Recommendations for OTC hunts
03-04-2019, 04:33 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Central VT/Big Horn WY
Posts: 1,543
I have done diy whitetail hunts in western NY, Maine, NH, MA, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and Ontario.
The Illinois hunt we paid a trespassing fee to get on a couple of farms. Iowa I hunted a friends property and Ontario I hunted Crown Land with a friend who has been there before. NY was private property we leased and the rest was public land. Why, because big bucks roam these areas. These were all mostly in November.
We have also have done diy elk and mule deer hunts in Utah and Colorado. Time frame was Sept and Oct.
The Illinois hunt we paid a trespassing fee to get on a couple of farms. Iowa I hunted a friends property and Ontario I hunted Crown Land with a friend who has been there before. NY was private property we leased and the rest was public land. Why, because big bucks roam these areas. These were all mostly in November.
We have also have done diy elk and mule deer hunts in Utah and Colorado. Time frame was Sept and Oct.
03-04-2019, 12:51 PM
#3
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW Montana
Posts: 550
I didn't start hunting until I was in college in the mid 60s. My sophomore year I rented a house with 3 other students that were from Craig, Colorado. They had grew up on deer and elk meat, and invited me to go hunting with them for our winter's meat. Back then I think all of Colorado's deer and elk tags were OTC, so we just bought our tags and went hunting near their home town. The first year I shot a spike mule deer and the second year a 5x5 bull elk, and I became hooked on hunting.
Except for a 3 year interruption for my time in the Army and Vietnam, I kept that up until I moved to Montana in 1975. In the early 70's Colorado black bear tags were also OTC and one spring I bought a tag and got my first bear.
When I got to Montana, resident deer, elk, and bear tags (both black and grizzly) were OTC so I started buying them, and have kept my freezers full of deer and elk meat ever since. In 1978 I moved to my current location in southwest Montana and discovered that Montana had OTC tags for bighorn sheep in a number of units outside of Yellowstone Park, so for a dozen or so years I'd also buy one of them.
Most of my life I've chosen to live in deer and elk country, so all of my Colorado and Montana OTC hunting has been within a tank of gas from my home.
In 1980 a few of my friends had planned a DIY caribou hunt in Alaska, and invited me along. These were also OTC tags, and each of us got a caribou bull.
It wasn't until 1999 that I bought a OTC tag anywhere beside my home state of Montana. That year I heard about a Dall sheep hunt cancellation in the Mackenzie Mountains in Canada's Northwest Territories. It was my first guided hunt, and I was able to buy OTC tags for a Dall ram, Mountain caribou, Wolverine, and Wolf. The first afternoon in base camp we saw a wolf coming toward us, but an over-eager guide put himself between me and the wolf, and I couldn't get a shot. I did get nice trophies of the other animals that I had bought tags for.
The last year or two that I lived in Colorado and many years here in Montana, I've bought OTC Mountain lion tags, hoping to see a lion while I was hunting deer or elk. Over the years I have seen about a half dozen lions, but never while I could hunt them. So in 2015 I saw a good deal with an outfitter in western Colorado for a Mountain lion, and in December of that year I went on a hunt with him and got a nice tom on the first day.
Canada has been good to me with some other OTC tags:
In 2004 I booked a fall hunt for Central Canadian Barren Ground caribou and Musk ox in northern Northwest Territories, and I was able to get two great caribou bulls and a super bull Musk ox. These were all OTC tags.
Then in January of 2017 I was at the International Sportsman's Expo in Denver. I had wanted to hunt caribou in Quebec for many years, and while I was visiting with the representative from Leaf River Outfitters, he said he still had a couple of caribou tags, and that 2017 would be the last year for non-resident caribou hunting in Quebec. I ended up getting one of the highest B&C scoring Quebec-Labrador caribou bulls in the last 3 years.
And this past January I was again at the ISE show in Denver, and talked an outfitter from Newfoundland who had OTC tags for both caribou and moose. I will be hunting with him in September.
