So we had our big game drawings, and after about 24 years of applying, I drew a coveted Moose tag. Going to be a mighty interesting fall.

They are fairly uncommon... but I know where to run across them. This past years rifle deer season we counted 6 different moose over a few days time.

Anywho.. its going to be an adventure!


-DallanC

Wonderful, Dallan! I hope you have a big freezer!! Keep us posted.

Fantastic! I look forward to reading about your successful hunt!

DallanC wrote:

So we had our big game drawings, and after about 24 years of applying, I drew a coveted Moose tag. Going to be a mighty interesting fall. They are fairly uncommon... but I know where to run across them. This past years rifle deer season we counted 6 different moose over a few days time. Anywho.. its going to be an adventure! -DallanC

24 years!? And I thought our system was lacking! One of the hardest (longest wait) here to draw is antelope, sheep and goat. My son and I are a priority 12 for antelope and could likely draw soon, depending on the area we want to go. I don't apply for sheep or goat so not really up to date on the numbers there. Goat, unlike the others, is a random draw with no priority to be gained so that would make it the hardest. Or you could get lucky and get drawn the first year you apply. It is also a one and done scenario if I remember right, once in a lifetime drawing. Once drawn you can't apply again. The rest you gain priority points for every year you apply but do not get drawn.
In my area we are currently about a four to five year wait on moose draws. Mrs. Wolf was drawn two years ago for a cow and I partnered up on her licence taking a nice calf. My son should get drawn this year for bull.
Good luck!

Utah has an interesting system, and IMO its the most fair. They take the number of tags for a given species / unit and divide them in half. Half goes to the "everyone" pool that litterally anyone can compete and draw out of. The other half goes into a Points Pool... so people who dont draw out, earn a point and the points pool get drawn from by people with the most points.

So someone who applies for the first time, does have a small chance at drawing out... while someone who stays in the drawings for a really long time is guarented a tag... eventually I guess if they live long enough.

24 year seems like a tremendous amount of time... but reality is, the Utah points system it looks like a pyramid. X number of people in top tier with the most bonus points, then X+Y number of people in the next tier down... then X+Y+Z in the tier after that. So each tier down has more people than the tier above it.

I was in max points tier drawing. There are only 30ish permits given in my entire unit (and its a staggeringly large unit). The following tier below me, has at least a 25 year wait to clear out.

Truely, there is virtually zero chance anyone outside of the top or 2nd tiers will ever draw in their lifetime. There's just too many people, too few of animals. This holds true for Bison, Mt Goat and Sheep.

LE Elk is becoming "once in a lifetime" to draw. There's a 5 year wait after successfully drawing before a person can put in again, and some of the more popular units are upwards of 20+ years to draw in the first place. A person who choose say Archery, has an order of magnitude better draw odds to pull a tag than say a rifle tag.

LE Deer, and LE Antelope are much easier to draw. My first ever drawn tag was utah Antelope. My wife drew one a few years later. We did alot of antelope hunting in Wyoming killing a dozen or so goats over the years.

I've drawn LE (Limited Entry) Elk, LE Antelope, LE deer and now OIL (once in a lifetime) Moose.

My wife has drawn LE Deer, LE Antelope and OIL Mt Goat.

My dad drew OIL Moose, and OIL Bison... the bison tag went unfilled. That hunt is harder than anyone can imagine.

But we got into the game early and stuck with it.

Utah also has "general season" deer and "general season" elk tags... the deer can be drawn every or every other year usually.. and the GE elk are over the counter still.

-DallanC

Its a shame you are so far from Oklohoma Dallan...I saw hundreds of Bison on the Great Grass Prairie in Pawhuska Oklohoma, although free to roam wild (no fences) I believe that they are on a State Park or Indian Reservation land.

slimjim wrote:

Wonderful, Dallan! I hope you have a big freezer!! Keep us posted.

and when the freezer is to small: at such occasions you can find a lot of friends on the Huntingnut who will appreciate a moose-steak!
(I tasted one in Sweden a long time ago and it can compete with Argetine's beef-steak. A very good remedy for people with a big appetite! For your info: my mouse-pad is since that time a piece of Swedish "KING OF THE FOREST"-leather in memory of my Swedish friend Olle who passed away a few years ago.)

DallanC wrote:

Utah has an interesting system, and IMO its the most fair. They take the number of tags for a given species / unit and divide them in half. Half goes to the "everyone" pool that litterally anyone can compete and draw out of. The other half goes into a Points Pool... so people who dont draw out, earn a point and the points pool get drawn from by people with the most points. So someone who applies for the first time, does have a small chance at drawing out... while someone who stays in the drawings for a really long time is guarented a tag... eventually I guess if they live long enough. 24 year seems like a tremendous amount of time... but reality is, the Utah points system it looks like a pyramid. X number of people in top tier with the most bonus points, then X+Y number of people in the next tier down... then X+Y+Z in the tier after that. So each tier down has more people than the tier above it. I was in max points tier drawing. There are only 30ish permits given in my entire unit (and its a staggeringly large unit). The following tier below me, has at least a 25 year wait to clear out. Truely, there is virtually zero chance anyone outside of the top or 2nd tiers will ever draw in their lifetime. There's just too many people, too few of animals. This holds true for Bison, Mt Goat and Sheep. LE Elk is becoming "once in a lifetime" to draw. There's a 5 year wait after successfully drawing before a person can put in again, and some of the more popular units are upwards of 20+ years to draw in the first place. A person who choose say Archery, has an order of magnitude better draw odds to pull a tag than say a rifle tag. LE Deer, and LE Antelope are much easier to draw. My first ever drawn tag was utah Antelope. My wife drew one a few years later. We did alot of antelope hunting in Wyoming killing a dozen or so goats over the years. I've drawn LE (Limited Entry) Elk, LE Antelope, LE deer and now OIL (once in a lifetime) Moose. My wife has drawn LE Deer, LE Antelope and OIL Mt Goat. My dad drew OIL Moose, and OIL Bison... the bison tag went unfilled. That hunt is harder than anyone can imagine. But we got into the game early and stuck with it. Utah also has "general season" deer and "general season" elk tags... the deer can be drawn every or every other year usually.. and the GE elk are over the counter still. -DallanC

With the exception of goat ours are all on priority. We do have the option of applying for priority only which is nice - if you know you can't get away in the fall for a particular hunt you can still increase your points. Mule deer and moose are almost all on draw through the entire province.

There are draws in some zones for elk and white tail deer, some zones are open on a general tag for those two species.

There a few of the northern most zones that are usually undersubscribed for moose - the available tags are sold on a first come first served basis. You have to reserve your tag online for this.No body wants to hunt up there lol, LOTS of bog, swamp and marsh. Early fall before frost the mosquitoes and black flies are horrendous. It's a wonder the animals have enough blood to live!

The points gathered are not tied to a specific WMU (wildlife management unit) so the real popular zones require a high priority and the less popular quite a bit less. Some zones for some animals you can almost get drawn every year. My son and I are sitting at about 12 for trophy antelope and are darned close to be able to get drawn in the zone we want. I am a two for cow moose at home here and may get drawn this year if I decide to try and pull the tag, my son is a four for bull moose and should get drawn this year. I likely won't try to pull the cow tag as he should get his bull - we just don't need two big animals in a year (plus a steer from the farm). Covid has skewed the draws a wee bit, requiring a higher priority in some areas to get drawn. I think there was a ton of guys sitting on priority that finally had the time to go hunting!

One problem we have here is the resident/non-resident rules need to be tightened up. We get a lot of transient workers from the east coast coming here to work, applying for resident draws, but still living on the east coast where they also hunt moose. Kinda double dipping on the resident tags...

Which area did you draw?

Wasatch. And the unit is insanely huge.

Corner of the Spagetti bowl in SLC, south down I15 past Salina, up the east side through Price and Duchene, then over north of Currant Creek back around Jordanelle on its south side, then up to Park City and back west down I80 to spagetti bowl.

I've seen moose as far south as fairview, but IDK if there are many south of there. Salina being in the unit is ridiculous.

-DallanC

Still waiting to draw that one. I might know a spot that is relatively easy to get to, that had a really nice bull that wanted to hang out at my truck for a while. Good thing that I had pictures because I was late for dinner.

And its less than an hour from your house.

I have alot of people feeding me hotspots, offering to keep an eye out for moose while camping / archery hunting etc. I regularly see bulls up AF canyon in a couple specific spots. They are usually younger bulls... but, any of those areas could hold a good bull. Its all kind of random when the rutt comes along... bulls will wander for dozens of miles looking for cows.

I may go with a guide, I know of one who consistently brings out some very big bulls. He's made me a more than fair offer.

My brother drew Wasatch moose years back (12?), decided to use a bow just to be unique... ran across a monster, shot it. It ended up being the state archery record. LOL IFAIK, its still the state record. Oddly, he's embarrassed about it and rarely mentions it to people. He kindof hates the modern "trophy
& Score mentality" today. Hard to be against scores and whatnot when you hold a state record.

I have no such aspirations. If the opportunity presents itself, I would use my 50cal muzzleloader... otherwise my gun of choice will be my Winchester M70, in 7STW. I have some dandy handloads shooting 160gr Accubonds at 3200fps. They've killed alot of elk.

-DallanC

hireing a guide isnt really silly at all...you have a lot of time and $$$$ tied up in what is a limited amount of time to seal the deal...... the $$ spent for the guide devided per kilo of harvested meat would be tiny...AND its another set of eyes to spot and most importantly LEGS to carry out all that juicy freezer filling meat.

Elvis wrote:

hireing a guide isnt really silly at all...you have a lot of time and $$$$ tied up in what is a limited amount of time to seal the deal...... the $$ spent for the guide devided per kilo of harvested meat would be tiny...AND its another set of eyes to spot and most importantly LEGS to carry out all that juicy freezer filling meat.

That makes a lot of sense Elvis…and it will help the local economy.

Elvis wrote:

hireing a guide isnt really silly at all...you have a lot of time and $$$$ tied up in what is a limited amount of time to seal the deal...... the $$ spent for the guide devided per kilo of harvested meat would be tiny...AND its another set of eyes to spot and most importantly LEGS to carry out all that juicy freezer filling meat.

... and its his pick-up truck getting beat-up going up into the mountains and off-road!