Choosing Units...

[FreeAir84]

For the out of state, public land folks… I was wondering how you all go about choosing where to put in for tags. It’s new to me as I’ve always hunted where I live and was hoping you could share your methods for me to duplicate. Do you get on the net, review draw odds, and then look to see if there is ample public land? OR do you do it in a different order. After watching Randy’s E-scouting series I’m pretty sure I can scout out where in a unit I want to hunt if I draw, I’m just wondering how to decide what unit to put in for. I’ll definitely purchase the onX map for the area that I draw but can I avoid buying each state I want to put in for? Probably just more homework to be done, maps to read, etc but was hoping you all might have a few tricks/tips.

 

[pumatom]

Research
Game and fish Dept can help

 

[Whiptail]

Depends on what info I can find.

I like to put draw odds and success rates into a spreadsheet and then sort them but many states deliver data in a format that makes it impossible. Then I go down the list and look at each unit.

 

[1_pointer]

Alot of where I put in depends on the type of country I want to hunt for a given species and if it's an opportunity state for me or a limited entry state for me.

 

[JDH]

The thought process for my first hunt out west was as follows: I decided species - pronghorn. Then I looked at the states and decided Wyoming due to overall opportunity. Then I looked at units I could draw with only having one point. Then I narrowed it down to the eastern half due to drive time since there were still plenty of units to choose from. Then I looked at access and success rates. While the unit I picked was considered limited access by the state it still produced good hunting since a lot of the public land was adjacent to public roads and therefore accessible.
But a lot of the process comes down to what you want out of the hunt. I wanted to go that specific year and wasn't picky about size. We wanted to camp in the unit so we didn't need to be real close to a town. The drive time criteria was one that was somewhat optional since a 22-23 hour drive isn't that much longer than a 19-20 hour drive. Do you want cover more ground by glassing from the vehicle mostly or walk in 5 miles and hunt a few larger parcels?

 

[805Bowhunter]

GoHunt.com. Some people say that it is too expensive but for the hundreds of man hours it cuts down on, its well worth it. It saves for me literally hundreds of hours in deciding what units will get me what and not having to read through all the raw data off of fish and game websites. It certainly doesn't fix all the headaches, but pretty close. The site, outside of draw odds, species harvest rates, etc. has a ton of information. I believe that if you use the "Randy" promo code right now you get $50 bucks to the GoHunt store which is awesome as the store is stocked with great stuff. The website doesn't eliminate all elbow grease of a Western hunt, however, it makes the process much more fun because you have a lot more time to focus on the scouting/unit research portion. GoHunt allows you to also develop some longer range strategies for certain states and gives you an idea of what you need to work towards. It also has a ton of information regarding when applications are due for what states, and specifics to each states draw. Have fun!

 

[jtm307]

A note of caution:

Don't put too much weight on harvest rates. In WY, harvest rates for antelope are commonly in the 80% range. Some may infer they have an 80% chance of filling a tag. This is simply not true. On every antelope hunt, my odds of filling a tag are virtually 100%. In a unit I commonly hunt elk, the estimated harvest rate is about 40%. Yet, if I have the tag and a few free weekends, I am almost certainly going to fill my tag. Harvest rates are commonly inherently deflated, especially if there is a lot of public access. If you consider harvest rates when choosing a unit, be aware that a 10 - 20% difference between 2 units means almost nothing in most cases. Conversely, there may occasionally be inflated harvest rates. A unit that is mostly private land may have harvest rates that appear high because most hunters in that unit pay an outfitter or trespass fee.

The best info will come from actual experience from a person who has spent some time in the unit under consideration. As you narrow down the units with tools like Go Hunt, don't consider harvest rate until AFTER you've received unit specific info from boots on the ground experience. Such unit specific info will help you determine how much the harvest rate should influence your choice. Venues like Hunt Talk are often the best source of such info. Obviously, if you're looking at 2 units, one with 20% harvest rate, the other with 80%, all else being equal, you know the 80% unit will be better. But after considering draw odds, public access, etc., I doubt you'd see such an obvious advantage to one over the other.

 

[CiK]

My first hunt west I took a list of things I wanted and prioritized them. First year....OTC, high country, glassing while drinking coffee (the little things) and we ended up in elk.

I think the most important part of the work is asking yourself what you want. If you know what you want in a hunt, then the pieces start to fall into place. Being from Indiana and not a lot of people to talk to about western hunting, I feel at times I am spinning my wheels. That is why I like to come here. Welcome aboard.

 

[LopeHunter]

Old timer here. In the old days, pre-Garth's Huntin' Fool, you might be able to mail off for a recap of a state's application totals by units. You could infer the better units but sometimes a unit was in demand because convenient to a population center in that state. Maybe you got harvest rates or animal age but not much there. Points were really not a thing.

Huntin' Fool was stapled together sheets providing some info on various units. Not only did it save time but some info provided was not available through F&G. HF got more popular and began to have the ability to impact application numbers for various units. Some people used HF to figure out where NOT to apply.

Today, HF is has different ownership. Epic, GoHunt, Eastmans, etc offer resources as well. Could spend around $500 a year to get all of them. I did at one time. I was putting in for hunts in a dozen or so states for 70+ applications and mostly was aiming for trophy hunts that had plenty of public land and high harvest rates even if my odds were 1 in 400 to pull the tag. Saved me a lot of time. Not sure what you do for a living but when I value my time the way my company does then $500 does not take very much time spent spinning my wheels to just cut a check and have the info handed to me. To each his or her own on that valuation.

If wanting to roll the dice on one of the above, GoHunt if just looking for a hunt as a non-resident since will give you odds and general info on the unit. I would suggest Epic if looking for a trophy hunt and willing to apply for a lot of years and perhaps not draw a single tag for that species in that state as a non-resident. If you have a buddy near you that would go in to pay half the cost then is even a better deal as get together to go over the info.

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

Pick a species, a state and a unit you can likely draw. Fail to draw the hunt, curse point creep, scramble for a leftover or OTC tag and go hunting somewhere anyway.

 

[805Bowhunter]

Pick a species, a state and a unit you can likely draw. Fail to draw the hunt, curse point creep, scramble for a leftover or OTC tag and go hunting somewhere anyway.

haha. So true. Literally half of my hunting conversations involve what you just stated with the same eventual outcome...go hunting OTC and have just as much fun.

 

[Festus]

As already stated, what type of hunt you're looking for, and what you expect out of that hunt will narrow it down considerably. Are you wanting to do a lot of glassing from the road, then stalk from there; or truck camping and day hunting 2-5 miles from a base camp; or packing in 7 miles and spike camping for a few days at a time; or bivy hunting from your back and making a 16 mile, 3 day loop; or looking to dump in at one trail head and hunt through an area and come out another trail head x days later? Some of these options are not possible in certain units.
Also, your personal tactics may help determine/eliminate many units - high country glassing/bivy for mulies, spot and stalk, long range 'ridge-running' searching for bugles, hunting saddles or sitting water/wallows, low land prairie or canyon type hunting...

And lots of phone calls, emails, and PM's...

 

[JDH]

My first hunt west I took a list of things I wanted and prioritized them. First year....OTC, high country, glassing while drinking coffee (the little things) and we ended up in elk.

I think the most important part of the work is asking yourself what you want. If you know what you want in a hunt, then the pieces start to fall into place. Being from Indiana and not a lot of people to talk to about western hunting, I feel at times I am spinning my wheels. That is why I like to come here. Welcome aboard.

There's more than you think. Last year my wife took my Colorado refund check to the bank and the teller was curious about it because they had seen "quite a few of these Colorado checks" that week. It was good for my wife to see that I'm not the only crazy one willing to spend $$$ to go out there and hunt.