← Live Wild with Remi Warren
Live Wild with Remi Warren
Ep. 226 | Application Season Pt. 2 - 10 Tips for Hunting for a Hunt
00:59:38
summary In this episode of the Live Wild podcast, Remi Warren delves into the intricacies of hunting applications, focusing on strategies to find the best hunting opportunities. He emphasizes the importance of understanding draw odds, utilizing research tools, and developing a three-tier application strategy. Warren also discusses common pitfalls to avoid, such as point creep and the dangers of chasing hype. The episode concludes with personal insights on effective hunt planning and the significance of preparation in achieving hunting success. takeaways Finding opportunity is crucial in hunting applications. Create a long-term plan for hunting strategies. Utilize statistics to identify potential hunts. Avoid chasing hype; focus on reliable data. Understand the draw systems of different states. Research tools can simplify the hunt planning process. Look for hidden gems in lesser-known units. A three-tier application strategy can optimize your chances. Be aware of pitfalls like point...
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Foreign. I'm Remy Warren and I've lived my life in the wild as a professional guide and hunter. I've spent thousands of days perfecting my craft. I want to give that knowledge to you. In this podcast we relive some of my past adventures as I give you practical hunting tips to make you more successful. Whether you're just getting started or a lifelong hunter, this podcast will bring you along on the hunt and teach you how to Live Wild Podcast is brought to you by Mountain Tough and Yeti. Now for those that don't know, Mountain Tough is an online based training app that's designed for hunters to train you both mentally and physically for the mountains so you can go on. And there's programs designed with workouts that are specifically made to get you ready for the things you're going to encounter out there in the wild. And while a lot of you probably know that their programs are designed to get you ready, they also have programs designed to keep you ready during the season. It really is a year round process to help you be the best you can be on the hunt. If you're looking for a great gift this holiday season, Yeti has you covered with their Rambler Drinkware. It's a leak fruit stackable, ton of different colors and everything for drinking water, coffee, wine or beer. They even have shot glasses and flasks. They're great stocking stuffers and an awesome gift to give this holiday season. Well everyone, welcome back to Live Wild Podcast. Now this week we're diving into part two of application season. So last week we identified three types of hunters and how to use statistics to kind of find hunts within those categories. This week we're going to break it down into 10 ways to use odds and stats to find your hunts. So we're going to look at overall application strategy today and dive into a little bit of the how to use some hunt research tools. So let's jump in and hunt for that next hunt. As we break it down today, I'm going to kind of go through categories and outline some of the strategy that use within those. And I think the first thing that we need to look at so number one is just finding opportunity and having that strategy. What we're talking about here is draw odds aren't really about gaming the system, but it's about finding opportunity and really creating a plan is crucial. It's not just creating a plan for this year, but years out into the future. So we're going to look at some of the strategy for finding hunts for now and then Also thinking about planning for things later on. Starting out, we're going to use stats and look for hunts based on our goals and the category of hunt that we're looking at. So think about last week. That was the primer for going into this week of getting your head around utilizing those statistics based on a certain type of hunt or a certain type of hunt category. This is going to be our basis. So we're going to utilize what we talked about last week and find those opportunities based on that strategy. Now, sometimes that strategy can be near term. We're looking for hunts for this year and we might have to, we're going to have to look at, okay, what's our point situation? Where are we starting out at? What are some hunts that we can get on? Whether you have a lot of points or zero points, you can still get into a hunt this year. And that's the absolute truth. There are hunts out there available. It seems like it's. There aren't, but there are. Everybody, for the most part, can get into a hunt. It just depends on which one of those categories you're looking at. So if you're, if you're talking about like, hey, I only want a trophy hunt, well, then that might be a down the road thing, something that you're going to need to build some points for. But if you're saying, hey, I just want to get into a hunt, I want to go on an elk hunt, I'm looking for a deer hunt, those opportunities still exist. So we're going to utilize those categories from last week and say, where are we at and what are we looking for? If we, we're starting out at ground zero, then we're going to say, okay, that's where we're at now. We have to start focusing on for this year, what can we get within that zone? And then we're also going to look at, okay, what are some things even start planning out now, maybe doing some research and saying where are some areas that are that different point range or for that different type of hunt that I can start looking at for the future? One of the things that I'm going to do now is just kind of highlight a few of the mistakes that I think people make when looking at this application season thing. So when looking at applying what I, what I think of is I like to think of this as we are hunting for a hunt and you need to hunt your own hunt. I think one of the biggest mistakes is chasing what might be some hype. If you're always chasing that hype, and you're at and you don't have the most points out there, you're always going to be behind. A thing that happens is called point creep, where every year more applicants kind of start chasing that hype and then you think you're in for a tag and yet it's continually out of reach. Continually out of reach. Continually out of reach. My philosophy and strategy is to kind of ignore that in a way and really just look at the statistics and look at some of the data and find hunts based off of that, not necessarily following that hype. One of the things you don't want to do is ignore those statistics, but you also want to look at years previous and years past. Has the point numbers kind of maintained or has it continually increased? Is this an area where, you know, over the last three years, it's just like it's continually gone up, Gone up, Gone up where? Okay, if you had, if you're already at that point level, you aren't going to expect it this, this year because that point creep's going to happen. But hey, it looks like it's been holding steady. It's been two, three points for the last 10 years. Okay, that, that's reliable. Those statistics tell you, okay, it's probably not going to jump up and you can get into that hunt. So I think that