I wish I had a plan and was organized. Unfortunately, it's a free for all mixed with fomo and a light gambling addiction.... I have a hard time not putting in for everything.
It's a mix of organized spreadsheets by state and a few "oh s***" 11:55PM applications. I'm slowly working towards getting them all in 1 spreadsheet, maybe this year...
Overall mentality though has been apply for everything that's not literally impossible.
I have a running spreadsheet of units/states/tags I want to hunt or have good information on.
The longer I’ve applied the more it’s been going back to units myself or friends have some experience in or even the adjacent unit that looks intriguing after time on the ground as less purely quantitative analysis. I also pick terrain I like to hunt more than I ever did when I first started.
Early in the application season you swing for the fences and then sit on a few easy to draw tags with good return policies. Honestly it’s usually so chaotic/random that the most analytical strategies don’t create much stability in a given year.