Speaker 1: As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days
Speaker 1: in the field. This show is about translating my hard
Speaker 1: won experiences into tips and tactics they'll get you closer
Speaker 1: to your ultimate goal success in the field. I'm Remy Warren.
Speaker 1: This is cutting the Distance. Welcome back to the podcast, everybody.
Speaker 1: I hope you guys have been doing good. Today we're
Speaker 1: gonna be just diving into part two of our Tag
Speaker 1: draw series, where I've been covering various Western state application
Speaker 1: processes and helping you figure out how to secure a
Speaker 1: tag for next season. If you missed it last week,
Speaker 1: I gave a rundown of the types of tags and
Speaker 1: the types of points in the draw system to help
Speaker 1: kind of ease some of the confusion and get you started.
Speaker 1: This week, we're gonna be covering a few of the
Speaker 1: over the counter options. I'm going to talk about how
Speaker 1: O T seek tags should be implemented in your hunting plan,
Speaker 1: and then I'll all to give you tips on other
Speaker 1: tags to look for. I'm gonna be breaking down a
Speaker 1: few of my favorite states that we did not cover
Speaker 1: last week, and then just go through the opportunities that
Speaker 1: might be available. And then finally I think I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna give everybody my hot tip on the best place
Speaker 1: to kill a bull elk this year, so you won't
Speaker 1: want to miss it. But before we do that, I
Speaker 1: want to share the story of a general area monster
Speaker 1: bull that ended up coming home in my backpack. Now,
Speaker 1: if you were to ask me what would be one
Speaker 1: of the epitomes of of hunting, one thing that comes
Speaker 1: to mind would be harvesting a large, mature bull in
Speaker 1: a general elk area. To me, there's just so much
Speaker 1: involved in that. I mean, yes, there's a lot of luck,
Speaker 1: but there's also a lot of time. They can be
Speaker 1: kind of few and far between. Most general areas are
Speaker 1: more just kind of managed for opportunity. And that's not
Speaker 1: to say that there's not really big bulls in there.
Speaker 1: You know, most of my experienced elk hunting is in
Speaker 1: general type units. Um pretty much cut my teeth growing
Speaker 1: up guiding and what would have been considered a low
Speaker 1: success area, but I found a lot of success by
Speaker 1: hunting the same area over and over, knowing it really well,
Speaker 1: really understanding those elk and finding a lot of success
Speaker 1: and over the years guiding different hunters, various hunters, you know,
Speaker 1: we would always see some of those upper echelon bulls,
Speaker 1: those those high caliber bulls, And to me, I think
Speaker 1: anything in a general area over a three inch bull
Speaker 1: is a big bull. If you aren't familiar with like scores,
Speaker 1: what that is is just tewing up the number of
Speaker 1: inches on the antler, and a good benchmark for a
Speaker 1: mature bull is three inches for a general area. Most
Speaker 1: most elk they get killed in general areas are probably
Speaker 1: more around two inches. And then every once in a
Speaker 1: while you'll see one that's just what I would consider
Speaker 1: a slam or just a big, big mature bowl big
Speaker 1: six by six, probably in like the three fifty class.
Speaker 1: If you're familiar with that, that's like the type of
Speaker 1: bull that you're looking for on most limited draw tags.
Speaker 1: So to be able to harvest a milk like that
Speaker 1: in a general area, it's just a very cool thing
Speaker 1: to happen. Um. It takes a lot of luck, a
Speaker 1: lot of persistence, a lot of just being in the
Speaker 1: right place at the right time finding that animal, but
Speaker 1: it does happen, and that was a guide. We We
Speaker 1: run into those elk quite often, yet it always seems
Speaker 1: like those really big bulls, those once in a lifetime
Speaker 1: bulls if I was out hunting myself and just be
Speaker 1: like a dream bull. Of mind, those are the ones
Speaker 1: that always get missed. But this is a story of
Speaker 1: the time that that bull did not get missed. I
Speaker 1: took a client out that he's hunted with me for
Speaker 1: a few years, and I'd spotted a group of elk
Speaker 1: with a few just normal bulls. You know, in this
Speaker 1: type area, we just really look to harvest in elk.
Speaker 1: You can't shoot a cow, but you can shoot a bull.
Speaker 1: Has to be a brow time bull. So we were
Speaker 1: just looking for any bull elk. I spotted one the
Speaker 1: night before, and we're gonna plan on going in that area,
Speaker 1: and we're talking and we out in there early, but
Speaker 1: there was already quite a few vehicles there, and it's
Speaker 1: just like, oh, man, do we really want this rat
Speaker 1: race of racing to these elk. So we started to
Speaker 1: go in there and we were looking around and we
Speaker 1: did see elk, but we ended up not seeing the bull.
Speaker 1: He must have just moved off from the cows, and
Speaker 1: so we spotted a lot of cows that just didn't
Speaker 1: see the illegal bull in there. So I was talking
Speaker 1: with him and the hunter and he said Oh, you know,
Speaker 1: I've I've shot quite a few elk. Now, would be
Speaker 1: fun to just, you know, one time just kind of
Speaker 1: concentrate on looking for those bigger elk that I'm always
Speaker 1: talking about that we do encounter. And I told him,
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, to find those bulls, you
Speaker 1: kind of have to go to a place where there's
Speaker 1: not as many hunters, where it's very tough hunting, and
Speaker 1: it's one of these things where you might not really
Speaker 1: see any elk. You have to know going into it that, hey,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go hunting area that's going to be low success,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be low spotting, but it gives those bulls
Speaker 1: a little bit more chance to mature. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of timber, it's tough hunting, but if we do find
Speaker 1: an elk a bull, it will probably be a good bull,
Speaker 1: better than most of the bulls that were chasing where
Speaker 1: we were hunting. He's like, yeah, you know, I actually
Speaker 1: feel game for that. So we move locations and you know,
Speaker 1: we're just kind of getting into this new area and
Speaker 1: it's it's heavily timbered, it's not necessarily you know, it's
Speaker 1: a little bit further than where we normally hunt. But hey,
Speaker 1: you know, I've I've seen good bulls in there. It's
Speaker 1: a good area, and with the right kind of weather
Speaker 1: and other things, you know that you never know what
Speaker 1: could happen. So we start hunting it and I'm up
Speaker 1: on this glass and knob and I'm just glassing into
Speaker 1: these little tiny openings in the timber, and I'm looking
Speaker 1: for a bowl that I'd seen during archery season, but
Speaker 1: it figured maybe it would move into this particular region
Speaker 1: later in the year. I figured it's an isolated pocket.
Speaker 1: It's a place where a bull could hang out and
Speaker 1: not be pressured, and pretty much nobody else is gonna
Speaker 1: be looking for him because it's not an easy place
Speaker 1: to hunt. So I'm sitting there and we were just talking,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of going over how it's pretty out here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we might not see anything, YadA YadA. I'm glassing. I
Speaker 1: look up and I'm just like, my jaw drops, Oh
Speaker 1: my god, there's a giant bull. I've got the binoculars up.