there's something to be said for in some ways doing your own research because what you're able to do when you do your own research, you're better able to find that opportunity that you're looking for and you aren't so worried about all the other stuff out there. And in many ways it's the way that you can kind of find that sleeper unit, that hunt that maybe got a little bit overlooked. And the only way you're going to find that is by actually getting out and hunting. My draw strategy, my application strategy is a combination of getting in on consistent hunts, finding opportunity, and also having plans for the future where I can maybe get on like a little upgraded of a hunt and in certain situations at certain times. But my main strategy is finding opportunity. And that's kind of what the basis of this is about. But also if your main strategy is like, look, I live in whatever state, I can do some local hunts every year. And my non resident application strategy, I'm going to pick one state, shoot for the moon and, and maybe one day draw something crazy, that's also a great strategy. But the first part, the first step is understanding where you fit. And having that plan number two, I think is just A big mindset shift. It's about stop chasing and start filtering. So I think a lot of hunters use draw odds backwards in, in many ways, I think a common mistake is first finding that trophy potential unit and then applying for those dream units with no real plan in sight. I've done this many times, right? There's many states that I probably could have been on a really good hunt sooner, but I was always trying to upgrade for that next little bit better, next little bit better, next little bit better. And not always looking at some of the numbers that would help me get into a potential hunt sooner. So there's, I mean I know that there's a lot of units where I would apply. It was good at one point, tag numbers decreased and yet I still continued to go off of that particular area even though maybe another area had increased tags and maybe the odds were a little bit better in a comparable, comparable potential unit. Another thing that I think gets overlooked or not looked enough is, is the type of access within a certain unit. So we really have to consider the type of area that we're applying for and looking at. Is there a place to hunt? I think one of the things is what will happen is as you start filtering through and seeing some of these statistics, you might find this absolute gem of a hunt. What really high success, really high draw results. Why is no one else paying attention to this? Then you start to dive a little deeper and you realize, well, it's all private land. Those are probably primarily people that live there and have access to the land and or outfitted guided hunts that are providing access and helping with that success rate. So the right approach here is, is going to be to start with realist those realistic goals like we talked about last week. The. And also understanding, okay, we're going to say what's your experience level? What are you hoping to get out of this hunt and what kind of hunt are you looking for? What category of hunter do you fit in? The next thing that we want to look at is how often do you want to hunt? Is this something where it's like, hey, I want to hunt every year and you can hunt every year. Oh, I'm going to do this once every four years, five years, I'm going to just do this once. How often do you want to hunt? And we're going to start building that strategy based off of those categories. We're also going to have to look at your current point situation. Are you starting out new? Is this something that you, you have points and you have a lot of points I've got a lot of points in a lot of places, so maybe my strategy is going to be different than, than a lot of other people, but I had to start somewhere. A lot of the places where I was building points is kind of in the background. Like, I wasn't necessarily even expecting to draw those tags when I was applying, or I was just saving those points for sometime down the track because I filled in my hunts with that. How often do I want to hunt? Well, I want to hunt every year. And so I was chasing hunts where I could hunt every year and potentially get on that same hunt year after year or every couple of years. I've said this before, I'll say it again. I really think that it's better to hunt one unit five times than a good unit once. I think that what you gain over the years of like, hunting something multiple times increases the type of experience that you're going to have in the end. And then the other thing that we need to think about is our flexibility in choice of what we're hunting with archery, muzzleloader, rifle, primitive rifle. We talked about this before as well. But, you know, looking at the flexibility with that and trying to find a hunt that matches, we're gonna, what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at the odd, like, statistics of a unit. Maybe it's like, okay, here's it. Maybe you find a great unit. It's like, rifle season has really good trophy potential, really rates and whatever. And the draws are near impossible. But we can now scale down. Say, what's the muzzleloader season look like in there? What's the archery season look like in there? What's some other season dates look like in there? Where we know, hey, maybe we can get on that hunt and we can utilize that as experience. It might be a tougher hunt or a weapon choice that's maybe more difficult for success. But we're still in the field hunting. So the, the approach is going to be to have some realistic goals, set up our expectations, what we're looking for, and then find hunts that match those particular expectations. Number three, we're going to look at now understanding draw ads without really getting lost in the weeds here. So every state has some different systems, and I think that it's important wherever you're looking, to apply understanding the point structure in systems. So some states have no points. Some states have preference points, some states have bonus points. Almost every state now is a modified preference point. So preference or, sorry, if they have preferences, some modified version preference point system Means that those with the most points are issued tags first. Bonus point system is you have a higher likelihood of drawing with additional chances in the hat. Some states, many states that have bonus points, they're squared. So if you have one point, you're like your first point. You're in there one times, you got like one point plus that year's application, you're in there twice. If you have 10, it's 10 times 10. So you got 100 plus that year's application is one. So you got 101 names in the hat. So if you applied 10 years in a row, you have 101 names in the hat. If you applied one year, you get one name in the hat. So your odds exponentially increase for each additional year you're applying. Now, there's also random draw components to some of those states where it's preference points. But there is a certain percentage of tags that are on the random draw. Understanding these things is very important because it can change units that might not even be possible to draw. Some