Yeah, I was a resident the first time in high school from 1989-1992 we had 1 elk tag between my dad and me for 3 years of applications. So you got lucky.
I drew a December either sex muzzleloader tag. Pretty excited about it this will be my first late season hunt so I’m getting all my new gear for the hunt. Going in with the mindset of just take the first opportunity presented cow or bull.
The GMUs that have a higher number of E-Plus unit wide land owner tags have a much lower trophy potential these days. There are some private land only hunts that still have decent trophy potential depending on the size and location of the ranch. The Tribes have rifle hunts during the rut but very few tags available and are very expensive. For a 330 bull or better I would say there are better chances in some GMUs but I wouldn’t have any expectations.
Great tag...Good luck!
So in your experience the eplus system has diminished the quality of the herd across the board?
Hopefully you find a big one. I hunted that with rifle last year. Didn’t see the quality I was hoping for but did see one nice 330” bull. Ended up taking a 300”. Let me know if you want to connect about it.
Yes, but not in every unit. In those GMUs that have a high number of Unit Wide LO tags (E-Plus) the trophy potential as well as the success rates have suffered. However this does not apply to some Lincoln NF units like unit 34. In GMU 34 DGF hands out more tags than they normally would in an effort to reduce the elk herd population because of CWD. I am not very familiar with the Northern units.
Archery E-plus UW Land Owner tags don’t usually have much impact on a GMU because of the difficulty and fewer tags available. In 2022 there were 100 unit wide mature bull tags for GMU 51. There were about 200 mature bull tags in the public draw for first rifle. 16% of those public draw tags went to non-residents. Like I said before, the ranches with Unit Wide tags have their own outfitters or contract out to an outfitter. Residents are not sold the Unit Wide LO tags. All of those tags get rolled into booked hunts for non-residents. Very few Residents are able to buy those e-plus UW LO tags.
The e-plus UW mature bull tags are for any season and any weapon type the authorization holder chooses. Obviously there are archery only tags. Sometimes the authorizations are sold two or three times between outfitters depending on the hunts they can book. Most clients want the first or early rifle or early muzzle hunt if they have a choice. In 2024 GMU 52 early rifle hunt had 11% draw odds for residents with a 33% success rate which is dismal. If an outfitter is fully booked they will sell the authorizations to other outfitters.
Seems kind of dumb that DGF doesnt regulate which season for eplus unit wide. Would make sense to me to allocate which season they can be used on. Like no crap all those guys are hammering first rifle. I don't know the stats but I would assume success in 1st rifle is about 5x archery success. Would seem they could give the landowners more tags and specify them as archery. Would surely generate more revenue for the landowner. Although as an archery hunter that would be less than ideal for my hunt.
In some units there are few archery UW tags given to land owners (outfitters)…But down here in the Southern units the peak rut rut doesn’t kick in until until the middle of September and lasts through the middle of October. 2nd archery always has a higher success rate unless something major happens like a fire. But if there are 200 tags in the public draw and there are only say like 30 E-plus guided hunts there won’t be an obvious change in success rate. But the outfitters will use those UW tags during the 2nd season you can bet on it!
