Long term hunt planning

[Hawk Tuah]

My approach has been putting into almost as many states as I can, or at least states that make sense to me to build points in. Some don't make sense. Some make sense to me, but others think they're a waste of time. The 401k analogy brought up is a good one. It has really paid off for me and continues to do so.

For someone interested in western hunting, my bare minimum recommendation is to find at least one or two preference points states to build deer, elk and antelope points in so you can dip into them later and have hunts waiting for you that are better than OTC units.

As far as killing an elk, I'd keep hunting the same place until you can kill one...unless you simply aren't finding elk after hiking for a week-long season. Bee-bopping around different general/OTC elk units before killing one doesn't make sense because it often takes a while to learn a place and learn where the elk hang out.

Buzz's advice is good as far as taking advantage of opportunities that exist now because they may not be available tomorrow.

 

[GrantK]

Buzz's advice is on the money... if you are a CO resident I'd consider 4 points to be complete no mans land, any first rifle or archery tag you can get with that is going to be better than an OTC tag, but not all that much better, if it was me, and for the record I'm in the same boat with 6, I'd be holding for a while, get a tag that's actually a significant upgrade...
I personally change units all the time, once you have paid your dues and have an idea how to find elk you should be able to find them pretty much anywhere...
I aim to have one local elk tag and one wildcard a year, sometimes that means a good tag elsewhere, sometimes that means a terrible OTC tag elsewhere, the "bad" tags are a good learning opportunity if you view them as such, I've had a shocking amount of success throwing a dart at a map and just going and putting in the time.

 

[LopeHunter]

I dont really believe in the shotgun approach of applying in as many states as possible. I understand that some people like the new country and adventures that applying everywhere brings. If you want more consistent success I firmly believe you will have more success and sooner sticking to preferably otc tags that you can hunt every year. If you cant get tags otc in your home or other states find an easy to draw area or areas. My experience is knowledge of an area leads to more success than trying to draw the "good" tags and re-learning an entirely new area every year. I hunt my home state (same areas) and apply for one other state where I used to live and have family. As a result we have no problem filling all or most of our tags every year. I would also consider hunting animals besides elk in those areas. Hunt lions, coyotes, bears, wolves if available in those areas. I hunt one of the most crowded areas in my state that is right by my house but still find Elk every year and I would attribute that to lion hunting with my dogs in the winter and then bear in the spring. Add in hunting coyotes and wolves(otc cheap nr tags in Idaho) and you have a very good understanding what ALL the animals are doing in that area. Pick one or two areas and focus on consistently hunting those. Hunt that area for predators, most states have liberal seasons and less expensive tags for predators. My experience is you will do better learning an area by consistently hunting it rather than a spray and pray application strategy. Quit e scouting and making excel spread sheets and govhunt an area consistently. Best way to spend time in a unit is to hunt predators and it will sometimes open doors to landowners who want them hunted. I get the fun of gambling on and dreaming of glory tags but with the overwhelmed draw systems its a ponsi scheme in some states. Pick 1 max 2 state draws so you still have that chance but you could save the rest of that application money to buy gas and go hunting. I would say quit planning and figure out how to hunt more and in same areas.

I followed an approach nearly the opposite of you. I had some unique aspects to my life. I lived under my means, had no minor children left at home, my wife had a career where traveled up to 40 roundtrip flights each year with some stays longer than a week.

I could take unlimited vacation time so if drew five tags in a year (happened once in 30 years) or drew just 1 (happened twice) I could make 1 - 5 hunts happen.

So I applied. And applied. A lot. Every state with a guaranteed non-resident bighorn sheep tag got my tag application money. Since I applied for sheep then I was also applying for other critters. I tossed a few bucks at every state-ran raffle. I don't trust the private draws, though, as shenanigans are always trying to sneak into the selection step.

I liked seeing new country during the hunt but also on drives across various states out West. I rarely hunted the same unit twice other than for turkey and I did hunt the same unit for deer then years later for elk.

How many tag applications in a year? Over 70. I was never going to draw 70 tags in a year. I applied for a lot of 1 in 60 or tougher odds for sheep and mountain goats. Sometimes the best non-resident sheep odds were over 1 in 1000. Same type of odds for mountain goat. Moose not much better.

