Why the draw?

[ramirojpc]

It might seem like a crazy question but seriously, I am trying to understand why the draw? I used to live in TX and in TX one buys a hunting license, in my case I only ever hunted white tail, you can kill up to 3 antlered & 2 anterless animals with the one license, it costs about $46, you can buy the license every year, and you can hunt the whole state. Granted TX is 90+% private land so one has to have a place to hunt or lease property. So coming from that background, for me it's almost as if you need some kind of a degree to understand how to hunt in CO. Last year I was pretty bummed out because I though I was going to have to wait years to go hunt as I accumulated points, in some cases I read articles where it took people 20 years to draw a tag.

I am not a trophy hunter, I will never mount a head of anything and put it in my house, but I love wild game so I hunt strictly for the meat. So if people can get OTC tags and go hunt every year, why the draw? What's the benefit/reward of waiting years to draw a tag?

[Brendan]

Fewer hunters and more/bigger/less pressured animals in the draw units (in general). Some draw units won't take near that time too - just the "Best" ones

I'm building points, but it isn't going to stop me from hunting OTC while I wait...

[vertical limit]

It also has a lot to do with big game management. In Nevada there are no OTC tags other than mountain lion. Everything is on a draw. The elk in Nevada are a prime example of good management from introduction. Management of the hunting AND areas in which they live. The deer hunting has gone down a bit in the past few years due to poor winters and over hunting, IMO. With a draw, you can set a quota of a maximum number of animals to be harvested. You can't do that with OTC tags unless you cap the number of tags sold OTC.

Also, as stated above, areas with bigger animals, difficult access and low animal numbers will have different draw odds than the areas with a lot of animals and easy access. There are areas in Nevada where you can put in for the draw as a resident and draw a deer tag almost every year. It's just preference. If you don't mind hunting the roads with the 800 other people that hold a tag for that area, then those are for you. Personally, I like drawing the tag where I may not see anyone for 2 weeks. My bull tag I drew this year is just that. They give out 10 tags for the area. 10. That's it. I may not see another hunter my whole season, and that's what I love about the draw. If you are patient and know your goals, you will eventually have the chance at a once in a lifetime hunt.

[Trophyhill]

It ;should be all about management and in most cases throughout the west it is. Take NM for example. We have an estimated herd of 80,000 elk I think. If tags were all OTC it wouldn't take long to wipe them out. The tags allocated have to be split up between bow, ml, rifle, resident, nr, outfitted and landowners. Very convoluted here in NM. And we dont have the numbers other western states have.

[ramirojpc]

Thank you for the responses, I am starting to understand, the management to make sure animals are not wiped out makes some sense; and in the difficult units to allow animals to grow to big trophy size animals with minimal hunting pressure makes a lot of sense.

The way management was done in TX was to restrict the size of the animal to be hunted. Vast majority of places only allow 8-point white tail deer or larger to be taken, except in the 2 week anterless only season where male spikes could be taken. That is the other thing I don't really like about hunting in CO, the short 1 week seasons. My $46 tag in TX allowed me to hunt from Nov. 3rd to the middle of Jan., then after that there was a 2-week anterless only season. So essentially one can hunt for 3 months. And here is an added benefit, one can hunt exotics like Nilgai or Axis with the same white tail license, but these can be hunted year round.

[CurlyTail]

In Colorado, the Game and Parks Department attempts to regulate the big game herds by dividing the state into Game Management Units. They have population goals and estimates for each unit set every few years based upon the available habitat, perceived demand from hunters, and tolerance of elk by private landowners (who prefer the grass be used by their cows than the public elk). Because Colorado has a large percentage of public land, there is increased need to manage herd size. Some hunters want more elk, some want bigger elk, the landowners want fewer elk, the environmentalists want lots of elk, lots of wolves, and no hunting. Many competing interests.

There is definitely more demand for elk than the available supply.

If all licenses were unrestricted, there would be soon no game to be found except on private land. In units that have a large elk population, abundant public land, and adequate rough terrain to ensure not all elk are harvested, then they allow unlimited over the counter (OTC) tags but still with seasons restricted by time limits (only a few days). In units with smaller populations of elk, only a limited number of licenses are issued to prevent over harvest. These units tend to have higher trophy potential since more bulls are allowed to reach maturity. The draw is an attempt to distribute these limited licenses in an unbiased manner. I suppose an alternative would be to open these licenses up to auction to the highest bidder - pretty sure we wouldn't like that! Some hunters, whom trophy potential is important, are willing to wait multiple years so they have a better chance of finding a trophy animal. Limited license units also tend to be higher quality since fewer other hunters are in the field and nobody likes bumping into more hunters than elk when hunting.

By having some units managed for numbers of elk, and some units managed for Trophy size, the Game and Parks is trying to appease hunters that have theses different priorities.

Each State has their own method of managing their Elk Herds. It is indeed a confusing array of rules and regulations. It took me about 2 or 3 years to fully understand the Colorado system. I set about to learn the Wyoming regs and after 6 months and about 5 times through their website, I finally understand it. Join the crowd if it is confusing. But in the end, we all want well managed healthy herds and an opportunity to chase elk.

[ramirojpc]

I am glad I asked, this had been a great explanation. This makes complete sense and I agree, if this type of management is what it takes so that elk area always available to hunters, then this is good. Thank y'all (see, told you I was from TX ) for taking the time to respond and educate me.