Speaker 1: I quickly get my spotting scope out, put my spotting
Speaker 1: scope on him, just to verify what I'm seeing, make
Speaker 1: sure I'm not just losing it. And I'm like that
Speaker 1: is a Boone and Crockett bowl. I mean, is one
Speaker 1: side is like just just a monster bowl three seventy
Speaker 1: on that one side if they matched, is what I
Speaker 1: told him. I was like, that is a that is
Speaker 1: one of the bigger bulls I've ever seen here. So
Speaker 1: we gotta make a move because it's timber. He's standing
Speaker 1: and feeding in an opening that's the size of an
Speaker 1: elk essentially, and we need to close some distance. So
Speaker 1: it's like, go, go go. He was shooting my gun
Speaker 1: for that week, which you know, I know all the
Speaker 1: ballistics for it and everything, and it just makes it easier.
Speaker 1: I know that that gun is good and he shot
Speaker 1: it really well at the range. So we decide if
Speaker 1: we can only get a cross canyon shot, we might
Speaker 1: take a little bit further shot, but we know the
Speaker 1: gun is good for it, we know the shooter is
Speaker 1: good for it. So we're gonna get into position because
Speaker 1: there's no way we can get over there and and
Speaker 1: relocate this bull. So he moved down real quick. We're
Speaker 1: moving down the mountain below us. I keep ranging, ranging,
Speaker 1: like too far, too far. We keep going out and
Speaker 1: hoping that this there's this hill where it can kind
Speaker 1: of make a point. We're gonna go down and then
Speaker 1: drop down, and as we're losing elevation, we're hopefully getting
Speaker 1: an open shot where we can shoot across. So we
Speaker 1: get an opening. The bulls still right there. I mean,
Speaker 1: his body is just huge. He is an old, mature
Speaker 1: just tank of an ELK. I get my hunter set up.
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, Mark, get ready, we said shooting.
Speaker 1: Sticks up because it's a pretty good slope. So he's
Speaker 1: rested on his knee. I range the ELK. I adjusted
Speaker 1: my scope. I'm like, okay, you know this should be good.
Speaker 1: You just need to put it right where the cross
Speaker 1: hair is and make a good shot because if if
Speaker 1: you miss or whatever, I can always adjust the scope,
Speaker 1: but I need to assume that that first shot was
Speaker 1: a good shot. It's like, sweet, we're on it. He
Speaker 1: squeezes the trigger boom and just hits the ELK. Sweet.
Speaker 1: I'm looking through the spotting scope like, all right, shoot again.
Speaker 1: The all just soaked up. The bullet shoots again, hits
Speaker 1: it again, and we watched the bullet fall done. We're pumped.
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm just as excited as he is because
Speaker 1: this is definitely the biggest bull. I've had anybody take
Speaker 1: in the area. I've had people miss bulls that were
Speaker 1: close to this bull. But this is just an incredible elk,
Speaker 1: So I'm pretty pumped. We hustled down. We get to
Speaker 1: the bottom below where the elk was at, and there's
Speaker 1: actually like this river stream thing running across through the
Speaker 1: canyon across the water. Climb up and I made some
Speaker 1: good notes in my mind on where this elk was.
Speaker 1: We climb up to. When we get up to him,
Speaker 1: it is just a big bodied, mature, giant bull elk.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, normally I'm not like two pumped
Speaker 1: up on whatever the score is, but we did score him.
Speaker 1: He was a three three fifty three. If both sides match,
Speaker 1: you would have been a three seventy bowl, which for
Speaker 1: a general area elk is about as good as it gets.
Speaker 1: Just a mature animal and one of the coolest elk
Speaker 1: that I've seen in a general area on public land.
Speaker 1: My best plan for planning a hunt is to have
Speaker 1: a strategy that involves having a system where you may
Speaker 1: obtain a more limited entry tag through a draw. So,
Speaker 1: like we talked about last week, those areas that might
Speaker 1: take some preference points and you can kind of guarantee
Speaker 1: that you'll get it in three years or maybe including
Speaker 1: in that an area that might be a random draw
Speaker 1: where hey, it's gonna be a really big bull hunt,
Speaker 1: but you know, if you get like you can get it.
Speaker 1: And then I also like to include in the plan
Speaker 1: a plan on getting into the field if those other
Speaker 1: options don't pan out, And the best way to do
Speaker 1: this is what we call an O t C hunt
Speaker 1: formally known as over the counter hunts. I like to
Speaker 1: now refer to them as over the computer hunts. But
Speaker 1: these are just essentially tags that are generally easier to
Speaker 1: obtain and they are not needed. You don't have to
Speaker 1: get them through a draw. Now, a lot of people think, well,
Speaker 1: they might be unlimited tags. That's not always the case.
Speaker 1: Not all over the counter tags are unlimited. Some of
Speaker 1: them may be limited, and that's important to note, but
Speaker 1: you don't have to go through a draw process to
Speaker 1: get one. It might be a first come, first serve
Speaker 1: type deal. Um, it might be something where there is
Speaker 1: a very very large number of them and they never
Speaker 1: sell out or they rarely sell out, And there might
Speaker 1: even be some hunts where there is an unlimited number
Speaker 1: of these tags and you can get them at any time.
Speaker 1: So these type of tags are going to be the
Speaker 1: tags that kind of get you in the field. It's
Speaker 1: a backup plan, but it's a plan that says, Okay,
Speaker 1: I can get this, I can plan my hunt, and
Speaker 1: I know that I will be hunting whatever it is, mule,
Speaker 1: your elk, potentially antelope, something that you want to get
Speaker 1: into and get it in on a hunt. My suggestion
Speaker 1: when you're kind of looking at your application strategy and
Speaker 1: you're saying, Okay, I'm gonna pick these states and maybe
Speaker 1: you've got New Mexico is a random draw state. You say, oh,
Speaker 1: Colorado is a really good preference point state. There's some
Speaker 1: tags that I can draw there on you know, one
Speaker 1: or two points, three points, something like that. Maybe get
Speaker 1: into a more limited hunt, but not necessarily in over
Speaker 1: the counter hunt that has a lot more hunters. And
Speaker 1: then I would say plan and over the counter type
Speaker 1: hunt in a state that you might already be applying
Speaker 1: in because a lot of places that you apply you
Speaker 1: have to buy a hunting license, you've got to buy
Speaker 1: preference points, you're already spending money there. You might be
Speaker 1: able to cut some of that costs and just say, hey,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be the state that I'm going to
Speaker 1: also plan in over the counter option, because you've already
Speaker 1: you're already money in with that license that you had
Speaker 1: to buy to even apply for that state. Um, so
Speaker 1: you aren't necessarily wasting money with that hunting license. But
Speaker 1: you say, Okay, I can get in here. I can
Speaker 1: get in on a hunt if I don't draw out,
Speaker 1: if I don't draw one of these other tags, and
Speaker 1: then I can start planning that hunt now like I'm
Speaker 1: going on it, so I don't have to wait to
Speaker 1: draw something. And a lot of people might hear this
Speaker 1: and say, why would I even apply in the draw
Speaker 1: And that's a really good question, because I think this
Speaker 1: is a really good way to get you in the
Speaker 1: hunt that you want to get on. Also, I think
Speaker 1: a good idea with applying in a state that you're
Speaker 1: also looking at over the counter options is you're doing
Speaker 1: in a place where you have an opportunity to hunt
Speaker 1: and familiarize yourself with the types of areas in that proximity.
