what Western state would you recommend other than Colorado?

[seattleman1969]

LOL! Bold first post.

Based on what criteria?

Probably based on not wanting them to come to his favorite state!

 

[seattleman1969]

I'm a non-resident from the midwest. I apply in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming, and Arizona for elk and mule deer. Currently I have between 18-27 preference points for all these states except for Wyoming where max points is lower. Guess the saying about a sucker being born every minute applies to me. Feel like I'm personally funding several states wildlife budgets. I'm real close on a lot of great tags but saying something like that makes me think I sound like a compulsive gambler. I always have a plan to hunt something every year while I'm blowing money on preference points. There's OTC tags and landowner vouchers which you just have to decide what your tolerance is for the price.

I feel your pain for Colorado 201. Going into the 2018 draw there were two non-residents with 28 points and twenty-five with 27 points. Both 28 pointers drew and two of the 27 pointers drew (8%) which I guess means there are twenty-five 28 pointers for 2019 for roughly four tags. Hopefully maybe half of these people will decide to immigrate to other countries soon. The residents aren't a whole lot better off.

Meanwhile Montana continues to have a surplus of tags for a lot of areas that are over objective...

That could change this year. It appears that the late March Norther had a serious impact on a several herds. For example one herd North of Missoula was counted at 50% of what it was last year during the Fish and Game Spring counting flights. This is a fairly protected suburban herd with little predator impact. They decided they'd made a mistake and flew it again a few days later, getting the exact number they did before. The adjacent herds have not grown at all either so it's up for speculation what happened to this particular herd but over 150 elk are missing.

 

[Rhino Hunter]

Meanwhile Montana continues to have a surplus of tags for a lot of areas that are over objective...

That could change this year. It appears that the late March Norther had a serious impact on a several herds. For example one herd North of Missoula was counted at 50% of what it was last year during the Fish and Game Spring counting flights. This is a fairly protected suburban herd with little predator impact. They decided they'd made a mistake and flew it again a few days later, getting the exact number they did before. The adjacent herds have not grown at all either so it's up for speculation what happened to this particular herd but over 150 elk are missing.

Wow, 50% of last year??? I wonder what's causing that.

 

[atm sozol]

LOL! Bold first post.

Based on what criteria?

With two different elk species, Oregon stands in a league all its own. Not much state offers the opportunity to hunt Roosevelt elk. They still have the larger Rocky Mountain variety as well and you can take either with a single tag.

 

[Rhino Hunter]

With two different elk species, Oregon stands in a league all its own. Not much state offers the opportunity to hunt Roosevelt elk. They still have the larger Rocky Mountain variety as well and you can take either with a single tag.

I would agree that Oregon has two huntable elk species, while the other states don't. However, I'm not sure if that's what the OP was asking for.

With respect to size, I'm pretty sure the Roosevelt is the larger of the two, with the Rocky Mountain having more antler growth typically.