I have tried for the last couple of years to be more diligent in collecting PPs.

I am *hoping* to use my CO elk PPs this summer for a 1st season tag this fall (hunt is more or less booked now - we'll go 1st season if we draw, 2nd season OTC if not and then we'll have another point for the next year's draw - but we *should* draw this year based on last year's draw data).

But I also have mule deer and Pronghorn points and I have elk/deer/goat points in WY and I now have a deer point and a bison point in SD.

As my kids age into the point system (most states won't do points until the kid is 12) I intend to start building points for them. The upshot of this is that as of right now I *should* have enough points that the ball is rolling and I should be able to draw at least one tag per fall for the foreseeable future. Supplement this with OTC tags and landowner tags and I should be able to hunt out west every fall starting next year.

(Next year's plan is 1st season elk in SW CO)

I am 100% fine with the reality that we might go many years where 1-2 of us (me and my wife/kids) draw a particular tag and the rest of us do not. Or maybe none of us draw. Or maybe we all go on a landowner-tag goat hunt where we can afford for everyone to get a shot. But, in a world where trips need to be planned (AND BUDGETED) months or even years in advance, how do you guys do it? Do you ever make beach trip plans contingent on your draw results and cancel/add alternate vacations for the family depending on your draws? Do you take your kids on western hunts? Have any of you guys ever went on a hunt where you didn't even have a tag and you were just guiding your kids or friends? Some states split out youth tags into separate draws of some sort. I'd be lying if I said I understood exactly how that works, but right now it seems like I *should* be able to get, for instance, an antlerless deer tag for my daughter, if/when I get drew for a Black Hills buck tag (After visiting the Black Hills last fall, this is absolutely something I want to do). And I'm fine with that.

I just sort of wonder how you guys that hunt multiple species across multiple states do it. I don't want to draw 3-4 tags one year and then have nothing for the following two years. And I don't want to draw several tags that come with expensive private land access then have a bad financial year. How do you mitigate this? Do you set aside a 'hunt fund' in advance?

The older I get, the more I realize the practicality of saving the cash up and writing the check for the guided hunt that I want.

Sure I hunt on my own locally, but I'm to the point of paying for once in a lifetime hunts if there is any significant travel and cost involved.

For a family hunt, go to Africa. Seriously.

So…..I have been to Africa. Not hunting, just on a mission trip, and nowhere near the common hunting areas. But I got to see several species of critter (rhino, kudu, giraffe, a handful of others) and it didn’t strike me the way I thought it would. I’d love to go back but a whole lot of things would have to go right, and I’m ok if they never do. I’d rather hunt the western US.

We booked a private guided elk hunt for dad and I for this year. It’s on the ‘once in a lifetime’ spectrum. But I want to do more affordable things most years. I don’t mind paying for a nice hunt every few years, but I want to have a bit of adventure every year, more than I want one big adventure, especially if my kids keep showing interest. I can’t justify taking the entire troop of kids on guided hunts. At least not all at once.

As a hunter who had kids later in life my only goal is to share the experiences with my son. Big hunts are great but time in the field with my son is invaluable. I no longer care if I kill anything. Seeing my son succeed is better than any hunt I have ever done. So, take your family on your hunts, big or small, and you will die a happy man!

I buy PP in Wyoming for antelope, deer and elk. Michigan for bear and Maine for moose. Going to start getting points in Montana and Colorado for deer and elk. I already have been in contact with an outfitter in Montana my buddy has hunted with for over 30 years. I have a hunt booked in South Africa for August.

Elk draws in Colorado are hitting today!

I have checked my email twice and was thinking of starting another thread.

(Just checked again, nothing yet)

Update:

W00t!W00t!

Dad and I got our 1st choice elk tags.

1st season, rifle, in the unit where we have a hunt booked.

Yep, just saw I drew my home unit for archery elk.  First year it has gone to draw, always OTC, and still is for rifle hunts.  WTF CPW, it’s a mob scene usually during rifle.

Got lucky and drew muzzleloader elk for Colorado.

My brother enter as a group so we both got tags

I just looked through the 23 draw recap.   I drew my unit as second choice. First was a pref point.  Some guys blew 10 and 11 points on the same lol.

I think a lot of non resident hunters are dumping points on marginal draw units.  Look thru all 1100 pages of this years draw recap and you will see it.  Guys blowing 20+ points on 2-3 point units.

I won’t be shocked to see OTC units all go to draw in the near future.   Probably should IMO.

Given the bad winter in WY I was honestly surprised that we were able to draw our tags. I'm VERY excited to be hunting elk again. But, man, I did something stupid - I was so focused on applying for my elk draw, I forgot to apply for my pronghorn point. And the specific place I want to go, takes 3-5 points to draw. But it's a zoo for antelope.

