New to the draw game

[Mdfowlman2]

I want to start by saying I’m sure this has been beat to death....So I’m new to the western hunting and more importantly the points/draw game. I was able to buy my Wyoming points for elk/deer/speed goat this past September. I am looking to get out west this upcoming 2021 season for either mule deer(preferred) or elk. I have purchased everything or nearly everything for a backpack trip, I am setting aside enough vacation time (2weeks) to allow for a 7-10day hunt. My initial plan was to put in for quite a few states and units that have that 50-60% draw odds with no points and if I don’t draw i would either go Colorado OTC elk or OTC mule deer in Idaho, Idaho has since changed the way those tags are sold so it throws a wrinkle into the plans. I have been researching units and draw odds and topo maps, I’ve purchased the gohunt system and filtered things until I was blue in the face. My question to you guys is how do you narrow it down to a few units? How do you see a true lay of the land? Even with the gohunt 3D maps it’s hard to tell if I can glass or will be still hunting(not looking to still hunt). I’m hoping to go deep and avoid the large portion of hunters, with only a 7-10 days and a 4K mile round trip I want to make the most of my trip, unfortunately I won’t get these trips very often unless I want to end up divorced

any help is appreciated I have found a few units in CO, also something I left out this would be a rifle hunt

 

[Laramie]

The best information you can get is that information gained by your own research and hard work. Most western hunters who are successful have put a lot of time, money, and thought into their strategies. If they share that information to anyone who asks, the information is no longer worth much. There are a lot more people trying to hunt the west than there are available good hunts - thus the preference point system.

Best advice I can offer is keep building points and keep researching. Nothing can replace boots on the ground and a little sweat equity. Pick a hunt and go. Spend as much time as you can and learn.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Mdfowlman2]

The best information you can get is that information gained by your own research and hard work. Most western hunters who are successful have put a lot of time, money, and thought into their strategies. If they share that information to anyone who asks, the information is no longer worth much. There are a lot more people trying to hunt the west than there are available good hunts - thus the preference point system.

Best advice I can offer is keep building points and keep researching. Nothing can replace boots on the ground and a little sweat equity. Pick a hunt and go. Spend as much time as you can and learn.

Best of luck to you.

That’s the plan this year, get out there and just learn. I didn’t want to let the points issue keep me grounded so I’ll be hunting those easy to draw units until I have some points to play with. Also I hope my post didn’t seem as though I was asking for any unit recommendations, I’m curious how other choose their unit, what things they’re looking for especially when they’re not able to drive over and check it out. I’d like to plan a few day scout trip once I draw but I can swing that until after the draw so it doesn’t help me much right now lol

 

[Bull_n_heat]

Confidence kills the cat. Pick a unit you can draw with some regularity, it home, and go forth confidently. There's critters to be had in most units with some remote country. You'll learn to hunt them by going there frequently. Bouncing around more or less resets the dial.

 

[Mdfowlman2]

Confidence kills the cat. Pick a unit you can draw with some regularity, it home, and go forth confidently. There's critters to be had in most units with some remote country. You'll learn to hunt them by going there frequently. Bouncing around more or less resets the dial.

Thanks for the advice! I agree I want to learn one area, I’d rather know one mediocre area like the back of my hand vs blindly hunting a great area. We hunt Sika here in Md and the area is broken into 20 or so units, I hunt two of them and have never stepped foot into the others, the pressure is low and the hunting isn’t the best but I know those areas very well.

 

[hunterjmj]

One thing you could do is take a week off over the summer and scout (drive) the units you hope or plan to hunt. You could learn roads, access points, look at the country, etc. You could probably hit 3 units in a week off. Then take your other week off during hunting season. You could shorten your curve pretty quick this way. Good luck.

 

[Laramie]

One thing you could do is take a week off over the summer and scout (drive) the units you hope or plan to hunt. You could learn roads, access points, look at the country, etc. You could probably hit 3 units in a week off. Then take your other week off during hunting season. You could shorten your curve pretty quick this way. Good luck.

This is solid advice. My "family" vacations have doubled as scouting trips a time or two.

 

[CC11]

One thing I've been doing with researching other states and trying to pick out a spot is looking at harvest stats. I know what type of terrain I want to hunt so I narrow units down to the ones that have what kind of topography I'm after. Then look at the seasons available, harvest stats and trends and go from there. This year will be my first out of state hunt, and while I've been buying and applying for points in a handful of other states, this will be an OTC mule deer tag, unless I get lucky in the draw. It took some serious research to pick a unit and now that I've done that I've been sifting through google earth and onX comparing the two so I can have an idea of a starting point. I plan on spending 4 or 5 days this summer in the area I've decided upon and then will hunt 7-10 days. Learning a new area and just being in different country is half the fun!

 

[Mdfowlman2]

One thing I've been doing with researching other states and trying to pick out a spot is looking at harvest stats. I know what type of terrain I want to hunt so I narrow units down to the ones that have what kind of topography I'm after. Then look at the seasons available, harvest stats and trends and go from there. This year will be my first out of state hunt, and while I've been buying and applying for points in a handful of other states, this will be an OTC mule deer tag, unless I get lucky in the draw. It took some serious research to pick a unit and now that I've done that I've been sifting through google earth and onX comparing the two so I can have an idea of a starting point. I plan on spending 4 or 5 days this summer in the area I've decided upon and then will hunt 7-10 days. Learning a new area and just being in different country is half the fun!

Harvest stats is honestly the one area I have looked the least at. If it’s over 10% for elk and 15% for deer I don’t look any further.

 

[Laramie]

One thing I've been doing with researching other states and trying to pick out a spot is looking at harvest stats. I know what type of terrain I want to hunt so I narrow units down to the ones that have what kind of topography I'm after. Then look at the seasons available, harvest stats and trends and go from there. This year will be my first out of state hunt, and while I've been buying and applying for points in a handful of other states, this will be an OTC mule deer tag, unless I get lucky in the draw. It took some serious research to pick a unit and now that I've done that I've been sifting through google earth and onX comparing the two so I can have an idea of a starting point. I plan on spending 4 or 5 days this summer in the area I've decided upon and then will hunt 7-10 days. Learning a new area and just being in different country is half the fun!

Harvest stats are marginally accurate at best in western states. Take Wyoming for instance- They send out harvest surveys to a percentage of people who held the license. There is no incentive to fill it out and return it. Then the state takes the surveys received and multiplies the results to get their success rate. They rely much more on winter herd counts to set quotas. Another thing to consider when looking at harvest rates - in some areas a large % of the harvest happens on private land and isn't an indicator at all for how the public portion of the hunt will be.

Nothing replaces boots on the ground experience. There are no easy OTC hunts. The internet killed those years ago. People shoot big elk and deer yearly in those areas but most of those harvests are the result of a gob of work.

 

[popeandyoung151]

I’m new to western hunting so take this with a grain of salt...
I started Jan ‘19 into learning western hunting via GoHunt and OnX. I’m now building points in several states. I am doing 1-2 trips a year in a easy draw state/unit and learning how to hunt. This will allow me to learn how to be an effective western hunter while building points for “trophy” units. I will also add that you can Escout and research as much as you can but the best way to learn is to be out in the field. I learned a lot on my first diy hunt this year.

best of luck to you!

 

[saltonman]

apply in as many states as you can afford to.