If you applied for deer, bear and antelope they are posted. Elk hasn't posted yet. No joy for me on deer (have 19 points now) but I did draw a buck antelope tag in the southeast corner of the state and that is only 2 hrs from Amarillo.

Elk draws are hitting CC's as we speak.........so far no dice.

Woot! Got a Mule deer tag.

What unit did you chase for deer?

Congrats on truck chaser tag!!! Shot two

No dice for me. 4 years ago my unit was OTC archery. 3 years ago there were hundreds of tags left over. This year, nothing. Going for the secondary draw now. Hunting out West is getting more and more difficult each year. Congrats to those that drew.

I put in for unit 2. I have hunted a lot of cow elk in that unit and have seen some absolute monster bucks and bulls. A few years ago I saw a buck I know was at least 35 inches wide and close to 28 inches high with forks over a foot deep and lots of mass. Watched him for more than an hr in 10X binos at less than 150 yards so I got a really good look at him. I've seen the world record typical head killed by Doug Burris and this one looked awfully close to it. Biggest buck I have ever seen and I decided that would be the tag I hold out for. Some day I'll get it.

No joy on elk. My preference point count just went to 25.

I struck out on elk, deer, and pronghorn. Secondary draw is next option on elk and then landowner tags if that doesn't work out.

Thank Steve Rinella, Randy Newberg and the hordes of other influencers who have shown the entire world how easy it is to apply and draw tags in Western States. They have ruined western hunting as far as opportunity and crowds go.

Stick with that plan don’t be tempted with BDO for deer

Progressive liberal aren’t helping with predator introduction and protections.

Tag numbers are falling and will continue to fall as Apex predators continue to sky rocket with parasite introducted protections.

CO is trying to basically giving away bear tags to lower populations, but parasite legislation won’t allow dogs, baiting or spring season. And the parasites tried to introduce a ban bill on lions and bears this past years

You are a patient man, much more than myself. I'm guessing you might be going for GMU 1, 2, 10 or 201. I would rather draw every other year and use LO tags to hunt the years I don't draw to be able to hunt elk every year. Our unit rarely gets bulls bigger than 350+, but we get a decent number over 320.

Got my 2nd Choice elk tag along the Utah border (Unit sixty). Hunted near there before, but not that exact unit. Less that 50 tags for that season, so shouldn't be too crowded.

Just waiting on Wyoming Pronghorn draw. Unit I applied for was 100% with 3 points in the special draw last year, applied with 5 points in the special. But with tag reductions elsewhere, there's no telling if I'll draw or not.

At least I have 2 elk tags in my pocket, AZ late muzzleloader being the other.

I have shot 25 elk, cows and bulls, including a couple 6x6s, on OTC tags as a CO resident, which means I have taken more elk than most will. I can wait for this once in a lifetime tag in unit 2.

I was all over the BDO last year as you well know. I saw some decent bucks and bulls but none worth 19 deer points or 25 elk points. But I do think that is the best place in the state for bear. I'll probably go up there in a week or so to fish the Purgatoire and just do some looking around.

Sent you a pm I’ve spent some time in there, ground and helo

100% agree, stud bears in there though.

The MeatEater podcast from around Christmas this past year when Steve Rinellas brother calls him out for crowding the Public Lands was a great one.

I will give them credit they hunt a bunch of OTC/left over tag units and typically kill out or get close.

Covid really pushed people out there, but barriers of entry to hunt out west aren’t even barriers anymore, so much info out there the only excuse for not going is the mirror.

We can definitely love something to death, backcountry is getting that way, but we aren’t there yet

You might want to look in the mirror about that. Forums like this also contribute greatly to PP creep and over crowding. There are literally thousands of Texas hunters on here and TBH that apply every year in Colorado and across the west.
Drought has also played a big roll in tag reductions.
Wildlife is struggling in some areas , and it's not just predators causing it.

Your OTC licenses will probably disappear before too long in Colorado, sorry to say but it will be the best for their wildlife.

Double edged sword with influencers like the above mentioned.

On the one hand, I 100% believe the have greatly contributed to the increase in popularity and crowding that we are seeing out west and on public lands. Seen it with my own eyes.

In the other hand, they have brought a sort of professionalism and refinement to the image of hunters to non hunters that was previously not seen since Hemingway.

Guys like Remi Warren, Cam Haynes and Steve Rinella have replaced the stereotype of a overweight, half drunk Elmer Fudd bubba type stumbling around the woods blasting at whatever moves and that 100% is a good thing.


Can’t have your cake and eat it too I guess.

Agree 100%.

If you notice carefully I never post or talk about where I hunt, what I hunt or even the state I’m in most of the time. I don’t want to draw any more attention to the areas I frequent.

The overcrowding I’m speaking of is in OTC areas so game numbers being down does not affect that unit, but can certainly push people into them that formerly hunted draw units. And yes, also agree that OTC units probsbly need to go by the wayside for the benefit of wildlife and also for better hunting

OTC license is more of a predator management issue then hunter issue. CO is going same direction as Idaho. Idaho got hammered by wolf management, in CO it’s bear management and soon to be wolf.

There are areas in CO where biologists are seeing double digit percentages of triplets in bear cubs and double digit decline in fawn and calf recruitment

Texas has more licensed hunters then WY, MO and ID combined, of course we will have influence in the rest of the nation. We almost percentage point

A 100% disagree. Exact same reason I may 100% stop hunting NM if the do away with NR sheep allocation. 97% of the states sheep conservation is via NR money.

Western applications may up but hunting numbers are still trending down. One of the main reasons I joined this forum was to get others out and hunt more, mainly out west.

Crowding is trail head deep in my experience, It’s normally pretty easy for me to get away from crowds.

If you don’t love it you won’t support it

The overall population is increasing too….so hunting numbers staying the same % wise is still an increase in overall numbers.

Not a bad thing in and of itself, many factors contribute to it. Lots of guys losing leases here in in Texas so they may stop hunting deer here and start hunting other areas on public land, not just out west but all over.

Agree with Bobo the predator population in Colorado is out of hand and they want to add to it.


It’s not a singular issue it more like death by 100 cuts with a few hard blows mixed in



But a person can’t deny that social media reach has influenced people to delve into outdoor hobbies they never would have picked up if not for seeing it thru a media outlet. I’m guilty of it as well….if I hadn’t gotten hooked on watching Alone I never would have picked up a recurve bow. Now I’m shootout 5 days a week in my backyard and it’s my primary hunting weapon here in Texas.

I don’t disagree on social media stuff. I like the Born and raised guys as I think they started and continue to have a good message/perception , but I did run into more first timers deep in the backcountry right after they went big on YouTube, couple wearing BRO swag. At first I was like great more people, but you can’t help but highly respect that a young adult just said the hell with it I’m going elk hunting in backcountry and went 6 miles deep, by them selves, on a whim. Now I don’t think they truly understood the consequences of actually killing an archery elk that far in but I did give them a list of packers, and my Inreach number, regardless hat tip to them!!



A lot of people will try western hunting atleast once, a lot will never go back, but those that do come back, will protect that hunting way of life like no other, they will give it their all trying to preserve it for their future generations.
That’s where I stand on issue