units in certain states with preference points are going to be go to Max point holders. It's really important that every state that you are applying in or doing some research on, you really understand their draw system. I think that a lot of applications go out with guys not necessarily understanding the draw system and missing out on even getting in for that year. I've been guilty of it before. There's been plenty of place times where I've applied in Arizona. Not knowing like thinking, not knowing that I don't have Max points, not knowing that almost all those tags will go to Max point and they're not being a random tag in those units. So in those states, just understanding that system and then looking for areas. So now you're going to have to look at past applications, areas that potentially like went all to Max Point users and finding areas outside of that. So it's probably not maybe not the best area, but an area that might be the next tier. And then there's some places that no matter what have some random draw tags. So knowing, hey, is there even a random draw tag? Okay, there's a lot of states that I have preference points in. I don't. I've used points and I'm just going in for the random draw. Wyoming is a great example. I cashed in my points. Now I'm just playing the random draw game. I'm applying still every year in Wyoming, but I'm just shooting for random draw and going in with that mentality of I'm entering this for Random draw. I know that I don't have the points for it, but I'm hoping, okay, what are the odds? I'm looking at the statistics. Oh, that's actually doable. And I think it's worth applying for and then putting in and trying to draw. So every state is a little bit different. Every state has a different system. Knowing where you're going to want to apply and researching that state. One thing that you can do is like we're going to talk about the ONX research tools or whatever research tools you want to use. You can start filtering and using some of the filters to, to narrow down. I could select multiple states, put in a few parameters of like draw odds and success and it'll spit out some information for me. That's a, that's a great place to start. Then I can go, okay, I can pick a few of those and say, oh, one's in Colorado, one's in Wyoming, one's in Nevada, I don't know. And then I can go, okay, well now I'm going to research those states, their draw system and really understand that system and start looking into information about these units based on that system. Or maybe I'm going to pick a state based on proximity or somewhere I just want to go and then dive into understanding and learning about that state's application system. I've spent as much time understanding every state system and trying to keep up with the new things as anyone. I use a lot of resources, a lot of reading, a lot of like the state website and just also just reading other articles and other things to try to get like news information, just to try to keep apprised to what's going on. But really understanding how that draw system works for that particular state is really important because that's kind of one of the ways that if you just understand the system that's out there a little bit better than the next guy, you might be able to utilize that to your advantage a little bit and pull a tag easier because somebody else missed something. There's a lot of that that goes on one of them in particular, like just off the top of my head, the way that Montana operates, you can apply with preference points for the general tag, or you can apply with no points. If you apply with no points, you're in a random draw every year. But if you apply with preference points and you only have one preference point, your odd of drawing is 0%. There's a lot of people that go in thinking I have a preference point, I'm going to apply yet you aren't even in the draw till you have two preference points now. So there's every little state, Every state has some little thing like that where a lot of people don't actually know the system and therefore are kind of, I guess, not finding the right opportunities because they don't fully understand the system and where they're playing. It's very confusing. Every state's very confusing. The amount of knowledge, like wasted brain space that I have in my head for every state system and then they change it and all the things and the things that you have to look at, it's daunting in many ways. But on the other hand, just spending a little bit of time understanding that stuff goes a long ways in being able to pull a tag. I think the angle here is draws too. You got to look at it as a probability tool and not a promise. There's certain states that last year might have been 100% draws with a certain point level. But that doesn't always mean that it's 100% draws. Things change every year. Point creep happens, increases happen, some areas become more popular and some areas that add really low draws a year before now are a target because people are targeting draws as they start to filter through this stuff. A lot of people have access to these tools. So something that might have been 100% last year isn't always 100%. But the one thing that I do look at is using these as probability tools to suggest demand and potential for a lot of that. So that's just something to remember. But I think that understanding the draws and then understanding the systems in every state are going to be very important, helping you find a hunt that you might be looking for. So I have talked about some of the hunt filtering and hunt research tools that Onyx has. So it's for their Elite membership. I work with Onyx, not because of any other reason than it's just like the best stuff out there. It's stuff that I use, I use their maps and then they also. This is kind of just a benefit of that is this hunt research tool. So if you already have the Elite membership, you have access to this. If you have another whatever, whatever you use, I mean, there's other similar things out there and then there's also, you know, information you can find online too. So. So there's a lot of things that you can look at. I think that like having some sort of filtering helps and I'll just go through the way that I utilize it. So oftentimes like you just like step One, you just filter by state and species. I, I'll first pick a species. Sometimes you can select multiple states. You might be like, I want to go elk hunting this year. So then what you do, you would select elk. You could choose like bull, cow, whatever. And then you could select multiple dates. And maybe we're looking at season dates or a certain weapon type. Maybe you're like, I only have, I have two weeks in October, not November, not whatever. Or maybe I have a week in November that I know I can get off, depending on your schedule. So you can, you can filter things that way to help find a hunt for you. And then I'll use draws for the most part. So I'll filter for things like 0 to 2 points, 3 to 5 points. Looking for like opportunities for now or opportunities for that, like maybe mid tier point level or those long term strategies, those like someday tags. One thing that I will look at is like, you know, you're inputting your current point level is pretty