Western Hunt Application Tools

Western Hunts are hard and understanding the application process can be difficult as well. For premier big game like elk, mule deer, moose and sheep applications in Western states non-residents are generally need to apply for a tag. Many of the tags require acquisition of preference points which have to be acquired over multiple years. Data organization and utilizing tools to create application strategy can save you a lot of headaches.

In this article I want to share some of the tools, resources and terminology that can give you a foundation to begin your research.

First Steps in beginning Western Applications

1. Determine what states and species you are interested in hunting

2. Define your timeline – Are you trying to get a hunt in this year or in 2-15 years from now?

3. Define your application budget – Applications and point accrual can become expensive before you even get a tag. With points ranging from $50 per species/per state and to some states requiring the purchase of a hunting license (approx. $100 for nonresidents). Unless you have an unlimited budget you will need to focus your applications.

4. Organize your information/applications - If you are applying to multiple states and species it can be difficult to remember and time consuming to reference the different state websites to confirm.

Tools

Western Hunting is a big business, from the tags, guiding services, gear and clothing to the tools used for research. Most will require a membership to access their full benefits, I am an OnX Elite member and most familiar with their platform and tools but they are not only option on the market. You can also do your research for free by investing more time and using state provided information and non-hunting specific applications.

OnX – Hunt Research Tool

Currently the OnX Hunt Tool has 11 states in its Hunt Research Tool

With OnX Elite memberships you will access to the Hunt Research Tool which utilizes state harvest and application data from the previous year to generate statistics for your likelihood to draw tags and the success metrics from the previous season.

With the Hunt Research Tool you can upload any preference or bonus points you have to your profile which will than be used to generate your odds for drawing a hunt or unit. You can filter season dates, method of take and sexes of a tag if you have a specific hunt in mind or leave it open ended to see all the different options. This is a great way to see what tags you may likely to draw this year across different states so you can go hunting this season. If you are interested in a particular unit/hunt you can also see how many points are required to have a certain or likely draw by modifying point totals.

You can filter rank units by your draw odds, harvest rate, hunting pressure and public land available. This enables you to quickly rule out units you will not draw or with limited public land if you do not have private land to hunt. It can also manage expectations for a unit you are likely to draw.

One thing I would like to see in the future is if the Research Tool Map could maintain any of waypoints from your primary OnX Hunt Map. Incase you had been to an area in the past or marked it up separtely. Might be a small value add but just a thought.

Huntin Fool

Huntin Fool is guide service, magazine and tool for Western Hunts. Membership is included with OnX Elite which will give you access to their e-magazine and research tools. They also have a consultant service you can pay for in which you work with a Huntin Fool associate to coordinate your applications and identify hunts you will or likely will draw based on your points, the service can also connect you with Outfitters/Guides in that region if you do not want to go the DIY route.   

Huntin Fool breakdowns each state and the specific nuances of the application and draw process. Huntin Fool has YouTube videos that break down the details and make it easy to understand and are annually to ensure they are including any changes in regulations or draw odds/ratios.

They also have a HF Cost Calculator which can tabulate your application fees across states calculating your upfront cost (before refund) and non-refunded cost, they also provide their fee if you want them to apply on your behalf.

Their magazine highlights specific unit details mixing quantitative with qualitatitve expert insight on what makes a unit desirable vs. challenging (ie a unit may have high draw rates but limited public land or identify areas that suffered heavy winter kills on species populations).

A screen shot of my profile and some of the hunts I have reminders set for

HuntReminder

One thing is for sure, is if you forget to apply or miss the application deadline you will not get a tag. HuntReminder is a tool that I have setup that sends me text messages and emails when applications for states open, periodical reminders during the open period and warnings when deadlines are approaching. If you are accruing points for multiple states or potentially hunting multiple states in a year it’s a great way to stay organized and ahead of cutoffs.

The website is a great way to see all the different types of hunts by states and can trigger your interest in hunts you haven’t thought about previously. It is not limited to Western States and identifies limited hunts across the US.

Membership is included with On-X Elite.

HuntScore

HuntScore includes details on 15 states

I do not have full access to HuntScore but can be a good tool for cross-referencing a specific units details. They comprise a multitude of attributes of a unit to create a score. Inputs range from hunting pressure, trophy potential, harvest rate, public land (accessibility) and more. Some of the scores are not tied to state published data so indicates some additional layers are used that are not used in other tools.

Example of a unit scorecard on Huntscore

Huntscore also has information on more states than Onx’s Hunt Research Tool including Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.

Huntscore was acquired by Basemap a competitor of OnX and is integrated into their platform to combine gps tracking and landownership details you can use in the field.

 Hunting Blogs/Forums

If you google a specific hunt by unit, you may be able to find posts or information on blogs or forums from people that have hunted them in the past. View this as quantitative information and may be able to give you someone’s insights on the unit but can be biased, dated or inaccurate. Don’t let one person’s comment on how they did not see any elk on there hunt or that they saw too many other hunters make you scratch it from your list. Try to gain more insights to validate.

