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. Everyone.
Speaker 1: Now is going to be the time of year where
Speaker 1: we're planning for those fall hunts. I like to think
Speaker 1: of it as application season. Applying is as much a
Speaker 1: part of the hunting process, especially out West, as getting
Speaker 1: into the field, because the reality is you can't hunt
Speaker 1: without a tag, so it's really going to be the
Speaker 1: first step in the planning phase before we go out hunting.
Speaker 1: For a lot of people, securing a tag may seem daunting,
Speaker 1: especially those that are new to it, because the draw
Speaker 1: systems can be difficult to wade through an understand, and
Speaker 1: planning for hunts can be confusing with so many deadlines,
Speaker 1: different types of point systems. It's just a real process.
Speaker 1: Lucky for you. I've been playing this game across the
Speaker 1: West for many years, so over the next few weeks,
Speaker 1: I want to bring to light the various processes and
Speaker 1: break down some of the nuances of applying and securing
Speaker 1: a tag. In this week's tag draw breakdown, we're gonna
Speaker 1: be focusing in on the basics the types of tags
Speaker 1: and points that are available, and how point creep will
Speaker 1: affect you, and whether or not it's too late for
Speaker 1: you if you're just getting started. We'll also do a
Speaker 1: dive into some of the upcoming state draws and glaze
Speaker 1: over a couple of states, including Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, Nevada,
Speaker 1: and Montana. But first, let's share a story of a
Speaker 1: hunt when I got past the point creep and cashting
Speaker 1: on some preference points for California mule deer tag. My
Speaker 1: first real experience with what people like to call point
Speaker 1: creep happened on a California deer tag. Growing up in
Speaker 1: the state of Nevada, everything that you would hunt had
Speaker 1: to be on a draw system, so there was no
Speaker 1: over the counter tag, So I kind of started at
Speaker 1: a very young age looking towards other places the hunt
Speaker 1: that were nearby, California being one of them. More places
Speaker 1: that I knew Montana, especially because my grandpa lived up
Speaker 1: there and I spent a lot of time up there
Speaker 1: looking at applying in other places. So maybe if I
Speaker 1: didn't draw a tag around home or in my home
Speaker 1: state that I might have the opportunity to hunt other places.
Speaker 1: I was looking at through the regulations some of the
Speaker 1: California stuff. I know, there was an archery area that
Speaker 1: took two points to draw, So I was like, sweet,
Speaker 1: that's close enough by I can I can hunt that.
Speaker 1: It seems like it could be a cool hunt. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna started applying for that. So I started applying.
Speaker 1: I finally got my two points. I was like, cool,
Speaker 1: I applied and didn't draw the tag. What the heck
Speaker 1: happened here? And so then it was like that year
Speaker 1: For some reason, I think it just became a more
Speaker 1: popular unit and now needed four points a couple more years.
Speaker 1: So I applied the next year with the three points nothing.
Speaker 1: Finally got those four points. You know, everything looked like
Speaker 1: it would draw with four points, didn't draw. I'm like,
Speaker 1: what is going on? I couldn't figure it out. You know.
Speaker 1: The state was on a preference point system, which was
Speaker 1: completely different than the bonus point systems many other places.
Speaker 1: You had to have the most points to get a tag.
Speaker 1: So I applied again five points nothing. Then on my
Speaker 1: sixth year of applying, I finally drew the tag that
Speaker 1: when I started out only needed two points to get.
Speaker 1: I'm like, sweet, Okay, Well, it just so happened that
Speaker 1: I also drew a lot of other tags that year
Speaker 1: as well. I drew a Nevada elk tag, and Nevada
Speaker 1: analope tag, and a Nevada deer tag, all archery tags,
Speaker 1: and then I had a Montana limited entry meal dear permit,
Speaker 1: a general elk license, and then this California tag that
Speaker 1: took me six years to get. But I was only
Speaker 1: thinking it was gonna take me too, so I wanted
Speaker 1: to kind of give it a good go. But I
Speaker 1: also had a lot of other tags and a lot
Speaker 1: of limited amount of time. All these tags were like
Speaker 1: early season archery hunts from the beginning of August through
Speaker 1: pretty much September, so I need to make good on
Speaker 1: this tag with a limited amount of time. I spent
Speaker 1: quite a bit of time during the summer scouting, and
Speaker 1: I really didn't see as many deer as I thought
Speaker 1: I would. For waiting that long for that deer tag.
Speaker 1: I thought, Okay, I've been in a lot of other
Speaker 1: limited entry areas. I should be seeing a lot of deer,
Speaker 1: and it just was not turning up the numbers of
Speaker 1: bucks that I thought I should. I ended up hunting
Speaker 1: my other uh those three Nevada tags antelope, elk, and deer,
Speaker 1: and tagging out on all of them fairly early, and
Speaker 1: I ended up hunting like my antelope for a day
Speaker 1: and my buck might Nevada deer for two days. And
Speaker 1: then ended up having time to before the California season.
Speaker 1: I planned to start Opening Day, but I had a
Speaker 1: few days before the season to start scouting a lot
Speaker 1: closer to the season, so I took that time. I
Speaker 1: packed into some good high alpine areas where I thought
Speaker 1: I might find some summering bucks. It just really didn't
Speaker 1: turn up what I was looking for, so I kind
Speaker 1: of refocused my attention to a burn area. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of little regrowth in there, says an older burn,
Speaker 1: but short little pines, And sure enough I spotted like
Speaker 1: a good bachelor group of buck. Sweet, this is gonna
Speaker 1: be awesome. So Opening Day rolls around, find myself on
Speaker 1: a glassing knob, turning up some younger bucks and some
Speaker 1: other a lot of doughes, but not necessarily the type
Speaker 1: of buck I'm looking for. I didn't really have any
Speaker 1: size expectations. I just wanted to harvest a mature buck
Speaker 1: and that was all that I thought. It would be
Speaker 1: cool to get a mature deer out of there and
Speaker 1: really do that tag justice, especially because I hadn't seen
Speaker 1: a lot of deer. I actually saw probably more bears
Speaker 1: than deer um. So I hunt the tag and I
Speaker 1: wasn't seeing anything kind of glassing and move spots, and
Speaker 1: midday I'm looking up into this place like a betting area,
Speaker 1: and I see a bachelor group of meal dere There's
Speaker 1: a couple of smaller bucks and then one nice mature
Speaker 1: three by four looks pretty heavy, Like, oh sweet, that
Speaker 1: would be an awesome buck to take, So I just
Speaker 1: keep glassing, watching, watching, and all the younger bucks like
Speaker 1: start going down into this creek bottom and the big
Speaker 1: three by four, the buck that I was after, ends
Speaker 1: up just like peeling off and going off on his own,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, yeah, this is perfect. Fewer eyes. Now,
Speaker 1: I just got to make sure that I don't lose him.