important because it tells you kind of your story. But sometimes I'll go in there and clear that out and then just look at everything and say, okay, here's an area that's like 0 to 2 points. Here's an area that takes some points. I don't like to think of this application season as just for this year. I think of now, plus years out. So what I'm doing is like create a. I've got notes in my phone and I just kind of create a system where some of the things that I'm thinking about, some of the things I'm looking at, some of the things that I find when I'm researching hunts. What happened to me recently was like I started to notice a lot of hunts that I was very interested in in this 0 to 3 point range. Quite a few of them for whatever reason, like mostly elkhons. And it was in a state that I had quite a few points for. I think I had 12, 13 points. And I'm like every year I'm kind of treating these points like, like they deserve something. Like I'm going to get something way better. I don't know what I was like. I was in this weird range where I had a lot of points where I kind of felt connected to him in a stupid way and didn't have enough for like very top tier level hunts. I ended up just saying, screw it, burning them. Because what I really wanted was I really wanted to be able to get on these other hunts that took zero to two points, three points more often. And these were things that I had identified during this kind of application season saying like look, I've got, I've got, I got to get rid of some of this because I want to be in on these other more general hunts where they're actually doing pretty good right now. I can get in on this hunt, I can maybe hunt it every couple of years and a good hunt. So I started doing that and so far it's paid off. I've had, I pretty much shot just as good a bull on the 0 to 2 point hunt as I did on my, you know, 12.9. Okay, I got a little bit better bowl on 12 point but I, you know, ended up getting in on a hunt again this last year. Got a nice six point bowl with my bow and I'm probably going to pull a tag again this year because. And you know, I mean I've got a place I applied at 50, 60, drawed something like that. So there's a good like pretty decent chance that I'll end up on a hunt like that again and who knows what will turn out. Maybe have a good potential again to harvest a decent bull. So I, I've got, I'm in that same problem with a certain state with deer points where I've got quite a few deer points. I want a particular hunt. I'm waiting one more year to kind of cash in and get that hunt because I think it'll kind of peak if for some reason point creep have. I'll be the guy that's doing the point creep on most people. I think I got more points than I need. But every year I'm kind of missing out on a few hunts that I'm noticing going oh, that's a three. Like I could be in on that hunt in two to three points. There's quite a few states I'm in the position of where that's happening. But I like this idea of looking further out. Like what's something you can do now? What's something you can do in a few years that seems to be consistent where it's like, hey, I'm looking at the data here and over the last five years it's been within that three to five point range. Like it goes up and down but it's that mid tier and then those long term strategies and sometimes that's between different states. There's certain states, Nevada I would consider a long term strategy. Utah in a lot of the premium limited entry stuff, long term strategy. Arizona a lot of the premium limited entry stuff, long term strategy, it's like yeah, way down the track when I am old and gray I can pull a tag in these places. Now I could have got in on hunts earlier in some of those states and probably had really good hunts in many cases. But it's like eh, I'm gonna just treat it as I'm doing it once I'm finding these other hunts other places. So I don't necessarily need it right now but I'm building out that like now a few years from now and way down the track and kind of balancing those real trophy type hunts for down the track and the opportunity hunts for now and those mid range hunts of like something good could happen and I'll get in on it every however many years. So building out that strategy based on that time helps a lot. Now the other thing that we're going to look at when, when I'm getting into that filtering is just the harvest success. So we're going to look at success rates, we're going to look at numbers, like numbers of tags issued and these are all things that I can filter. I kind of got off track there and whatever but these are things that I can filter. And then the other thing that we're going to look at public land percentage. I like a decent amount of public land because I'm just terrible at asking for permission. I just don't like to ask for permission. I'd rather just go hunt public land. But in some cases I've actually, I've actually done okay in, in the last few years like finding places to hunt where hey I have a little bit of public land or private land access asking and then also that maybe even gave me access to some public land that I could have accessed but could access easier this other way. So but just understanding like that public land percentage and then looking at some of that age class data if available to just kind of understand the kind of quality of animals that are taken in that particular unit. You know I, I think one like formula is areas with high success and fairly low tag numbers are often a more premium hunt. But one of the things that you need within those is like I said before that that actual land hunt you might find areas with high success and really good draw odds but no public land. And there's a reason that it's high success and good draws because there's nowhere for most people to hunt. So understanding like once you find a unit you have to do a little bit of research on that area, you know, pull up the map, look at it. Is this somewhere that I can hunt? And then if not, check it off the list and go down and kind of search for the next one. Number five, this is kind of a little bit of a strategy that may be underrated tactic. It's like a tag volume strategy. I think that oftentimes areas with high tag numbers get looked at and in some ways dismissed. You're like, oh, that's a bad thing. There's a lot of hunters out there. I've hunted a lot of places with a lot of hunters and still found great success because high tag numbers often mean more opportunity, more better potential chance at a tag. Easier draws long term. And sometimes in some years, I mean, lower profile units can outperform famous areas. It's just number. It's like a statistical thing, right? You've got more hunters there is the potential there. Someone somewhere might turn up something real good. But I think that in the past sometimes I've always searched out areas for me, my personal hunting style. I like areas where there's fewer hunters, fewer animals, harder hunt. But I just didn't have to deal with people. But I've also had some really great hunts in areas where there's a lot of people around, high tag numbers. And I could get those tags more often. This year there's a few places that I put in because the places that had fewer tags