Tag Application Anxiety??

[woodtick]

Anyone have anxiety attacks after they apply for a tag that they've been saving points for?? I have one heck of a time burning 3-4 points on an Antelope tag, Ya save and save and then ya don't want to burn them, it's gonna be bad when I burn some of these points in Nevada, Utah or Colorado that I've been saving the better part of 15 years for!!! I know when I burnt 12 points for my Elk in Utah I was in utter distress for months!! Anyone else have this problem??

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

Anyone have anxiety attacks after they apply for a tag that they've been saving points for?? I have one heck of a time burning 3-4 points on an Antelope tag, Ya save and save and then ya don't want to burn them, it's gonna be bad when I burn some of these points in Nevada, Utah or Colorado that I've been saving the better part of 15 years for!!! I know when I burnt 12 points for my Elk in Utah I was in utter distress for months!! Anyone else have this problem??

Oh yeah! I'm almost sick to my stomach about using my 22 Colorado points for elk. I TOTALLY sympathize.

 

[woodtick]

Holy moses 22 POINTS??!! I couldn't do it, I'd just keep saving if I was you

 

[Musket Man]

I have a hard time using them too. Even 3-5 points and all I think is if I dont do good research and do things 1/2 way right it will be that many years before I can hunt there again. Then I worry if I am using them in the right place or time. NV elk is going to be a bad one for me too and Im not even sure I want to see the day I burn all my points in it. Sometimes I wish I didnt have any points. There are places I would like to hunt that can be drawn first choice that I would like to hunt but dont want to use my points on but cant be drawn 2nd choice. Really my points havent done me any good at all yet and the best tags I have ever had were a WY antelope tag I drew in the random draw and a LE deer tag in Idaho.

 

[woodtick]

Dang, all I know is my Dad is in the top heap for Bison in Utah, My wife is in the top end for Mtn. Goat also in Utah. and I just put in for a couple units in Wyoming that will burn 7 deer points and 4 Antelope points. Needless to say anxiety is gonna be full throttle if all these tags get pulled in one year. I pray they don't

 

[Musket Man]

I worry about drawing tomany tags in 1 year too and am trying to decide what draw to sit out of this year to be sure i dont draw 2 tags that are close together even though Im not sure I would draw either of them. I just want to make the most out of it when I use points!

 

[Colorado T]

It seems to get worse every year for me. Not only have I been stressing about my 16 elk points in my home state, but now I have two of my sons old enough to hunt and worrying what I should do for them. Start building them points at an early age, or draw tags each year just to get them out. We used to have a pretty good unit for deer and elk that I looked forward to taking them too but the quality of hunt has seemed to drop each year to where all we see are hunters and no game. Decisions, decisions....

 

[Musket Man]

Colorado T I would get them out hunting and not worry about points unless you know of units they can draw 2nd choice every year and other units they can hunt with just a few points. Kids need the experience of getting out and hunting every year even if its not a great hunt.

 

[Colorado T]

MM, I agree and have done just that. Ive been taking them to Wyoming antelope hunting which has definitely increased their desire. My younger son just completed his first year hunting and took a decent mulie buck, but the best part of that hunt was watching him pursue an even larger buck and he actually pushed me to go farther in the process.

 

[Musket Man]

Antelope is a great hunt for them! I was more thinking of CO when I wrote that and Im not saying not to get them building points anywhere, just saying get them out hunting every year! Least thats what I wanted at that age. I didnt care how big the buck was, I just wanted to go hunting!

 

[WapitiBob]

Doesn't bother me a bit. I'm happy to hunt another state and give some animals a ride home.

 

[Musket Man]

Yeah but your WapitiBob and you can just park your truck, walk 100 yards, cow call once and a 375 bull comes running in and stands broadside at 15 yards. The rest of us walk 20 miles a day uphill both ways and are lucky to see a cow. LOL

 

[kesand72]

It seems to get worse every year for me. Not only have I been stressing about my 16 elk points in my home state, but now I have two of my sons old enough to hunt and worrying what I should do for them. Start building them points at an early age, or draw tags each year just to get them out. We used to have a pretty good unit for deer and elk that I looked forward to taking them too but the quality of hunt has seemed to drop each year to where all we see are hunters and no game. Decisions, decisions....

IMO the best thing you can do is BOTH! Points for the kids in different states but definitely hunting somewhere every year. Just like with fishing, kids would rather catch 100 four inch bluegill in a day than 1 three pound bass!!

 

[Drhorsepower]

I usually do not have a ton of anxiety because I put in for units with fairly steep odds however I dream about drawing those tags and that sometimes keeps me up at night. I will check a website multiple times a day to see if results are posted because I'm an optimist.

 

[Don K]

Only anxiety I get is when I don't make it out west Elk hunting!!

 

[Zim]

I'm also approaching 20 points in many states. But I never feel anxiety. I treat the application season like a hobby. studying & strategizing. I even use an Excel chart to identify hunt overlaps. But in the end luck plays a huge role, and there's nothing we can do about that, so I don't worry. Considering I've been applying for around 40 hunts each year since 1996, I consider myself on borrowed time that I've never once drawn conflicting hunts. It has to happen some day, and I may end up blowing long saved points, but that's OK as I just consider that risk the price of admission.

I've hit on some good tags early like Nevada elk with 6 points, but now drawing some of the super long shots like New Hampshire moose due to high points. Nothing would surprise me anymore, except in Utah where SFW has taken it to a new level, kidnapping tags for auction, creating Powerball odds for every species.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My anxiety comes before putting. Once I put in I am confident in my research, theme it's just the anxiety of editing to draw

 

[woodtick]

I'm not one bit worried about my research, and I think I speak for a lot of guys on here research is the last thing were worried about. My biggest problem I guess is producing an animal that I'd be happy with or getting an animal that whoever I'm helping at the time would be tickle with. I had a really fun hunt in Idaho in 2012 I ended up killing a buck after two weeks of hunting, I was flat wore out and he was a decent 4x4 still in velvet. Even though I had a month more to hunt I ended up taking him. And now when I look at him I think "what if"!! What if I went back at the end of the season, what if I changed locations one more time. I think I'm to critical with myself and worry about the perception that my so called friends are going to have of my hunt.

 

[HuskyMusky]

haha haven't really thought about turning in 15+ pts yet... but I'm sure it'll happen.


Honestly I think I would just hope for a good moisture year etc... and hope the hunting is on par as it should be... I'm fine putting the rest of the pressure on me... but sometimes things just conspire against you on a hunt ha.

also sometimes you just have to roll the dice... but I think if you do your job, there's not much to hold your head down about if you simply didn't get lucky...

 

[CoHiCntry]

This is the problem with trophy hunting... you put so much pressure on yourself! Especially when you spend lots of money, burn lots of point, or draw a once in a lifetime type hunt. I'm right there with everybody else, I wish I could fight off the nerves or anxiety from the draw process clear through the hunt. My sheep hunt although fun (mostly because I was successful) was a stressful time! I about made myself sick worrying about not getting one and blowing my one and only chance. After the hunt it felt like the gorilla was off my back. Then I draw a once in a lifetime moose tag the very next year! I don't think I had enough in me to be as stressed about it as I was the sheep hunt. In the end it turned out good too. I didn't really draw anything last year just to kinda take a break. Hunted with friends in low expectation areas and hunted cows with my daughter... much more relaxing!