Speaker 1: So he ends up going up over a ridge and
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's a lot of cover over here, and
Speaker 1: I could lose him. So I end up running like
Speaker 1: hustling it from my glassing vantage to another glassing point
Speaker 1: where I know I'll be able to see into where
Speaker 1: he went. And sure enough I spot him and he
Speaker 1: starts moving up the mountain. I'm like, okay, well, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna have to follow him. So I kind of
Speaker 1: just follow him at distance where I can keep eyes
Speaker 1: on him, and I just watch him finally get to
Speaker 1: a place where I can get a good view of him.
Speaker 1: But it's really thick, short little conifers, and he ends
Speaker 1: up going behind this like just out in this wide
Speaker 1: open area, but it's just all this regrowth and just
Speaker 1: plops down, beds down. I'm like, oh, perfect, But the
Speaker 1: type of terrain, it's kind of hard to actually pinpoint
Speaker 1: exactly where he's at because as I'm moving in, it's
Speaker 1: all the same. It's like little tiny pine trees and
Speaker 1: like this man's anita brush that's really thick and about
Speaker 1: waist high. So I started glassing in there. As I
Speaker 1: get closer, I planned out my stock and luckily I
Speaker 1: see antler tips just poking up above the man's in need.
Speaker 1: It's like a big fuzzy velvet rack of a nice
Speaker 1: mature and meal deer buck. I'm like sweet, I range
Speaker 1: it and it's like a hundred and something yards and
Speaker 1: I've got good wind. The winds actually blowing down the mountains.
Speaker 1: So I figured generally the bucks that I think the
Speaker 1: reason that buck, the bigger, more mature buck, cruised off
Speaker 1: as the wind wasn't right for all the other bedding locations,
Speaker 1: so he went off where he could lay down kind
Speaker 1: of facing downhill and the wind would be coming down
Speaker 1: at his back. Luckily for me, it was so thick
Speaker 1: where he bed he actually didn't have a very good view.
Speaker 1: So my decision was, instead of going in from above him,
Speaker 1: I was going to sneak up from below. The trouble
Speaker 1: with that approaches he's looking that direction, but I could
Speaker 1: keep tabs on him because I could just see his
Speaker 1: antler tips above the brush. So I creep in a
Speaker 1: little shoes off situation. Pop my boots off, crawl in
Speaker 1: with my socks, leave my pack, and I'm creeping in
Speaker 1: and just like ranging. As I get closer and the
Speaker 1: arranging points where I can get to you, just trying
Speaker 1: to be super quiet through this thick stuff. The wind
Speaker 1: starts to pick up, which gives it a good little rattle,
Speaker 1: so I know that I'm my sound is a little
Speaker 1: bit more dampened, and I keep creeping in and then
Speaker 1: his antlers disappears. He must be asleep, so I move
Speaker 1: a little bit faster, get into position and set up range,
Speaker 1: and then his antlers come back up range thirty yards
Speaker 1: and I just keep this bush where his head is
Speaker 1: so I know that I can't see his eyes, so
Speaker 1: he can't see me, and he's facing me like okay,
Speaker 1: and there's this one little opening and it's just worked
Speaker 1: out perfect where his head was behind some brush and
Speaker 1: his body was over here. So I get set I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: pick my pin that I'm gonna use to think about it. Drawback.
Speaker 1: And now I'm drawing back like below the brush line,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna have to stand to shoot, so I
Speaker 1: slowly stand up. My thought was I could see whereas
Speaker 1: he was bedded, and I knew that I could get
Speaker 1: a shot of him while he was bedded. So I
Speaker 1: draw back and he's just bedded perfect. Gives me that
Speaker 1: open kind of like broadside shot, nothing in the way.
Speaker 1: I'm only thirty yards away. He has no clue I'm there.
Speaker 1: I settle the pin and release the arrow, perfect shot.
Speaker 1: The buck runs maybe ten yards I don't even know
Speaker 1: if you're running that like ten yards up the hill
Speaker 1: and then disappears. Sweet. So I sit down and give
Speaker 1: it a few minutes, go look blood trail. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is perfect, and walk up there's the buck. Awesome
Speaker 1: like heavy three by four, gnarly little bases and just
Speaker 1: a really cool, really cool buck. I was super stoked
Speaker 1: take that buck, especially for the tag that I thought
Speaker 1: was only gonna take me two years but ended up
Speaker 1: taking me six. You really can't talk about elk hunting,
Speaker 1: mule you're hunting, antelope hunting, big horn sheep hunting without
Speaker 1: talking first about tag draws and applications. It's kind of
Speaker 1: unique to Western big game hunting. But the tag system
Speaker 1: is just an attempt to allocate the resource of each
Speaker 1: state in what would seem like a fair way, or
Speaker 1: in a way that makes sense because there's a limited
Speaker 1: number of resources and and now a growing number of
Speaker 1: people that want access to those resources. Western big game
Speaker 1: hunting is often different than a lot of other maybe
Speaker 1: like further East hunting or white tail hunting, in the
Speaker 1: way that we have these large tracts of public land
Speaker 1: and then we have species that maybe have lower densities
Speaker 1: than you might see in white tail areas or or whatever.
Speaker 1: So we need to figure out a way that people
Speaker 1: can kind of get those tags and have a hunt.
Speaker 1: But also those tags are used to manage wildlife populations
Speaker 1: in different ways. Some are used to manage them with
Speaker 1: um more mature animals, Some are used to manage wildlife
Speaker 1: populations like reduce the numbers. There's there's a lot of
Speaker 1: different ways that tags are allocated to manage the resource.
Speaker 1: But for all intents and purposes, every state is a
Speaker 1: little bit different. But I would say that most states
Speaker 1: have some form of lottery that tries to allocate those tags.
Speaker 1: And understanding those different points systems, those different systems for
Speaker 1: every state really is the first step in obtaining a
Speaker 1: tag and understanding and kind of creating your own plan
Speaker 1: on how you're going to get a tag so you
Speaker 1: can go out hunting this fall, next fall, maybe a
Speaker 1: few years down the road. So to start out, I
Speaker 1: think we really need to just break down the different
Speaker 1: types of categories of points and the different types of
Speaker 1: tags available. So we first off have different systems of
Speaker 1: applying and I would say they're kind of all fall
Speaker 1: under one of these categories, which would be bonus points,
Speaker 1: preference points than a modified preference point, a random draw tag,
Speaker 1: and then over the counter tags. Some states have multiple
Speaker 1: of these systems, so we're gonna break those down right now.