were. There's more competition now. But okay, this particular hunt, maybe it's not as desirable to me, but it has more tags. There's definitely more animals in the area. Maybe now I just use my a strategy of trying to get away from people a little bit, maybe hunt a little harder, a little whatever, and try to utilize that where I've got a tag in my pocket. I'm chasing a higher tag volume in areas with higher populations and am getting out and getting in on a hunt. Number six, we're going to look at using statistics to kind of find those hidden gems. So talking about sleeper spots, my goal every season when I'm applying is to find the next great spot before it's the next great spot. I want to be in the next good spot four years before it's good, if that makes sense. And a thing that I kind of look for is, you know, moderate success rates. I think that areas with the real high success rates and one of the things that we got to look for within this category when we're looking at success rates is what's the tag good for. So as we talked about last week, some of the success rates might be almost like hyper inflated because you're allowed. Let's say it's a elk tag. You're allowed to shoot a bull of cow or a spike. Some are like you can only shoot a mature bull. It's got to be a brow tine bull. Okay, well what kind of tag is it if it's got a high success rate on bull like mature bull type or brow tine bull elk. Okay, that's telling you something a little bit different. But the areas that I'm looking for is more of like that moderate success rate to potentially low success rate. For me personally, I do like areas where it's like hey they've been increasing tag numbers over a certain amount of time where it was or, or they've held tag numbers for a while. I think that that so like increasing tag numbers maybe says like it's an increasing population where you're starting to see a trend. Another thing is or at least they're holding tag numbers if other units, areas around tag numbers have been dropping. Maybe this particular area has a stable or improving odds I think to find new or breakaway units. I think sometimes there's some success in that where sometimes you can find some sleeper units where prior years, you know, there was a unit cluster and then they've branched it off or they've adjusted boundaries, they've split some things off and maybe that maybe you can pull away and look at a unit the part of the unit that wasn't as popular and okay, well hey, they pulled away this because maybe there's just a little bit different herd dynamic, a little different management objective going on here. So that might be a way to kind of find an area a little bit before it it gets crazy where it has the potential. But we're looking at it that way. Oftentimes there's new hunts that pop up and sometimes those just go unnoticed in some ways where oh hey, here's a new hunt here. Whether it's new season, whether it's new season dates, whether it's a new weapon choice. Those can be really great ways to find those air quotes sleeper spots looking also another thing that I like to look at is areas that we talked about. There are those units where there might be, you know, I said I like to look for areas with high public land percentage but there might be places that are high private land percentage yet still some access that might be a way to, you know, maybe that public land gets over hunted. There's it the hunters aren't spread out as much but it could also be a way to get a tag sooner and find that oh hey, there Is actually some good hunting here. You just have to hike a long ways around. There is some legal access, but it's just a long way into these, like, particular parcels and smaller areas to hunt. I've had great success and, you know, doing a lot of legwork Getting around private land to get into a place where you can hunt that's bordering some other private land or sandwiched in between some spots. Your hunting area is more narrow, but you can sometimes get those tags easier because there's less places to hunt. Access is kind of an issue, but there is still good places you can access, and sussing through some of that stuff can help you find that sleeper spot, that sleeper unit, and sometimes tags that are easier to get. Another thing that I like to do is I also. You can also find some of these places just when you're essentially doing a lot of e scouting, Looking at terrain features and mountain ranges and things that look good for that particular habitat, that have good access points, lower road densities, and maybe some wilderness units within there. So we can use that. We can kind of use statistics to narrow down what we're looking for and then e scouting to kind of confirm what we're looking for. I found a few areas over the years where it's like, man, I had a great hunt in here. It was easy to get a tag. And there was just something that deterred people from it. Whether it was access issues, whether it was just kind of nobody, Everybody kind of overlooked it because it was, you know, pulled off of a really good unit. But it was a bordering unit that has different management objectives and lower densities. For me, I kind of always sought out the harder hunts, But I relied on my skills and abilities more than the, I guess, ease of hunting the unit. Now, that's something to think about. But if you're just getting started or you're like, you know, I don't have much experience. Those. Those are. Stay away. Stay away from those units because it's. You're going to get defeated. You know, in many cases, I get defeated in those units, like, get your butt kicked sometimes, which is fine. But there are plenty of other areas where they'll meet other objectives and other goals that sometimes get overlooked. I don't know why that happens. You know, anytime there's new regulation changes or price fee increases, Sometimes that can also help you get into an area a little bit sooner. Like the price increased. Some people just burnt their. Their points. And so going in after a price increase can actually help you maybe pull a little bit better unit or Find an area that maybe is a little bit underserved and you get a little bit more quality for when you got into it. So those are all little strategies for finding those kind of hidden gems. Number seven, we're going to look at a three tier application strategy. I'm sure a lot of people have talked about this, I've talked about this, but this is kind of something tactical that you can implement. And so tier one is going to be your long term, Those dream tags, 10 plus years more or even more. You're going to identify a hunt or estate or something like that and start building toward that. The thing is going to be to apply consistently and really don't expect to draw, but be happy when you do. I like to find states where there is the potential for a random. If you're just. I've said this before, like I called it the three state Monty where you pick one random draw state, one, you know, preference point state, one bonus point state in, in this case like those dream tags and those long term runs apply every year. If you aren't in, you really don't have a chance and you know like apply every year with the hope that later on down the track you'll get