Your best year in the draws
General Topic
Since it is tag results season, rather than dwelling on all the unsuccessful notifications, let's hear about your best/luckiest year in the draw. It could be a year of multiple tags, or a really lucky random OIL tag, whatever fits your criteria for your best year. And, did you have to compromise with reducing other "normal" OTC hunts, make special work arrangements for extra time off, etc.?
I drew my once in a lifetime Colorado moose and Colorado mountain goat tag.
I draw multiple deer tags in Iowa every year.................That’s pretty much it :-(
I had a great year last year in the draw, drew WY elk and my daughter drew a very good deer tag which she turned into an awesome mule deer buck on her wall. We apply for so many tags though it seems like simple math tell us something will hit each year. Fingers crossed yet for 2020, thought I had NM in the bag this year and that failed miserably.
The only "unexpected" tag I've drawn is a NV deer tag, which was probably a 25-30% odds proposition. Other than that, just WY and CO deer when I hit the requisite point levels to draw.
Oh, and I did draw a POW spring black bear tag in Alaska that got COVID cancelled, so hopefully that tag will be forwarded to a future season.
I have drawn exactly one of these type, low odds , unexpected tags. Wyoming bison. It turned out to be a great trip....sure would like to draw another low odds tag someday.
Never drawn a tag I didn't mostly expect to draw. Hope to hit the lottery once or twice in my lifetime.
Drew a Minnesota moose tag and bear tag the same year I had an Alaska trip booked once. That was a busy (but fun) fall season.
I drew a WY general Elk tag in the random once....once.
—Jim
If I draw one tag it's a good year!
Minnesota moose was a great year, as was Gila elk. I haven't drawn a tag that wasn't a 100% draw in 6 years now, though. I put in for a bunch, too.
I drew <1% odds Kodiak Brown Bear tags in back to back years, hunted 30 days and never drew my bow.
Every year back in the 90's. When paper applications ruled. Before the internet, outfitter welfare, auction tags & diminished NR quotas took over. Back then I drew slammer tags every year with few to no points. Fast forward to 2020 and can't even draw with 20-25 points in multiple states for the same or similar hunts. Can't imagine getting in these games from the ground floor today. The system has shifted from public land opportunity distribution, to nothing more than a money grab selling the opportunity to not hunt. Unfortunate but true.
KHNC and I were successful in the NM elk draw, in 2016, 2019, and 2020.
And, Kenny had drawn the Gila in 2015,the year before I applied with him. Stupid crazy lucky!
TMA sheep tag , moose tag and Rosie elk tag all in 1995 all in AK
I've drawn several tags that I expected to draw over the years. Only two "surprises" to date:
2018 - Drew a Colorado archery ram tag.
2019 - Drew a Utah Henry Mountains mule deer tag (Management buck)
2020 - Still waiting. Such runs are supposed to come in 3s, right? right!
Zim- it’s so sad but your right on
I drew a Colorado archery ram tag in S51 and the same year drew a Montana Missouri Breaks ram tag! 1 P&Y ram and one B&C ram!
I drew a Valle Vidal rifle tag this year, man it feels good to be lucky!
I think my best year was e/s elk, e/s pronghorn and 5 deer tags all in Colorado. I guess only one of the deer tags was drawn the other four were leftovers.
I drew too many archery tags one time 20 some years ago. I had a an AZ bull elk tag. a CO bull tag in one of the NW corner units, a UT buck tag in one of the top areas, a CO buck antelope tag in a good NW unit and a second choice bighorn ewe tag. Way too many tags to do them all justice from mid-August to the end of Sept (combined with my job). I sure had fun trying though!
Az strip deer and Mt mountain goat in one year. Co sheep and Wy moose in one year.
My daughter both drew back to back weekends of NM oryx on first try and I drew a OIL CO moose tag through a raffle for 100.00 worth of tickets
Have drawn 5 archery elk tags in Arizona....all nonresident ! A Nevada archery bull tag with 6 points ! and a long time ago drew a Utah Book Cliffs bull tag with 0 points !
