I dont really believe in the shotgun approach of applying in as many states as possible. I understand that some people like the new country and adventures that applying everywhere brings. If you want more consistent success I firmly believe you will have more success and sooner sticking to preferably otc tags that you can hunt every year. If you cant get tags otc in your home or other states find an easy to draw area or areas. My experience is knowledge of an area leads to more success than trying to draw the "good" tags and re-learning an entirely new area every year. I hunt my home state (same areas) and apply for one other state where I used to live and have family. As a result we have no problem filling all or most of our tags every year. I would also consider hunting animals besides elk in those areas. Hunt lions, coyotes, bears, wolves if available in those areas. I hunt one of the most crowded areas in my state that is right by my house but still find Elk every year and I would attribute that to lion hunting with my dogs in the winter and then bear in the spring. Add in hunting coyotes and wolves(otc cheap nr tags in Idaho) and you have a very good understanding what ALL the animals are doing in that area. Pick one or two areas and focus on consistently hunting those. Hunt that area for predators, most states have liberal seasons and less expensive tags for predators. My experience is you will do better learning an area by consistently hunting it rather than a spray and pray application strategy. Quit e scouting and making excel spread sheets and govhunt an area consistently. Best way to spend time in a unit is to hunt predators and it will sometimes open doors to landowners who want them hunted. I get the fun of gambling on and dreaming of glory tags but with the overwhelmed draw systems its a ponsi scheme in some states. Pick 1 max 2 state draws so you still have that chance but you could save the rest of that application money to buy gas and go hunting. I would say quit planning and figure out how to hunt more and in same areas.
I followed an approach nearly the opposite of you. I had some unique aspects to my life. I lived under my means, had no minor children left at home, my wife had a career where traveled up to 40 roundtrip flights each year with some stays longer than a week.
I could take unlimited vacation time so if drew five tags in a year (happened once in 30 years) or drew just 1 (happened twice) I could make 1 - 5 hunts happen.
So I applied. And applied. A lot. Every state with a guaranteed non-resident bighorn sheep tag got my tag application money. Since I applied for sheep then I was also applying for other critters. I tossed a few bucks at every state-ran raffle. I don't trust the private draws, though, as shenanigans are always trying to sneak into the selection step.
I liked seeing new country during the hunt but also on drives across various states out West. I rarely hunted the same unit twice other than for turkey and I did hunt the same unit for deer then years later for elk.
How many tag applications in a year? Over 70. I was never going to draw 70 tags in a year. I applied for a lot of 1 in 60 or tougher odds for sheep and mountain goats. Sometimes the best non-resident sheep odds were over 1 in 1000. Same type of odds for mountain goat. Moose not much better.
Elk tags I chased were often 1 in 40 or worse as I was looking for hunts with high harvest rates, low tag numbers and the critters were on lots of public land. Deer were often 1 in 25 or worse. Pronghorn might be 1 in 4 or worse.
I frequently used the Point Saver option on Pronghorn, Deer and Elk. I especially shifted to Point Savers if drew a good tag in the early results draws prior to the deadline to apply in other states.
Building points is not a cheap date if are a non-resident. Is not getting cheaper. Putting in deposits when have to front the cost of a tag to apply is also not a cheap date. I would spend $2,000 to $2,500 each year on mandatory hunting license to apply, application fees, credit card pass-through fee as apply, conservation tags, etc.
I had over $20,000 on deposit at times as waited for refunds on applications where was not selected.
I have dialed my applications back now that am on the backside of 60. I am building points which likely never use before die. I might. And, that hope will pull a bighorn ram tag is worth paying money.
I likely can not do the tag justice much as was the case with a Montana mountain goat tag in 2020. Sorry, not sorry. I have punched all my hunting wish list but the bighorn ram. Maybe 2025 will be my year. Each day when application results are released is like Christmas Day for me. How many Christmas Days do you get in a year?