to go on a hunt like that. But you know, applying every year because you're gonna have to get lucky at some point and you know, relying on luck. Tier 2 is like that mid tier quality hunt. I think of those in that three to seven point range and ones that are kind of consistent within that range. Those hunts often are really solid opportunity and probably some of my favorite hunts out there to be honest, like I think that you can really harvest that top end out of there. They have trophy potential. There's often more tags in there, there's a little bit more opportunity and I think that you just have to manage those expectations of knowing like it can be a great hunt, it any hunt could be a great hunt. But I think that those are kind of the, the bread and butter and sometimes maybe should be the goal of a lot of it is like focus more on those mid range hunts because you can really get into some really great hunting opportunity. The like competition, the number of tags. Like many of those units have a lot of tags but not as many as the opportunity tag. So a little bit lower hunter densities, potentially better trophy quality and the potential to just kind of get away from hunters a little bit and something you can go on maybe every three to five years or more. And if you have a couple of states where you can pinpoint something like that two or three states, you can rotate that through and actually be on those. Instead of being on those hunts every set five to seven years, you're on them every three to four years because you're kind of rotating through a couple of states and then continuing to build other places. And then tier three is those opportunity tags, zero to two points over the counter alternatives. Some of those meat hunts for cow, elk and stuff like that. And then also hunts that you might consider learning hunts where it's like, hey, pronghorn hunt. Just getting, if you guys like, I want to go out west on my first hunt, what should I do? Get your feet wet. Go pronghorn hunting. You know, it's, the logistics are easy. The hunt's fairly easy in my opinion. It's fun, but it gets you out into some new country, gets you like, get some reps in, gets you like say like, yeah, this, this is great. This is fun. I can find some success probably and have a good time doing it. They're super cool animal anyways, but stuff like that, we're, it's, it's hunts that you can get in over the counter. Opportunities are not dead. There are still places where you can do some over the counter tags. You just have to seek them out. There's especially some, a lot of over the counter cow tags and other tags. There's tags that are not that hard to draw and there's plenty of them. And so I think like the majority, this is like my workhorse zone, tier three. I, I do more of these hunts than any of the other hunts combined. But as I start to pepper in, you know, I, I apply in multiple states. I don't necessarily know if that, like, I think that you could pick one of these strategies and, and do one of them right. Like, okay, I'm just gonna start for that mid tier zone, pick one state, apply in three to five years, go on a really decent hunt. There's guys are like, I think there is something to be said for maybe trying your hand first in one of these over the counter or harder hunts, but just to kind of get some reps in where it's like working out the kinks of logistics and, and you might even find that success and then having that long term strategy of like, okay, and I've also got this out in the distance and sometimes you can do that within one state, to be honest. You could pick one state, you can start building points, you can apply for another species. That'll be that dream tag. You can apply for one that species. It's going to be your mid tier tag because you got to buy a license for that state anyways. And in the interim there might be some leftover tags and some other hunts that you can get on and in access these, you know, you don't have to do every state in the west to make this strategy work. You could, with a little bit of research, pick one state and utilize this. I think it's a really good strategy. It's my strategy and I'm on a hunt or even multiple hunts every year utilizing the strategy. Majority of them are in that Tier 3 opportunity hunts with those mid tier ones peppered in every couple years or what have you. And it really builds out a really well balanced, kind of like hunt plan each year. And then, you know, every once in a while myself or someone I know draws that dream tag and I either get to be a part of the hunt or, or go on or, or be the tag holder. And those are really awesome opportunities as well. So if you're, if you're the type persons like I want something to hunt every year, that's kind of the strategy that I would employ. The more states you add, the more opportunity you have to kind of work it out. But I really think too within the opportunity tags, finding places that you can go consistently makes a big difference. So if you can find over the counter hunt that you can hunt, you know, it's like, hey, I got within the next five years, I can hunt it twice or whatever, you know, whatever your time or schedule allows, you're going to be a lot better off. So when you draw that mid tier hunt, you've got some kinks worked out. You've maybe got to try some strategies and some other things and you're going to be a lot better off with those points that you invested. Number eight, I'm going to, we're going to look at a few pitfalls to avoid point creep being one of them. That's where the number of points each year increases. You're going off of last year's stats and going, oh, I needed three points to draw it. And then you apply with three points, but it needed four this year. Look at how many people were applying, how many, how many tags were left over. If there's a lot of buzz on a particular unit or just saying like, okay, I've got four points, I'm going to apply for a place that took three points last year or two points last year. That's why the point creep exists, right? And I try to, I'll have over the Amount of points and apply for a unit. Like, I think a lot of people put too much value on points. I have a lot of friends that call and ask for advice. Like they're non residents for Nevada. And they go, I've got nine or 10 points for Nevada deer. Where should I. Like, that's like a lot of points. Where do I apply that'll be worth that many points? I'm like, dude, there's get any unit. I don't. It doesn't matter because, like, you could have a great hunt in any unit. You could also have a shit hunt in areas that are supposed to be great. It really fluctuates. I just think that we've put way too much value on points. I don't think that there's only a handful of units out there that I think are even worth the points that it takes to get. And even that some years, not worth it. Like, I could probably name, I don't know, off the top of my head, like, Arizona strip mule deer tag, probably worth the points. That's about it. I mean, I don't know, like, because. And even then you can go goose egg. You can have bad water year, you can have some years. It's not right. I just think that we put so much value on a lot of these points. I know this on the other side, the