My best is probably a series of the last 5 years, as I finally have hit the maximum points for a number of Arizona species, I drew top areas for the last several years (and was fortunately able to do pretty well with most of them): 2016 Desert Bighorn Sheep (B&C ram with bow, #3 AZ); 2017 Arizona Strip mule deer (B&C sized NT buck with bow, #2 AZ); 2018 didn't draw a great tag, but took all-weapons state record Merriam's turkey with OTC bow (broke 28 year-old bow state record); 2019 Rio Grande turkey (AZ only issues 4 tags per year - took state #2 of species with bow); also drew bison after 30 years, but the bad weather and deep snow kept them from coming into our hunting unit during the season.; 2020 Unit 9 archery elk (TBD)
My lucky season in terms of drawing tags is always "next year".
I drew a Tule elk tag first time applying- got my first bull
I drew an AZ elk tag and a UT Expo elk tag the same year. -Didn't like that they overlapped
I drew a WY deer tag and a AZ strip deer tag same year.
I drew a CO BH sheep tag and my son drew a CO Mt. Goat same year, was a great year.
Now I live in AK and don't worry so much about it!!
Can’t decide it was either 2006 when I drew and Arizona Strip 13B Mule Deer, Montana Elk Super Tag and a Wyoming general Deer tag. Or last year when I drew a Colorado 201 Archery elk tag along with a Montana Breaks Ram tag plus a general deer tag.
I’ve been lucky in two moose draws.
2009 Colorado B&C Bull Moose & 60” 2016 Alaska Moose.
Both are Once in a Lifetime hunts.
I drew a random elk tag in Wyoming 2017. The one NR tag. It cost me 5 PP’s, but I was happy to start over.
Hands down 2018. I drew a low odds Idaho elk tag and my daughter draw a low odds Utah elk tag. Both elk are in our living room!
Easy...2010. I drew a desert bighorn sheep tag and a rifle pronghorn tag in Arizona which are both extremely difficult to draw.
Have had a lot of best/lucky years in the draws. Just a few listed below:
1998 - Colorado bighorn ram sheep and mountain goat in units right in my back yard. Hunted my butt off for like 18 days and did not connect. Left a few arrows on the mountain. Got to meet one of my bowhunting heroes, Marv Clyncke. Killed a goat on the first day and was back home with it by dark. Hunt of a Lifetime!
2000 - Drew a Utah AR-1 elk tag. Had a great hunt in several units with giant bulls that I will likely never get the chance to hunt again. Hunted hard and got on some monster bulls several times and ended up killing an aspen tree that was between me and a 380 class bull. Met another great Bowsiter and helped him kill a nice bull. I still hunt with him today.
2004 - Drew a New Mexico ibex tag in the Florida Mountains. DIY solo hunt with some great help from Bowsiter who has had a lot of success down there. Busted tail in that nasty steep country for a week and finally got an arrow in one. He made it around a cliff and hung up on an inaccessible ledge. Depressing, but another Hunt of a Lifetime.
2005 - Drew that bighorn tag again. Hunted every day of that season. Made a great friend of one of the non-resident hunters and helped him get a ram. Spent some time hunting with TJ Conrads. Did not loose an arrow at a ram but had another amazing Hunt of a Lifetime!
2006 - Drew great Nevada deer and antelope archery tags. Spent two weeks hunting with some great friends for antelope and deer but was not successful on either. Another great hunt with great friends!
2007 - Drew Wyoming moose. Spent 20 days chasing moose DIY and finally got one with my longbow during the rifle season. Hunt of a lifetime!
2008 - Drew a Arizona 3A/3C elk tag. After getting my butt kicked by a bull in Colorado (literally!), drove my beat up body down there and gave those bulls hell. Hunted every day of the season with two of my best hunting partners and was with them when they both got their personal best bulls. Into multiple bugling bulls every day. Finally shot a nice 6x6 at last light on the last day of the season. The most awesome elk hunt I have ever had.
2015 - Won a Wyoming Commissioner's Tag. Work had me out of the country for the archery season. Finally got back into the country with only time for the late seasons in November. Another famous Bowsiter provided amazing information on how to hunt the unit and literally saved my life when I killed my bull.
