Midwest New Guy

[midwesterncrosshair]

Hello fellow hunters,

I'm from Northern WI, living in Central IL life long whitetail hunter looking for a Western hunt for the 2019 season. I'm technologically behind for my generation and am not sure if I should be asking for info here or post a thread elsewhere. My brother and I would like to narrow our options down to a species and state that is either over the counter or favorable draw odds. Its all about the experience so I wont pout if we come back empty handed.

Our thoughts so far were to try for a Mule Deer draw in CO or and over the counter Elk tag in CO
Montana Cow tag for when they go over the counter.

That is as far an my knowledge goes for good odds for draw and over the counter tags.

Can someone give us more options or point me to a thread that's had this discussion before?

Thanks much guys.

 

[pabearhunter]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Dave N]

Welcome from another central Illinois guy!

 

[Elkhunter24]

welcome from PA!

 

[Estimator86]

My best advice is to move out of Illinois! That's what I did and I'm not looking back. I wish I had more advice on the western hunting side, but I'm still figuring it out myself unfortunately. If you have some spare change, I would recommend OnX maps pretty high on the list of "to buy". If you can't afford OnX and don't mind printing maps, give Caltopo a try. It's free but will take some time to figure out. Gohunt is worth its weight in gold, but is pretty pricey and you can get most of that information with forums/research. Good luck!

 

[JohnCushman]

Welcome!

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Welcome! Would also recommend watching Colorado's leftover list. You can get some good tags if you watch it closely.

 

[duckhunt]

Welcome from Iowa

 

[midwesterncrosshair]

My best advice is to move out of Illinois! That's what I did and I'm not looking back. I wish I had more advice on the western hunting side, but I'm still figuring it out myself unfortunately. If you have some spare change, I would recommend OnX maps pretty high on the list of "to buy". If you can't afford OnX and don't mind printing maps, give Caltopo a try. It's free but will take some time to figure out. Gohunt is worth its weight in gold, but is pretty pricey and you can get most of that information with forums/research. Good luck!

I'm not downgrading my wife at all, she is the best woman in the world for me. She is also the reason I moved here. I would love to move out west and have been recommending it since we wed in 2014. Looks like you made an awesome move from IL lol couldn't get any better.

She loves the west, we took our honeymoon in yellowstone and jackson hole.

I'm taking her on her first Spring bear hunt in Montana this coming spring and am hoping that that will be the nail in the coffin for ILLINOIS.

The only good thing in IL is the whitetail hunting.

 

[midwesterncrosshair]

Welcome from another central Illinois guy!

Always looking for hunting buddies when going out west! I'm not from IL originally. NE Wisconsin... So the carpooling with my brothers and dad aren't an option.

 

[Nick87]

"The only good thing in IL is the whitetail hunting."

Nothing like it used to be.

Welcome from a little bit north. My suggestion would be a Wyoming antelope hunt, best way to get your feet wet imo.

 

[Coyot-n]

Iowa here, going to Montana or Idaho in the spring for Bear myself as I have done the last 6 yrs. not sure if my hunting partner can go yet so I might be solo, if you decide to go we could meet up out their or follow along. I camp when out their so if your planning on camping we could do that as well.
Always nice to have extra eyes, and someone to tell stories with at camp.

 

[Coyot-n]

Fall 2018 SW Ennis, Mt.

 

[midwesterncrosshair]

sweet bear!