Speaker 1: If you're saying, well, what over the counter state should
Speaker 1: I choose? What over the counter hunt is the best?
Speaker 1: You know, realistically it's one that's in a close proximity
Speaker 1: to you that you can get to where you might
Speaker 1: even have the potential of the go scouting, or where
Speaker 1: it's not a huge distance or not as much of
Speaker 1: a distance, where you can get in there and maybe
Speaker 1: go multiple times and maybe save a little bit of
Speaker 1: money on the travel. But also there's a lot of
Speaker 1: people I understand and say, hey, I'm gonna do this once,
Speaker 1: maybe twice. Um, where's the best place to do it?
Speaker 1: So I think what I'm gonna do is I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna break down kind of all the things you need
Speaker 1: to know about over the counter units, how to pick
Speaker 1: a good area, what to look for, and some things
Speaker 1: that are important for over the counter options. When it
Speaker 1: comes to over the counter tags, I've seen a lot
Speaker 1: of changes to the landscape of tags. Especially with these
Speaker 1: more available tags, it's getting more popular. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: be oblivious to say podcasts like this don't lend to
Speaker 1: that popularity. But I also like to think that I'm
Speaker 1: not ruining it for everyone, as much as I might
Speaker 1: suck to say, I really don't know if over the
Speaker 1: counter type opportunities will be around forever. You see a
Speaker 1: lot of these these opportunities kind of starting to dwindle
Speaker 1: in the last few years, and it seems to be
Speaker 1: a lot of areas are on that path. I think
Speaker 1: there's a lot of factors involved in that. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: more hunters, but also you know, changes in the way
Speaker 1: people are managing things, increases in pressure, maybe decreasing numbers
Speaker 1: of animals in certain areas. You know, you look at
Speaker 1: maybe Colorado will see what the wolf situation does in
Speaker 1: the future, how that affects the populations. They have had
Speaker 1: the highest populations of elk over most states. But as
Speaker 1: they start changing some of the season dates, as they
Speaker 1: start changing some of the numbers, as they introduce predators,
Speaker 1: we never know where that's going to turn. So all
Speaker 1: these things are very fragile, very dynamic. But for the
Speaker 1: most part, if you're thinking about doing this, I would
Speaker 1: say I wouldn't put it off. I would do it
Speaker 1: in the next one to five years, because who knows
Speaker 1: how long these opportunities will be around. And you don't
Speaker 1: want to be kicking yourself saying, man, I used to
Speaker 1: have that option to go over there and just pick
Speaker 1: that tag up, and now I'm behind the curve and
Speaker 1: it's not going to be an option for me. So
Speaker 1: that's just something to think about, some food for thought
Speaker 1: when you start looking at some of these over the
Speaker 1: counter tags. They know a lot of people think about
Speaker 1: putting them off, but like they're always going to be there.
Speaker 1: I've done that as well. There's some tags that I've
Speaker 1: wanted to hunt and now it's too late. So that's
Speaker 1: just something to think about as we talk about some
Speaker 1: of these over the counter options. I honestly believe if
Speaker 1: you were to talk about elk success or if if
Speaker 1: I had the option right, if I was to say, Okay,
Speaker 1: I can hunt an area that's lower quality, but I
Speaker 1: can hunt it five times times, or I can hunt
Speaker 1: a area that's higher quality, but I can only hunt
Speaker 1: it once in five years, I would choose the go
Speaker 1: hunting five years as opposed to the hunting once in
Speaker 1: a better area. And I really kind of look at
Speaker 1: that as what makes over the counter tags so attractive,
Speaker 1: so appealing, and actually almost a better opportunity than a
Speaker 1: lot of other hunts that are out there. Over the
Speaker 1: countertype hunts are often in areas where you're exchanging quality
Speaker 1: for opportunities. So the management strategy in here is saying, hey,
Speaker 1: let's give people an opportunity. If you're out in the field,
Speaker 1: you have a chance to be successful, you have a
Speaker 1: chance to harvest. What that leads to is it often
Speaker 1: leads to larger numbers of hunters. But that does not
Speaker 1: mean that there's not some incredible hunts. And I honestly
Speaker 1: believe that some of the best hunting opportunities out west
Speaker 1: currently are in over the counter tag areas because you
Speaker 1: have the option of learning the area, of learning the animals,
Speaker 1: learning their behavior, and finding success over a span of time.
Speaker 1: I would like to say, if you're planning on thinking
Speaker 1: about an over the counter hunt, if you can, if
Speaker 1: you're like, Okay, I'm gonna save up and go on
Speaker 1: one elk hunt in my life, so I want to
Speaker 1: be a good elk hunt, I think you'd be better
Speaker 1: off finding a cheaper elk hunt and going twice. That's
Speaker 1: that's what I mean to say, because you can go
Speaker 1: on that one elk hunt in a better area but
Speaker 1: still not have that experience and needed to be successful.
Speaker 1: That's really my selling point with a lot of these
Speaker 1: type of tags is you can pick them up and
Speaker 1: they're also a great backup plan if you don't draw something,
Speaker 1: or don't have the preference points, or you're just getting
Speaker 1: into it. So I think the first step now is
Speaker 1: going to be just kind of discussing some of the
Speaker 1: over the counter U states. So for elk, you've got Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Utah,
Speaker 1: and then Montana also has a few over the counter
Speaker 1: cow elk tags in those states. Not all over the
Speaker 1: counter tags are in every unit, so you have to
Speaker 1: pick one of those states, get the regulations, and see
Speaker 1: what opportunities are available. Most over the counter tags are
Speaker 1: based on a season, so it might be an archery season.
Speaker 1: I know, like Oregon and Washington have some great over
Speaker 1: the counter Roosevelt elk hunting, and then a lot of
Speaker 1: the Rocky Mountain elk hunting general areas is either limited
Speaker 1: to maybe a cow, a spike, or an archery season.
Speaker 1: Idaho has some great over the counter tags for both
Speaker 1: rifle and archery. They're split up in rifle or archery.
Speaker 1: Now you have to buy those by a certain date,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately this year is the first year that has happened.
