Tag allocation

[COhuntinsparky]

I am going to pose a couple of questions and then vent a little to make myself feel better. First, did anyone on this site draw unit 441 fourth season deer? We put in and for the second year in a row didn't draw. This is only the second year they have offered the tag. We always hunt second season for deer, but fourth season for elk. We see tons of deer second season, but very few big ones, but during fourth season we see monsters. I, of course, called the DOW to ask what kind of odds drawing a fourth season tag would be last year since there was no data and they assured me that since there was so many left over licenses the chances were good. Turns out they were way off. They only allocated 20 buck tags for 400 applicants for units 4/5/441 all together. That is a huge chunk of land. They had over 500 leftover buck tags after 3rd season last year and over 2000 doe tags after 3rd season. They don't even offer a doe tag 4th season. Now I know it is the rut and I don't think they should give out 200 licenses, but I am sure the herd in those units could give up 75 to 100 mature bucks. Maybe I am just crying in my beer, but I am tired of seeing monster bucks and all I can do is go poke them with a stick. It kind of reeks of special interest to me. What do you guys think?

 

[Hiker]

COhuntinsparky, I understand where you coming from but personally I'm just thankful to see DOW come back with a 4th season hunt. A lot of areas still don't offer a 4th season rut hunt. Big bucks get stupid during peak rut and they would get hammered if DOW gave out 75-100 tags. IMHO taking out 75-100 mature bucks in those units would be to many. I to would like to draw one of those late season tags but I know it'll take more points then I'm willing to save up, so I'll just hunt the average units, that takes 0-1 PP and hope to find a mature buck.


Hiker

Proverbs 3:5-6

 

[johnathanjcbs2]

Hiker,
I drew a 4th season tag last year in a unit I thought would be pretty hot. Same senario, see all the bug bucks in the 4th Elk season, etc, only 10 tags put out....I learned some things..

1st, other hunters do help. That alone was hard for me to admit!

2nd, heavy snow early allowed 2nd and 3rd season hunter's to smack sone real nice bucks befor I got into the field.

3rd, the animals had been hunted hard for a good month proir to my hunt, they had had enough pressure and woud not stick around for a split second after ANYTHING out of the ordinary would occur.

4th, I did not hunt at all the prior year so I could hunt this season.

I say hunt! Hunt every year you can! Every day you can! I missed 5 days of time in the field because I wanted to hunt this area in the 4th season. By the way, I am hunting 3rd season this year! I have wasted lots of hunting time chasing the points, and the perfect senario.....

Good luck,
JJ

 

[COhuntinsparky]

It's amazing how often the best laid plans can get messed up. You are probably right, Hiker, even though those units encompass about 60 to 80 square miles, that time of year all of the big bucks will be down chasing the girls and be easy pickings. I would rather see a lot of big bucks when I don't have a tag then see nothing with a tag because they are wiped out. It just seems like we see 4 or 5 monsters a year and we only hunt on 300 acres. I guess should wait my turn like everyone else. I'm really not a trophy hunter anyway, but I would like to take one big one in my lifetime. I get more of a kick out of watching my 17 year old brother and my buddy's 15 year old son take their deer than anything. The kids always leave you with the best stories.