Elk tags I chased were often 1 in 40 or worse as I was looking for hunts with high harvest rates, low tag numbers and the critters were on lots of public land. Deer were often 1 in 25 or worse. Pronghorn might be 1 in 4 or worse.

I frequently used the Point Saver option on Pronghorn, Deer and Elk. I especially shifted to Point Savers if drew a good tag in the early results draws prior to the deadline to apply in other states.

Building points is not a cheap date if are a non-resident. Is not getting cheaper. Putting in deposits when have to front the cost of a tag to apply is also not a cheap date. I would spend $2,000 to $2,500 each year on mandatory hunting license to apply, application fees, credit card pass-through fee as apply, conservation tags, etc.

I had over $20,000 on deposit at times as waited for refunds on applications where was not selected.

I have dialed my applications back now that am on the backside of 60. I am building points which likely never use before die. I might. And, that hope will pull a bighorn ram tag is worth paying money.

I likely can not do the tag justice much as was the case with a Montana mountain goat tag in 2020. Sorry, not sorry. I have punched all my hunting wish list but the bighorn ram. Maybe 2025 will be my year. Each day when application results are released is like Christmas Day for me. How many Christmas Days do you get in a year?

 

[Kiwi]

I followed an approach nearly the opposite of you. I had some unique aspects to my life. I lived under my means, had no minor children left at home, my wife had a career where traveled up to 40 roundtrip flights each year with some stays longer than a week.

I could take unlimited vacation time so if drew five tags in a year (happened once in 30 years) or drew just 1 (happened twice) I could make 1 - 5 hunts happen.

So I applied. And applied. A lot. Every state with a guaranteed non-resident bighorn sheep tag got my tag application money. Since I applied for sheep then I was also applying for other critters. I tossed a few bucks at every state-ran raffle. I don't trust the private draws, though, as shenanigans are always trying to sneak into the selection step.

I liked seeing new country during the hunt but also on drives across various states out West. I rarely hunted the same unit twice other than for turkey and I did hunt the same unit for deer then years later for elk.

How many tag applications in a year? Over 70. I was never going to draw 70 tags in a year. I applied for a lot of 1 in 60 or tougher odds for sheep and mountain goats. Sometimes the best non-resident sheep odds were over 1 in 1000. Same type of odds for mountain goat. Moose not much better.

Elk tags I chased were often 1 in 40 or worse as I was looking for hunts with high harvest rates, low tag numbers and the critters were on lots of public land. Deer were often 1 in 25 or worse. Pronghorn might be 1 in 4 or worse.

I frequently used the Point Saver option on Pronghorn, Deer and Elk. I especially shifted to Point Savers if drew a good tag in the early results draws prior to the deadline to apply in other states.

Building points is not a cheap date if are a non-resident. Is not getting cheaper. Putting in deposits when have to front the cost of a tag to apply is also not a cheap date. I would spend $2,000 to $2,500 each year on mandatory hunting license to apply, application fees, credit card pass-through fee as apply, conservation tags, etc.

I had over $20,000 on deposit at times as waited for refunds on applications where was not selected.

I have dialed my applications back now that am on the backside of 60. I am building points which likely never use before die. I might. And, that hope will pull a bighorn ram tag is worth paying money.

I likely can not do the tag justice much as was the case with a Montana mountain goat tag in 2020. Sorry, not sorry. I have punched all my hunting wish list but the bighorn ram. Maybe 2025 will be my year. Each day when application results are released is like Christmas Day for me. How many Christmas Days do you get in a year

Thats an awesome strategy and I bet you're had some great hunts. If I was US based I'd use your strategy.

Here in NZ I apply for around 10 draw ballots and get some great public land hunting, to add to the normal "free for all" access. Fortunately here the ballots are mostly free (my annual total cost is less than $US60 a year), and no such thing as points.

 

[dmarsh2]

Tons of really great advice in here - thanks for the insight everyone. I can’t wait to start building the investment portfolio

 

[Trap]

I followed an approach nearly the opposite of you. I had some unique aspects to my life. I lived under my means, had no minor children left at home, my wife had a career where traveled up to 40 roundtrip flights each year with some stays longer than a week.

I could take unlimited vacation time so if drew five tags in a year (happened once in 30 years) or drew just 1 (happened twice) I could make 1 - 5 hunts happen.

