the leftover list.
Hunting elk every other year in a limited unit GMU for my A tag then grabbing a 4th or late season cow tag off the leftover. Years I don't get my primary archery A tag I grab a 1st season rifle off the leftover or OTC archery and still stick with the B tag 4th/late season cow tag plan.
Granted.....I live in Colorado and makes the scouting/planning easy. I'm not a horn hunter and am happy with a solid 320 bull and a big floppy eared cow.
To each his own though.......just my 2 sense....I want to spend time in the woods! 73 days till the archery opener!
I'm in the camp of hunting a half decent deer unit every 2-3 years (sometimes even 4th season rut hunt), years I don't draw a deer tag we hunt off the leftover list.
Hunting elk every other year in a limited unit GMU for my A tag then grabbing a 4th or late season cow tag off the leftover. Years I don't get my primary archery A tag I grab a 1st season rifle off the leftover or OTC archery and still stick with the B tag 4th/late season cow tag plan.
Granted.....I live in Colorado and makes the scouting/planning easy. I'm not a horn hunter and am happy with a solid 320 bull and a big floppy eared cow.
To each his own though.......just my 2 sense....I want to spend time in the woods! 73 days till the archery opener!
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
Slugz is right about so many factors involved in "point creep". I even feel that other states play a factor too, as what they do can influence more/less demand for Colorado tags. I looked at a couple of units I like to hunt and the unit I will be hunting for antelope here. Part of the 2016 stats are available so I could get an idea of how many applied, points needed to draw and points of applicants. 2 of the units (one deer & one antelope) had changes from the previous year that I am sure influenced how many applicants there were.
The antelope unit had an increase of tags available (20 increased to 25). I had the highest number of points for a resident (14), but what amazed me was the high number of points used by NR's. Everyone that drew had more than me, as high as 20 points. The one thing I didn't do was to compare the number of applicants in 2015 to those in 2016. I will do that when I have a little more time.
The deer unit I like also had a sizable amount of creep. I like to hunt 4th season and the extended season by a week surely was the reason, especially for 4th season which has a limited number of tags available (40).
The only way to really assess point creep IMHO is to check the units you like to or want to hunt and compare the numbers for 2015 & 20i6, taking into consideration tags available and the split between R, NR & Landowner. Then compare the point needed to draw, points by applicants and number of successful applicants and their points for 2015 & 2016.
This only tells you what actually happened.....not WHY!
The antelope unit had an increase of tags available (20 increased to 25). I had the highest number of points for a resident (14), but what amazed me was the high number of points used by NR's. Everyone that drew had more than me, as high as 20 points. The one thing I didn't do was to compare the number of applicants in 2015 to those in 2016. I will do that when I have a little more time.
The deer unit I like also had a sizable amount of creep. I like to hunt 4th season and the extended season by a week surely was the reason, especially for 4th season which has a limited number of tags available (40).
The only way to really assess point creep IMHO is to check the units you like to or want to hunt and compare the numbers for 2015 & 20i6, taking into consideration tags available and the split between R, NR & Landowner. Then compare the point needed to draw, points by applicants and number of successful applicants and their points for 2015 & 2016.
This only tells you what actually happened.....not WHY!
NDHunter
Veteran member
Definitely some point creep going on but still, Colorado is very, very friendly to NR's with their tag allocation. In quite a few units I look at, the points required for NR's is about the same as for residents.
Red Raider
Member
I dumped my points in 2010 because of point creep. Decided it wasn't worth it. I just switched over the LO tags and went into a Licensing Program. We had 1 guy in our group that has stuck with it. He's at 16pp and counting. Point creep is a slightly over 1pp per year. He calls every year to laugh and let me know he's still waiting.
Sounds like quite a science behind the issue of preference points and limited draw tags. I put in quite a lot of research over the last year (being self employed helped a lot) and chose our Colorado deer unit based on the points we had accumulated, quality of the unit, history of the unit point requirements, discussions with the Colorado hunt planning staff (great guys!), discussions with the area biologist at the State (another great bunch of guys), hours of pouring over maps/digital images/GIS data, land ownership, scouting trips...the list goes on. Over the last couple year, anyone with 10 points and up (non resident) was guaranteed a tag. We accounted for point creep since Dad and I had 12 points each. This year, due IMHO to the season bumps, only 4 out of 11 applicants with 12 PP drew tags, with several applicants spending 15-18 PP for the 4th season tag.
Not complaining though. Colorado is a great place to visit and hunt and the people really care about their wildlife and support sportsmen really well. With all of the research done, I'm hoping to re-apply next year and will be looking closely at the 2016 harvest to determine if the unit gets "shot out" and if the winter kill is manageable and drought conditions don't take over. Good luck out there...there's always leftover tags!
P.S. Can't wait to dump these PP and start hunting...probably won't save up like this again, I like hunting more than point collecting.
Not complaining though. Colorado is a great place to visit and hunt and the people really care about their wildlife and support sportsmen really well. With all of the research done, I'm hoping to re-apply next year and will be looking closely at the 2016 harvest to determine if the unit gets "shot out" and if the winter kill is manageable and drought conditions don't take over. Good luck out there...there's always leftover tags!
P.S. Can't wait to dump these PP and start hunting...probably won't save up like this again, I like hunting more than point collecting.
Thanks NDHunter. I live on that web site! I've poured over it for years, and when we didn't draw after all of the research I put in I couldn't wait to get the 2016 draw statistics to see what the issue was. The increase in applicants didn't go up too much (although it did go up this year), but the people applying for tags were people with really high PPs. Last year, everyone with 10 points and up drew 4th season tags. This year, it was 13 points and up (with several 15-18 point holders applying). We had 12 PPs going in, and only 4 out of 11 applicants drew with 12 PP. All we can do is keep trying. Good luck to you on your 2016 seasons!
hoshour
Veteran member
Good points, you guys. The later season dates for many hunts this year were probably a big factor in demand changes. Sometimes, people just feel like this is the year and jump in with a bunch of points they've been building.
Guy's E-News today looked at some point creep factors in Wyoming's draw.
Guy's E-News today looked at some point creep factors in Wyoming's draw.