tag draw failure...

[mporter012]

I moved to Colorado to hunt, and when not hunting, to fish. Here we are August 4th at 10:15am, and I currently don't have a tag within 4 hours of home. As a matter of fact, I have 1 tag. I drew 1 of 5 tags, a buck tag out past steamboat. I had a list of leftover tags a mile long, and couldn't get on the site this am for 5 minutes, and other that a late season pronghorn tag, which is one of these tags with 9000 available, all private, and im hoping to go door to door to find a spot. I've spent way too much time thinking about tags and researching all this shit to come up dry. I can't figure out what the issue is? Is the state giving too many tags away to non-residents? Why aren't locals somehow weighted to have a greater opportunity to draw tags locally? Regardless, it's become an infuriating process. If you are a normal dude with a job, you don't really have time to scour the entire giant state to figure out where to hunt. You spent time in your backyard and hike and fish there and learn the ropes in your area, but in Colorado, that ain't gonna work out if you live in Fort Collins (where I am), or elsewhere in the front range area.

 

[TexasCub]

I feel your pain man, I moved here 3 years ago thinking there would be all kinds of good hunting opportunities too but it’s really a business for the state of Colorado and the ultimate goal is to make as much money as possible. The result is 100,000’s of tags sold nationwide and as a resident you get whatever crumbs you can find. It really isn’t a good state to live and hunt in as a resident unless going for a walk in the woods with a bow or a rifle is what you want. Success rates are terrible and hunting amongst the masses of orange seems to be the name of the game. At this point youll never amass enough pref points for the better less pressured hunts too. Kind of sad if you ask me. I know quite a few Coloradans that go to Wyoming, Montana and Idaho to hunt because hunting is so bad here. The wife and I were just talking about retirement and if we will stay here and the honest answer is no.

 

[the_bowhunter]

Grab an A list and B list OTC elk tag and go hunt. Check the leftover list as tags are added periodically. Still plenty of chances to get tags


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[LongWayAround]

Buy an OTC and go

If you're in Fort Collins, you can be hunting in about two hours. I get the frustrating feeling though, I moved here from Iowa and had the same learning curve. There's definitely opportunities to be had closer to town if that's what you want but you have to plan ahead. As a "normal dude with a job", I cut a pretty wide swath to find a few spots. It's part of the fun. For example, Memorial weekend I was fishing at a lake 100 miles away and I met a guy who lives four houses away from me, just around the corner.

 

[mporter012]

Grab an A list and B list OTC elk tag and go hunt. Check the leftover list as tags are added periodically. Still plenty of chances to get tags


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Right, you can just go the OTC route, and there are plenty of tags there, and that's what I'll do. I'm just irritated I have to drive 4 freakin' hours to hunt! Even for ducks, it's 3 hours!

 

[street]

Right, you can just go the OTC route, and there are plenty of tags there, and that's what I'll do. I'm just irritated I have to drive 4 freakin' hours to hunt! Even for ducks, it's 3 hours!

You are irritated you have to drive 4 hrs to hunt???

 

[Bärenjäger]

Right, you can just go the OTC route, and there are plenty of tags there, and that's what I'll do. I'm just irritated I have to drive 4 freakin' hours to hunt! Even for ducks, it's 3 hours!

As an evil non resident, I'm driving 16 hours. One OTC tag. But I promise you CO residents, I will not be moving there. Both because of the lack of resident hunting preference and the scary future of your political/social transformation...

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[HoneyDew]

Maybe I’m missing something but OTC has always been my bread n butter. I’ve found it’s better to live in a state with broad OTC options than one with resident leaning policies optimized for 1-2 species. Sure it’s harder for me to find lifetime trophies but for $120 annually I get 1 elk, 1 deer (white/black/muley), 1 black bear, 1 cougar, and small game license. Sure I’ll build points and maybe I’ll get lucky here in WA or another state but in the meantime these OTC tags means I’m going hunting this fall. With more states making you buy the license before acquiring the point the points game has gotten pretty expensive. But that’s just me.

 

[Sterlingsilva]

Where in the hell did i leave my violin

 

[NoWiser]

Perhaps if you moved somewhere to hunt and fish, it would have been prudent to research the hunting and fishing opportunities first.

 

[mporter012]

Where in the hell did i leave my violin

Lol ooook buddy

 

[Wrench]

I want to be sympathetic, but in 17 years I've never drawn a bull tag anywhere. All of my bulls are from otc pounded units in Wa and Id.

 

[mporter012]

Maybe I’m missing something but OTC has always been my bread n butter. I’ve found it’s better to live in a state with broad OTC options than one with resident leaning policies optimized for 1-2 species. Sure it’s harder for me to find lifetime trophies but for $120 annually I get 1 elk, 1 deer (white/black/muley), 1 black bear, 1 cougar, and small game license. Sure I’ll build points and maybe I’ll get lucky here in WA or another state but in the meantime these OTC tags means I’m going hunting this fall. With more states making you buy the license before acquiring the point the points game has gotten pretty expensive. But that’s just me.

I actually think that's better, im just learning that the draw thing is BS. If you want to hunt Moose, then go ******* hunt Moose and just pay. I grew up in PA and doe tags are technically a draw, but you can draw easily, and hunt your backyard. So i thought the draw was a sensible approach, IM realizing it's not.

 

[Bärenjäger]

I want to be sympathetic, but in 17 years I've never drawn a bull tag anywhere. All of my bulls are from otc pounded units in Wa and Id.

Right on!

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[Fatcamp]

You are irritated you have to drive 4 hrs to hunt???

LOL. Did you not research the front range at all before you moved to Fort Collins?

We are driving 8 hours today just to scout for archery deer tags. Gladly.

 

[mporter012]

Yea it's crazy. How do you become a competent western hunter when you're driving 4 hours to load your gun? Don't move to the front range... fair enough.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

First world problems...

*sniff, sniff, tear*

I drive 17 hours to hunt CO. My hunting partner drives 26 hours. Just depends on how bad you want it.

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[mporter012]

LOL. Did you not research the front range at all before you moved to Fort Collins?

We are driving 8 hours today just to scout for archery deer tags. Gladly.

Enjoy the drive.

 

[street]

Move somewhere else that has what you want.

 

[bsnedeker]

It's called "compromise" and no matter where you live there will be compromises. I live, in my opinion, in one of the most beautiful areas in the world, just outside of Glacier National Park. I gladly drive 4 hours to central or SW montana to hunt elk and deer...not because I can't draw a tag (general tag works out here), but because the elk and deer in this area are harder to get into then they are in other parts of the state. I knew this when I moved here and I considered moving to an area with "better" hunting, but at the end of the day a 4-hour drive to scout and/or hunt doesn't bother me at all and the trade-offs are totally worth it to me. Just my perspective for whatever that is worth.