Tag strategy

[Ikeepitcold]

How do you go about trying to draw a tag?

Do you look at your points then find a unit you can draw with the point you have?

Or do you have a favorite hunting unit and only try and draw that unit no matter how long it will take?

I try to draw my favorite unit. In Nv you have 5 choices to draw a tag. I only fill out 2, these are the only units I want till I draw one of them. They are 8-1 for the first and the second is much worse.
Once I draw then I will be headed buck to the old stomping grounds where the 2-1 odds will get me a tag every year or every other.

 

[kidoggy]

How do you go about trying to draw a tag?

Do you look at your points then find a unit you can draw with the point you have?

Or do you have a favorite hunting unit and only try and draw that unit no matter how long it will take?

I try to draw my favorite unit. In Nv you have 5 choices to draw a tag. I only fill out 2, these are the only units I want till I draw one of them. They are 8-1 for the first and the second is much worse.
Once I draw then I will be headed buck to the old stomping grounds where the 2-1 odds will get me a tag every year or every other.

IDAHO is luck of the draw so don't have to worry about preference points.

what I put in for really varys year to year . sometimes meat is priority ,sometimes antlers .generally try the units with higher chances of draw over the bone hunts.

also if I put in for a big buck hunt, I will generally put in for a cow tag and vice versa.


pretty much only put in for to prairie goat anymore. last either sex antelope tag, took me 21 years to draw. saw lots of "decent" bucks that hunt but not what I wanted to shoot.ended up killing a doe in last hours of hunt.

 

[Fink]

I try to guarantee myself 1 hunt per year, for something. Depending on where that guarantee is in the draw process will impact how I apply in other states. For example, WY elk was my 'guarantee' this year, so now, with the rest of my apps, I shoot for the moon, trying to draw the very best tags in all the other states I apply for, knowing I'm happy to just collect the points, or would obviously be more than thrilled to draw whatever else I had put in for.
Next year, I'll burn my points in Colorado, but, before I do that, I'll apply for more reasonable units in WY and AZ, and try to draw a tag earlier than I should in those states. If I draw, I'll just continue to build points in CO.

 

[tim]

I go to the grocery store and buy deer and elk tags.

 

[JimP]

It all depends on the state that you live in. When I was a resident in Utah I purchased a Lifetime hunting and fishing license which gives me a general deer tag, small game, and fishing for the rest of my life. I do have to tell them what unit and season that I want to hunt and if I put in for any of the LE hunts I am considered a non resident, but it has paid for itself.

For Colorado I play the system for deer. I collected points for 14 years before I put in for a late season unit 44 tag, but I archery hunted every one of those 14 years on a tag that was as close to being OTC as there is here. Now I'll draw my ML deer tag every 2 years but I also draw a second choice tag for ML for the unit north of me. I did the same thing for elk for 17 years before cashing in on a unit 61 muzzle loader hunt. In those 17 years I hunted elk every year on a OTC bull tag, or either sex archery tag depending on how I felt about the season as it got closer.

 

[Hilltop]

I have done both - I now know where I want to hunt so I typically save points for those specific areas.

 

[hskrhntr]

I finally have enough points in different states that I can plan out a five year or so rolling plan. I'll never have enough points to get the really premium tags in place like Colorado, but I'll hunting every year....and that's what is important to me.

 

[HighPlainsHunter]

I almost always seem to have the best luck hunting the same areas for a few years.

My strategy is to find a couple of areas where I can get tag of some kind (doe, cow, antelope, whitetail, etc) most years and occasional get lucky with the harder to draw tags.

Speaking of which I think the application period for Kansas is coming up soon.

 

[LCH]

I don't have any plans of building a lot of points for any species anywhere. My strategy is to have several OTC and < 5 point hunts to choose from each season.

There are a ton of OTC hunts I'd love to do, especially for whitetails, so I don't get too down about not drawing. But I usually do get 1 or 2 of those mid-tier tags now that I've been in it for a few years, so just occasionally fill in the gaps with OTC or leftovers.

I'd love to hunt some of the glory tags in Colorado, Wyoming, etc., but for somebody getting in now I just don't think it's worth the time and money investment to chase those hunts.