Speaker 1: They changed a lot of things and those tags are
Speaker 1: no longer available over the counter right now because they
Speaker 1: need to be purchased by December one. And then you've
Speaker 1: got Colorado, which has um an archery season. Generally it
Speaker 1: has two rifle seasons. Like a they break most of
Speaker 1: their elk seasons into four seasons, and so normally the
Speaker 1: second and third are available as a general area in
Speaker 1: some in some places, so there are options there. And
Speaker 1: then Montana has a feed cow tags and Utah has
Speaker 1: a few archery tags as well as some units that
Speaker 1: are over the counter bull elk tags for deers, some
Speaker 1: of your over the counter options are gonna include Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Washington,
Speaker 1: California UM and then for meal there also there's tags
Speaker 1: available in Nebraska and South Dakota. Each one of those states.
Speaker 1: That varies depending on whether it's archery over the counter,
Speaker 1: whether there's some rifle over the counter Arizona and Oregan
Speaker 1: or mostly archery over the counter. Idaho has some rifle
Speaker 1: over the counter. California has rifle and archery over the counter,
Speaker 1: as well as some seasons that allow you to hunt
Speaker 1: archery and rifle UM So if you don't harvest in
Speaker 1: the archery season, you can hunt during the rifle season.
Speaker 1: And then for antelope, as far as I know, I
Speaker 1: think the only over the counter options for antelope are
Speaker 1: archery tags in Nebraska in a few areas in Colorado.
Speaker 1: And then one of the probably one of the most
Speaker 1: available over the counter hunts would be a bear tag.
Speaker 1: Almost every Western state offers some bear tag, whether it
Speaker 1: be spring or fall season, over the counter, So that's
Speaker 1: always a great option to say, like, Hey, I want
Speaker 1: to get out West, I want to do a hunt,
Speaker 1: I didn't draw a tag. What can I hunt? Bear
Speaker 1: tags are really good tag to look at and think
Speaker 1: about because you can pick those tags up for the
Speaker 1: most part, even right before you hunt, so it's not
Speaker 1: something that you have to necessarily plan ahead of time.
Speaker 1: Most those tags are available and kind of unlimited quantity,
Speaker 1: so that's always a great option. Now, outside of over
Speaker 1: the counter tags or OTC tags, you know, some states
Speaker 1: will actually offer a draw tag that turns into an
Speaker 1: O t C tag when those are under served hunts.
Speaker 1: So almost every state that as a draw system offers
Speaker 1: everything in the draw and then the tags that aren't
Speaker 1: taken to the main draw will then be offered or
Speaker 1: main first or second draw will be offered first come,
Speaker 1: first serve basis, So these are often just dough tags,
Speaker 1: cow elk tags. But many years you might find some
Speaker 1: underserved tags that can really be some great hunts, especially
Speaker 1: when you're comparing it to other maybe preference point hunts
Speaker 1: or an other regular over the counter hunts that have
Speaker 1: higher numbers of hunters. Maybe these have a limited number
Speaker 1: of hunters, so you know, it's also another good option,
Speaker 1: and I think really gets overlooked by a lot of people.
Speaker 1: I think that you find more of these happening in
Speaker 1: preference point states, but I've seen leftover tags sold over
Speaker 1: the counter in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona very frequently.
Speaker 1: Most of these are just great options, and they're going
Speaker 1: to be in units that might have who knows, like
Speaker 1: a a high number of animals. They offer a high
Speaker 1: number of tags, but a lot of people don't want
Speaker 1: to use their preference points to obtain those tags or
Speaker 1: um draw those tags. There's also um some of those
Speaker 1: seasons where it's it's a season where you're in a
Speaker 1: good unit, but it's just a season that it's very
Speaker 1: difficult to find animals. So it might be a mule
Speaker 1: deer tag that's in the middle of October, which is
Speaker 1: often the hardest time to find mule deer. So those
Speaker 1: kind of tags do exist, and that's definitely something that
Speaker 1: you want to look out for. UM when these underserved
Speaker 1: hunt's become over the counter tags and you can kind
Speaker 1: of get on a mailing list for each state you're
Speaker 1: interested in or when you've applied, and pay attention to
Speaker 1: those tags when they come available, and you just got
Speaker 1: to be ready to buy them first come, first serve
Speaker 1: when they are when they do come available. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of different things. If if I'm sitting down, I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I've got my hunt plan, I've got a few applications
Speaker 1: out right. I I personally apply everywhere, but I've been
Speaker 1: doing it for years. I think there's some states that
Speaker 1: might not necessarily be great to jump into now. But
Speaker 1: when I'm looking at what I'm planning for the fall,
Speaker 1: I'm always right now before I even apply, assuming or
Speaker 1: planning on some form of over the counter tag because
Speaker 1: of my hunts that I do out of state are
Speaker 1: on these over the counter type tags, because I just
Speaker 1: can't guarantee that I'm going to get a tag somewhere
Speaker 1: through the draw. And I think that that UM is
Speaker 1: the way that most people probably find hunting out of state,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to meal Doar Elk out West.
Speaker 1: So what I look for when I'm deciding units, I
Speaker 1: first look for areas and I look at the public
Speaker 1: land and the access in that unit. I look at
Speaker 1: season dates, the type of hunts available, then the type
Speaker 1: of other tags and seasons in there, and then I
Speaker 1: kind of asked myself, are there draw tags in the unit?
Speaker 1: And then I look at a little bit of the
Speaker 1: statistics for each area, including success, hunter congestion, and then
Speaker 1: the land type uses. So I'm gonna break all those
Speaker 1: down and kind of run through those. And these are
Speaker 1: things that just go through my mind when I'm looking
Speaker 1: in over the counter tag. So let's say I pick
Speaker 1: a state I use I mean there's a lot of
Speaker 1: different companies out there, or you could just pick up
Speaker 1: applications and regulations for each state and just understand, okay,
Speaker 1: where are these over the counter tags? Um, I use
Speaker 1: go hunt a lot. I also like to look in
Speaker 1: the regulations of myself and just flip through and say, okay,
Speaker 1: I outline some over the counter tags. Then I'll pull
Speaker 1: out like my ONYX maps and I'll do a little
Speaker 1: bit of research on that. Tag. So I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: how am I of this area? So I'll go through
Speaker 1: all the areas. I'll write them down and say how
Speaker 1: much of this is public land? Or is there access
Speaker 1: going to be difficult? And now, because you've got to think, Okay,
Speaker 1: they're offering these tags in a large quantity or kind
Speaker 1: of in a without a draw system. Why is that?
Speaker 1: Is it because there's a lot of land they want
Speaker 1: to provide opportunity, or is it because a lot of
Speaker 1: it's private and nobody has access to it? So they
Speaker 1: want to incentivize those people with private land to be
Speaker 1: able to harvest the animals. So you gotta look at
Speaker 1: that and you go, Okay, just because it's a lot
Speaker 1: of private land not is not necessarily a deal breaker
Speaker 1: for me. As long as there is some kind of
Speaker 1: fringe hunting, it might still be a good tag. If
Speaker 1: I look at it and go, this is all private land.
