Big Muleys. Where to go?

[BlackRidge]

Hey Gutpile, here is my line of thinking...

To get a chance at a really good muley, you have to either:

1.  Know someone with good land (I don't)
2.  Get lucky (not much of a track record there)
3.  Draw a "good" tag

That pretty much leaves me with the "drawing a good tag" option.
ID doesn't do "points", so it's a straight up lottery every year and their prices went waaay up the year before last (that puts me back in the "lucky" category, which I mentioned before, is not my strong suit)
OR does points, but their prices also went waaaay up this year (I put in this year, and didn't get drawn.  Was expensive.  Don't know if I can swing it again next year)
MT only allows you to build points AFTER you draw the deer tag (which statistically only happens every 4-5 years), and for their best big muley units, the odds for Non-resdients are atrocious (2 to 3%)
CO wants the $ up front, and it's a looooong drive, and there are a lot of guys with max points in the pool
NM also started wanting their $$ for the tag up front, which made for better draw odds this year, but I hadn't budgeted for it
Havent looked into AZ or UT
WY however allows you to buy "points" ($40 for deer), meaning that if you don't want your name to go into the draw for this year, you can just buy the "point" that you would have gained by putting in and not being drawn.  Plus, WY's point system is only 4 years old, so if I start buying now, in a few years I will have enough points to draw a "good" hunt.

So, for now, I am going to hunt Washington, Montana, maybe Idaho next year and cross my fingers and hope to get lucky, but I am banking on having a real good hunt in WY in a few years....

Geeeeez, sobering points there Pathfinder...

Makes Iowa/Kentucky look even better

[Pathfinder101]

Hey Gutpile, here is my line of thinking...

To get a chance at a really good muley, you have to either:

1.  Know someone with good land (I don't)
2.  Get lucky (not much of a track record there)
3.  Draw a "good" tag

That pretty much leaves me with the "drawing a good tag" option.
ID doesn't do "points", so it's a straight up lottery every year and their prices went waaay up the year before last (that puts me back in the "lucky" category, which I mentioned before, is not my strong suit)
OR does points, but their prices also went waaaay up this year (I put in this year, and didn't get drawn.  Was expensive.  Don't know if I can swing it again next year)
MT only allows you to build points AFTER you draw the deer tag (which statistically only happens every 4-5 years), and for their best big muley units, the odds for Non-resdients are atrocious (2 to 3%)
CO wants the $ up front, and it's a looooong drive, and there are a lot of guys with max points in the pool
NM also started wanting their $$ for the tag up front, which made for better draw odds this year, but I hadn't budgeted for it
Havent looked into AZ or UT
WY however allows you to buy "points" ($40 for deer), meaning that if you don't want your name to go into the draw for this year, you can just buy the "point" that you would have gained by putting in and not being drawn.  Plus, WY's point system is only 4 years old, so if I start buying now, in a few years I will have enough points to draw a "good" hunt.

So, for now, I am going to hunt Washington, Montana, maybe Idaho next year and cross my fingers and hope to get lucky, but I am banking on having a real good hunt in WY in a few years....

Geeeeez, sobering points there Pathfinder...

Makes Iowa/Kentucky look even better

Not for mule deer..

[BlackRidge]

Hey Gutpile, here is my line of thinking...

To get a chance at a really good muley, you have to either:

1.  Know someone with good land (I don't)
2.  Get lucky (not much of a track record there)
3.  Draw a "good" tag

That pretty much leaves me with the "drawing a good tag" option.
ID doesn't do "points", so it's a straight up lottery every year and their prices went waaay up the year before last (that puts me back in the "lucky" category, which I mentioned before, is not my strong suit)
OR does points, but their prices also went waaaay up this year (I put in this year, and didn't get drawn.  Was expensive.  Don't know if I can swing it again next year)
MT only allows you to build points AFTER you draw the deer tag (which statistically only happens every 4-5 years), and for their best big muley units, the odds for Non-resdients are atrocious (2 to 3%)
CO wants the $ up front, and it's a looooong drive, and there are a lot of guys with max points in the pool
NM also started wanting their $$ for the tag up front, which made for better draw odds this year, but I hadn't budgeted for it
Havent looked into AZ or UT
WY however allows you to buy "points" ($40 for deer), meaning that if you don't want your name to go into the draw for this year, you can just buy the "point" that you would have gained by putting in and not being drawn.  Plus, WY's point system is only 4 years old, so if I start buying now, in a few years I will have enough points to draw a "good" hunt.

So, for now, I am going to hunt Washington, Montana, maybe Idaho next year and cross my fingers and hope to get lucky, but I am banking on having a real good hunt in WY in a few years....

Geeeeez, sobering points there Pathfinder...

Makes Iowa/Kentucky look even better

Not for mule deer..

Ah, wasn't thinking    - Back to Canada then 

[high country]

just hop on a plane and go see enrique in sonora.......

[firedog]

Right now if I was looking for a big one I would apply in Wyoming, Because I have max points and have a good shot at a good tag.

That said Colorado has great bucks as do most of the other locations you listed. I think right now for Big uns Sonora is one of the best. someone mentioned Oregon, I would avoid Oregon because of the cost and draw odds for Non-residents are terrible.