How to prioritize with so much data available?

[MichaelO]

Migration corridors, harvest statistics, hunter densities, drought monitoring and the list goes on.
Any tips from old pros on what to disregard and what to give more time and attention to when looking at potential units?

 

[ODB]

I’m not an old pro but I’ll walk a long way to avoid people...

 

[Billinsd]

First you have to decide what your hunting goals are, where you live, how much time do you have to hunt, how much money can you spend, can you travel out of state?Then you can prioritize evaluating the statistics you mentioned. There are many good books, like Robby Denning Mule Deer book, and Randy Newburg, and Cory Jacobson videos where they explain how to use the Gohunt software and how they prioritize the data and why. Sites like this have great info and Gohunt is a excellent source of info. Kill stats are important, but can be misleading. Are there lots of hunters in a given hunt? What are the average stats for several years. Buck/doe ratios are important, odds of drawing, access, percentage of public land. I hunted Northwest Nevada about 20 years ago. This area was arguably one of the very best places for big mule deer, however, a looong drought, invasive plants, and of course exploding feral horse populations have ruined the area. It takes a lot of time and effort to figure what's important for you. I've spent the last 26 years doing this, starting with Dwight Schuh and Eastman books. It helps a lot that I have an engineering degree, actually a Masters. I'm great at figuring things out and doing research. Oh, there is no easy way to shortcut this. Actually there is, with all the books, videos, and magazines. This is good and bad. Cheers Bill

 

[brsnow]

Make sure you remember to enjoy yourself.

 

[5MilesBack]

Migration corridors, harvest statistics, hunter densities, drought monitoring and the list goes on.

I'd like to see the rest of that list, because I don't even think about any of the above mentioned when selecting where I'm hunting. I'll complain about how dry it is in an area, but that won't keep me from hunting it. And hunter densities will be different in every unit and every place in a unit......even from year to year. Plan and adjust as necessary on the fly. I don't worry about much of this prior to actually getting there for my hunt. My concerns are.......does this unit have big bulls? And most of them do.........somewhere.

 

[elkhuntrr75]

A good Strategy is key. Figure out what states you will apply for. What is your plan A and plan B. Over the counter tags or general unit tags can often be bought last minute and are a good back up plan.

You might as well apply for all species because most states require you to purchase a hunting license. I can’t stress enough that once you decide on a unit stick with. The more times that you hunt it the greater your success rate on harvesting animals.

Don’t be a point collector. Put in for hunts and if you don’t draw then you will get a point. You never know when you might get really lucky. If you put in for points only then you will never have that chance.

States like NM and ID don’t have a point system so you can really swing for the fences on premiere units in those states. If you have kids buy them points as soon as you can.

Rainfall is hit or miss. You can’t predict it. Things I look at are the amount of public land and how good access to public is.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[16Bore]

#getoffyourass

 

[Dos Perros]

Being an engineer I tend to look at things differently than most. In my limited experience the difference between success and failure could not have been gleaned from any data available to be prior to a hunt. It's the circumstances surrounding what you do in that moment when you have an opportunity that is an order of magnitude or more of greater consequence than the pre-hunt data. Some examples:

in 2016 had I been more confident in my shooting I'd have a dead elk

in 2017 had I put the arrow behind the last rib instead of trying to thread between the last two ribs I'd have a dead elk
also in 2017 had I more accurately judged a range on the fly I'd have a dead elk

in 2018 had I shot my bow more with the quiver on I'd have a dead elk

None of the above shows up in the data. It's more about you and your skills and ability than anything else.

 

[Billinsd]

Being an engineer I tend to look at things differently than most. In my limited experience the difference between success and failure could not have been gleaned from any data available to be prior to a hunt. It's the circumstances surrounding what you do in that moment when you have an opportunity that is an order of magnitude or more of greater consequence than the pre-hunt data. Some examples:

in 2016 had I been more confident in my shooting I'd have a dead elk

in 2017 had I put the arrow behind the last rib instead of trying to thread between the last two ribs I'd have a dead elk
also in 2017 had I more accurately judged a range on the fly I'd have a dead elk

in 2018 had I shot my bow more with the quiver on I'd have a dead elk

None of the above shows up in the data. It's more about you and your skills and ability than anything else.

