How to plan an out of state hunt

[Bigshooter]

I get a lot of PM's on how to plan (or where to go out of state) an out of state hunt.  And I also see a lot of posts asking the same thing.  So I thought I would do a little write up on some of the things that I look at when planing an out of state hunt.  I will write this up from a rifle mule deer hunters perspective but it will work just the same for just about any other big game animal.

1.  The first thing you will need to decide is when, what dates, and which state to hunt. 
When I say when I am talking about what year.  This year, next year or 5 years from now.  If you wanted to go somewhere this year you would have to look at states that offer over the counter tags or a state that has leftover tags.  This most years will limit you to ID, MT, and WY.  If you are planing a hunt that won't take place for 4, 5, or more years down the road and you have the money to invest in points this will open up more states to look at.  States to build points in would be CO, WY, and maybe UT, and NV.  Now you need to decide what dates you want to hunt.  Most guys like hunting in November because of the rut.  But remember rut tags are usually harder to draw than October tags.  MT is one of only a couple state where you can hunt mule deer in the rut every year on an easy to draw tag, or on a leftover tag.  If you want to hunt in November in ID on an over the counter tag it will not happen.  ID does not have any rifle hunts for mule deer in November during the general season.  Except for in the Northern part of the state which is more WT habbitat than it is mule deer.  Those are just some thing to keep in mind.

2. How do I chose an area/ unit to hunt?
Once you have chosen a state and you know what dates you want to hunt it's time to find a unit or area to hunt.  The first thing I look at is harvest data.  All states have harvest data and if you can figure out how to get to a states Fish and Game page you can find harvest data.  When looking at the data I am looking for units that have at least 50% success on bucks.  The only time that i consider units with less than 50% success is if it's an ID general tag, A MT general deer tag, or A WY general region tag.  And the reason is, is because there are so many tags given out for these hunts that it just equates to lower success.  So for these types of hunts I look for units with 35% or better success rates. 

The next thing I look at is how many hunters hunted the unit(this is for general season tags that cover multiple units) or if it's a state that gives out tags unit by unit, then I look to see how many tags the unit offers.  If it's a general season tag like ID, MT, or WY I perfer to keep it under a couple thousand hunters in the unit, but that is not always the case.  I have hunted units that see 10,000 hunters every year and have seen very few people away from the roads in these units.  I don't think it is as important to find a unit that has very few people hunting it, when it comes to general tags.  I think with so many tags and so much land to hunt it just spreads the people out and is not as big of an issue compared to states that give out tags unit by unit.  When looking at states that give out tags unit by unit.  I try to look for units that give out 500 or less tags.  You are going to wait longer for these type of hunts so I want them to be a higher quality hunt.  And for me less people equal higher quality. 

One thing that I don't pay a lot of attention to when choosing a unit is the record books.  I know some guys do but I don't and this is why.  I figure if you can get a tag for a unit or area every year then it's going to take some luck and a lot of boot leather to find a big buck.  But if it takes 5 years to draw and has limited tags then I figure it will have more older deer in the unit.  And if it takes 20 years to draw a unit then that unit is better than a unit that takes 5-19 years to draw.  So basically the harder it is to draw the better the quality.  I know this isn't always the case but I think it's a decent rule to follow.

How much public land is in the unit
Once you have found a few units that meet the above criteria, how do you figure out how much public land do they have to hunt?  There are 2 things that I look at.  First most states now have a "Plan your Hunt" page where you can see how much public ground is in any given unit.  Some will even tell you what percent of the unit is public land.  The other place I check is http://www.mytopo.com/products/hunt-area-maps.cfm here you can find maps that you can preview that will show how much public land a unit has.  And you can also buy maps from here.

Now What?
So now you have found a unit or 2 that you think you want to hunt, so what do you do next?  Here is what I do next.
1. Call the biologist for the unit.  I always ask about deer numbers, size of bucks they see during surveys, size of bucks they see harvested, area's to hunt, area's to stay away from, access to public land, and also ask about places to camp.
2. Call the game warden for the unit.  I ask the same questions as I do the biologist.
3. Use forums like Hunt WA
4. And if possible scout the unit.  This isn't something that most guys are going to be able to do.  One thing that I try to do is schedule a few extra days on to the hunt if I have never been in the unit.  This way you can use the first couple days of the hunt to get yourself familiar with the unit.  But still have plenty of time to hunt.

Now you have found your unit
This is when I start buying maps.  I pretty much buy my maps from 2 places.
1. http://www.mytopo.com/products/hunt-area-maps.cfm
2. http://plicmapcenter.org/
And if you have a GPS I would buy a chip or downloadable map for your GPS from here:  http://www.huntinggpsmaps.com/

Build Points
I'm not sure where this goes but I think it is really important to build points if you want to hunt states like CO, WY, UT, or NV.

Other
Some other things to consider if they are important to you is the type of terrain you want to hunt.  And if there is a place to stay or eat in the unit.  I know this can be very important to some guys.

This is how I go about planning my hunts, I'm not saying my way is perfect.  I'm not even saying that it's a good way to go about it.  But it is the way that I do it.  Also I am sure that I have left off information that would help and I am sure I have probably added information that isn't important.  But I think at the very lest this should give some of you a good starting point.

[huntnnw]

I'll add some of my tips to this if you dont mind, good thread 

ID u can hunt unit 1 Nov 1-30th if I am correct for mule deer. In ID they do not have a point system, so If you plan soon enough put in for a permit tag its only $14.50 to do so and you never know you may draw and have a real quality hunt to go on as a bonus if not keep planning your general hunt. In MT when looking at an area that interest you and looks to be alot of private dont forget about there Block Management program they have opened up tons of property in MT with this program. Buy BLM maps they show all the DNR,state and BLM land.

Terrain is a big one for me when planning a hunt you gotta like what you see...I absolutley cannot stand flat sage country. I plan accordingly to areas that are not wide open.

Another is weather to be mindful of when your planning your hunt...Dont plan out just one place to camp and then head there for your hunt to only realize you are still 25 mi away and there is no way you can get in and you dont have any other areas planned out or there is a zoo of hunters there. I try and have areas atleast scouted on maps and marked with potential places to hunt unit wide,so I have a back up or another place to go without doing it on the fly or wasting hunting time.

FS roads..if you find a area that looks promising, but seems to be all roaded up or you plan on driving such and such fs road to a determined hunting or camp area call the local Forest service office  and ask about road closures during the fall. Example: I was down scouting a hunt this year and the main road we were driving up will not be open during my hunt, gated off. I then looked at google earth and noticed a huge chunk of forest now that has a road system will not be accessible for miles other than foot or horse.

[Bigshooter]

Good tips.  And I forgot about unit 1.  And there might even be a few other units up in the northern end of the state that you can hunt mule deer in November.

[CedarPants]

Awesome tips guys, thank you for taking the time yo provide this info!

[huntnphool]

Terrain is a big one for me when planning a hunt you gotta like what you see...I absolutley cannot stand flat sage country. I plan accordingly to areas that are not wide open.

And then there are those of us that do!