Dear Abby,
The last three years have been brutal on drawing tags, which coincides with when I got really serious about planning out and picking hunts. Maybe I have terrible luck or maybe I am doing it wrong. I don’t know. During this drought, I’ve still managed to kill critters on every tag I did get: OTC aoudad and archery coues, helping buddies on elk/oryx hunts, and getting random reservation tags for archery cow elk, but I am getting discouraged at my ability to get a draw tag, despite the effort and money to build points and apply. For reference, I’m an AZ resident.
2016: this year hurt. A lot.
AZ Archery Bull tag: Returned for deployment (thanks a lot Bin Laden)
AZ November Rifle Deer STRIP tag: Returned for deployment (thanks a lot Bin Laden).
2017:
AZ: 0 for 7 on tags, Including elk tag with 60% draw success at my point level
NM: 1/7 on tags (archery elk tag in easier to draw unit)
WY: 0 tags, including 100% draw antelope unit at my points for every previous year in history.
SD: 0/3 tags
2018:
AZ: 0 for 7 on tags, including an elk tag with 87% draw success for my point level
NM: 0/7 on tags
ID, UT, WY: 0 tags on everything, including a
100% antelope draw unit for 4 years running, jumped up 2 points when I applied.
SD: 0/3 tags
2019, so far:
AZ: 0/2 on tags, both elk units had 60% odds last year for my points. (Also 0/4 on tags for my wife and son).
NM: 0/7, including low demand deer hunts with 40/60% odds. 1/4 on tags for my son, he drew a 60% draw youth deer hunt.
MT: 0/1, did not draw general tag
UT: TBD, but who are we kidding?
So now I’m wondering... what am I doing wrong? Sure, a lot of my apps are for hard to draw hunts, but a lot of them should be easy to draw, and a few should be guaranteed tags. Yet here I sit, with another year of planning down the drain and I don’t have a tag.
My options remaining:
ID LE draw, then ID OTC when I fail again
SD: 60% odds for a whitetail hunt, anything else is 10% or so odds.
WY: leftover antelope, LE or General Deer
CO OTC elk
NM OTC Aoudad
AZ LE Deer and OTC archery deer
Try to get Montana returned tag for General elk and/or deer
Maybe a landowner tag somewhere, but I know zero about this option
Any thoughts on the best of the remaining options? Any thoughts on how I could not be so hapless at drawing a tag?
Tagless in Texas
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The last three years have been brutal on drawing tags, which coincides with when I got really serious about planning out and picking hunts. Maybe I have terrible luck or maybe I am doing it wrong. I don’t know. During this drought, I’ve still managed to kill critters on every tag I did get: OTC aoudad and archery coues, helping buddies on elk/oryx hunts, and getting random reservation tags for archery cow elk, but I am getting discouraged at my ability to get a draw tag, despite the effort and money to build points and apply. For reference, I’m an AZ resident.
2016: this year hurt. A lot.
AZ Archery Bull tag: Returned for deployment (thanks a lot Bin Laden)
AZ November Rifle Deer STRIP tag: Returned for deployment (thanks a lot Bin Laden).
2017:
AZ: 0 for 7 on tags, Including elk tag with 60% draw success at my point level
NM: 1/7 on tags (archery elk tag in easier to draw unit)
WY: 0 tags, including 100% draw antelope unit at my points for every previous year in history.
SD: 0/3 tags
2018:
AZ: 0 for 7 on tags, including an elk tag with 87% draw success for my point level
NM: 0/7 on tags
ID, UT, WY: 0 tags on everything, including a
100% antelope draw unit for 4 years running, jumped up 2 points when I applied.
SD: 0/3 tags
2019, so far:
AZ: 0/2 on tags, both elk units had 60% odds last year for my points. (Also 0/4 on tags for my wife and son).
NM: 0/7, including low demand deer hunts with 40/60% odds. 1/4 on tags for my son, he drew a 60% draw youth deer hunt.
MT: 0/1, did not draw general tag
UT: TBD, but who are we kidding?
So now I’m wondering... what am I doing wrong? Sure, a lot of my apps are for hard to draw hunts, but a lot of them should be easy to draw, and a few should be guaranteed tags. Yet here I sit, with another year of planning down the drain and I don’t have a tag.
My options remaining:
ID LE draw, then ID OTC when I fail again
SD: 60% odds for a whitetail hunt, anything else is 10% or so odds.
WY: leftover antelope, LE or General Deer
CO OTC elk
NM OTC Aoudad
AZ LE Deer and OTC archery deer
Try to get Montana returned tag for General elk and/or deer
Maybe a landowner tag somewhere, but I know zero about this option
Any thoughts on the best of the remaining options? Any thoughts on how I could not be so hapless at drawing a tag?
Tagless in Texas
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk