What do you consider a lot of tags for an elk unit?

[bz_711]

Obviously sq miles of public matters most...but for average CO units...I love those limited archery tags with only 100 total tags

 

[TheSillyGoose]

The most basic thing I'd look at is this:

-How many acres of public land in the unit
-How many total tags (bull and cow)

From that you can figure an acres-per-tag number. Now ask yourself, for the season you want, how much of the land will have elk on it? If half of the public land in the unit is wide open BLM land, you won't likely see elk there in early rifle season. Or if it's 12,000' mountaintops you won't find elk there in 4th rifle (if there's much snow).

From there you can sort of start to spitball how many acres there'll be per hunter and get an idea of how crowded it'll look.

This is a great way to look at it. I also try to factor in the harvest stats from past years.