Finding Hunting Opportunities as a Newbie
Something I learned when I first got back into hunting after my many-year hiatus is that actually finding valuable opportunities to hunt can be pretty hard. When you’re a kid, it’s pretty easy because the people who take you hunting (grandfather, in my case) usually handle all of that. I was living in Virginia at the time that my interest was reignited, and had basically nowhere to go. Once I moved out west, I ran into a new problem – there’s plenty of public land, but everything is a draw, and since I hadn’t previously been interested in hunting, I had no preference or bonus points built up anywhere. Today, I want to talk about what you can do in the short term as a new hunter to try to find opportunities to get out there and just get some practice hunting. I’ll also mention a few things you can do now to improve your mid-term and long-term hunting prospects, to make sure that the quality of your adventures improves over time.
Note: I will be mentioning a few online services in this article. However, they are not paying me to mention them. I’m not being paid by anyone to say anything. These are services I have used in the past or am currently using, and that I have had success with, but results may vary, and being a newer hunter myself, you should do your own research into any online service before using it. The only service I have any financial interest in you using is the Acorns referral link, and even then, they aren’t paying me to say anything about them.
1) Western Over-the-Counter licenses still exist (but they might not for long)
This is pretty much the cheapest – but hardest – kind of hunting there is. A do-it-yourself (as opposed to guided) hunt on public land with an over-the-counter tag is a tough way to hunt no matter your quarry. Competition with other hunters will be high, game density will be low, and the animals are as weary and cagy as it gets. Success rates in over-the-counter units are usually abysmal; depending on the species, usually ranging from 3-20% However, for many novices, these hunts are the easiest way to, at the very least, get a tag in their pocket and get out there. And as difficult as they are, they aren’t impossible. Every year, people fill the tags they bought at Walmart on public land – it just requires a little luck and a lot of very hard work.
A view the author enjoyed while helping a friend scout for elk in Montana, a state with over-the-counter elk tags for residents and very high draw odds for nonresidents on general elk licenses.
Five states have nonresident Over-the-Counter opportunities for elk – Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho (Idaho opportunities sell out quickly). Washington and Oregon even have OTC opportunities for Roosevelt Elk, the largest elk subspecies. If you’re lucky enough to live out west, pretty much all states with elk populations except California, Nevada, and New Mexico (lucky me) have over-the-counter opportunities for residents, and over-the-counter opportunities in these states can often be better because the competition with nonresidents isn’t quite so intense.
It’s not really worth mentioning – but I will anyway – that Texas considers elk to be exotics, so they can be hunted with a general hunting license. However, Texas has basically no public land to speak of, and almost all of the free-range elk exist on private land in the western part of the state. The landowners generally charge a lot of money to hunt elk on their land because they know the value of hunting virtually unpressured bulls, so this isn’t attainable for most people. However, if you’re lucky enough to know a Texas landowner whose property has elk roaming on it, have at it – and please reach out to me as well!
Arizona, California, Idaho, Oregon, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Washington also have OTC opportunities for Mule Deer. Washington, Oregon, and California have options for Columbian Black-tailed Deer as well, which are typically differentiated from Mule Deer based on which side of I-5 they exist on.
Alaska has plenty of OTC options, but I’m operating under the assumption that, like me, you probably don’t currently have the means to actually get to Alaska if you’re reading this article. Nebraska has over-the-counter archery Pronghorn licenses. Black Bears are one of the harder species to hunt spot-and-stalk, but it can be done, and many states have OTC opportunities for them. Additionally, just about all of the typical small game species are over-the-counter and can be a boatload of fun to hunt – not to mention upland birds, turkeys, and waterfowl. Bow hunting for squirrels and rabbits is a great way to get some real-world archery target practice while also filling the freezer.
2.) Eastern Whitetail Hunting
Speaking of over-the-counter hunting, whitetails are just about the first big game that the vast majority of hunters go after. They’re also the most widely available over-the-counter tag, with at least 42 states across the country offering over-the-counter tags for nonresidents, and 45 states having huntable populations. Some states are so overpopulated with Whitetails that a general hunting license comes with multiple deer tags – Virginia licenses come with 3 either-sex tags (one only valid east of the Blue Ridge Mountains) and 3 antlerless tags. The only downside is that public land opportunities in eastern states are limited and can be very competitive, but there are still options, and pockets of deer will still exist if you do enough scouting. Plus, contrary to western landowners who will usually charge a hefty trespass fee for hunting privileges, many landowners in the east are desperate to thin the herds, and asking around for hunting permissions can get you pretty far in some eastern states. I personally have permission on private ground in both Virginia and West Virginia, and I got it mostly from just asking friends and family to tip me off on places to hunt. I haven’t paid a dime.
The author (right) at age 17 with a West Virginia 8-point he bagged with his .30/06.
Make sure you get written permission from the landowner every time. It can save you a lot of legal trouble down the line. Also keep in mind, the places you’re going to get free permission to hunt are mostly going to be meat hunts. The odds you’ll bag a Boone and Crockett buck in Northern Virginia are about as long as your odds of drawing the state’s only nonresident elk tag. However, there are plenty of does and smaller bucks running around the suburbs and they make for excellent table fare. If you’re just looking to fill the freezer and maybe get your first set of antlers for the wall, it’s tough to go wrong with an eastern whitetail tag.