So I applied. And applied. A lot. Every state with a guaranteed non-resident bighorn sheep tag got my tag application money. Since I applied for sheep then I was also applying for other critters. I tossed a few bucks at every state-ran raffle. I don't trust the private draws, though, as shenanigans are always trying to sneak into the selection step.

I liked seeing new country during the hunt but also on drives across various states out West. I rarely hunted the same unit twice other than for turkey and I did hunt the same unit for deer then years later for elk.

How many tag applications in a year? Over 70. I was never going to draw 70 tags in a year. I applied for a lot of 1 in 60 or tougher odds for sheep and mountain goats. Sometimes the best non-resident sheep odds were over 1 in 1000. Same type of odds for mountain goat. Moose not much better.

Elk tags I chased were often 1 in 40 or worse as I was looking for hunts with high harvest rates, low tag numbers and the critters were on lots of public land. Deer were often 1 in 25 or worse. Pronghorn might be 1 in 4 or worse.

I frequently used the Point Saver option on Pronghorn, Deer and Elk. I especially shifted to Point Savers if drew a good tag in the early results draws prior to the deadline to apply in other states.

Building points is not a cheap date if are a non-resident. Is not getting cheaper. Putting in deposits when have to front the cost of a tag to apply is also not a cheap date. I would spend $2,000 to $2,500 each year on mandatory hunting license to apply, application fees, credit card pass-through fee as apply, conservation tags, etc.

I had over $20,000 on deposit at times as waited for refunds on applications where was not selected.

I have dialed my applications back now that am on the backside of 60. I am building points which likely never use before die. I might. And, that hope will pull a bighorn ram tag is worth paying money.

I likely can not do the tag justice much as was the case with a Montana mountain goat tag in 2020. Sorry, not sorry. I have punched all my hunting wish list but the bighorn ram. Maybe 2025 will be my year. Each day when application results are released is like Christmas Day for me. How many Christmas Days do you get in a year?

sounds like you had a lot of adventures! Hope you draw that Bighorn tag!

 

[2rocky]

I'm a resident (CO), and my current plan involves building points for every game animal in the state. There are a few other states/game animals I'd love to pursue, but I only just finished grad school this year and the pile of expendable cash isn't very large yet, though I'll be pursuing a similar strategy as those mentioned here once that gets taken care of.

Be easy on yourself.....you have a LOT of time ahead of you. If you are going into the workforce you will be amazed at the amount of additional free time you will have to pursue outdoor activities versus being a full time student. PTO is a huge blessing.

Applications:

• Identify your Long shot lottery winning hunts. Apply for those, don't just buy points. Shoot for the fences in states without preference points. Identify tags with one or 2 random tags available in PP states, buy super hunt raffle tickets. If you draw one in the random, you will make it work, believe me. plan on hitting one of these long shots every 10-15 years...
• Identify your 10 year hunts. Hunts you can accumulate points to draw today that take 5 points. Meet folks who hunt these units, and scout and go help them in their hunts. Think of 65 year old guys with more money and time who wouldn't mind a young guy to help pack out meat and cut firewood in camp. Let them tell you where to go glass while they hunt a different area...Then when you draw it, you know the country.
• Identify your every year or two hunts. Places you can go every weekend with long seasons. Places you can go hike, fish and camp in the off season. By the time hunting season rolls around, you know where the trails lead and where you want to glass from.
• Identify your "Pay to play" opportunities. Establish a savings fund that you will book when you hit a savings threshold. Make it something you might only do once, and is outside your experience or localish area.....may be the only chance to do it....I'm thinking Africa plains game, Argentina Doves, Alaska Fishing, or hunting WT in a treestand in the Midwest if that isn't your thing....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6HjWvkrJZk

Don't let Social media make you think you have to hunt 6 states a year and document every hunt as a live hunt and send pictures to your sponsors. It's easy to get caught up in that when you see it all the time in your feed. By the same token, if Elk hunting is the fuel for you living an active lifestyle and exercising regularly, go for it! The more you hunt, the better you get, and having friends who are good hunters will make you one by just the mindset you get by being around them.

Also, when you purchase a new piece of gear...only do it if it will make you hunt MORE. What's the good in having a $10,000 rifle if that means you can only do one week a year hunting? If your $550 setup gives you 400 yard range, and you can hunt 25-40 days a year, then you just increased your opportunity 8 fold!