OTC hunting and Lottery hunting question

[dmdude]

Aloha,
I live in Hawaii and want to start doing some out of state hunts(northern rockies). The lottery stuff is full of varying rules and just straight luck I don't feel like messing with it. Therefor, Im strictly (for now I think/hope) am just going to stick to easy to get tag hunts. Would anyone recommend that I throw my name in some state lotteries in case I change my mind in the future, or is it just a long road of money and luck? I can see myself in the future after getting some OTC hunts in possibly wishing I put my name in the lottery to accumulate points in that whole crazy game. I've been reading regulations/tag lottery procedures/% of getting picked etc as a non resident and its very over whelming.

 

[Rob5589]

I would pick one or two states and focus on what it takes to get a tag. Buying points is an option is some states. Again, look at your target state to see how many points are needed to provide a specific opportunity.
An over the counter tag (otc) is just that, no points or preference, just first come first served, generally.
The species makes a huge difference as well. Elk hunting is booming, so more difficult/limited to obtain tags. Deer can offer more opportunity depending on what and where you're interests lie.

Archery, rifle, muzzie, all have differing seasons and opportunity.

Every state has a fish and game website, all the info is there. Some are definitely better than others.

Something for you to look into; can you import wild game to the islands? I thought I heard somewhere about it being restricted. But I could be entirely wrong.

 

[dmdude]

I would pick one or two states and focus on what it takes to get a tag. Buying points is an option is some states. Again, look at your target state to see how many points are needed to provide a specific opportunity.
An over the counter tag (otc) is just that, no points or preference, just first come first served, generally.
The species makes a huge difference as well. Elk hunting is booming, so more difficult/limited to obtain tags. Deer can offer more opportunity depending on what and where you're interests lie.

Archery, rifle, muzzie, all have differing seasons and opportunity.

Every state has a fish and game website, all the info is there. Some are definitely better than others.

Something for you to look into; can you import wild game to the islands? I thought I heard somewhere about it being restricted. But I could be entirely wrong.

Great response, Mahalo! "Frozen or chilled meats are allowed to be transported to Hawaii as long as the meat originated from within the U.S." so I'm good there, great thing to think of prior though! It might have been different in the past.

I'm not into the whole trophy hunting thing, well I do trophy hunt, but my trophy is meat! The one thing that does interest me is Antelope. I'm going to take your advice and search more into that and which states are best odds with least money involved. Other than that, OTC hunts for me seem fine. I don't feel like going too deep into the rabbit whole of chasing hard to get tags etc.

 

[jolemons]

Agreed on just starting with one or two states. You'll soon learn that it isn't that overwhelming once you begin to understand the process. A membership to a draw odds/research company can also help. Many tags can be had with 0-3 points, which tend to be better than an OTC tag. Another good option down the road is to buy leftover tags. I can usually score a petty decent leftover tag somewhere each year by doing a little research.

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[dmdude]

Agreed on just starting with one or two states. You'll soon learn that it isn't that overwhelming once you begin to understand the process. A membership to a draw odds/research company can also help. Many tags can be had with 0-3 points, which tend to be better than an OTC tag. Another good option down the road is to buy leftover tags. I can usually score a petty decent leftover tag somewhere each year by doing a little research.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Thats great to hear, thank you so much for the info!

 

[Eric Jones]

I'm in the same boat. My plan is to focus on 2 or 3 states and start putting in to build points and otc until I get enough points for the areas I am really trying to hunt.

 

[Pilchuck]

I would make sure to do your research though when you settle on a state because some states you have a better chance of winning their raffle then drawing a tag. Depending on what you want to hunt and where.

 

[wmr89]

Hunting out of state is expensive, I imagine especially so with coming from Hawaii. If were you I would invest in a gohunt membership to help you do research or even some consulting like from Epic outdoors. It will be a fraction of the cost of your hunt and they will help you find opportunities you wouldn't have had otherwise.

 

[ReddingArcher]

Another vote for picking up a GoHunt membership, lots of good information there on draw odds and breaking units and species down, especially if you are just starting out. I would look at a couple of states your interested in and start building points now while also hunting OTC or zero point units. For me, I dont want to wait years to draw tags I want to hunt every year so I look at units that have a 100% draw odds with 0-4 points.

 

[Suszek49753]

Aloha,
I live in Hawaii and want to start doing some out of state hunts(northern rockies). The lottery stuff is full of varying rules and just straight luck I don't feel like messing with it. Therefor, Im strictly (for now I think/hope) am just going to stick to easy to get tag hunts. Would anyone recommend that I throw my name in some state lotteries in case I change my mind in the future, or is it just a long road of money and luck? I can see myself in the future after getting some OTC hunts in possibly wishing I put my name in the lottery to accumulate points in that whole crazy game. I've been reading regulations/tag lottery procedures/% of getting picked etc as a non resident and its very over whelming.

Out of state hunting is a blast! There are a lot of good states out there that offer OTC tags for a decent price. Tough part is finding property to hunt, public land can be good just need to put the time in. Good luck!

 

[dmdude]

All great info, Mahalo! Im headed to gohunt now to check it out!