I really want to hunt pronghorn, possibly with my daughter(s?). Looks like it'll be Wyoming in 2024, unless my daughter can draw a CO youth tag.

Leftover Colorado tags went on sale today.
I got a 3rd rifle cow tag, but hope to fill the freezer in archery.

https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Leftover.pdf

Nice

Got an archery elk tag for Colorado on the 2nd draw. Funny that I didn't get the same unit on the first draw. I think a lot of people did not pay for their tags because of the winter kill.

Just bought my WY points.

I also bought WY points - but, man, I think those are gonna get hard to draw next year too.

I am hoping to go to another state for whitetail in 2024, and get a cow elk tag for my daughter in CO.

I told my daughter she has to be ready to shoot an elk - which means a bigger rifle, and proficiency well beyond the distances I want her to shoot. My thinking is that a kid ought to be comfortable at 500 before allowing them to shoot to 300. Took her to the range last week and she banged out a 3/4MOA group at 500. Now she has to start doing it from field positions.

I started buying points in WY last year after getting invited with a group has great success, as they have been hunting the same area for years, and know it well.  I recently saw a proposal that would make the cost for a non resident elk tag $2000.00 and $1600.00 for muley tag.

To update this thread.....we did really good on the tags we drew:

https://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/2681232_Dad-and-I-went-elk-hunting-again-.html

Since we got back I have been perusing draw stats. Trying to get started on planning next year. Part of me thinks I need to be planning even 2-3 years in advance, not just one year.

I have an old friend who wants to go on a future wilderness elk hunt. We need points to draw those tags. That means starting now to collect elk points (I have none in CO anymore - spent them this year) and banking them and not hunting elk in CO unless it's an OTC or really easy 2nd-choice tag, for the next few years. Which honestly is fine.

I have another friend (they don't know each other and wouldn't camp/hunt together well, I don't think) that wants to do a budget, any-tag, public land elk hunt, but also wants to do a family western vacation - and they're the sort of people we'd do that with. I am considering trying to turn that into a 'both families go west, dads sneak off to hunt 3-4 days along the way' sort of thing. I'd happily go without a tag and just try to help him scratch down a bull. After several guided hunts on private land - two of which bordered public land - I have learned a thing or three about how elk live. Am I an expert? Oh heck no. Have I sorted out the basics to the point I could possibly put someone on an elk? Yes, I think so.



I hate to even say this but it's true:

I'd pretty happily pay $2000 for an elk tag in a really good unit with really low hunting pressure. Beats paying $5000 for a private land hunt. I just don't want to get a good public area tag and wake up to a sea of orange on opening day. Solitude is a big thing for me.

A buddy of mine hunted in Idaho this year. He hiked 11 miles (I know him well enough to trust that figure) into a wilderness and found a horse camp that had came in from the other direction. No elk. Would that be a good *hiking* trip? Yes Is it how I want to hunt? No.

We checked out some public land - at least four different areas - in the unit we hunted this year. I could have hunted on at least two of those four areas and been content with the hunting pressure, and we saw fresh elk poop on one of them (didn't look for it on the other, though we did see some older poop in the few minutes we were out of the truck). So when it's all said and done, hunting private land in that unit, we could at least hear the (lack of) gunshots on nearby public lands, and we saw elk that came off public land (dad killed a solid bull that had a fresh arrow lodged in its backstrap - undoubtedly it had got tired of public land pressure and moved a mile or three to private), and saw the pressure as we observed other hunters on public, setting up camp before season, and saw who stuck it out until days 3-4 of the season. My guide and I talked a lot about how his family strategized their public land hunts (his family guides both private and public lands, fully guided, day hunts, drop camps) and I think I picked up on a few points worth remembering.

Those conversations spurred me to go back and look at the area we hunted (private) in 2010. We had OTC tags. A good part of the area we hunted was BLM land, not landlocked, just brutally hard to hike. We hunted the fringes of it, nice level stuff that looked just like the private ranch we were on. But 100 yards past us were impenetrable canyons. Or were they?

And the reality is, once you see the patterns of how elk cross from public to private, you realize that those same patterns exist pretty much anywhere elk are found. I'm willing to gamble a hunt on a lot of elk behavior and a lot of hunter behavior being similar regardless of which particular public patch you hunt.

Oh well.

After this season I now have no CO elk points, 2 deer points, 1 pronghorn point. I have 2 WY antelope points, 1 deer, 1 elk. I have 2 south dakota black hills deer points. My oldest daughter has 1 each WY elk, deer, pronghorn points. Going to grab her a SD deer point before that window closes for this year.

Tagged. I'd love to big game hunt. Just don't know where to start. But looks like I have some research to do here.

Here's a fun thing I found out:

I could probably have drawn a private-land-only tag for where we hunted this year without burning my points.

*shrug* Oh well.