Speaker 1: It doesn't look like there's any good areas in here
Speaker 1: mixed in, there's no checkerboarding. Move on to the next
Speaker 1: one and find an area where there's something that I
Speaker 1: can hunt. Then I'm going to also look at, Okay,
Speaker 1: what kind of hunts are there? Or is it an
Speaker 1: archery hunt? Why why are these tags available over the counter?
Speaker 1: Is it an archery hunt? Is is there some offseason
Speaker 1: dates available? Is it a unit that for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: they just have a lot of tags available? So it's
Speaker 1: probably got maybe a high population, but maybe it's got
Speaker 1: some rugged country, some really remote areas. What's that land
Speaker 1: look like and what kind of hunts are there? And
Speaker 1: then I'll also dive into looking at an area and
Speaker 1: say what other seasons are in this unit. One thing
Speaker 1: that I like to look for is an over the
Speaker 1: counter tag where all the other tags there might be
Speaker 1: a draw hunt. And that does happen in a lot
Speaker 1: of places. Arizona, there's a lot of draw units that
Speaker 1: you can go hunt deer on and over the counter
Speaker 1: archery tag. There's places in Oregon, Um, Washington where you
Speaker 1: might be able to pick up an archery tag that
Speaker 1: all the other seasons are limited draw limited entry units.
Speaker 1: Idaho does that, a lot of units in a lot
Speaker 1: of states having over the counter tag. Any unit that's
Speaker 1: a draw for something else, So that always appeals to me. Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe I can get in and if I choose a
Speaker 1: different weapon, if I decided to go with a bow,
Speaker 1: that might limit my success a little bit, but it
Speaker 1: also allows me to maybe find, hey, this is a
Speaker 1: quality area that other people are waiting a long time
Speaker 1: to draw, and I might be able to get in
Speaker 1: and hunt. Another thing is just those changes in season
Speaker 1: dates where you might be able to pick up a
Speaker 1: leftover tag or a tag that somebody didn't want because
Speaker 1: it's harder hunting, but it's that offseason date, so I
Speaker 1: know that, hey, it's more of an opportunity. If I
Speaker 1: have that tag, I can get out and I might
Speaker 1: be able to find what I'm looking for. So these
Speaker 1: are all things that I consider when building out which
Speaker 1: area to pick and which hunt to go on. Then
Speaker 1: the last thing that I look for is I kind
Speaker 1: of look at um any published success rates, and I
Speaker 1: would say, when you're looking at success rates for unit,
Speaker 1: you know you you can flip through regulations, you can
Speaker 1: go to state websites, look online, and you might see, okay,
Speaker 1: what's the success rate. And if you just compare success
Speaker 1: rate to success rate of different over the counter units
Speaker 1: and choose it that way, I think that that's not
Speaker 1: a very way to choose the unit because there's a
Speaker 1: lot of different factors in those success rates that are
Speaker 1: not reported in that number, And this is the way
Speaker 1: that I look at it, and I think it's a
Speaker 1: fair assumption that's going to help you build out like
Speaker 1: a better idea of this is a good unit for me.
Speaker 1: So the first thing I ask is what kind of
Speaker 1: reporting is there? Because I've seen units that I've researched
Speaker 1: and I look and I go, a hundred percent success here,
Speaker 1: And then you look and say, well, reporting isn't mandatory.
Speaker 1: They survey a certain random sample and in this particular area,
Speaker 1: they called one person out of who knows how many
Speaker 1: that had tags, and that person killed the elk, and
Speaker 1: they report success. Yet there's other areas where reporting is mandatory.
Speaker 1: Everybody has to report. You see that the report success
Speaker 1: was and you see a success rate, and that shows
Speaker 1: you how many people actually hunted and actually we're successful.
Speaker 1: So you first have to just take those success rates
Speaker 1: with a grain of salt. And the second thing I
Speaker 1: kind of ask is I like to figure out whether
Speaker 1: it's a bull hunt, a cow hunt or both. You know,
Speaker 1: you might have a one unit that reports a success
Speaker 1: rate but you have to shoot a brow time bull
Speaker 1: and another unit that shows a success rate. But you
Speaker 1: can shoot a cow or a ble or a spike,
Speaker 1: you know, so you have to really compare those based
Speaker 1: on not just those numbers, but what's available and say
Speaker 1: what's better for me? If I go into an area,
Speaker 1: do I want to be able to harvest anything, whether
Speaker 1: it's a bowl or a cow. I just want a
Speaker 1: good opportunity at success. Then you might be kind of
Speaker 1: gravitating towards that unit where you could shoot a bowl
Speaker 1: or a spike or a cow, as opposed to that
Speaker 1: other area where you can only shoot a brow time bull.
Speaker 1: But that brow time bowl area, if you're like, hey,
Speaker 1: I want to get a nice mature bull, you go.
Speaker 1: It's a pretty high success rate for the type of
Speaker 1: outcome looking for. You know, it's not just the numbers
Speaker 1: not higher than this other area, but what I'm looking
Speaker 1: for makes it a better unit for me. Now, the
Speaker 1: other factor that I like to look at in order
Speaker 1: to own areas is a congestion and just the number
Speaker 1: of hunters that might be in that area. But I
Speaker 1: also like to compare that to the type of land.
Speaker 1: So I look at and say, okay, how many hunters
Speaker 1: are are hunting this area, and then how big is
Speaker 1: the unit? What is the hunter congestion per public mile,
Speaker 1: like the ability of me being able to go out
Speaker 1: and hunt. How many hunters might be just as like
Speaker 1: a metric to compare to places, how many hunters might
Speaker 1: be using that area. And then what kind of area
Speaker 1: is Is it a heavily wilderness area or is it
Speaker 1: a very timbered area. Is it heavily roaded, is it logged?
Speaker 1: Is it burned? What does it look like? And how
Speaker 1: big is that unit? If I look at the unit,
Speaker 1: I say, wow, there's roads everywhere in here, and there's
Speaker 1: no wilderness area and it's a very small unit and
Speaker 1: it's got high numbers. Well, that might for my personal
Speaker 1: hunting style might not be as good as an area
Speaker 1: that now I look at and say, okay, this area
Speaker 1: is four times the size, but it has three times
Speaker 1: the hunters. The hunter congestion per public mile is lower,
Speaker 1: and there's some really big wilderness areas that I could
Speaker 1: probably get away from a lot of those people. So
Speaker 1: for me personally, that's good, but for someone else it
Speaker 1: might not be. So this is how I kind of
Speaker 1: research these these over the counter areas and decide what
Speaker 1: what's right for me. Now, you might look at that
Speaker 1: heavily roaded area you might say has a lot of tags,
Speaker 1: and then you go back and look look at the
Speaker 1: success and it might have a higher success rate. You say, hey,
Speaker 1: this is the kind of hunt that I want. I
Speaker 1: want to be able to go out. It's obviously got
Speaker 1: a lot of animals, there's a lot of hunters, a
Speaker 1: lot of them are successful. I'll probably find something I
Speaker 1: won't have to get too far away or or pack
Speaker 1: in somewhere, and I'll have a good reasonable chance of success.
