June marks the end of the emotional rollercoaster that we all jumped on back in December when we submitted the first applications of the year to Alaska DFG. For me, winter-into-spring represents the time when I work and spend time with my family but this is still hunting season... It's DRAW SEASON!
If you are like me, you spend all the minutes in between obligations researching, google-earthing, daydreaming, and planning for all of the draws and possibilities of fall.
We use a lot of different tools to lay out our hunt strategy each year, and frankly, each one of us has a different plan of attack to draw tags both short and long term - GoHunt, BaseMap, Google earth, each state's published draw, and harvest data, etc.
Now that June is upon us, some are living high on the hog while others are singing the draw season blues. We hope you are the former. Now we've seen results for all but a few species in a few states there isn't much left to wait for. For me, the draws were bleaker than expected... but, the tags that I have drawn were tags that I got lucky on and didn't expect to get.
The next task is to lay out everyone's hunts and figure out who can go with who and how we can all have a full fall of adventure. Even if we aren't all holding fists full of tags, the real trick to making the most of fall is to make the hunts that we can go on count. We've got hunts planned in Alaska, Nevada, Utah, and some in our home turf, Arizona. The hunt that I am most excited about is for Chase's son. My kids aren't of age yet, so I get to live vicariously through Chase, as he helps his boy learn how to hunt big game in the mountains of New Mexico. I promise you we will have a blast regardless of harvest.
We hope you can fill in the gaps between the big dream tags with hunts that are just fun to go on. Go on hunts for your buddies, just to be there. Be the guy who is there to have the most fun.