What is your strategy for hunting applications? If you’ve read through the Eastmans’ MRS section within the pages of our printed magazines, you might sit back and ask yourself, what do I do with this information?
It is a large amount of data to consume and can be very intimidating. That may be especially true if you are new to this realm. So let’s break it into bite sized pieces and help you build a customized plan of attack.
First, let’s create your own hunt filtering system. What are your priorities to build around? For example, my priorities are: 1 – archery season, 2 – public land and 3 – draw opportunity.
So ask yourself these questions:
1 – What weapon and season is my primary desire to hunt?
2 – What terrain am I looking to hunt in? Rough and rugged, flat and relaxed or somewhere in the middle?
3 – Is public land critical to my hunting style or do I have private access and want to try to gain it?
4 – How long do I want to wait for this potential opportunity?
As you can imagine these criteria lead to a plethora of questions that all branch out into a spiderweb of vast proportions. However, if you start with what is most critical on the hunt with highest priority on your list, you will be confident in your plan and can add more States as you go.
For my application strategy, I will have a State or two with my “bucket-list” hunts, followed by a hunt with higher probability to draw that still holds solid trophy potential and overall opportunities with an OTC hunt or two as my backup, or most likely hunt for the fall.
If you want to look at a few other considerations, you can add details like which States allow you to return your tags and keep your points? If this is a possibility, you can apply for two heavy hitters and return one if you draw them both. Although that is highly unlikely, it does happen.
So what’s next? Grab a copy of Eastmans’ Hunting or Bowhunting Journals, study up and start adding your filters. You might be surprised what you come up with. It seems daunting but in all reality can be a ton of fun. Your confidence will grow as you build experience year after year.
If you really want to geek out, you can add research tools into the mix, onX Maps, TagHub 2.0, and you’re off and running! Success is in the planning when you have to draw in order to hunt and the future of many hunting opportunities in the West is, or will soon be, some sort of draw. It’s a sad truth, but those who want to play will learn these tactics and apply them to their own needs.
