Early opening western archery hunt?
General Topic
I know California opens archery on some seasons in July, but not looking for that. What's the earliest opening archery hunt in the western States where you can get a tag OTC or with no points in a draw? New job will make all archery elk hunts for me impossible, so looking to get my western fix elsewhere.
If you're ruling California out, then this advice wont matter, but the B units in CA open 3rd Saturday of August for Columbian Blacktail.
Nevada, AZ, and Utah all have early openers in mid-August for mule deer, but only AZ is OTC, although utah has an easy draw for their general buck season. NV has some mule deer tags that aren't too tough to draw with zero points, but it's $160ish just to apply (hunting license plus the app cost).
They're all going to be tough hunts though. Hot weather and a lot of country with no bucks between the country that holds them - it's not like whitetail where there's deer everywhere there's habitat (perhaps with or without a mature buck). Mule deer live here and they live there. Everywhere else, they pass through infrequently or never. You'll have to work for them. You're not just going to go into good habitat and find bucks.
You’re forgetting A zone in July Ike, at a brisk 100...
G - he mentioned A zone in July in the OP, I figured he's scared of liberals.
Mendocino is a great place to be in July - it's too bad I need to work in July to get August off.
Ike, not scared of California, just didn't know the availability/access of public lands their. And, knowing that my wife would like to visit California, I'd probably have to split time doing the tourist thing and the hunting thing. That'd be ok, but I'd like to hunt.
Kodiak Alaska Blacktail opens Aug 1st, though they won’t be done growing the first week, it is still a great bowhunting adventure and OTC, 3 buck limit. Won’t be too hot or dry there in August!
Central and Northern Cal are great places to visit. Yosemite, Sequoia, the coast, the redwoods, etc (I'd rather stab myself in the throat than do the Southern California tourist stuff, but San Diego is a great place to visit for the family/wife. Dont go to LA).
There's plenty of public land in CA - open Google maps and look at all the green. But it's all tough hunting and gets worse the farther south you go towards the LA basin that houses 19 million people. I leave CA and hunt public in the midwest and I just laugh at how easy it is to kill animals compared to CA public land. I'd rather have an easy-to-draw LE mule deer tag in southern NV and give my wife a couple thousand dollars to waste shopping in Vegas.
Montana antelope is a draw but a high percentage draw for archery only tags. The tag is good for all districts that have a rifle season for antelope. I think the start date is Aug. 15th.
oz
Those national parks sound fun to visit and hike, as my wife likes to do. Maybe need to take a 2 weeks trip to tour and then to hunt.
Montana is closer and intriguing. I appreciate the input guys!
Ike, please don't stab yourself in the throat, I enjoy your stories too much and can relate!
