re: I’m gonna do a day by day of 2024 Elk/Mule deer hunt starting tmrw *final update pg3!*

Frick yes! Congrats on the awesome bull.

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Out here in the west, most states, except New Mexico and Idaho, employ a preference point system. Each preference point represents a year of applying. More “desirable units”, whether that be age class, fewer tags etc, take more points. This unit gives out only 25 elk tags a year, and given the potential caliber of bulls on top of that, pushes it to 6 points for me aka 6 years of accruing points before I can draw. But Colorado does have over the counter rifle tags, meaning you can come out and buy a tag at wal mart and go hunt elk in certain units. Those units get hammered by nonresidents tho. Deer is draw only. But they just changed Archery elk to draw only too, I would assume rifle isn’t far behind.

NM and Idaho are random, meaning you have the same chance as anyone else. Some states employ a “bonus point” system where your points are cubed and what not on some complicated system.

Residents always have the advantage out here, I’ve got points for various species in Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, and South Dakota. New Mexico is random every year so getting a tag there I like winning the lottery.

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Thats a good breakdown. I will also add for people interested in pursuing this to look into something called "point creep". There are some units where the required amount of points goes up every year, so applying pretty much isn't ever worth it because the year you have 3 points itll cost 4, then the next year when you have 4 points it'll cost 5. I can't remember which states this is an issue in, but I would do a LOT of research on the states you're interested in and the points systems they use before applying and waiting for something you will likely never get.

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“Holy crap did that just happen?” Knees are wobbly, adrenaline rushes over, I’m shaking uncontrollably.

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The very best part of a hunt that you'll never forget! Congrats and what a great detailed account!

My dad and cousins would drive to Colorado every year in the 80's. Public land around Durango and Grand Junction. First time I went was '87 and we'd travel to the end of the road and set up base camp with a large military tent and cook sheds, and just fan out on the mountains to hunt. License for deer was a little over $100 and around $250 for elk (too much for my poor college arse). Season was 5 days and I killed a 5x5 muley on the last day. Looked similar to your pics but there were a lot of aspens. A couple of guys in our bunch killed small bull elk.
Went two more times after that (91 & 93). I think the public land hunting became much more restrictive after that - hence the point system you guys talk about.

That kind of hunting is a dream for a piney woods rooter like me. I would love to go back someday.

Again- Congratulations on a great hunt.

Great experience Frac! Thanks for taking us along with you and congrats on the kill. I was up in Wyoming in late October but struck out. Will never forget the experience.

40, if you have enough points

Thanks for sharing a great story and pictures.

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Rifle season still has OTC tags but I'm sure that will change in the coming years.

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Why would they get rid of OTC tags? They make a shitload of money from out of state hunters with these and the success rate is like 10% so it’s not like out of state people are killing a ton of elk.

They’ll ruin Colorado elk hunting for out of state hunters if they do this.

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Why would they get rid of OTC tags? They make a shitload of money from out of state hunters with these and the success rate is like 10% so it’s not like out of state people are killing a ton of elk.

They’ll ruin Colorado elk hunting for out of state hunters if they do this.

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They won't decrease the amount of hunters, just make tags draw only. Just like deer hunting, there's states like Illinois that are technically draw but like 98% of hunters draw a tag.