The Colorado draw results came out on June 1^st this year. Even if I hadn’t known what day the results were posted, there was no way I could have missed it this year. It was before 7:30 am on June 1^st when I had 3 different texts from hunting buddies asking how I did.  That’s when you know you have good friends! I jumped on my computer and pulled up my results.  Let the planning begin!

Finding out the draw results are exciting and help clarify your hunting for the year. Different times of the year provide for different aspects of hunting to take place.  Applying for the draw requires you to do your homework and to painfully narrow down where you would like to apply.  You have to weigh the knowledge of the area with the likelihood of drawing that tag.  You have to determine if the prospects of a successful

harvest are achievable in that zone and what opportunities you have to hunt.  In all it can be a lot of work!  But it can also be exciting anticipating what could happen.

Once you submit for the draw, however, all you can really do is wait.  Depending on what you put in for, you can have a high level of confidence on how it’s going to turn out, but either way it is just a waiting game.

Finally, when the results are out you can finally get a clear picture of what your season is going to look like.  You can finally begin to really plan.

In my case, I had a pretty good feeling about most of my draws.  My elk and antelope request were pretty confident.  I had enough preference points that last year guaranteed drawing a tag and so I was sure that this year would be the same.  I requested preference points for moose so there was no drama for that draw.  The one I was unsure about was the muley tag.   I went out on a bit of a limb and tried to combine this hunt with another I was already planning.  The percentages looked good, but I wasn’t quite sure.  According to last year’s results, I had about an 80% chance of drawing a tag.

When I got my computer running then on June 1^st, I was happy to see that I had been successful in all three of my draw applications.  Whoo Hoo!  With an Over-The-Counter tag, I have tags for Bull elk, Cow elk, Muley buck, and a late-season antelope doe.  Lots of hunting…. just the way I like it.

Now I just need to find the time to do them all!

Now that I know what tags I have, I can prepare for my various hunts.  I have the time and location all determined and now it’s just a matter of how to get there.  I have already begun scouting and planning for each of my trips.  The only major wildcard still to be determined is weather…. which in Colorado isn’t clear even on the day of the hunt.  But I have my area and I can start working on all the other details of the hunt.

I’m excited about the wide range of opportunities to hunt that I have this year.  A little research and planning allowed me to have a great draw result and I can now look forward even more to hunting this fall.  Looking forward to getting out and scouting as we get into the summer!