If you were to rank states by ease of website to put in for hunts.

[TheDudeAbides]

Of the states I put in or have put in for.

Nevada - 10/10 - Extremely Simple and very easy to use

Utah - 8/10 - Simple and pretty easy to use.

Arizona - 6/10 - Pretty easy to use

Wyoming - 5/10 - Need a bit of background information, but the system itself is alright

South Dakota 5/10 - Same as Wyoming

Montana/Idaho/New Mexico ?/10 - Don't Remember - could be better or worse than everything above. But are probably still better than the one below.

Colorado 1/10 - Their system is difficult and not use friendly at all.

 

[AggieHunter]

I think colorado while more time consuming isn't terrible as long as you have the big game brochure out next to you in order to find the correct hunt codes.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

NM - 10/10
MT - 7/10
AK - 6/10
WY -7-10
CO - 5/10
UT - 5/10

I agree that Colorado is difficult... but their website is "google-able" so you can find what you need.

Utah has a pretty good interface when you are actually putting in your choices 10/10 (because it's run by a 3rd party), but their DNR website is a giant steaming turd that not even google can figure out. Anytime I try to find any piece of information about their seasons, draw deadlines, odds, units boundaries, blaze orange reg, whatever, it takes 10x longer than any other state because that website is such a cluster F%&#$%.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Arizona is so far behind the times imo. They still write out your deer tag for cripes sake and the stores only have so many and run out. Just get a printable version already.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I think colorado while more time consuming isn't terrible as long as you have the big game brochure out next to you in order to find the correct hunt codes.

Yeah I usually make a spreadsheet that I copy past out of when I'm doing my apps.

 

[bushman13]

It will never cease to amaze me the things that State IT departments can get away with. In Corporate I'd be fired immediately for building a system without adequate redundancy for a go live (CO). I would also be fired for designing a portal without realtime capabilities (AZ). They have free money and still we give them a pass, makes no sense.

Arizona is so far behind the times imo. They still write out your deer tag for cripes sake and the stores only have so many and run out. Just get a printable version already.

 

[NEWHunter]

Of the states I put in or have put in for.

Nevada - 10/10 - Extremely Simple and very easy to use

Utah - 8/10 - Simple and pretty easy to use.

Arizona - 6/10 - Pretty easy to use

Wyoming - 5/10 - Need a bit of background information, but the system itself is alright

South Dakota 5/10 - Same as Wyoming

Montana/Idaho/New Mexico ?/10 - Don't Remember - could be better or worse than everything above. But are probably still better than the one below.

Colorado 1/10 - Their system is difficult and not use friendly at all.

I like the thread. I’ve only ever applied in WY and SD and I agree with your assessment that they are on the same level. Although I think I’d rate them better than a 5. I’d go with something more like a 7 or 8. I also looked at CO because my brother lives there and that seemed too complicated so I gave up - definitely lower on the scale than WY or SD.

 

[Pucky Freak]

KS and NE are straightforward, but also way less data to sort through. CO is a bit more complicated than WY. Despite the relative simplicity of ID, it’s still a bit sparse in explanation and more than a few links bringing you back to a page you’ve already read and are trying to get away from. I’ve looked at MT many times and am entirely lost, to the point of probably never hunting there unless I want to torture myself for hours on end attempting to understand their vocabulary, math, etc.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Arizona is so far behind the times imo. They still write out your deer tag for cripes sake and the stores only have so many and run out. Just get a printable version already.

I probably have a high opinion, because I only put in for Elk in the spring and deer in the fall.

It seems pretty easy to use to me.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

I like the thread. I’ve only ever applied in WY and SD and I agree with your assessment that they are on the same level. Although I think I’d rate them better than a 5. I’d go with something more like a 7 or 8. I also looked at CO because my brother lives there and that seemed too complicated so I gave up - definitely lower on the scale than WY or SD.

Colorado sucks for a variety of reasons.

First you have to purchase a license and then your draws will be open.

So many two purchases and not being able to add the license to the cart to apply, is dumb.

Then you have to put in your hunt codes, which you do not want to mess up.

Hunt codes are a series of letters and numbers ( D-F-029-P5-R ), which is a mess.


I think they could make things a heck of a lot easier with a simple map for the draw.

You select the unit on the map.

Then get a drop down list of hunts (weapons, season dates, etc) with that unit and you click the one that you want.

