Don't have a pic of the white board, as I am flying at about 30,000' while I type this. But, now that things are getting more clear on what tags we have and how we want the season to unfold, here is what the tentative schedule will look like.
NV archery mule deer - I drew a left over tag. Strange, I had this as my last choice on the regular draw and could not snag a tag, Then, there were some resident leftovers that went into the second draw and I got the tag on that draw. This will be a chance for redemption on the NV deer, given the calamity that I experienced last year.
AZ rifle antelope - My buddy, Jerry Pritchard (Jereep here on Hunt Talk) drew an amazing AZ rifle tag, after 18 years of trying. I always told him if he ever drew, I would beg my way into his camp. Looks like y begging has paid off.
NM archery elk - This is a hunt that will be filmed for Team Elk, by our camera crew. We will shoot it for them, hoping to get an episode for both shows, with two different cameras. It is primarily for Team Elk, but we hope we can find a way to make it work for our show, also. Since they are on a competing network, it would be cool to see how the same hunt can be filmed from two different perspectives and two different stories being told. I did not draw in the regular draw, so this hunt will be the result of a unit-wide landowner voucher in a unit I have hunted before. It will be all on public land and self-guided. I know some will criticize me for using a voucher on this hunt, but I want people to know the entire details of what/how, etc that goes into each episode..
MT archery elk - I will be going in to the same location where you saw us elk hunt in Seasons Three and Four of OYOA, and where you will see us hunting again in Season One of Fresh Tracks. A fun hunt, but extremely frustrating, given the elk spend most their time on private.
NM rifle antelope - Not sure how I drew this tag. I got the one non-resident non-guided tag for this unit. I drew it as my third choice. Drought looks to have hammered the area, but I am going anyhow.
CO elk - I drew a cow tag in the main elk draw and will buy and OTC bull tag for the third season. Still Kickin' drew the deer tag for the third season, so we will be out together, with a tag that allows us to take anything other than a mule deer doe or a spike bull.
WY elk - Spitz and I drew tags for a cool elk hunt. I had hoped to snag a leftover cow tag, but they sold before I could hit the "purchase" button. We have allocated seven days of hunting and filming, compared to the normal five, so we hope to get two episodes out of this hunt.
AZ elk - My son and I drew late season bull tags in AZ this year, for a unit many say is a hard late season hunt. I guess we will find out. Again, we are allocating seven filming days to this hunt, hoping to get two episodes. Seems like you can't have too many elk hunts, especially AZ elk hunts.
Other options still in consideration are:
AZ Coues deer - This would be a hunt on one of the late October left over tags. I am hoping we can add this one to the schedule, but it might not work out.
MT deer - I want to do a cast/blast, float/wade deer/waterfowl hunt on the Lower Yellowstone. There is a ton of public land you can float to. I can fish for walleyes and sauger while floating, blast some ducks, and make some setups for whitetails. This area has been hammered by EHD a couple times in the last four or five years, so I am worried about the deer numbers in the area.
MT Mountain goat - Trying to find a way to get a filming permit for a wilderness area, but I am not holding much hope. In past years when friends drew this tag and we tried to get a permit, we were denied. I guess I could use the approach other shows have of "Forgiveness is easier than permission", but that just doesn't fit my style.
MT wolf - I would like to do this again, but it is very time consuming. Last time, even as hard as we worked, it was still some good luck to get the encounter we had.
OR blacktail - I have been researching this one for years. Going to make it work sooner or later. Have made good progress on connections that are good sources of info. November is already so crammed, I am just not sure we can fit it in this year.
AK blackatil - I am doing this hunt with Steven Rinella for his Meateater show, come August., Just not sure how we make this work for both shows. Odds are, it will be on his show and next year when we hunt together again, it will be on our show.
So, that is where it is at now. Will be finalized in the next two weeks. Very excited for this year. Hoping no health issues, mechanical struggles, or other bad luck comes our way, as happened at the start of the seasons last year. But, if we spend enough time in the field, some challenges are sure to come our way.
NV archery mule deer - I drew a left over tag. Strange, I had this as my last choice on the regular draw and could not snag a tag, Then, there were some resident leftovers that went into the second draw and I got the tag on that draw. This will be a chance for redemption on the NV deer, given the calamity that I experienced last year.
AZ rifle antelope - My buddy, Jerry Pritchard (Jereep here on Hunt Talk) drew an amazing AZ rifle tag, after 18 years of trying. I always told him if he ever drew, I would beg my way into his camp. Looks like y begging has paid off.
NM archery elk - This is a hunt that will be filmed for Team Elk, by our camera crew. We will shoot it for them, hoping to get an episode for both shows, with two different cameras. It is primarily for Team Elk, but we hope we can find a way to make it work for our show, also. Since they are on a competing network, it would be cool to see how the same hunt can be filmed from two different perspectives and two different stories being told. I did not draw in the regular draw, so this hunt will be the result of a unit-wide landowner voucher in a unit I have hunted before. It will be all on public land and self-guided. I know some will criticize me for using a voucher on this hunt, but I want people to know the entire details of what/how, etc that goes into each episode..
MT archery elk - I will be going in to the same location where you saw us elk hunt in Seasons Three and Four of OYOA, and where you will see us hunting again in Season One of Fresh Tracks. A fun hunt, but extremely frustrating, given the elk spend most their time on private.
NM rifle antelope - Not sure how I drew this tag. I got the one non-resident non-guided tag for this unit. I drew it as my third choice. Drought looks to have hammered the area, but I am going anyhow.
CO elk - I drew a cow tag in the main elk draw and will buy and OTC bull tag for the third season. Still Kickin' drew the deer tag for the third season, so we will be out together, with a tag that allows us to take anything other than a mule deer doe or a spike bull.
WY elk - Spitz and I drew tags for a cool elk hunt. I had hoped to snag a leftover cow tag, but they sold before I could hit the "purchase" button. We have allocated seven days of hunting and filming, compared to the normal five, so we hope to get two episodes out of this hunt.
AZ elk - My son and I drew late season bull tags in AZ this year, for a unit many say is a hard late season hunt. I guess we will find out. Again, we are allocating seven filming days to this hunt, hoping to get two episodes. Seems like you can't have too many elk hunts, especially AZ elk hunts.
Other options still in consideration are:
AZ Coues deer - This would be a hunt on one of the late October left over tags. I am hoping we can add this one to the schedule, but it might not work out.
MT deer - I want to do a cast/blast, float/wade deer/waterfowl hunt on the Lower Yellowstone. There is a ton of public land you can float to. I can fish for walleyes and sauger while floating, blast some ducks, and make some setups for whitetails. This area has been hammered by EHD a couple times in the last four or five years, so I am worried about the deer numbers in the area.
MT Mountain goat - Trying to find a way to get a filming permit for a wilderness area, but I am not holding much hope. In past years when friends drew this tag and we tried to get a permit, we were denied. I guess I could use the approach other shows have of "Forgiveness is easier than permission", but that just doesn't fit my style.
MT wolf - I would like to do this again, but it is very time consuming. Last time, even as hard as we worked, it was still some good luck to get the encounter we had.
OR blacktail - I have been researching this one for years. Going to make it work sooner or later. Have made good progress on connections that are good sources of info. November is already so crammed, I am just not sure we can fit it in this year.
AK blackatil - I am doing this hunt with Steven Rinella for his Meateater show, come August., Just not sure how we make this work for both shows. Odds are, it will be on his show and next year when we hunt together again, it will be on our show.
So, that is where it is at now. Will be finalized in the next two weeks. Very excited for this year. Hoping no health issues, mechanical struggles, or other bad luck comes our way, as happened at the start of the seasons last year. But, if we spend enough time in the field, some challenges are sure to come our way.