Speaker 1: That might be the kind of hunt you're looking for.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of how you can decipher those hunts
Speaker 1: when you're looking at all these over the counter tags
Speaker 1: and just pulling up these different statistics that might be reported.
Speaker 1: I think, with a little bit of leg work, over
Speaker 1: the counter options are are a must and a reality
Speaker 1: for most people. It's a must to research and then
Speaker 1: add into the plan, and it's an honest reality for
Speaker 1: most hunters. I think that a lot of people always
Speaker 1: want to go for the biggest and the best, But
Speaker 1: the bulk of um hunts taken, the bulk of elk
Speaker 1: and deer taken, are probably or hunts that people go
Speaker 1: on are in these o t C type areas. And
Speaker 1: that is especially true because most of these states for residents,
Speaker 1: A lot of these areas that might even be draw
Speaker 1: for non residents or over the counter for residents. So
Speaker 1: when you're looking at hunters overall and the hunting experience,
Speaker 1: over the counter tags play a huge portion of that
Speaker 1: game of getting people in the field and giving people
Speaker 1: an opportunity. And I think it's really good when you're
Speaker 1: thinking about planning out your hunts and when we talk
Speaker 1: about draws and how do you get a better hunt,
Speaker 1: but how do you also plan on going on a hunt?
Speaker 1: This is the way to do it. So I like
Speaker 1: to originally when I set out my plan, I start
Speaker 1: to think and look at and research over the counter
Speaker 1: options and plan for that hunt like I'm going on it.
Speaker 1: Then I do the draw and if it doesn't happen,
Speaker 1: and then I plan on going on this other hunt
Speaker 1: because it's while I'm playing that waiting game, I need
Speaker 1: to gain that experience out in the field hunting, and
Speaker 1: that is really I think the best way to look
Speaker 1: at these over the counter tags, and I really think
Speaker 1: that these are some of the best hunts out West,
Speaker 1: and the best hunts that you know you can get
Speaker 1: into and gain that experience. Now let's take a little look.
Speaker 1: We're kind of moving back out of the over the
Speaker 1: counter stuff, and I'm gonna be going over the remaining
Speaker 1: state breakdown that I didn't cover last time, So that
Speaker 1: would be Idaho, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Colorado, and California.
Speaker 1: And I'm just gonna give you my take on each
Speaker 1: state and the opportunities and tag systems available, because what
Speaker 1: I really wanted this whole thing to be was just
Speaker 1: a look at the tag systems out west, especially for
Speaker 1: those that aren't very familiar with it, or maybe I've
Speaker 1: never thought about going across state lines to hunt somewhere
Speaker 1: where they don't have opportunity where they live. And so
Speaker 1: if you have all the states broken down, I think
Speaker 1: you can kind of pick something that's best for you
Speaker 1: and works best for you. Now, let's just start with
Speaker 1: um Idaho. I think in the past, Idaho's been known
Speaker 1: as probably one of the best over the counter states,
Speaker 1: but recent changes really kind of made that difficult to
Speaker 1: obtain some tags there, so most of them were purchased
Speaker 1: on December first, and I don't necessarily know that um
Speaker 1: there's much left for that but things might pop up
Speaker 1: after the draw. They also have a draw system as
Speaker 1: well for a lot of good areas, and in that state,
Speaker 1: you have to choose either elk, deer and antelope, So
Speaker 1: you can go elk deer antelope and that's do in June,
Speaker 1: or you can choose one of the falling moose, sheep, goat. Now,
Speaker 1: if you apply for moose, you cannot apply for elk
Speaker 1: deer ori antelope, and you cannot apply for sheep or goats.
Speaker 1: So you can pick one of the once in a
Speaker 1: lifetime tags, or you can kind of go and apply
Speaker 1: for each three of the elk, deer and antelope. That
Speaker 1: makes sense, and the reason they do that is because
Speaker 1: they have no points system, but they kind of want
Speaker 1: to shuffle hunter and demand, so that kind of helps
Speaker 1: with the odds, or it really helps with the odds
Speaker 1: because Idaho really does have the best draws for moose, sheep,
Speaker 1: and goat in the West, and then it has pretty
Speaker 1: decent odds for the elk, deer, antelope in some some
Speaker 1: pretty good units and no everybody's kind of on the
Speaker 1: same playing field, so it is a good place to
Speaker 1: apply if you're interested in one of those. Another good thing.
Speaker 1: The kind of way that I incorporate Idaho into my
Speaker 1: plan is the deadline to apply for elk and deer
Speaker 1: and Antelope is a lot later than most states in June,
Speaker 1: so you might even know if you apply in another
Speaker 1: state whether you drew a tag or not. So it's
Speaker 1: a good state to consider. It's kind of a last
Speaker 1: ditch attempt at drawing something before purchasing and over the
Speaker 1: counter tag. Now, Oregan organ is a preference point system.
Speaker 1: They also have they have a random draw for their sheep,
Speaker 1: so that one is random that's not on points, which
Speaker 1: I think is actually pretty good because for sheep tags
Speaker 1: because they're so limited. You know, if you have a
Speaker 1: preference point system in your state, sheep people just getting
Speaker 1: into it or people one point behind max are never
Speaker 1: going to get to tag in most in most cases,
Speaker 1: so having a random draw of that kind is nice.
Speaker 1: But then the preference points for everything else allow you
Speaker 1: to kind of maybe plan or build up to a
Speaker 1: certain amount of points. And then they also have over
Speaker 1: the counter tags for elk and deer um. The point
Speaker 1: creew is pretty bad in Oregon and you probably won't
Speaker 1: draw like a limited entry high end tag there unless
Speaker 1: you've been already started for a while. I hate to
Speaker 1: have to say that, but it's probably true. There are
Speaker 1: some decent over the counter hunts though. They include Roosevelt elk,
Speaker 1: Rocky Mountain elk for archery, blacktails, and meal deer, So
Speaker 1: there is a lot of option there, especially if you're like, hey,
Speaker 1: what over the counter tags do I get or have
Speaker 1: an option at? There's some really good hunts in there
Speaker 1: for that. Washington is a bonus point draw, but it
Speaker 1: actually for non residents it can be quite expensive. There's
Speaker 1: quite a few general units that aren't necessarily over the counter,
Speaker 1: but you can draw, and those are a good option
Speaker 1: if you're applying for something else, then you kind of
Speaker 1: have that over the counter je general tag type mentality
Speaker 1: you're okay, I'm gonna go elk hunting there. It's a
Speaker 1: good state to apply for. And then there are some
Speaker 1: other over the counter options for Roosevelt elk and blacktail deer,
Speaker 1: so there's a lot of options there. Um. I think
Speaker 1: it actually is often an overlooked state. There is quite
Speaker 1: a bit of public land, and then there's a lot
Speaker 1: of private land that you can get on timber company
Speaker 1: land where you kind of have to go to the
Speaker 1: Timber Company and then get permission, or you can get
Speaker 1: into a lottery for some private lands, and or you
Speaker 1: can have to purchase it at a certain time. But
Speaker 1: it is it's not a bad option because it gives
Speaker 1: you a place to hunt and some over the counter
Speaker 1: tags as well. New Mexico I think as a state
Speaker 1: that gets talked about a lot, and for good reason.