Speaker 1: Let's start with a bonus point. The bonus point his
Speaker 1: a system where the longer you apply for tags, the
Speaker 1: more favor you have in the draw. So let's say,
Speaker 1: just in a basic form, you've been applying for five years,
Speaker 1: so you get five names in the hat, and the
Speaker 1: person that's been applying for one year gets one name
Speaker 1: in the hat. Everybody's names in the hat. This is
Speaker 1: obviously computerized, but I'm just giving you an example. Some
Speaker 1: six the hand in the hat pulls out a name. Now,
Speaker 1: the person that applied the first time could get drawn,
Speaker 1: but the person that's been applying longer has more uh
Speaker 1: probability of their name being pulled. Now, most states that
Speaker 1: do the bonus point, actually, like states like Nevada and Montana,
Speaker 1: square your number of points, so as time goes on,
Speaker 1: your your chance exponentially increases above the person that was
Speaker 1: before you. So if you have one name, if it's
Speaker 1: your first year applying, you get that year's name that one.
Speaker 1: But if you've been applying for ten years, you have
Speaker 1: ten times ten should be a hundred plus that year's
Speaker 1: once you have a hundred and one. So your odds
Speaker 1: for applying ten years is exp initially greater than that
Speaker 1: person applying for one year. However, this point system is
Speaker 1: good because anybody can draw at any time, just with
Speaker 1: a little luck. The next point system would be a
Speaker 1: preference point system. There's a lot of states that use
Speaker 1: this in some form or another, and a preference point
Speaker 1: what it does is it gives tags to the people
Speaker 1: with the most points. And you say that that makes
Speaker 1: a lot of sense. Um, if I've been applying for
Speaker 1: twenty years, I should get a tag before the guy
Speaker 1: that's been applying for one year. So a preference point
Speaker 1: system only looks at the people with the most points
Speaker 1: and then allocates the tags to those people first. Over
Speaker 1: the years, that system has kind of created some problems
Speaker 1: where new people getting into it are completely unable to
Speaker 1: draw tags because of what is known as point creep.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of modified preference systems where a
Speaker 1: portion of the tags go to those with the most
Speaker 1: and then the rest might be allocated in a random
Speaker 1: draw that either favors no one or acts as a
Speaker 1: sort of bonus point system where somebody that applies for
Speaker 1: the first year could get lucky and draw, but a
Speaker 1: portion of the tags are given away purely on preference points.
Speaker 1: The next kind of draw would be a random draw,
Speaker 1: and this is just where everybody's names in the hat.
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter if you've been applying for twenty years or
Speaker 1: this is your first time, you're all in. It's pure draws.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody gets one name, one chance, and then
Speaker 1: the draw is done. And that's just the random draw.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of states, Alaska, um Idaho, and New
Speaker 1: Mexico are the primary states that offer random draw hunts.
Speaker 1: And then there's another type of tag which really doesn't
Speaker 1: involve a draw, is what we call O t C tags.
Speaker 1: A lot of people refer to him as O t C.
Speaker 1: Over the counter um doesn't necessarily mean that they're actually
Speaker 1: sold over the counter, and it also doesn't necessarily mean
Speaker 1: that they're in unlimited quality. But these are ones that
Speaker 1: can be purchased often first come, first serve. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: have to log in and buy it before the next guy,
Speaker 1: or purchase it before a certain date or even apply
Speaker 1: before a certain date, but if you apply, you get it.
Speaker 1: Those tags are the ones that are a little bit
Speaker 1: more guaranteed obviously and um a little bit more dependable.
Speaker 1: But then those hunts also have more hunters and can
Speaker 1: be sometimes a more difficult hunt than other tags. So
Speaker 1: we've got all those different types of points and applications
Speaker 1: for every different state. And what I'm gonna do a
Speaker 1: little bit later on is kind of go through some
Speaker 1: of the main Western states that people apply for, kind
Speaker 1: of give you the pros and cons the type of
Speaker 1: points that they use, in a few little tricks on
Speaker 1: maybe ways to get a tag sooner. One question I
Speaker 1: get asked a lot when it comes to applying for
Speaker 1: tags is well, if I apply as a party, I'll
Speaker 1: have a better chance at drawing a tag. And I
Speaker 1: think almost every state that you look at, party applications
Speaker 1: are primarily done in the same way. How they work
Speaker 1: as everybody in that group goes in as one application,
Speaker 1: so it's not like there's five people altogether and if
Speaker 1: one of those persons get drawn, then everybody gets a tag.
Speaker 1: It's actually everybody goes in is one application, and then
Speaker 1: if that application is drawn they're all allocated tags so
Speaker 1: long as there's enough tags remaining, so it's an all
Speaker 1: or nothing thing. If people have multiple points, like different
Speaker 1: levels of points, often those points are averaged. However, every
Speaker 1: state is different. So Colorado, if you apply as a
Speaker 1: party and you've got twenty points and your friend has
Speaker 1: two points, you go in with the person with the
Speaker 1: lowest points. So too, whereas Wyoming just averages um exactly,
Speaker 1: so you can have fractions of points um, but in
Speaker 1: a preference system even just a fraction of a point
Speaker 1: puts you higher than the person with less than a
Speaker 1: fraction of a point. And then there's other states that
Speaker 1: just average them and round up or round down. So
Speaker 1: that's how party applications work. When you're looking at states
Speaker 1: to apply for. In units, I would say that there's
Speaker 1: two different kinds of units. There are general units and
Speaker 1: then there are limited entry units. So general seasons are
Speaker 1: going to be ones that are often less can troll
Speaker 1: over the number of hunters. Many of those involved some
Speaker 1: form of over the counter hunt, especially for residents, where
Speaker 1: maybe nonresidents have to draw that tag or apply for
Speaker 1: a limited number, but you can often hunt a wider
Speaker 1: range of units. Uh, maybe multiple different seasons. It's more
Speaker 1: spread out, less controlled on the number of hunters. Now,
Speaker 1: limited tag draws or limited entry draws are ones that
Speaker 1: you have to draw in some way or severely limits
Speaker 1: the number of hunters in there. These are often gonna be,
Speaker 1: you know, hunts where you see probably higher demand for
Speaker 1: those tags that they are a lot harder to draw.