3) LandTrust Hunting Opportunities
LandTrust is basically AirBNB for private land hunting (although it is used for other recreational opportunities as well). Landowners put up their listings and usually charge way less for a hunt than an outfitter would. This allows you to essentially have a DIY experience, but without the hassle of competing with other hunters like you would on public land. While this will cost you more than a hunt on public land, it’s way cheaper than booking a hunt with an outfitter – by an order of magnitude in some cases. If you’re new to the game, this can be a huge advantage because you can teach yourself the ropes without having to deal with the worry that another hunter might get to your quarry first.
The only caveat here is that you generally get what you pay for. Just because these are private land hunts doesn’t mean they’re easy – it’s still going to be up to you to find the game and hunt. Landowners can help you out, but remember, they’re not outfitters; they’ve got other things to do. However, if you’re looking for some way to be able to hunt and you have some cash to spare, this can be a great opportunity to get private land access to do it.
4) Exotics
This one is a little complicated. When most people think of Texas exotic hunting, they think of two things: A) some rich guy paying exorbitant amounts of money to sit in a tree stand while they wait for someone around the corner to release a pen-raised antelope out of a cage, or B) some redneck paying $500 to shoot farm animals. While both of these things certainly exist, there are actually plenty of more nuanced hunting experiences available for several species of exotic game. Some ranches will have a fence around the perimeter of the property, but will be large enough to still make a spot-and-stalk hunt more challenging. Others will even be totally free range with no fences. The key is to research outfitters extensively beforehand to get the experience you want.
Exotics aren’t just a Texas thing either. Feral Hogs are pretty much everywhere; my first ever guided hunt was for hogs in South Carolina when I was about 13. New Mexico has free ranging populations of Oryx, Bezoar Ibex, and Aoudad, but like everything else in New Mexico, they’re managed as a draw. The Laguna Pueblo Reservation of New Mexico even has Himalayan Tahr hunts. Florida has Green Iguanas and Burmese Pythons – but please remember to be ethical in the way you harvest them. Maryland has Sika Deer. Hawaii has… just about everything you can think of. Nevertheless, Texas remains the primary destination for exotics hunting, and it’s where most people plan to go if exotics hunting is on their radar.
The author at age 13 with a trio of (very small) South Carolina hogs he bagged.
I’ve already mentioned how little public land there is in Texas. However, there is some. For those of you who are hardcore DIY public land hunters, some of these exotic hunting opportunities even exist on public land. In addition to several native species, Amistad National Recreation Area in South Texas has free-ranging mouflon, aoudad, blackbuck antelope, axis deer, and feral hogs. Nilgai can be found on several patches of public land in the deep southern parts of the state. Hogs are pretty ubiquitous, and just about any public land anywhere in the state will have plenty of them – especially in the wetter parts of the state.
The main advantage of exotics hunting, and the reason why it’s a part of my hunting schedule, is that you can do it year-round. There usually are no state-imposed seasons or bag limits, and you can hunt them at times of year when there is little else to hunt. They’re also often more affordable than you think. And while it’s never going to be a backcountry mountain adventure hunt, it’s a fun way to spend a weekend if you’ve got a little spare change to spend.
Finally, as a disclaimer, I want to mention something I alluded to when I talked about the iguanas and pythons in Florida. Just because an animal is invasive and not protected by law doesn’t give you the right to kill it unethically. I won’t provide links for obvious reasons, but plenty of disturbing videos of people torturing animals like iguanas and hogs exist. These actions are disgusting, and if you torture any animal, you are too. Treat the animals you hunt with the respect they deserve, if you are going to kill an animal, it is your duty to make that death quick, painless, and merciful. We as hunters need to speak out against the cruelty many people show these animals – not just because it makes us as hunters look good in the public eye, but because it’s the right thing to do.
5) Start Planning for the Future
The situation I’m currently in is one that I’m sure a lot of you are also in. You’ve got very few bonus points built up in very few places (maybe none), you don’t have the money for a guided elk, deer, or bear hunt, and the options on this list are basically the options you have to work with. However, it doesn’t have to be that way forever. Getting out there hunting now and learning the ropes is important, but equally important is planning for the future. Hunts that are on my bucket list that I can’t afford right now – Moose in Alaska, Mountain Caribou in the Northwest Territories, and Red Stag in New Zealand to name a few – are all things that will only be attainable if I start saving for them now. I’m not a financial advisor and this shouldn’t be taken as financial advice, but I use Acorns to save my money. You link your debit or credit card to it and it rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar, investing the rest. It’s a pretty good system. You can also open an IRA and a checking account with them.
Similarly, hunts that I want to go on but don’t have enough bonus points to draw a tag for – Maine moose, Arizona’s trophy elk units, etc. – all need to be addressed as well. But most states require you to pay all of the money up front when you apply for a license. Even if they refund you when you don’t draw, that’s a crazy amount of money to pay up front when you consider having to apply in multiple states for multiple species. This year, I used Worldwide Trophy Adventures (WTA) TAGS to help apply for my tags. WTA floats the cost of your license fees, so you only have to pay if you draw. It’s a nice system because it allows you to apply in multiple states for multiple species without having to pay it all up front. They also work as a booking service should you choose to go the guided route, but I’ve never used them for that so I can’t speak to the quality of that service; though if it’s anything like their TAGS service, it’s probably pretty good.
Anyway, if you, like me, are just getting out there and trying to find ways to get tags in your pockets or meat in your freezer, I hope this serves you well as a guide. I am personally doing all five of these things this season, and hoping to share the experience with you. As always, let’s learn together.