Speaker 1: It's got no points. It has some of the best
Speaker 1: elk hunting, has some great deer hunting, some phenomenal antelope hunting,
Speaker 1: and everybody's on a even playing field. Uh, there's lots
Speaker 1: of options to draw as well as there's places with
Speaker 1: better odds. So in a state without points, you know
Speaker 1: you're really looking at playing the and my suggestion is
Speaker 1: always trying to find areas with lower draw odds. Now,
Speaker 1: the unfortunate part about New Mexico is some of those
Speaker 1: tags you look at it and a lot very few
Speaker 1: are given to non residents, and there's most of them
Speaker 1: are given in the guide draws. So I've applied. I
Speaker 1: started guiding down in New Mexico I think when I
Speaker 1: was like nineteen, and I've applied in that state ever
Speaker 1: since then. I've drawn one tag, and then I know
Speaker 1: people that have applied their first year and drawn premier
Speaker 1: best delk hunt in the country type tags. So I
Speaker 1: think a lot of luck factors in but um, one
Speaker 1: of the options is to go into the guide draw.
Speaker 1: You know, hey, I might want to hire a guide.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have a little bit better odds that way, um.
Speaker 1: And then there's a few deer permits that go left over.
Speaker 1: Also if you elk permits, mostly cow permits, and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of youth tags there, so if you've got
Speaker 1: kids that you want to apply, that's a really great
Speaker 1: state for youth tags. They offer a lot of good
Speaker 1: opportunity for youth hunters. And then you can also sometimes
Speaker 1: find those dear permits as left over as well as
Speaker 1: some elk permits or whatever left over. And then there's
Speaker 1: a lot of landowner tags in that state that necessarily
Speaker 1: aren't super expensive, so that's also an option. Colorado is
Speaker 1: a pure preference points so the tag goes to the
Speaker 1: one with the most points, but there are areas that
Speaker 1: take fewer points in Colorado, and I think that the
Speaker 1: high point units will really be unreachable for those starting out.
Speaker 1: If you're getting started or whatever, you're gonna want to
Speaker 1: look toward those low point areas. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of them, and you can kind of play and you'll
Speaker 1: see some that take you know, people have drawn with
Speaker 1: zero points. So even just going in without any points,
Speaker 1: you might want to apply for that area, maybe get
Speaker 1: lucky before thinking about and over the counter option, or
Speaker 1: maybe find you know, kind of hone in on a
Speaker 1: few areas, do a little bit of research on two
Speaker 1: or three areas that take a low amount of points,
Speaker 1: and then look at applying for those areas, and then
Speaker 1: that way, when you draw that tag, you might get
Speaker 1: a tag um. Also, there's you know, there is a
Speaker 1: lot of over the counter tags. I'd say Colorado right
Speaker 1: now currently is the king for O T C elk hunting.
Speaker 1: It's got the most elk, it's got the most available
Speaker 1: ability of elk tags, plus the option to plan, and
Speaker 1: it's closer to most people. So I think that's why
Speaker 1: it draws a lot of people. It's got a lot
Speaker 1: of selling points for sure. You can also think about
Speaker 1: pairing a deer tag with an elk tag, so you
Speaker 1: could look for like the elk and deer tag seasons
Speaker 1: run coherent, but most there aren't necessarily over the counter
Speaker 1: deer tags, but you might be able to find a
Speaker 1: deer tag in and over the counter elk area that
Speaker 1: might take a couple of years to draw or whatever. Sequence.
Speaker 1: Kind of try to plan your hunt that way, where
Speaker 1: you get a tag and then you you pick up
Speaker 1: an over the counter ELK tag in an area that
Speaker 1: you draw a deer or you hunt over the counter
Speaker 1: elk areas in an area that you might realistically draw
Speaker 1: deer tag. So you're actually hunting and scouting simultaneously, and
Speaker 1: you're looking around, you're out there, you're in the field,
Speaker 1: and you go, oh, this is a cool ELK area.
Speaker 1: I'm learning the area. So when I cash in my
Speaker 1: points for a deer cha, ching already know the unit.
Speaker 1: And there's a lot to put on knowledge. I believe
Speaker 1: that I've said it a thousand times, but if you
Speaker 1: know that unit, you know where things are at, you
Speaker 1: know where to start looking. When you do secure tag
Speaker 1: or when you do go in there to hunt, every time,
Speaker 1: it's going to be a little bit better each time.
Speaker 1: So really, I think you know the way I see
Speaker 1: Colorado's is probably one of the best backup bets. August
Speaker 1: three is the date that tags go on sale for
Speaker 1: the leftover licenses, and then you know, you look into
Speaker 1: areas that may have drawn or may have been drawn
Speaker 1: in the second draw as well, and you can kind
Speaker 1: of focus in on those. So your points are only
Speaker 1: used if you draw out on your first choice, so
Speaker 1: you can kind of look at, hey, was there any
Speaker 1: tags drawn in that second choice. Also, you know, are
Speaker 1: there any leftover tags? And those leftover tags might be
Speaker 1: able to be picked up over the counter, first come,
Speaker 1: first serve as opposed to some of the other units,
Speaker 1: and might be a good thing to focus on a
Speaker 1: little bit of a tip there. California. Um, it's kind
Speaker 1: of a modified preference system for non residents. Really the
Speaker 1: only thing you can realistically draw would be a deer tag.
Speaker 1: They do have elk and sheep and antelope, but they
Speaker 1: give one non resident tag and it could be a
Speaker 1: like up to one and if one is drawn, like
Speaker 1: if someone drew a I always apply for the Julee
Speaker 1: elk And if someone draws a cow Roosevelt elk tag,
Speaker 1: that and not restand tag has gone. So it's it's
Speaker 1: essentially just a donation for those. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: they do have a modified preference for deer, so a
Speaker 1: small portion or random draw, but most of them are
Speaker 1: on that preference point the top areas or can be
Speaker 1: difficult to draw. You got just like anywhere with preference points,
Speaker 1: you get quite a bit of point creep. But I
Speaker 1: will say there are a lot of good over the
Speaker 1: counter deer options there. UM. They've got a lot of
Speaker 1: different species of meal. Theres. So the giant meals are
Speaker 1: you see in Colorado, You're not going to see in California.