Speaker 1: The game maybe more plentiful in those areas or less pressured,
Speaker 1: and you'll probably see fewer hunters in the field. Now,
Speaker 1: not all limited entry units are great, amazing hunts where
Speaker 1: you're gonna shoot the biggest belolk or the biggest meal there.
Speaker 1: Some of them just restrict to the amount of people
Speaker 1: in there over general areas or restricted enough where there's
Speaker 1: a lot of tags, but it's just you have to
Speaker 1: get it through a draw system or some other thing. So,
Speaker 1: now let's talk a little bit about this idea of
Speaker 1: point creep and what that is is if you're looking
Speaker 1: at a different state that has preference points, you might
Speaker 1: see that it will show you how many years of
Speaker 1: or like what level people were drawing tags this. So
Speaker 1: might say for two points to like sweet, in two years,
Speaker 1: I can get this tag. But then what happens is
Speaker 1: the next year, there's a bunch of people with one
Speaker 1: point that put in more than tags available, and so
Speaker 1: they all put in with two points. But then there's
Speaker 1: some people that maybe have been waiting with preference points
Speaker 1: that didn't just got points only, or who knows what.
Speaker 1: Maybe we're applying for a different areas. This area becomes
Speaker 1: more popular or another area becomes less popular, and people
Speaker 1: shuffle around units, and then all of a sudden, that
Speaker 1: area takes three points to draw, and then the next
Speaker 1: year it takes four points to draw. In the next
Speaker 1: year it takes five points to draw, and mean while
Speaker 1: you're always behind, never getting a tag that you thought
Speaker 1: you should be able to get. This has become a
Speaker 1: huge problem in a lot of these Western draws and
Speaker 1: kind of really goes to prove that the preference points
Speaker 1: system doesn't really work for people just getting into it.
Speaker 1: If you're just to get into Wyoming sheep tag and
Speaker 1: hoping to draw on a preference, it's going to be
Speaker 1: physically impossible for you to ever draw a preference tag.
Speaker 1: You look at it now, you go, oh, well, people
Speaker 1: are drawing with twelve to fifteen points or something like that.
Speaker 1: But there's thousands of people in line, and you'll never
Speaker 1: get through that many people for the limited amount of
Speaker 1: tags available. So a lot of states have had to
Speaker 1: kind of modify their preference system and offer essentially offer
Speaker 1: some kind of random draw in these preference points states.
Speaker 1: Because you know, let's face it, tag draw application is
Speaker 1: a huge fundraiser for most state phishing game agencies, and
Speaker 1: if there's zero chance that somebody can actually ever end
Speaker 1: up getting that tag, people are gonna stop applying. So
Speaker 1: they needed ways to make it where people can actually
Speaker 1: get tags, but also kind of make it fair in
Speaker 1: some way, um that new people getting into it might
Speaker 1: be able to randomly draw a tag and get lucky.
Speaker 1: So when you're looking at a state that might be
Speaker 1: a preference point state, there's going to be probably in
Speaker 1: almost all of them now kind of an option for
Speaker 1: a random draw, and that's probably what most people just
Speaker 1: getting into it are hoping for. When I talk about
Speaker 1: all these things, I like to think of applying for
Speaker 1: a tag in a way of a strategy. So I've
Speaker 1: said this before, but I think that the best way
Speaker 1: to apply is kind of pick different states based on
Speaker 1: the different strategy. So there's preference point states which although
Speaker 1: you might think, oh, there's a lot of point creep
Speaker 1: and I'll never get a tag, there are tags that
Speaker 1: you can get with that and their tags that you
Speaker 1: can kind of count on, and they're a little bit
Speaker 1: better than just over the counter tag or a general
Speaker 1: area tag that might not um you know, might just
Speaker 1: have a little bit better hunt with a fewer hunters,
Speaker 1: but it might take a few years. So something you
Speaker 1: can plan on now. A bonus point state is something
Speaker 1: where you're gonna play the long game. You're hoping to
Speaker 1: get lucky early, but if you keep applying, you know
Speaker 1: you might get lucky over time and draw a really
Speaker 1: good tag and have a really good hunt. And in
Speaker 1: the random draw state is just everybody's on equal footing,
Speaker 1: So hey, I might get lucky just like everybody else.
Speaker 1: The people that have done this a hundred times, and
Speaker 1: then people that's their first year, we're all on the
Speaker 1: same plane. So I'd say, if you have a limited
Speaker 1: budget and you want to start applying for different states,
Speaker 1: I would look at it this way. I look at
Speaker 1: it by trying to think of three states that have
Speaker 1: different systems, one where I might be able to realistically
Speaker 1: draw a preference point tag within two to five years,
Speaker 1: one where I'm on equal footing with everyone, a random
Speaker 1: draw state, and then a bonus point state where I
Speaker 1: can kind of think, I'm gonna pick this state. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna apply over time, and hopefully I'll get lucky before
Speaker 1: I get a lot of points, but you never know,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna keep applying and just keep after it
Speaker 1: with that one. Then on the back burner, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have an over the counter tag or other states that
Speaker 1: are easy to draw, where I can pick up these
Speaker 1: overcounter the tags and plan the hunt that I know
Speaker 1: I'll be able to go on. And I think for
Speaker 1: most people we're really gonna have to focus on those
Speaker 1: over the counter tags. Um, but it's good to have
Speaker 1: the strategy of thinking of hunts that you might want
Speaker 1: to do in the future, especially if you live near
Speaker 1: other states or might be places that you want to
Speaker 1: hunt in the future. You really got to make these
Speaker 1: plans and plan out what you're gonna do. I think
Speaker 1: if you were to look at like the point creep
Speaker 1: in some of these states and you go, Okay, well
Speaker 1: is it too late for me? If you're just getting
Speaker 1: into it, and you say, is it too late? For
Speaker 1: me to even jump in these draws, is it even
Speaker 1: worth me my time, effort, money to apply? And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say the sad reality is yes and no. So
Speaker 1: it is a little bit too late for some things
Speaker 1: but not for others. And what that means is some
Speaker 1: of these top units in places that use preference points
Speaker 1: between the point creep unless you draw randomly. So the
Speaker 1: yes is like, you will not draw it on a
Speaker 1: preference how Ever, you could potentially draw it as a
Speaker 1: random draw for the now the states that are offering
Speaker 1: these a few of those tags as random draws. But
Speaker 1: also there's you have to think of using those preference
Speaker 1: points not for the top units, but units that you
Speaker 1: can realistically get. So that's kind of the way that
Speaker 1: I see combating the creep. So you look for areas
Speaker 1: that had less points than necessary, then you build your
Speaker 1: points up and you go to those areas. You don't
Speaker 1: want to see it as wasting points. I know I've
Speaker 1: done that in the past, where I have four points
Speaker 1: and I see an area that takes two points to draw,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, but I've got two extra years
Speaker 1: invested in this. I don't want to waste them on
Speaker 1: an area that has two points, I'm gonna go for
Speaker 1: this area that has six, and then you just never
Speaker 1: catch up and you never want to go back. My
Speaker 1: philosophy when it comes to points is just turn and
Speaker 1: burn as much as you can. You're a lot better
Speaker 1: to have a tag in your pocket, be out in
Speaker 1: the field. You can actually kill an elk when you
Speaker 1: have an elk tag and you're out hunting, as opposed
Speaker 1: to having a bunch of points sitting in some imaginary
Speaker 1: wallets somewhere not getting used, and always chasing an area
Speaker 1: that you may never uh statistically be able to draw.
Speaker 1: So what I want to do now is what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go through a few states and I'm going to
Speaker 1: cover say five of them this week and maybe six
Speaker 1: next week, and just some of the application periods that
Speaker 1: are coming up. Um, So we'll start. I wanna just
Speaker 1: want to cover Wyoming, Utahs, do Montana, Nevada, and Arizona,
Speaker 1: and we can kind of cover those ones, and then um,
Speaker 1: we'll cover some of the other ones next week and
Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about some of the overcounter options.
Speaker 1: But I figured if I go state by state now
Speaker 1: that you kind of have this broad overview of what
Speaker 1: the points are, then you can kind of I think
Speaker 1: if it's just better if I kind of explain each
Speaker 1: state and some of the options there, then you can
Speaker 1: kind of figure out what piques your interest, which one
Speaker 1: of these might be a good place for you to
Speaker 1: jump in, and then kind of build your application strategy
Speaker 1: and start thinking about planning some hunts for yourself. It's
Speaker 1: definitely doable. It's not that difficult. I started figuring a
Speaker 1: lot of this stuff out when I was a teenager
Speaker 1: and there wasn't even resources for this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: So I think that with this resource, with what's available
Speaker 1: now and the ease of being able to apply online
Speaker 1: and so much other stuff, this is something that anybody
Speaker 1: can do, and I highly suggest it if it's something
Speaker 1: that you're considering. I know a lot of people that
Speaker 1: listen to this podcast. Um I always say I want
Speaker 1: to plan my first Western big game hunt when a
Speaker 1: lot of people live out here and just want to
Speaker 1: increase their opportunities, or maybe some guys just you know,
Speaker 1: say hey, I want to find a place where I
Speaker 1: can get a bigger elk than what I normally hunt.
Speaker 1: Were someplaces that I can apply and realistically have that happen.
Speaker 1: This is how you do it through these tag draws,
Speaker 1: through research, and through kind of creating a strategy on
Speaker 1: your applications. So let's start with Wyoming. Unfortunately, if you're
Speaker 1: just getting into this elk, the elk draws already over
Speaker 1: for Wyoming, that happens kind of early in the year. Um,
Speaker 1: but it's not too late to get a point. So
Speaker 1: I would suggest why don't is actually really great state
Speaker 1: to choose for elker deer because it is a preference
Speaker 1: point state. And I might be thinking, well, preference points
Speaker 1: are bad all this point creep stuff, but that's not
Speaker 1: necessarily the case. There's a lot of areas where it
Speaker 1: might take just one point or two points to get
Speaker 1: a tagging kind of realistically plan on those areas. What
Speaker 1: I like to do is look for anything three points
Speaker 1: or less and then plan on just buying points until
Speaker 1: you have enough that you're ready to go and cash
Speaker 1: in and pick an area that the year prior a
Speaker 1: point lower got you a tag, because then you know
Speaker 1: for sure you're going to get the tag, or have
Speaker 1: a realistic expectation unless something crazy happens, like somebody shoots
Speaker 1: a world record elk and then that area blows up,
Speaker 1: but outside of that is a little bit easier to plan.
Speaker 1: So it's too late to apply for elk there, but
Speaker 1: it's not too late to get a bonus point. I
Speaker 1: think the bonus points are available through September so um
Speaker 1: for all species, so you can get those now. And
Speaker 1: actually we only kind of change the way their application
Speaker 1: works where even if you apply, you still have to
Speaker 1: buy the bonus point later. Um. So you can apply,
Speaker 1: but you've got to get the preference point later um
Speaker 1: if you'd like. And then the moose, sheep goat for
Speaker 1: wyomings do March one, and then June one is the
Speaker 1: deadline for deer and antelope, So that's if you're looking, hey,
Speaker 1: I want to go out for deer, I want to
Speaker 1: go out for antelope. That June first deadline is gonna
Speaker 1: be your time now on that it is preference point.
Speaker 1: But there's some areas that if they have enough tags,
Speaker 1: they'll allocate a certain percentage that will go into a
Speaker 1: random draw, So it doesn't hurt to apply for that,
Speaker 1: and then if you don't get it, go on and
Speaker 1: buy your bonus point later. One side note to wyoming,
Speaker 1: you only get one choice, well one choice uses your points,
Speaker 1: so it's really going to be the choice that's looked at.
Speaker 1: There are a few tags in the deer and antelope
Speaker 1: if you start looking that you can actually pick up
Speaker 1: on a second choice. So what that means is those
Speaker 1: areas are not fully filled on that first choice hunt.
Speaker 1: This is a really good way to get out hunting,
Speaker 1: but also start building points. You don't use your points
Speaker 1: if you don't draw your first choice. In Wyoming, UM
Speaker 1: I like to start looking for those units where it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: you can draw a second choice. Many of those, though,
Speaker 1: are available because it's mostly private lands, so you want
Speaker 1: to just definitely research the area. UM I always pull
Speaker 1: out my onyx map or whatever, see how much private
Speaker 1: lands in there, how much public lands in their program
Speaker 1: that I use a lot. Go hunt works really well
Speaker 1: for this too. Just like researching areas, you can pull
Speaker 1: up an area. You can look at how many points
Speaker 1: it took to draw, how many What are the odds
Speaker 1: of drawing a second choice? Is that even possible? But
Speaker 1: that's something to look at, UM and one good thing
Speaker 1: if you're thinking about Wyoming. I definitely like that aspect
Speaker 1: of it where you might be able to find a
Speaker 1: cool hunt that you can do um and still gain
Speaker 1: points for maybe one, one or two years down the
Speaker 1: road all jump over to Utah. So the deadline for
Speaker 1: that it's going to be March fourth. I've been applying
Speaker 1: in Utah for a very long time. I've got nineteen
Speaker 1: ELK points this year, so so that's quite a while. Um,
Speaker 1: you'd be like, why haven't you drawn a tag? Well,
Speaker 1: I was chasing lower point tags and then I got
Speaker 1: into a little bit of point creep, and then I
Speaker 1: just started drawing other tags and kept saving my points
Speaker 1: and applying for an area that did not offer a
Speaker 1: preference point tag. So if it only has one tag,
Speaker 1: then it's all random draw, but it's kind of weighted
Speaker 1: random draw where all your points act as bonus points.
