Wyoming’s leftovers are currently on sale, Montana’s go on sale Monday the 9th, Idaho is presently conducting its second chance drawing and Colorado’s leftovers go on sale Tuesday the 10th. It’s not too late to do a little last minute prep and scouting before committing to a tag. As I mentioned last week in “Why is this tag a Leftover?”, not all leftovers are junk. But some are more headache than they are worth.
So let’s walk through a few steps we should consider before purchasing a tag. As a data guy, the first thing I’ll look into is how the unit stacks up in my rankings. Everyone has different priorities, but for me personally, I want above average game densities, solid trophy potential if it’s a buck or bull tag, and low hunting pressure. I will sacrifice success rates, except in the case of meat hunts. But if a unit has unusually low success, I will want to try to figure out why, and whether or not it is something I can overcome by hunting smarter or hunting harder than the average.
The next thing I do is look at the landownership pattern. Checkerboards and small parcels of public land work for me for antelope and some deer hunting, but not for elk hunting. In heavily private areas that have tempted me to look into their tags for whatever reason, I will also look at any public access programs like Wyoming’s Hunter Management and Walk In Access areas, Montana’s Block Management, Idaho’s Access Yes! and Colorado’s Big Game Walk In Access Areas.
Next I’ll do some quick remote scouting of the publicly accessible areas on Google Earth, to make sure they look like proper habitat from the air. I’m not concerned with where exactly to hunt at this point, but I want to know that there is the kind of habitat that looks appropriate for the game of interest and works for my hunting styles.
After that, I’ll try to do a quick drive to and around the unit. Try to schedule your drive to be out during peak game hours. If the place I want to look at is 4 or 5 hours away, I will be leaving in the middle of the night to be on the roads at dawn. If that’s not possible, be sure to be driving through your most likely areas by dusk. This tactic is better for deer and elk, as antelope are more active mid to late morning and late afternoon. But I want to see that there is at least some game. If I have time I’ll hike around looking for sign that I mentioned in this scouting article a while back:
http://wildlife.state.co.us/Hunting/ElkHuntingUniversity/EHULessons/EHUScoutTips.htm
When doing that I’m just trying to get an idea of relative animal densities. How does this area compare to others that I’ve hunted? Is there more or less browsing pressure on the plants than I’m used to? Can I see hedged shrubs along the winter range areas, indicating high winter concentrations of game? What about fresh tracks in the road and along the cut banks of dirt roads? It doesn’t take much to get me excited, and validate my decision to hunt an area, but it’s best to have some perspective. If you don’t know what a lot of sign looks like, head out to one of the higher game density reputation areas in your state(or take a look at my stats), then compare it to wherever else you’re considering hunting. Montana and Colorado hunters, you still have one more weekend day to do this.
It’s also important to know what kind of a chance you have of getting the tag you are interested in. Are there only a handful of tags available? If that’s the case, be ready with a backup plan. This year in Colorado, there are only 8 public land heavy units with rifle buck deer tags available. That’s as few as I remember ever seeing, so you’ll want to have several back up plans if you’re eyeing buck deer tags. Guys who have several members of a party going for a small number of leftover tags have additional issues. If you can’t pick up the leftover tags with all of your friends at once in the same place, make sure you stay in touch with everybody in the party. You’ll want to know if the tags have sold out and you’ll want to be prepared to purchase some sort of secondary license for that area if you intend to go anyway. That might be a cow elk tag or doe deer tag instead of a buck or bull tag. If you know members of your party can’t or won’t be first in line for that limited tag, you might have to think more seriously about a unit with more leftovers so you are all more likely to get a tag.
Additionally, if you have to return a tag before you can purchase a new one, do that before leftover day (that means Monday at the latest for Colorado hunters). You’ll have to that at a Division of Wildlife Office, which is the last place you’ll want to be on leftover day.
For Colorado’s mad rush on leftover tags, another good tactic is to head to less well known and less well stocked hunting stores for your leftover tag. Sportsmen’s Warehouse and Wal Mart are just as bad, if not worse than the Division of Wildlife Offices. Frequently, the counter help at big box stores are not aware of List A versus List B and List C rules, so if you see someone struggling as they are continuously rejected, don’t be afraid to let them know what’s wrong with their tag selections. Every year I see someone try buy more bull or buck tags than they are allowed, or try to buy a List A cow or doe tag in addition to the buck or bull tag. Also, there’s no need to buy your OTC tags while there are so many people in line. Those are unlimited.
You still have plenty of time to scout, but you should start getting ready to commit to a unit, if you haven’t already done so.
Good luck out there
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