2017 - Drew a Colorado Unit 2 elk tag. Spent at least 30 days total up there scouting and hunting. My Bowsite hunting buddy from the Utah hunt came up from Arizona and helped for the last week. Hunted 16 days and killed a whopper. Probably cost me my job at the time but it was worth it!
2019 - Drew Wyoming Unit 62 elk and Colorado G5 mountain goat. Hunted hard for both tags and got to spend some great time with good friends including that Bowsiter that came up for my Unit 2 tag. Got him a shot on a solid 340 bull on the first day. Hunted 10 days in Wyoming and didn't lose an arrow. Hunted my butt off for goat for 16 days and also, did not close the deal. Tough year for sure but still a couple of Hunt of a Lifetimes!
The blank years above have been filled with amazing bow hunts in places like Argentina, Peru, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Kodiak, Alaska, and Kansas. Have busted tail to help a number of guys as much as I can when they have drawn their hunt of a lifetime tags.
Been a great run! I have been blessed with getting to know some of the best bowhunters of all time and an amazing amount of fabulous hunting experiences.
Looking forward to the future!
Got lucky and have drawn 2- Michigan elk tags.
T.O
^...drawing two Michigan elk tags is extremely lucky! Drawing one is very rare...drawing a second time is iconic! You need to get some Powerball tickets.
Luckiest recent tag I got was last year.....a Montana NR Antelope tag with zero points.
2015- Utah archery elk and Arizona late archery elk Had the time to give both hunts a good go, resulted in 700 gross inches of antler. That’ll never happen again.
Lotta bone Bill! Nice!
Glad to see at least some of the guys on here can capitalize on those tags that take forever to draw!
Will let you know when I finally draw a tag.
I do pretty good most every year in 2-3 states so I think it stays best by being averaged out over each year.
Good luck, Robb
After 25 years of applying for a resident moose permit in Maine I drew in 2006 and scored on a 51", had to skip a year by rule and drew again in 2008 and killed a fine 52", then had to skip two years as the rules changed and drew again in 2011 shot a nice 46". Put in every year since with no permit drawn but consider myself fortunate to wave been draw 3 times
Can’t decide it was either 2006 when I drew and Arizona Strip 13B Mule Deer, Montana Elk Super Tag and a Wyoming general Deer tag. Or last year when I drew a Colorado 201 Archery elk tag along with a Montana Breaks Ram tag plus a general deer tag.
Some of you guys make me sick! Lucky bastards... ;-)
Some of you guys make me sick! Lucky bastards... ;-)
Some of you guys make me sick! Lucky bastards... ;-)
Bowsite has been whacko today. I think the servers got the rona.
Applied for first time and drew Unimak Island Brown Bear in 2001, 3% chance of drawing it. Green score skull 31", 11' X 13" hide. An awesome hunt, once in a lifetime.
Applied for first time and drew Unimak Island Brown Bear in 2001, 3% chance of drawing it. Green score skull 31", 11' X 13" hide. An awesome hunt, once in a lifetime.
My best draw luck came in Utah,, two years in a row. The first was a Henry Mountains cow Bison tag. I wasn't close to having enough preference points, but pulled the tag in a supplemental drawing for a cow hunt in December. The following fall I had my name pulled out of the hat for an LE elk tag when the guy who originally drew it turned it back in. Both last minute decisions and scrambled to put something together, but they both paid off well.
Jdan, your luck is really out of this world! Some of you other guys as well. 2018 I drew a moose tag in Wyoming, Utah elk tag, and won a mule deer foundation hunt they were pushing hard at the expo. It was actually one of my hardest years of hunting as nothing seemed to go right.
Idaho bull moose, mt. goat, and rocky bighorn(2007, 2012, 2014). Looks like I'll have to wait at least another year for a Cali bighorn...
In California 2017 Desert Ram 2018 antelope 2019 elk
Drew an AZ archery bull tag and my 14 year old drew an AZ muzzleloader bull yah in 2016! We pulled a 6x6 (me) and 6x7 our of the woods that year!
Lee