Speaker 1: So for the last quite a few years, maybe ten years,
Speaker 1: I've been applying for an area that doesn't offer a
Speaker 1: tag to the most point applicants. So I could go
Speaker 1: and just choose if I wanted to say, Hey, I'm
Speaker 1: ready to hunt Utah this year, I'm gonna go get
Speaker 1: a tag. And there's a lot of units that I
Speaker 1: could just be guaranteed a tag in that are gonna
Speaker 1: be great hunts, Like for three hundred to three fifty
Speaker 1: type bowls with a bow. That's an awesome hunt and
Speaker 1: something that would be super stoked on. But I've also
Speaker 1: had some really good hunts in my life, so I
Speaker 1: really thought, man, this might be one where I've got
Speaker 1: enough points, I might try to hold out for one
Speaker 1: of those more higher echelon type ELK tags where I
Speaker 1: could get a three fifty type bowl. And for me,
Speaker 1: this is state. If you're just getting started, it's not
Speaker 1: your state for that. Unfortunately, you're gonna have to either
Speaker 1: get lucky and draw off it. I mean, you could
Speaker 1: draw the same tag I apply for. I I've got
Speaker 1: a friend that the tag that I apply for. He's
Speaker 1: applied three years and he drew the tag, and I've
Speaker 1: applied nineteen years and have never drawn it. So in
Speaker 1: that case, it kind of could be anyone's game. For dear,
Speaker 1: there's a general deer season in Utah and that's on
Speaker 1: a true preference point system, so there's it's not weighted.
Speaker 1: It's just the people with the most preference points get
Speaker 1: allocated those tags. There's muzzleloader, archery and rifle general tags
Speaker 1: and some um ways that you can hunt it like
Speaker 1: kind of all three seasons, but those are that's a
Speaker 1: great way to kind of just plan on a hunt.
Speaker 1: So if you're already gonna say, hey, I want to
Speaker 1: hunt mule deer um, Utah sounds like a good one
Speaker 1: general tag. There's a lot more hunters on those general hunts.
Speaker 1: But hey, you've got a tag in your pocket, and
Speaker 1: maybe being finding those areas you could get every other year,
Speaker 1: every year, maybe every third year, you're gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot more successful than waiting twenty years to draw a
Speaker 1: tag that may never come. And while you're doing that,
Speaker 1: if you're already buying the hunting license, you know you
Speaker 1: can get in there and apply for some of these
Speaker 1: limited entry tags that you might get lucky and draw.
Speaker 1: And that's what I would suggest doing a Feutah appeals
Speaker 1: to you a lot of states. You'll notice like you
Speaker 1: have to buy a hunting license in order to apply.
Speaker 1: Utah is a state that you've got a little bit
Speaker 1: of a hack in here. They're they're hunting licenses are
Speaker 1: three sixty five days, so as long as you have
Speaker 1: an eligible hunting license when you apply, it's good for
Speaker 1: that year. So you can essentially buy one hunting license
Speaker 1: every other year as long as you apply before your
Speaker 1: license expires, and that's something that most people do um,
Speaker 1: but there's a lot of people that don't know about it.
Speaker 1: This year, I normally set a Google Calendar update, but
Speaker 1: I missed my deadline for that, so I end up
Speaker 1: having to buy another license this year, two years in
Speaker 1: a row, but I try to get them every other years.
Speaker 1: That's just something to think about when it comes to
Speaker 1: elk um. There's some over the counter elk hunts general
Speaker 1: season tags in Utah summer any bull hunts, and some
Speaker 1: are spike bull hunts in areas that are like more
Speaker 1: trophy based. Those spike hunts can be great hunts if
Speaker 1: you just want a good experience out elk hunting and
Speaker 1: maybe some success. And then the over the counter tags.
Speaker 1: You know, there's other states that have over the counter
Speaker 1: tags that are you know, maybe more popular or whatever,
Speaker 1: but it's an option where if you don't have the
Speaker 1: tag draw you can you can pick up a tag.
Speaker 1: New this year, actually, Utah extended that their Archery Bull
Speaker 1: elk hunt over the counter tags by five days, so
Speaker 1: it now goes to September, which I think is gonna
Speaker 1: be huge for hitting the rust. So now it's August one,
Speaker 1: September twenty two, So I think that's kind of cool. Um,
Speaker 1: that's that's gonna actually make those hunts quite a bit better,
Speaker 1: I think, because you can maybe hit some peak rut.
Speaker 1: I'll zoom down to Arizona. My overview of Arizona is
Speaker 1: it's really a great state for elk and deer, and
Speaker 1: if you think about it, I mean, it's probably one
Speaker 1: of the top states for l one of the top
Speaker 1: states for deer. They've got those high and elk hunts. Now,
Speaker 1: those are really good if you have a lot of points,
Speaker 1: but I think with the point creep and all the
Speaker 1: other stuff, for most intents and purposes, those are gonna
Speaker 1: be out of reach for most hunters. There is the
Speaker 1: opportunity to maybe randomly draw one of those, but there's
Speaker 1: a lot of other hunts, like more opportunity type hunts
Speaker 1: in Arizona that take a lot less time to draw
Speaker 1: and they can be great hunts. Um. There's a few
Speaker 1: L hunts that fall into this, both the antler list
Speaker 1: L hunts as well as some bowl elk hunts. While
Speaker 1: they aren't over the counter, there's some elk hunts that
Speaker 1: in the state of Arizona that are fairly easy to
Speaker 1: draw that may only take a few points, And there's
Speaker 1: also a lot of deer tags that might not take
Speaker 1: any points. Cou'se deer tags, rifle tags in October. UM.
Speaker 1: Some of these off season hunts, like outside of the rut,
Speaker 1: they can be difficult, but that's how they add more tags,
Speaker 1: so there's more opportunity, but they put them in times
Speaker 1: of the year when it's the most difficult to find
Speaker 1: dear so it kind of keeps the numbers in check,
Speaker 1: not too many deer a shot. And then there's over
Speaker 1: the counter archery deer tags later in the season. So
Speaker 1: I would say this is a really good state to
Speaker 1: apply if you're looking for, um a hunt that you
Speaker 1: could actually get into. But at the meantime, maybe try
Speaker 1: your hand at drawing one of these upper end tags.
Speaker 1: Because you get two choices in this draw and they
Speaker 1: consider both, so I like to go for broke on
Speaker 1: that first choice. And then there's like a list of
Speaker 1: you can kind of look up different tags where there's
Speaker 1: a lot of like sometimes tags left over in the
Speaker 1: second or third and fourth choices. Um, there's some of
Speaker 1: those tags you can kind of pick up over the
Speaker 1: counter if they're left over, but last few years they
Speaker 1: haven't really been available. However, you can draw those easier,
Speaker 1: so you can kind of put those in your second
Speaker 1: choice and end up with a tag, but also maybe
Speaker 1: try for a better tag, like a dream tag at
Speaker 1: the same time. And that's kind of cool to be
Speaker 1: able to do that. So I definitely think that's a
Speaker 1: good state to look into as well. Um, there's no
Speaker 1: state that I would mention that's not a good state
Speaker 1: to apply in, but I just want to cover everything
Speaker 1: kind of give you my like, these are just my
Speaker 1: thoughts on all these states when it comes to considering
Speaker 1: where you want to apply. Next one is gonna be
Speaker 1: Montana that opens up March first and then the application
Speaker 1: in April one. Montana is honestly the most confusing draw Um,
Speaker 1: it's one I'm most familiar with, so it's not confusing
Speaker 1: for me, but I think when most people uh look
Speaker 1: at it, they're like, this makes no sense, and it's
Speaker 1: because it's a terrible draw system. Um, I don't know
Speaker 1: it needs to be changed, unfortunately, because what happens is
Speaker 1: so Montana has preference points for the general license and
Speaker 1: then bonus points for limited entry units. However, The way
Speaker 1: that your draw works is you need to draw the
Speaker 1: general license before you are put into the application process
Speaker 1: for the limited entry units. So if you're just like, man,
Speaker 1: I want to apply for those giant ELK units and
Speaker 1: the breaks in Montana, that's cool. But what's gonna happen
Speaker 1: is you have to first draw general tag and then
Speaker 1: you're put in that limited entry chance in the breaks.
Speaker 1: Now maybe you're like, oh, I don't want to hunt
Speaker 1: a general unit in Montana, so you have the option
Speaker 1: to refund your ELK tag. If you don't draw that
Speaker 1: limited entry tag, well, you're only gonna get eight percent
Speaker 1: of that, so it's gonna cost you like three something bucks.
Speaker 1: And um, I think if you do the combat tag,
Speaker 1: that's cost you to something. I can't remember the exact price.
Speaker 1: Probably should have done the math. But see, it didn't
Speaker 1: really matter before, where everybody kind of just drew the
Speaker 1: general tagscent draw and then everyone was put in for
Speaker 1: the other draw and then you got your refund back
Speaker 1: and it wasn't a big deal. Now the general tags
Speaker 1: are becoming more popular, so now there's a lot more
Speaker 1: competition for those tags, and your preference points to draw
Speaker 1: that general tag before you get put into that bonus
Speaker 1: point draw for the limited entry in So, if you know, Monte,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just say it like this, this sounds very confusing,
Speaker 1: and it is. So the best thing for Montana is
Speaker 1: apply for Montana if you just want to hunt the
Speaker 1: general units and then you want to apply for a
Speaker 1: limited entry unit while you're there. That's the best way
Speaker 1: to think of it, because you know, doing it the
Speaker 1: other way around kind of doesn't necessarily make sense that
Speaker 1: it's going to take you a very long time to
Speaker 1: draw one of those limited entry tags because you gotta
Speaker 1: get lucky twice and you're gonna burn your preference point
Speaker 1: for that general tag by attempting to draw a permit tag.
Speaker 1: So I'm hoping that in the next few years Montana
Speaker 1: wise is up and they just change this and make
Speaker 1: it more like every other state where it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: if you're putting in for a limited entry tag and
Speaker 1: you draw it, you get a tag. That's makes sense.
Speaker 1: There's like, you know, I mean, thousands of people putting
Speaker 1: in for some units that have one tag available, and
Speaker 1: then it's just this really complicated system where the refunding
Speaker 1: tags and giving them back to other people and it's
Speaker 1: just it's like a really horrible system um as more
Speaker 1: people apply, so that's how that works. But Montana is
Speaker 1: a great state and has probably one of the better
Speaker 1: general elk hunts. You know, i'd put it up there
Speaker 1: in the top states of general elk hunts or general
Speaker 1: elk units. You know, it's got quite a few units
Speaker 1: under that general elk tag. It's fair popular hunt. I
Speaker 1: would say between Montana, Idaho, Colorado, and Wyoming, those are
Speaker 1: gonna be your top elk states. New Mexico is a
Speaker 1: great state hunt, but most of those tags are on
Speaker 1: to draw. So you know, you look at those other
Speaker 1: four states and there's areas where you can get into
Speaker 1: every other year, every year and have a good hunt.
Speaker 1: And so that's something like a lot of people are
Speaker 1: very interested in, and I think there's something worth noting.