extreme side, because I've got 26 points in some places, 28 points in some places. And I'm like, okay, like, what's worth waiting 28 years to hunt? And I know for a fact I'm gonna get on that hunt and it's just gonna be whatever it's gonna be. Whatever it's gonna be. Probably not gonna be worth those points. Probably not gonna take my best animal ever. Because every year they fluctuate. I just don't. I just think that that's the state of it. Like, some places take a lot of points. And I don't necessarily know if it's like quote unquote words. You're gonna. You gotta use those points somewhere. So I just don't think it's worth putting so much value on points. I think it's more finding the type of hunt, you know, some years, okay, maybe. Maybe wait a year till it's like a little bit better water year or what have you. Maybe. Maybe populations in a certain area are hurting and you aren't in a hurry, so you can wait. But I don't know. Sometimes I think we just put too much value on these points and then another pitfall is just not adapting to state changes in the system when, like I said, with price increases, with changes in the way that the point structure is with applications or new units, like, sometimes you can take advantage of those new changes that other people maybe didn't pay attention to. And I think another pitfall to avoid is just there are areas that get hype, and for good reason. I think once you hear the hype, the hype is over. Like, I know you know, there's certain hype on, like, okay, a really good sheep unit. It's like, it was. My friend's wife drew it last year, and we have a film on our YouTube channel about it. And I still think that there's really good rams there. But when you're hearing about an area like that, it's like, oh, it's crazy. And the tag at cheap show sold for over a million dollars. It's like, yeah, and. And you can't hunt dead animals, right? Like, once everybody knows about it in the hype. Like, the hype. I think the, like, the hype happens, and then it lasts for, like, three years on areas. And I think the last three years, once that hype hits, it's not like it was when it was hyped up. It got hyped up for a reason, because it was a certain way. Now, some. Some units for deer milk and other things and whatever, sheep, I mean, like, it still better than what else is out there. And some units, like, it maintains it for a bit because maybe there's good conditions, burns, and other things that, like, really do it justice. But sometimes. Sometimes that hype is worth it. And you go, like, I've had an area during the hype that was, like, real good. Probably one of the best areas. And, man, we saw great bucks passing up really good deer every day. I came out of that hunt unsuccessful. I hunted the whole season. I was hunting a certain buck and didn't get it and whatever, But I was like, wow, it was worth the hype. And then, you know, a year or two later, friend drew it, and it was just not the same area, and it wasn't worth the hype. So I think sometimes the hype can be very misleading, but other times, yeah, I mean, there's a reason that these areas get hyped up, because they can be pretty incredible. I think it's like, there's certain units in every state that are well known as being the best, and there's a reason for that, and the draws reflect it. Often less than 1%. So number nine, I'm just going to run through like a little bit of my personal system. So just walking you through, like, let's say I'm on the Onyx hunt research tool, kind of my workflow. So first thing I do, I'm picking a species and then I'm, I'm looking at my current points and just going through draw odds for realistic point level. You know, one thing that I decide is like, do I want to kind of gamble with it or do I want to secure something? So right now I literally have no tags for. I've applied in a few places and I have no tags for the season yet. But when I. So I'm going to find, you know, I'm going to pick one state that I have points in and say, all right, where can I guarantee that I'm going to get a tag and I'm going to cash in on that. But there's other places where I'm like, well, okay, there's other opportunities. I might, you know, maybe I'll just go for a point place that's like, hey, 30% draws and this looks like a pretty good unit. It's got lower tag numbers. I'm going to cross reference the success rates. Oh, it's got pretty like low tag numbers, pretty high success rate, bull only unit. I'm going to cut to the map now and look at that unit and say, oh, looks like pretty good public land and like kind of the country that I like to hunt. Some good opens, some good timber. September archery hunt season dates. I'm going to look at the season dates and be like, oh, yep, mid rut elk season date. I'll save this unit and maybe apply for that. And then, and then. So what I'll do is I'll, I'll kind of break it down. I'll look for those things and like timing wise and season dates, draw odds, harvest statistics. I'll look at, you know, maybe I, I know about a lot of the units. So just understanding like the trophy potential there or what might be around and then I'll, I'll start to highlight and just make notes on, on a lot of those units and then I'll go in and do a little bit deeper dive on each one of those. Okay, what other season? One of some of the other things in that deeper dive is what other seasons are there? I might have an archery tag. There's a. I've applied. I actually was looking at a unit recently and I was like, oh, thinking archery hunt. Yep. And I look into it. I'm like, dude, there's. There's a muzzleloader hunt going on the exact same time as this archery hunt. Okay, well maybe I just apply for the muzzle attack or maybe I do that archery hunt and that's why the draws seem a little better because there's people running around with muskets at the same time frame. I don't know how I feel about that. I don't really like that safety concern wise. But you know, that is a. That isn't is a potential. But also what other hunts are in there? Hey, maybe I found a unit and just there happens to be a hunt that I wasn't, you know, like looking for maybe this hunt particular. Like let's have you got some points. I find a unit, take some points. I go, oh look, there's also a general kind of season in here with unopportune dates. So I could cash in my points for this archery hunt, learn it, probably have a decent hunt, and then go hunt it rifle or muzzleloader later on every couple of years. Okay, cool. Like that. That's something to think about. So I really dive into those particular areas and what other units and opportunities might be available and try to get a better understanding for that. And then I narrow it down to a few winners for my point level and what like my particular goals and then I apply for that area and so I start with that filtering. I filter through and just try to look through a bunch of stuff based on parameter that suit me and my hunt style. And then I go from there to looking at the map, checking out the success rates or potential type of hunt. Kind of e scouting it like a brief e scouting of it to just see what it looks like and the terrain type. I'll save those units and then I'll do that deeper dive and then I'll do my