I'm an engineer too. I agree with you that skill is every important, however if you are in an area devoid of elk and or huntable terrain (extreme situation) success no matter your skill is slim to none. In all my hunting endeavers I truely believe that being where the animals are is 90% of it. How many days did you spend elk hunting in 2016, 17, and 18? Seems like you had at least one opportunity in each year. It seems to me that archery hunting in a decent area a guy would get an opportunity every couple days or so on average depending on the area and hunter's skill. What led you to hunt the areas you hunted elk? Did you hunt the same area each year? Thanks,




I'm always learning myself....
Bill

 

[Dos Perros]

I'm an engineer too. How many days did you spend elk hunting in 2016, 17, and 18? Seems like you had at least one opportunity in each year. It seems to me that archery hunting in a decent area a guy would get an opportunity every couple days or so on average depending on the area and hunter's skill. What led you to hunt the areas you hunted elk? Did you hunt the same area each year? Thanks, I'm always learning myself....
Bill

I average about 10 days per year, I count a day in the woods with a tag in my pocket as a day hunted, even if it was mostly spent packing in.

In 2016 I had two opportunities, one a rag 4x4 came in to 12 yards but only his head and neck was visible. Later a 5x5 came in broadside to 43 yards but brush at 20 yards obscured his vitals. A more experienced hunter would have sent the arrow knowing it would clear the brush. Also, we should have had more opportunities but we were still relatively inexperienced. The elk were in there rutting hard.

In 2017 I had three opportunities.

In 2018 I had one great opportunity and believe I mortally wounded a bull, spent the rest of the week looking for him. We returned a month later and filled my buddy's tag in 3 days.

In 2019 we killed the first bull we really got on, on day 4.

In 5 years I've hunted 3 states, including CO OTC 3 times, Montana permit area once, and Wyoming once.

I picked the areas based on 1) a friend had guided there and told me there were really really big elk in there that no one really knows about, 2) I scouted the area in summer and found elk I'd figured I could have to myself, 3) a friend told me there would be elk in there and not much pressure, 4) heard about it on a podcast and it seemed to suit my style of glassing and stalking since I'm a rather amateur caller, confirmed by a couple buddies, 5) a buddy told me there was a bunch of elk in there and the locals don't walk too far from the vehicle.

 

[wind gypsy]

What led you to hunt the areas you hunted elk? Did you hunt the same area each year? Thanks,

Years 1-3: Buddy grew up there and invited me to hunt with him and stay at his cabin
Year 4: WY General Tag - no deer firearms season going during desired archery elk timing, rugged enough to get to where horses wont, minimal griz population for a solo hunt, "low trophy potential" - limited online hype
Year 4: MT General tag - decent elk population, terrain that most don't want to deal with, "low trophy potential" minimal hype, low griz population for solo hunts.
Year 5: MT General tag - same area as year before but learned more different spots. Hot tip from local buddy about bulls nearby in a different unit led to me calling in my nephew's first bull during archery. Tried new terrain adjacent to spot from year 4 to kill my rifle bull. Spent time in 4 different elk units in the same area through archery/rifle, all yielded encounters/opportunities.

E-scouting can really help, but the best laid plans can be ruined in a hurry with a whole list of things once you get boots on the ground. Being able to look something over quick and adapt continuously to find/kill elk seems to be the ticket over having a perfect plan on which spot you're going to find the elk. Basically - I'd concentrate on how you're going to locate elk once you're there and understanding how to kill them once located for the best results.

 

[Sawdog]

This is great info. I would be interested in knowing how many people can scout before their hunt or if they spend the year ONX, come up with plan A, B and C and then head out. I would love to do an out of state hunt for either elk or antelope but I imagine it will be something like that.

 

[Dos Perros]

Scouting is great, but for me a day spent scouting is usually at the cost of a day spent hunting, so I'd rather hunt. Elk are, IMO, easy to find, at least you know if they are in there or not, and if they aren't then you move on. I've never failed to find elk in my first spot in 5 seasons.

 

[jonathond]

a lot of good advice, thoughts and points of view in this thread. I'm now thinking harder about the data I might consider in selecting a unit.

 

[Rich M]

I've done this 2x and getting ready for a 3rd run at it. No desire to use the prepackaged stuff, gohunt or whatever.

Figure out what your priorities are and make it all match up. Have fun, it is supposed to be part hard work and part fun.

 

[16Bore]

Some of my best hunts produced zero meat.

Read that again. Now once more.

#everyonedoesntgetatrophy