Speaker 1: I mean, Montana's place that I grew up hunting, so
Speaker 1: I like hunting there. But there's also great hunts other
Speaker 1: places as well. The nice thing about you know, Montana,
Speaker 1: if you're doing that in the limited entry units only
Speaker 1: your first choice is counted for your bonus points. So
Speaker 1: you know, if you don't draw your first choice, then
Speaker 1: you don't lose those bonus points, you continue to gain
Speaker 1: those bonus points over the years even if you drew
Speaker 1: that general preference. So there's two point systems in there
Speaker 1: for one tag um, which makes it a little complicated,
Speaker 1: but it is easy enough to manage, and then it's
Speaker 1: just a It's also a really good state if you
Speaker 1: want to try your look for moose, sheep goat because
Speaker 1: the entry fees minimal. You don't have to buy a
Speaker 1: license ahead of time, so it's probably the cheapest state
Speaker 1: to apply for moose, sheep or goat UM. So I
Speaker 1: think it's a pretty good state for that, and that's
Speaker 1: the way I look at Montana. And the last state
Speaker 1: we're gonna cover today would be Nevada. Nevada is a
Speaker 1: bonus point state, so everyone has a chance, but the
Speaker 1: longer you apply here, the better your chances. So everything
Speaker 1: is squared, your point numbers squared, so the longer you apply,
Speaker 1: the better chance is going to be UM. You have
Speaker 1: to buy a hunting license in order to gain a point,
Speaker 1: so you could apply it in Nevada fairly cheap, but
Speaker 1: you won't gain a point. And I wouldn't suggest that
Speaker 1: because the money for the application fees the money that
Speaker 1: you're spending on the license is kind of gonna increase
Speaker 1: your odds down the road of obtaining a tag. You
Speaker 1: could go in every year with just one chance, and
Speaker 1: people do that, and people have drawn it. But I'd
Speaker 1: say your your statistical probability of drawing that is so
Speaker 1: minimal that it just becomes kind of a raffle at
Speaker 1: that point, and you might as well just buy like
Speaker 1: a Um, every state's kind of got like tag raffles
Speaker 1: as well. Um, you're probably better off just putting your
Speaker 1: money in that than opposed to applying every year without
Speaker 1: the bonus points, because over the course of time, you're
Speaker 1: just gonna have a better and better chance of securing
Speaker 1: a tag. The nice thing about Nevada is if you
Speaker 1: do draw a tag, pretty much every tag is top
Speaker 1: end hunting, so you're gonna have a really good honey
Speaker 1: experience because the tags are so limited. I would say
Speaker 1: it's probably one of the only Western states where you
Speaker 1: know you have a chance of drawing it your first year,
Speaker 1: as opposed to the states that have a lot of
Speaker 1: preference points systems in place. This bonus point system, at
Speaker 1: least every time you apply you do have some sort
Speaker 1: of chance or a better chance than places that are preference.
Speaker 1: Even though they do have some random tags, there's more
Speaker 1: tags given out. You have the option of obtaining more
Speaker 1: tags this way, So I think it's a great state
Speaker 1: for people to apply in. One of the kind of
Speaker 1: tricks to this getting a tag in Nevada would be
Speaker 1: use weapon types to have better draws. You know, archery
Speaker 1: seasons seem to have better draws, or maybe some muzzleloader seasons,
Speaker 1: or some offseason rifle hunts, some like October rifles as
Speaker 1: opposed to rent rifles into BATA. You get five choices,
Speaker 1: and all five choices are looked at before the next applicant.
Speaker 1: So what this great thing to do is mix and
Speaker 1: match your choices. Put your first couple of choices is
Speaker 1: just like awesome, incredible, really hard to draw tags, and
Speaker 1: then your last three choices as ones that are maybe
Speaker 1: easier to draw by switching up your weapon choice or something.
Speaker 1: So it's like, hey, you've got a chance of something
Speaker 1: really really good, but also you've got a mixture of
Speaker 1: things that might help you get a tag sooner. And
Speaker 1: I think that that is a really good strategy in
Speaker 1: that state, because every stage draw system is a little different.
Speaker 1: We really just have to talk about every single state
Speaker 1: out west and apply for and just give you an
Speaker 1: idea of how it works, and then kind of look
Speaker 1: into those states and start planning your hunts that way.
Speaker 1: I've said it before a thousand times, but your hunt's
Speaker 1: gonna start now in planning. So what you gotta have
Speaker 1: to do is you're gonna have to find a unit
Speaker 1: to hunt, and that's gonna start by finding a place
Speaker 1: or a state to apply. You can go online, you
Speaker 1: can look up a lot of these different states, their systems,
Speaker 1: and the tags that are available. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: different services out there as well, but I think that
Speaker 1: having some sort of knowledge base on your own of
Speaker 1: how everything works and then choosing for yourself where you
Speaker 1: want to maybe start looking into, that's a great way
Speaker 1: to do it now. Of course, the over the counter
Speaker 1: tags are going to be a really good option for
Speaker 1: most people coming from out of state or just looking
Speaker 1: to get in on a hunt this year with a
Speaker 1: lot less future planning, and we're definitely gonna start covering those.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna do a deeper dive into over the
Speaker 1: counter tag options next week, and then I'm also going
Speaker 1: to cover the draws in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Colorado,
Speaker 1: and California. Before we cast off, I just want to
Speaker 1: thank everybody else. Actually cruising through some of the Apple
Speaker 1: podcasts customer reviews, I guess and uh, it's awesome to
Speaker 1: see so many great comments, uh and so many great ratings.
Speaker 1: Definitely really appreciate that. I'll just actually take a few
Speaker 1: seconds and I haven't done this before, but just read
Speaker 1: a few of these because I just I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: randomly pick a few here. So A X thirty says,
Speaker 1: not just for the experienced hunter, I really appreciate all
Speaker 1: the infra you provide for the emerging hunter. Five stars
Speaker 1: gilb Tom says very informational. One of the best podcasts
Speaker 1: out there regarding hunting, tips, strategies, gears, etcetera, etcetera. I
Speaker 1: listened to every episode. Another five stars, this one's from
Speaker 1: Timmy to fifty three says the Godfather Remy is super
Speaker 1: knowledgeable at hunting. He can be an animal's worst nightmare
Speaker 1: when he's hunting them. I've learned and enjoyed listening a lot.
Speaker 1: My sister in law and I got a double spike
Speaker 1: elk this year. Thanks to some of his tips and tactics.
Speaker 1: Uh plucking them both out of a herd of a
Speaker 1: hundred plus. Remy is like the master godfather hunter for
Speaker 1: my buddy and I want to know how to hunt
Speaker 1: animals successfully, listen, learn practice, and get her done. Remy
Speaker 1: is the man. Hey, I didn't say it, Timmy, did
Speaker 1: I think so? Man? That's I appreciate that comment. Um,
Speaker 1: there's just so many great comments out here. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys listening. Here's another one from Nick Planner.
Speaker 1: One says, awesome, great podcast for any big game Western hunter.
Speaker 1: So much info you got to listen to them multiple
Speaker 1: times to retain all the info. I just thank you
Speaker 1: guys so much. I love cruising through these messages reading them.
Speaker 1: It gives me stoked. It gives me fired up to
Speaker 1: keep the podcasts cruising and trucking and and keep pumping
Speaker 1: out info. So if you guys get a chance, if
Speaker 1: you think about it, if something you want to do.
Speaker 1: I never try to hard sell anyone on anything, but
Speaker 1: go over there, leave a comment, give me some ratings
Speaker 1: five stars if you'd like. I prefer that, But sweet,
Speaker 1: whatever you guys think, and um, yeah, I just thank
Speaker 1: you guys for tuning in and all the support, So
Speaker 1: until next week, don't get creeped out. By the point creep.
Speaker 1: There's still a lot of tags available and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: teach you how to get them and get on more
Speaker 1: hunts this fall. So until next week, have a good one, guys,