 

[Mallardsx2]

IMO Colorado is by far the worst because it is VERY easy to make an error and end up with a cow tag to show for your 27 points..this happened to somebody I know a few years back and there was no sympothy from the CDW. lol

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

IMO Colorado is by far the worst because it is VERY easy to make an error and end up with a cow tag to show for your 27 points..this happened to somebody I know a few years back and there was no sympothy from the CDW. lol

The new system tells you what you have put in for so it's a bit better eg, you enter the code and it says "antlerless - moose -rifle" ... but yeah the original one was super easy to mess up.

 

[Pucky Freak]

IMO Colorado is by far the worst because it is VERY easy to make an error and end up with a cow tag to show for your 27 points..this happened to somebody I know a few years back and there was no sympothy from the CDW. lol

Yeah for an agency with such an astronomical revenue you’d think they could pay a few thousand bucks to create dropdowns for “species”, “unit”, “weapon” and “season”

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

I probably have a high opinion, because I only put in for Elk in the spring and deer in the fall.

It seems pretty easy to use to me.

Yea I guess it's not that complicated. I just dont like the hand written tags. Just print the things. I had to go to 3 different stores to get my tag last year. It was a pain. Had to drive an hour past my destination.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Yeah for an agency with such an astronomical revenue you’d think they could pay a few thousand bucks to create dropdowns for “species”, “unit”, “weapon” and “season”

Agreed. I think part of the issue is that the season structure changes a lot and isn't uniform across species.

Bull moose you get to hunt all seasons will the weapon for that season
Cow moose you have to pick your weapon/season
Also the groups of units change depending on species, Goats and sheep have their own units. Elk, deer, bear, moose use the same units but in different configurations which change depending on gender, weapon, and season.

You change the seasons and you would have to re-code everything. Montana and CO IMHO have similarly complicated structures, Montana just does a massive drop down of units. I'm not sure if that is better or not.

On a purely selfish note I think COs complicated system works to the advantage of those really invested in hunting. It's not user friendly so it keeps out a lot of casual appliers.

 

[geetar]

Nevada and Montana are easiest to me. Utah would be next. Colorado I don’t like. I wish they were all as easy as Nevada. They’ve got their application system dialed in. Kalkomey or whatever the host program is top notch.

 

[buffybr]

I only put in to my home state of Montana where, so far, I only bought the Sportsman's License and put in for the Antelope and Elk draws. It took me two days to get it done! The first day several times I would get down to a "review your application" or something similar button, and it would bomb out. Yesterday, the last day to apply for Antelope and Elk, I finally got through the application and was able to print out my License, however, the regulations state an Elk Permit drawing fee of $9, but the computer only put in $4 and that is what I was charged.

At the bottom of the application it states that any errors on the application will void it, so maybe I will be put in to the Elk draw or maybe not. With less than a 1% success to draw in that unit it probably doesn't make much difference.

The only other state that I've applied for on the computer was a few years ago in my native state of Colorado. I had booked a Mountain lion hunt in western Colorado, and before you can buy a license you have to pass a lion identification test. On my computer at home I tried to take the test a half dozen times, and each time the program would lock half way through the test.

So I drove to Denver and tried to take the lion test on a friend's computer. Same thing, the test would lock half way through it. So I went to a public library to take the test on their computer. Locked up again. So I went to a FWP Regional office and took the test on their computer. It locked up again. Ironically the guy that wrote that test worked in that office, so they called him, and the test locked up on him. He then took some time to do his computer magic and got the test to work. When he did the test, he brought up the questions and he put in the answers that I told him. However on one question he said my answer was wrong so he put in his answer. At the end of the test the computer graded it, and the only question that I missed was the one that he had answered.

They then sold me a Lion license, and two days later my lion was on the ground.

 

[Mallardsx2]

I should note not to knock Colorado too badly. For me and most people who are on this forum it isnt that difficult because we are pretty computer savvy. For someone who doesn't use computers it is challenging.

 

[Duck-Slayer]

I’ve only applied in ID, WY, NM, and NV,
ID - 9/10
WY - 9/10
NM - 10/10
NV - 10/10

I’ve had 0 problems with any of these online applications.
Matt

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I should note not to knock Colorado too badly. For me and most people who are on this forum it isnt that difficult because we are pretty computer savvy. For someone who doesn't use computers it is challenging.

The CO system is very unfair in that regard. Those who work on a computer all day have a massive advantage over others when it comes to getting tags.