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Not necessarily "beautiful weather". In 2019 it was snowing, raining, rigs getting stuck everywhere. We had to leave a truck and camp trailer behind in unit 10 until the following month to try and get it out. November hunts are hit or miss with weather as Elk country in Az can be nice and sunny or a blizzard in November.
You're absolutely correct. I am in Colorado. I have recently spoken with several DOW officials while attending a fundraising event. I asked them if they might start selling point insurance so that hunters can pass on the points they have accumulated from years of applying for a simple elk or deer tag to another family member.
Unfortunately I didn't draw a tag. Next year hopefully
I had an elk hunt in unit 10 November 2004. What a nightmare. I forget what the name of the hurricane was that caused all the rain... My buddy and I each drove our trucks . He had his quad in truck bed. I had mine on a trailer with some of our gear. The trailer was like pulling a plow thru 2 ft. of mud. Wheels weren't even turning . The quads in the deep mud... I won't even discribe. We took turns pulling each others trucks out. Once he got stuck in front of me. I had to stop. I got stuck. You couldn't get out of the two track in mud cause it was so deep. We unloaded a quad. Hooked the winch from it to front of truck. He winched while quad was in reverse digging a hole which helped . Actually pulled truck out of the ruts up on to firmer mud. Did it to my truck with trailer next. Pulled the quad out of its hole. Loaded up and finally got to Hwy. Went into Flagstaff and had a drink or 10. I wish we had a video to show Polaris Co.. I had red mud under my truck for yrs. Still have scratches on my windows from powering up and down with mud on them. That's my unit 10 story.
Probably won't get any better over time. Went to Colorado last year to tag along with my son inlaw, only saw a couple other hunters, but there were hikers and mountain bikes literally everywhere.
I wish you luck! Was gathering points for a Colorado antelope hunt. Never thought when I first applied this would become a "once in a lifetime" hunt due to point creep. Finally drew my tag at 13 points. Twenty-five days before the season opened my mother-in-law became very ill. Hospitalization, ECU, etc.
Actually that's not true. Most non-western states across America have been seeing hunter numbers dropping for decades. This means the most avid hunters apply even more pressure on the western states. Especially those states that still have some over the counter tags. Sounds just like inflation (we call point creep). Too many hunters chasing too few tag opportunities. The biggest problem is the average age of all hunters is increasing dramatically year to year. Plus side if you're young? In under 20 years there should be a lot of tags available as we older hunters move on to hunt in a different area!
www.outdoorlife.com
I disagree. All of our junior hunts are lottery tags. Many juniors do not get drawn. There isn't an otc hunt tag here. The only leftover tags are for javelina or turkey which are a second lottery. Anything else is rare to apply for leftovers.Actually that's not true. Most non-western states across America have been seeing hunter numbers dropping for decades. This means the most avid hunters apply even more pressure on the western states. Especially those states that still have some over the counter tags. Sounds just like inflation (we call point creep). Too many hunters chasing too few tag opportunities. The biggest problem is the average age of all hunters is increasing dramatically year to year. Plus side if you're young? In under 20 years there should be a lot of tags available as we older hunters move on to hunt in a different area!
An Official Journal Of The NRA | Western and Southeastern States Defy Hunting’s ‘National Decline’
While hunting participation at the nationwide level is down, license sales in Western and Southeastern states are booming.www.americanhunter.org
Hunter numbers dwindling across the US, not in the West
Number of hunters increasing year by yearwww.gohunt.com
Why We Suck at Recruiting New Hunters, Why It Matters, and How You Can Fix It
Baby boomers make up our nation's largest cohort of hunters, and they've already begun to age out of the sport. Within 15 years, most will stop buying licenses entirely. And when they do, our ranks could plunge by 30 percent—along with critical funding for wildlife management, advocacy for...
I grew up in PA. Whitetail hunting was as close as you could get to a national holiday. Generations hunting together. Still that way in most of that state which has people constantly complaining about the orange army. I have heard that same sentiment for 50+ years though.