Speaker 1: But if you understand that hay, these are a hybrid
Speaker 1: of a blacktail UM, they're a desert type mule deer.
Speaker 1: If you understand the type of meal there in the
Speaker 1: subspecies that they are, UM, it can be a pretty
Speaker 1: good hunt. And there's a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: tags available, archery tags as well as unit specific tags.
Speaker 1: You can hunt archery and rifle UM. And then there's
Speaker 1: also you know, I think probably some of the best
Speaker 1: over the counterfall bear hunting in the country is in California,
Speaker 1: and I think that that's highly overlooked. I know there's
Speaker 1: gonna be people being like, don't give out our secret,
Speaker 1: but you we don't know how long that bear hunt
Speaker 1: will be around so support it, and then if you're
Speaker 1: one of the people that's gone and done it, you
Speaker 1: know you might be hopefully be able to keep that
Speaker 1: going for the future. Now, as promised in the beginning
Speaker 1: of the podcast, I said, I'm gonna give my super
Speaker 1: secret best place to kill an elk, And honestly, I
Speaker 1: will tell you this secret. It's anywhere that you can
Speaker 1: get a tag. And I know that sounds like a
Speaker 1: cop out, but I mean it to say this that
Speaker 1: it's better to hunt than not. You know, saving points
Speaker 1: is really eight but you can't get a bull without
Speaker 1: a tag in your pocket or a buck or whatever.
Speaker 1: So too many people, I I believe, are just worried
Speaker 1: about whether it's going to be a good hunt or not.
Speaker 1: Is this the best area? Is this what? Oh? But
Speaker 1: I could wait twenty seven years and and get this
Speaker 1: good hunt, which I think is awesome to do. In
Speaker 1: some instances, I I do that as well, but I'm
Speaker 1: also using other hunts to look for or other types
Speaker 1: of tags to make sure that I can get out
Speaker 1: and hunt. Um, you make it a good hunt. So
Speaker 1: if you're like worried about it being a good hunt,
Speaker 1: you're the one that makes it a good hunt, especially
Speaker 1: if you can hunt it for a few years. You know,
Speaker 1: I could really tell you the places where the biggest
Speaker 1: bulls in the country come from. It's not hard to
Speaker 1: figure out. There's units in Utah, Nevada, in Arizona where
Speaker 1: some giants come out of but not being able to
Speaker 1: get at tagged as you know good. So my super
Speaker 1: secret place to kill an elk is anywhere you can
Speaker 1: pick up a tag, just get out and get hunting.
Speaker 1: I and I personally don't like to give out hot
Speaker 1: specific area or picks because excuse the odds, unnecessarily and
Speaker 1: by unnecessarily, I mean it might be a really good
Speaker 1: area with a certain type of elk densities and big bulls, this,
Speaker 1: that and the other thing. But you know, if you
Speaker 1: skew those odds, there might be another place that is
Speaker 1: just as good that you can actually get into and hunt.
Speaker 1: And so I know, I don't like to use my
Speaker 1: platform to kind of skew the odds in certain areas.
Speaker 1: So pick a place that you can have access to
Speaker 1: hunting um, where you can easily get too if possible,
Speaker 1: and where you can actually get out, and that's the
Speaker 1: secret sauce. So where I like to hunt is never
Speaker 1: really better than another. Spot is just where I find
Speaker 1: myself with a tag and I make good on it.
Speaker 1: And sometimes I try to find those places where I
Speaker 1: can do that year after year, and over the years
Speaker 1: I find a lot of success that way. I hope
Speaker 1: this helps you guys, get a grasp on some of
Speaker 1: the options that are out there and get you pointed
Speaker 1: in the right direction for getting into a hunt. You know,
Speaker 1: I found a large portion of the listeners are looking
Speaker 1: to go on a Western hunt, and I just keep
Speaker 1: getting like the biggest hurdle is where do I even
Speaker 1: get started. It seems like there's an endless amount of land.
Speaker 1: There's all these options, restricted draws. My head's exploding. I
Speaker 1: don't know what to do, and then they just paralysis
Speaker 1: by analysis and it just ends up being that dream
Speaker 1: that's on the back burner as opposed to something that's
Speaker 1: in the planning portion. So I know some of the
Speaker 1: kind of the tag stuff can get a little dry,
Speaker 1: but I also kind of geek out on it because
Speaker 1: it's something that I've done for so long, and I
Speaker 1: really enjoy this time of year. It's fun to jump in,
Speaker 1: it's fun to do this kind of research is fun
Speaker 1: to look for options and dream of the hunts that
Speaker 1: you can go on and plan something for the future
Speaker 1: and maybe look for something to do right now. And
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff pumps me up. And I know
Speaker 1: that it's a lot of things that people that listen
Speaker 1: are are asking, because I know there's a lot of
Speaker 1: you out there that you're like, I'm listening to this
Speaker 1: guy about all these Western big game hunts, elk hunting, mule,
Speaker 1: you're hunting um, public land hunting. Yet where I live
Speaker 1: isn't like that, and so you know, you're just building
Speaker 1: up this knowledge base until you one day get out
Speaker 1: and get to do it. And I think that this
Speaker 1: is a good learning lesson, especially for people that you
Speaker 1: know where you hunt or where you live. You know,
Speaker 1: maybe look around the map and you're like, hey, it's
Speaker 1: not that far for me to go over here and
Speaker 1: maybe have another opportunity. There's not over the counter tags
Speaker 1: where I live, but I could go drive seven to
Speaker 1: fifteen hours and maybe get on a hunt once every five,
Speaker 1: ten years, whatever. It doesn't really matter. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: hope that that helps. Before we go, I just want
Speaker 1: to remind everyone if you have questions, now is the time,
Speaker 1: because we're coming up on a new Q and A.
Speaker 1: So it can be anything about tag draws, archery, hunting,
Speaker 1: just general life advice. I don't know, throw something out there. UM.
Speaker 1: The best way to do that you can send it
Speaker 1: to me on Instagram at Remy Warren, send me a
Speaker 1: direct message. I try to scroll through those, screenshot the
Speaker 1: ones that I'm like, oh, that's a cool question, and
Speaker 1: then try to read those through our Q and A s.
Speaker 1: So anything you guys got like, try to keep them
Speaker 1: timely and based on some of the recent podcasts. If
Speaker 1: you got those, those are coming up. Also, thank everybody
Speaker 1: for the rating reviews. I really appreciate those. I saw
Speaker 1: a kind of some new ones pop up. So wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to the podcast, if you want to give
Speaker 1: us a rating and a review, I appreciate that. And
Speaker 1: that's really it. This will conclude our application series and
Speaker 1: on that note, goodbye and good luck.