Google Earth

If you want to better understand the topography of a certain unit or area for free Google Earth is a great application for that. If you want to validate a unit has Elk friendly terrain or want to rule out a unit that is too mountainous based on your physical limitations it can be a great tool.

State Websites and Agency

State Websites are your location to apply for tags, obtain rules and regulation information and can provide harvest and tag allocation details from previous seasons. They are going to lay out the unit/zone information, season dates, costs per tag and license.

Example of harvest report from Montana's FWP

State websites will also have previous year hunting season metrics that you can review, export and analysis. Many of the tools listed above summarize this data but if you want to review more in-depth or copy the data into an excel file to scrutinize you can.

If you are in need of more help or have a question come up that you cannot find an answer to online, I encourage you to reach out directly to the State Agency the website will provide email addresses and phone numbers where you can talk to a state agency. In my experiences they are quick to reply to emails and eager to help.

Putting Pen to Paper

After you complete your initial research and it comes to time to submit an application things you need to understand and be ready to answer during the submission are:

• Intentions – Do you intend to hunt this year or are you building points for the future. If you want to build points and do not intend to hunt in the upcoming season, either purchase just the preference points or apply to units you will not draw due to extremely low odds.

• Season Dates and your availability – some tags are limited to a week or short periods if you

• Hunting Public/Private – if you do not have access to private land and do not intend to use a guide make sure you are avoiding any tags reserved for private land

• Method of Take – If you don’t have a muzzleloader and don’t want to muzzleload hunt make sure you do not select the muzzleloader tag. Applications are typically method of take specific and those methods of takes generally have specific dates with archery being at the beginning of the season. So just because you see an option to hunt in September does not mean it is a general hunt.

• Unit Preferences – Unless you are tied to one specific unit, come prepared with 3-5 options in ranked order. You can determine what determines your preference but some states will offer you the ability to list multiple units in your order of preference and if you do not draw your top choice will review your alternatives.

• Tag Return Dates - If you do draw a tag and determine you will not use that tag that year, there is an option to return your tags in many of the states which has to be done well in advance of the season as they will do a secondary draw for returns. Make sure you are aware of the return deadlines.

  

  Hit send and cross your fingers!

Terminology Appendix:

• Bonus Point – Montana uses both Preference and Bonus Points. Bonus points are different than preference points. “Think of bonus points as extra raffle tickets. If you apply for a license or permit without any bonus points, you get one “raffle ticket.” The number of “raffle tickets” you have in the drawing goes up with the number of bonus points you have.”- FWT.MT.GOV

• Harvest Rate – is the percentage of successful harvests. It takes number of registered harvests and divides number of tags or licenses. This is a good indication of the units as higher percentages correlates to a strong game population. Generally they will be shown as a total of the residents/non-residents but you can find non-resident specific success rates which will give you a more realistic expectation of your probability as it takes out the homecourt advantage residents have who are more statistically more likely to get a successful harvest.

• Hunt Area/Unit/Zone – States are divided into smaller regions or areas, tags are generally associated with specific units or hunt areas. This allows for states to manage game more effectively based on animal numbers and objectives. You will generally designate what zone you want to apply for and highly desirable units will likely have low draw odds or require acquisition of many preference points. 

• Hunter Pressure – A calculation of total square miles in a unit by the amount of unit specific tags. Higher a number the more pressure there is likely to be while hunting (ie 0.27 Hunters/Sq mile is going to be more populated than a rating of 0.05 Hunters/Sq mile). Note if there are OTC tags available or some tags are applicable across multiple units they may not be factored into the calculation.

• Method of Take – This is the weapon type used in the hunt. Tags generally will have a method of take and time period associated with them. It is not common for these tags to be used across a full season and across multiple weapon types.

• Non-Residents - generally defined as someone who does no meet certain criteria set by a state to be considered a resident for legal and tax purposes. Non-residents will be allocated a lower percentage of limited draw tags and tags for non-residents are generally substantially higher than for non-residents.

• OTC: Over the Counter – these are tags that do not require an application or to be drawn they can be purchased

• Preference Point – Preference points are awarded generally when you do not draw a tag successfully or can be purchased separately. Generally you can get 1 preference point per year per species. Preference points will increase your odds to be drawn in future years and reflect seniority.

• Resident – generally defined as someone who meets certain criteria set by a state to be considered a resident for legal and tax purposes. Residents will have preference in limited draw applications with states allocating a higher percentage of tags specifically for residents.

• Schedule B Tag- Generally is a tag specific to antlerless deer/elk, such as does/cows or fawns/calves.

• Special Tag/Super Tag -  States will raffle off super tags which can give you access to highly desirable hunts, tags for multiple species or access across a longer time period. These generally do not factor in preference points and also do not give you preference points if you do not draw. Your odds are incredibly low like less than 0.1% low. In 2023, there were 124,602 applications for the Wyoming Super Tags for 10 winners for 10 species (100 total).