application. So in closing, number 10, I think just something to end with. I. I really do believe when it comes to all this application stuff, like you could have listened to all. I've done a lot of podcasts on application strategy. Like I know less now, but I think that it can be confusing. It can seem daunting, but you really just gotta dive in. I think the overall strategy, one of the better strategies is if you can swing it. Hunting more often makes you better. I think that in some ways the tags don't necessarily make the hunt they do on the extreme end, but in that mid range and tier, I really think that preparation kind of pays more dividends in some ways than the particular tag. I think that the best unit is the one that you can draw and scout. Someone's like where should I hunt elk? I'm like, what's the closest. Where can you get to? It's a like time in the field and energy spent doing that is way more beneficial if a guy's like, if you're like between drawing something X amount of years out or you can just pick a over the counter tag, you could scout it two times and hunt it for a week and put more time in. That's. That would be my option. I think. There's no replacement for time in the field and time, time hunting. A lot of people I've run into people like in like hunting somewhere and I'll be hunting and they're like, oh, you know, you know, whatever. I was like, oh, how'd you land on this unit? Oh well, I heard this online, whatever, this, that and the other thing. And I'm like, oh, where'd you come from? And in my mind I'm like, dude, you drove through three states and way better elk hunting opportunity that you could have got to way closer just to go hunt this because of some thing you saw or heard. And I don't necessarily know if that benefits is a benefit. I really think that, you know, picking somewhere close, somewhere that's easier for you to access or you can get some time in the field where you can draw it and you can put some time in scouting too. Man, that's a deadly combo. 100%. So I think that there is all that. But also think about, you know, creating a strategy really helps because you got some stuff that you're playing the long game on and you just know that's for down the road you've got, there's so much data available to us right now. Like you can get on an app and filter through stuff. That used to take me like I would, I would like be reading through documents and like these pages of whatever successories they're buried on some fishing game website and like have a eureka moment, you know, like you can come to those conclusions a lot faster and easier now. But then also I think that it's really important to have like categorize yourself and have certain sets of goals and then filter and research for that. Because what you're going to do is you're going to find the hunt that suits what, what you're particularly looking for. Even if you don't know what you're looking for. You're like, I've never done this. I don't, I don't know. I'm. I think there's that fear and apprehension of being like, what if it's not a good hunt? Dude, you can have a not a good hunt in some of the best units in the country. I've been on them. Okay. Like, absolutely. Can I think that, like, that fear is probably more detrimental than the actual. What that tag is. I have had some phenomenal hunts on places that people said were units, and that's the God's honest truth. Places that all the me. Everyone's like, these are terrible areas. The wolves have killed everything. Whatever. I've had some phenomenal hunts in places that were bad, and I've had some terrible hunts and places that are good, and I have some good hunts in places that are good. And I've had good hunts in. In bad hunts in places that are bad. It happens, right? So I think that that fear of, like, o. The wh Ifs and the what, like the unknown, you just got to get over that. Just get over that. Find the hunt that suits whatever you're looking for, particularly, like, your end goals, and then start to build a strategy along that. And that's how you hunt for a hunt. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this podcast. There's a lot of applications open right now, places to start looking for. Even if you're. You're like, hey, I. I'm not planning on hunting elk or muley or whatever pronghorn this year, but I to two years out, three years out, now's the time to start to think about this. This isn't just for this year's hunt. This is to build those strategies and start. Start doing the same research now so you can kind of have a better idea for when it's time. Maybe you can start building points in that. Maybe you've got an idea of some places. Maybe. Honestly, like, there's so many places where I'm thinking three, five years out, and I've spent a day or two in the summer, like, hey, I was like, make a little family vacation, go to this place, do a little camping here, look around, learn some roads. Look at this unit. Does this look like somewhere I want to hunt? Hey, this looks pretty cool. I've done that so many times and, like, just getting familiar with an area that I'm going to go hunt or hoping to hunt later on down the road. There's a place that I want to hunt in the next couple years, and, man, I might just go make a couple scouting trips now and next year and the prior to that hunt, me and my buddy are going to go and he's Already been on two scouting trips in the area. It's not even a place that takes like a crazy amount of points, but hey, we're going to cash in a few points. Nothing crazy, but he's been in there a couple times. I'll be in there a couple times. We're going to hunt together. It's going to be awesome. And, and we're building that now, thinking about it and having that plan. So it all is just super beneficial. So I hope that this stuff's a benefit to you. Whether you're going on that hunt and planning now or thinking about this is something that I want to do and I got to get started for in the future. As a reminder, you know, incredible supporter of this podcast. We talked about him a lot in this podcast onx Hunt for the reason that it's a tool that we use and it's extremely beneficial in the field and out of the field. But also with that Elite membership, you can use that filtering if that's something that you're interested in. You know, also you can go to the state websites and do this stuff that way. But man, having the tool to sift through massive amounts of information and customize it based on things that you're looking for makes it so much easier and gives you a good starting point. So as always, you guys can use code LIVEWILD, you'll get 20% off. If you don't have the Elite membership, you just, you have to use the code on their website so you can upgrade on their website or whatever and then use that code and get 20% off. So I'm just going to say until next week, hunt for that hunt. I'm excited to see what you guys come up with. And you know, for me, this time of year it can be kind of exciting. I enjoy the tag drawn application portion of thing because it just, it gets your mind going. It gives you something to think about, dream about, plan about and kind of keeps you in the hunt even in the off season. So hunt for that hunt. I'll catch you guys next week.