Point strategy for newbie

[BT_NVhunter]

CO changed their system a couple years ago and dropped the price of preference points but required the purchase of a small game license. If you only apply for one species, the net price went up slightly but I saw it as an improvement because I can now get elk, deer, and pronghorn for only marginal costs for deer and pronghorn after buying elk. My focus is deer and elk but might as well pay a few bucks per year to get pronghorn as well.

That’s kind of what I’m doing as well I figure I can rotate through mule deer every 2-3 yrs possible at the same time as rotating a zone for a first rifle that only takes 2-3 points for elk.

 

[Lucky_Lep]

Y I think I will try ID that is my mid time goal state. 3-5 yrs from now. I think how I may do it is try to be one of the first on the website Dec release. But may just wait and see if there are any leftover tags if I miss some of the zones I’m interested in.

There are a few OTC Elk tags left in ID for 2021. The application deadline for the draw is coming up soon too.

 

[BT_NVhunter]

There are a few OTC Elk tags left in ID for 2021. The application deadline for the draw is coming up soon too.

Roger I’ve looked at the OTC units left I think the year that I do go there I will make it my primary focus but with already buying point in AZ and CO plus my application for all of NV that’s all I feel I can financially justify at this point. When I do decide to try ID I’ll be all in right out the gate I’ll have three units OTC in mind if I can’t get any of them I will probably try for the leftover so many people have said in other threads about how people who bought these bottom barrel OTC will have buyers regret when they see the leftover tags after draw. So I think that’s how I’ll approach it.

 

[LaSportsman]

finances matter. I'm building points in multiple states but closing in on retirement with major child raising expenses nearly behind me.

Beauty of AZ is that if you buy the license to apply for points, you have it for an OTC deer hunt and can easily get a javalina tag to pair with it if you are hunting coues in Jan. License is good for 12 months. Would have to double check but I think deer tag is calendar year so if you aren't successful in Jan, you could hunt the Aug/Sep OTC season in another unit.

 

[BT_NVhunter]

Oh wow really I’ll have to look at that for sure. Did not realize the tag would carry over like that but wouldn’t that mess with their harvest reporting and population estimate. I guess if it’s OTC then it’s at or above objective anyway.

 

[mevertsen]

Plan to hunt a good unit in 2-5 years for a bull, but in the meantime get cow tags for the same unit every year so you can learn the area.

That sounds like a good plan.

Until you look at the draw odds.

They all suck.

Apply for what you want to hunt and hunt when you draw a tag.

That's all you can do. The bonus points are posted on the NDOW website, and paint a good picture of the difficulty of drawing a tag for anything.

 

[djdoubl3j]

Plan to hunt a good unit in 2-5 years for a bull, but in the meantime get cow tags for the same unit every year so you can learn the area.

This is a good idea right here.