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I’m posting this as somewhat of a journal entry for myself but also as a help/conversation starter for anybody considering trying to draw tags for western public land hunting. A summary of where I’m at in my journey: (TLDR: out of state public land hunting is complicated, figuring out how you want to do it can be complicated, there is help available) Last week I turned in my Colorado tag application and also decided to start building points in more western states for elk, and will be putting in for Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona for the foreseeable future. In addition, I will continue to build points for Moose and Big Horn Sheep with my Colorado applications where I usually draw an elk or mule deer tag. After thought and conversation with kids, I’ll be putting in for points for them as well. They are 10 and 13, and should be drawing decent tags in their late teens. Youth stuff is a whole other topic I’ll save for another time. New Mexico and Alaska don’t do points, and Idaho is a little different with costs, so I’m saving those for later consideration. For some of the in-demand tags, the average time to draw is over a decade (even for elk), and approaches 20 years for some species/units. One of the reasons I’ve put off point building is the fact that it’s so foreign to me to plan/spend money for hunts a decade+ out. After 5-6 years of research and some experience, I think I’ve finally figured out a plan for myself, based on what my capabilities and limitations are. Here’s a list FYI: Limitations: 1. I really lose interest looking at monster state game agency annuals trying to figure out where to hunt and where/how to apply, and all the little esoteric state-by-state rules. They evolve over time as well. 2. I have a hard time keeping up with all the due dates for applications. They aren’t consistent and also can change over time. And I believe with some states, if you miss a year of applying, you lose your points. (Big disincentive for me.) 3. I don’t have hunting connections all over the west. I have had connections in NM and CO, which were invaluable to getting me hunting there. 4. I’m 45. Already too old (by most guide’s recommendations) to start applying for sheep tags that have a ~20 year average draw time. 5. There is the potential for rules to change or for “point creep” to continue to lessen my chances at drawing tags in great hunting areas, but I’m ok with that. 6. I really enjoy a hot shower, hot meal, and cold beverage at the end of the day. Climbing into a sleeping bag without a hot shower is a low point for me and I typically don’t sleep well like that. This has limited me to hunting from places where I stay in lodging and walk/drive in and out of the hunting area. In order to get further back I will need to tent camp; an area for improvement. Capabilities: 1. I have a decent “public land” hunting budget. I usually spend about $800 for a tag in Colorado. Tags for most other states will probably trend higher, up to a few grand, which I can swing. I usually spend probably double that every year in ammo and gear. And then at least a couple grand in fuel, lodging, processing, tanning/taxidermy work. Building these points will cost about $700 per year. Not that much per se, but a shift from my Texas hunting experience. The costs are somewhat spread out over the year, so you aren’t getting a $5k+ bill all at once. 2. My wife and I will get into some arguments on the time I spend away, but we get through it. She is generally “supportive”; I.e. doesn’t overtly fight me on hunting topics, takes care of things while I’m gone, and is happy to cook/eat venison. 3. I’ve become a “decent” public land elk hunter; it’s a totally different thing than Texas whitetail hunting and took me awhile to adapt, and I’m obviously still drinking from the fire hose. This includes: A. Being in physical shape enough to go ~10 miles per day up and down grades at 7-10k feet elevation, with 20-70lb+ pack. B. Being able to read the situation and adapt the daily plan to the conditions; what the weather, animals, competing hunters, and your partner(s) are doing/wanting to do. C. Taking marksmanship, prep, and gear seriously. I make investments in my gear and have it sorted out and ready. Always being able to reliably shoot at distance when the hunt starts. It is a buzz kill on a hunt when someone doesn’t have themselves or their gear ready/reliable. D. I can “embrace the suck”; work through type 2 fun/no fun at all/tough situations without panicking / going negative / giving up. Dudes that can’t handle inconveniently timed hard work and adversity won’t make it in public land western hunting IMO. This will be something to work on with the kids. E. I am fairly patient and optimistic; can do all-day sits, multi-days hunts without seeing animals without letting my attitude sag, I’m in for the whole experience, not just the kill. Also, if I tag out early; I’m all in for scouting/pushing game or packing out for others. With all this in mind, I’m going to use a tag application service to help me with managing points/tags. I’ve looked at several services, but I ended up using Huntin’ Fool. They will cost me all-in about $500/yr. They have hunt planner types to help me with unit selection, guides, etc. if needed down the road. They have been helpful on the phone to this point and their website was good as well. Additionally, they will turn in applications for my kids for free in states where they are managing my applications, which is a huge benefit. I will probably spend more time with them on managing my kid’s applications than on my own for a few years.

Got out Turkey hunting with the 13yo today, she worked hard, but I couldn’t get her close to any birds; saw two Toms that were locked onto the hens they were with and wouldn’t come to calls. She had a good learning experience.

Here’s a response from the Chechens; say they don’t care much about this Ukraine thing and will happily come to Moscow and get it on if they see another Muslim protest video. Hopefully someone can make that happen.

Yeah that one is rough. Wet, cold, filthy, no escape.

The Russians are reaching the level of BS that is now consistently one-liner unintentional comedy. Like Michael Scott lines. The US is significantly responsible for A crisis in Ukraine. Russia’s crisis. LOL

Interesting timelapse of a Russian squad getting lit up by artillery.

Haha

NATO protesters in Moscow outside US embassy looking super energetic, unscripted, a real cross section of society, etc.

Russian gov officials must really not have any sense of humor to not see how much self-parody there is in statements like this.

Reddit CFB getting in on the gang bang:

And the rocket’s red glare…

Pretty satisfying mushroom cloud:

Good go pro footage, but I’m not tapping on the end of an RPG round after it’s in the tube. Nope.

It paywalls for me.?.

The WSJ links are all paywalled up now - anybody have a Cliff’s of what he was citing regarding the Russian economy?

Good stuff, this was my favorite part:

Seriously: he had an Operator vibe at the beginning of the interview and by the end when he was describing declining to shoot the Russians that were dragging off the guys he’d already shot, he reminded me of the Schofield Kid in Unforgiven: “I ain’t like you Will…”. He left soon after, couldn’t handle killing so many people so easily.

This is a lot like the Canadian sniper described - the dumb bastards just keep coming out and he kept shooting until he started to feel awkward because they are clearly untrained idiots.

Which one of you guys shit in the aisle by the Clintons at “Some Like it Hot?”: https://pagesix.com/2023/03/20/fan-poops-in-aisle-near-hillary-and-chelsea-clinton-at-show/ Note: they called you “elderly” in the article, haha.

Wait for it:

Arkansas was a pretty good place, but the problem with the snows (from what I heard) is that they have gotten extremely shy of decoy spreads and are really hard to hunt. The big outfitters do thousands of decoys per spread and electronic calls, and still have a hard time getting the kinds of harvest you’d think would be possible in a no-limit situation. Mossberg even makes a gun tailored to these hunts with a 12 round mag (3”).

I heard the other day that the unlimited hunts really aren’t knocking down the snow geese population to near the degree needed. There was talk early on at the federal level of poisoning them to get the numbers down. Haven’t heard if that has come back or not.

Great crowd fund name: