How to Make Sense of the Changing Hunt Permit Landscape

Knowledge is key to increasing your odds in big-game draws.

February 27, 2025 By Andrew McKean

An accountant, a lawyer, a fortune-teller and a priest walk into a saloon ... and they still can’t draw an elk tag. That’s a seasonally relevant joke that describes the outlook for Western hunters preparing to apply for big-game tags this month.

Deciphering the changes in permit rules from last year requires the diligence and legal-eagle eyes of a lawyer. Crunching the harvest statistics and draw odds is where an accountant comes in handy. And you’ll need both the soothsayer and the padre to find overlooked opportunities and then to give you the belief that you may someday draw a permit for a trophy bull, buck, ram or billy.

State wildlife agencies tweak their drawing rules every year, but last year more states instituted more sweeping changes than in the previous decade, destabilizing the already shaky big-game draw landscape and forcing many traveling hunters to revise their approach to their multi-state application strategy. You can expect fewer changes this year, as states start to normalize the processes they put in motion last year, though the new normal remains novel to most applicants.

Applying for big-game permits is always dicey. After all, the most coveted of these permits have drawing odds of less than 1 percent, and most big-game lotteries require years of serial application in order to build preference. But last year’s changes—most of which made premium permits even more restrictive and harder to draw but which generally provide more opportunity to resident hunters—has thrown enough uncertainty in the conversation that this year’s outlook is more speculative than usual for hunters who choose to hunt mainly public land without an outfitter.

Will Colorado’s huge number of non-resident elk hunters disperse to other states now that the state has ended sales of over-the-counter elk licenses? Will Montana’s mule deer decline result in drastically fewer permits? Will Wyoming’s decision to reduce caps on non-resident sheep and moose tags mean that most hunters will simply stop applying for them?

Those are just a few of the questions would-be big-game hunters are asking this month as they approach application season with a mix of empirical data and lucky rabbits’ feet. Which one, science or luck, prevails is anyone’s guess.

THE BIG CHANGES

Probably the biggest change, in terms of rocking tradition and of its implication for hunters, is Colorado’s decision to make all non-resident archery elk hunting by permit only. Gone are the days when a Western bowhunter could show up in rural Colorado in late September and buy an over-the-counter, non-resident elk tag. Now, starting with this fall’s seasons, all non-resident bowhunters must apply for archery elk tags in the March drawing.

Wyoming is in its third year of managing its non-resident elk hunting by zone rather than individual hunting district. That changed the distribution of hunters and turned draw strategies on its head, with out-of-staters required to apply for one of three regions: Eastern, Southern or Western. Further muddying the calculus is the significant price hike in Wyoming’s “full-price” licenses that has caused many applicants to drop out, thereby improving draw odds for the $1,268 premium elk tag.

A bull elk stands in an opening in the trees. — Colorado is doing away with its over-the-counter non-resident archery elk tags. Bowhunters must now apply through a drawing. (Shutterstock photo)

Also this year, the Cowboy State is enacting a reduction in non-resident quotas for coveted bighorn sheep and moose permits, essentially eliminating the chance to draw for out-of-state hunters who have applied unsuccessfully every year for two decades. By tweaking preference points, Wyoming has started to upset a system across the West in which long-time applicants have a better chance of drawing. Whether that change sparks renewed interest in these long-odds hunts or not will be revealed in the behavior of this year’s applicants.

Meanwhile, Utah is in its second year of accepting applications in late April, after permit numbers are published. This change should allow applicants a better idea of units with increasing versus decreasing tag allocations, enabling them to make more strategic choices in the lottery. Utah is also continuing its late archery hunt, giving hunters additional opportunity without greatly impacting populations.

Montana’s traditionally liberal non-resident hunting opportunities will be tighter this year. Eastern Montana’s mule deer herd is in a deep slump, and some previous general-tag units are now being managed with special permits that are only available in the lottery, the deadline for which is, no fooling, April 1.

PRONGHORN POSSIBILITIES

If you’re reading this in the hopes you’ll learn a handful of specific hunting districts that are overlooked by everyone else, you’ll have to instead employ either the priest or the fortune-teller. Thanks to subscription-based application services like Huntin’ Fool, Eastmans’ TagHub, The Draw and Epic Outdoors, there are precious few overlooked opportunities anywhere in the West, even for offbeat methods and species.

Compared with elk and deer permits, pronghorn antelope tags are generally easier to draw regularly, and because antelope live primarily on public land, they are especially suited to DIY hunts. In their core habitats of eastern Wyoming, eastern Montana and eastern Colorado, winter weather can reverse abundance trends in just a month or two, and the volatility of populations is a major consideration for permit applicants. Wyoming’s antelope herd, for instance, was reduced by nearly two-thirds in many districts, and is just now climbing back from historic lows.

A pronghorn stands in the open prairie. — Many Wyoming pronghorn tags are good for either the early archery or the late rifle season. (Shutterstock photo)

Still, any serious pronghorn hunter should consider Wyoming, simply because the state awards so many tags (50,000 some years) and because harvest rates are uniformly high. Montana is another good state for opportunity. Specifically, consider archery antelope hunts in Montana (these are 900-series permits that have good draw odds even for first-time applicants), with seasons beginning Aug. 15.

Many of Wyoming’s antelope tags allow hunters the option of hunting early archery seasons or later with a rifle. And Idaho offers unlimited archery permits for first-choice applicants for many southeastern units with seasons that begin as early as Aug. 15. These pronghorn units that are easier to draw typically feature relatively difficult access and low trophy potential. Trophy hunters should throw their chips in hard-to-draw units in northern Arizona and nearly any unit in New Mexico.

A mule deer stands in a field of tall grass. — Mule deer numbers are down in many of their traditional strongholds. Some longtime general-tag units are becoming draw units as a result. (Shutterstock photo)

DEER DESTINATIONS

Northern Idaho remains a good option for whitetail hunters, since much of the Panhandle has strong populations, while both elk and mule deer numbers are tanking. In some units, non-resident hunters can get two whitetail deer tags. Both northeast Wyoming and much of eastern Montana’s Block Management properties are good options for whitetail hunting, too.

Because bull elk are such hot commodities for both bowhunters and rifle hunters, and because they’re pursued so relentlessly on public land, there are few hidden gems. However, if you’re looking for a superb public-land hunting experience and the best wild meat on the continent, consider applying for cow hunts, which have excellent odds and liberal seasons. Cows are allowed to be killed on general tags in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, and states like Arizona and Colorado have relatively high drawing success on cow-only permits. Utah has a number of good antlerless-elk hunts, especially on Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit properties.

A picture of a white-tailed deer in an open space. — Start your search for big Western whitetails is northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. (Shutterstock photo)

Lastly, the various big-game raffles around the West offer applicants the chance to dream, even if draw odds are often worse than in the regular draws. Utah’s 200 Tags, which are distributed only to folks who validate their entries at the Western Hunting & Conservation Expo in Salt Lake City (Feb. 13-16), offer some surprisingly good odds on premium tags for non-residents. The Expo’s “Sheep Camp” event is a well-attended lunch for would-be sheep hunters hoping to win one of about 15 raffled hunts.

DATES TO KNOW

State-by-state big-game permit application deadlines

ARIZONA

Last year Arizona Game and Fish moved the deadline to apply for fall pronghorn and elk hunts to Feb. 6. The agency is expected to keep that date for the 2025 application cycle.

CALIFORNIA

The Golden State has one of the longest and latest application cycles in the West. The application period opens April 15 and closes June 2.

COLORADO

Colorado’s big-game application window opens in early March with a deadline of April 2.

IDAHO

Non-residents have missed their chance to apply for general deer and elk tags; online applications were accepted in December (mark your calendar now for the 2026 window). Residents have until June 5 to apply for limited-entry permits for this fall’s big-game seasons.