I guess technically, the tags for the exotic species in Texas, and tags in many other foreign countries are also OTC. Many of these hunts can be done in other times of the year than our North American fall hunting seasons. I won't go into the details, but I did do a January Exotic hunt in 2010 in Texas, a March hunt in New Zealand in 2014, a number of hunts in the months of July, August, and September to the African countries of South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique between 2000 and 2016, and a hunt in Azerbaijan in 2017. On most of those hunts, you either just buy the hunt from the outfitter or you pay the outfitter for the government tag(s) for the animal(s).
Except for a 3 year interruption for my time in the Army and Vietnam, I kept that up until I moved to Montana in 1975. In the early 70's Colorado black bear tags were also OTC and one spring I bought a tag and got my first bear.
When I got to Montana, resident deer, elk, and bear tags (both black and grizzly) were OTC so I started buying them, and have kept my freezers full of deer and elk meat ever since. In 1978 I moved to my current location in southwest Montana and discovered that Montana had OTC tags for bighorn sheep in a number of units outside of Yellowstone Park, so for a dozen or so years I'd also buy one of them.
Most of my life I've chosen to live in deer and elk country, so all of my Colorado and Montana OTC hunting has been within a tank of gas from my home.
In 1980 a few of my friends had planned a DIY caribou hunt in Alaska, and invited me along. These were also OTC tags, and each of us got a caribou bull.
It wasn't until 1999 that I bought a OTC tag anywhere beside my home state of Montana. That year I heard about a Dall sheep hunt cancellation in the Mackenzie Mountains in Canada's Northwest Territories. It was my first guided hunt, and I was able to buy OTC tags for a Dall ram, Mountain caribou, Wolverine, and Wolf. The first afternoon in base camp we saw a wolf coming toward us, but an over-eager guide put himself between me and the wolf, and I couldn't get a shot. I did get nice trophies of the other animals that I had bought tags for.
The last year or two that I lived in Colorado and many years here in Montana, I've bought OTC Mountain lion tags, hoping to see a lion while I was hunting deer or elk. Over the years I have seen about a half dozen lions, but never while I could hunt them. So in 2015 I saw a good deal with an outfitter in western Colorado for a Mountain lion, and in December of that year I went on a hunt with him and got a nice tom on the first day.
Canada has been good to me with some other OTC tags:
In 2004 I booked a fall hunt for Central Canadian Barren Ground caribou and Musk ox in northern Northwest Territories, and I was able to get two great caribou bulls and a super bull Musk ox. These were all OTC tags.
Then in January of 2017 I was at the International Sportsman's Expo in Denver. I had wanted to hunt caribou in Quebec for many years, and while I was visiting with the representative from Leaf River Outfitters, he said he still had a couple of caribou tags, and that 2017 would be the last year for non-resident caribou hunting in Quebec. I ended up getting one of the highest B&C scoring Quebec-Labrador caribou bulls in the last 3 years.
And this past January I was again at the ISE show in Denver, and talked an outfitter from Newfoundland who had OTC tags for both caribou and moose. I will be hunting with him in September.
I guess technically, the tags for the exotic species in Texas, and tags in many other foreign countries are also OTC. Many of these hunts can be done in other times of the year than our North American fall hunting seasons. I won't go into the details, but I did do a January Exotic hunt in 2010 in Texas, a March hunt in New Zealand in 2014, a number of hunts in the months of July, August, and September to the African countries of South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique between 2000 and 2016, and a hunt in Azerbaijan in 2017. On most of those hunts, you either just buy the hunt from the outfitter or you pay the outfitter for the government tag(s) for the animal(s).
03-17-2019, 11:13 AM
#5
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 10
im in Texas, hunting here is great but I’m looking to take every big game animal in North America. All we have on the list here is whitetail
03-17-2019, 11:24 AM
#6
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 10
I didn't start hunting until I was in college in the mid 60s. My sophomore year I rented a house with 3 other students that were from Craig, Colorado. They had grew up on deer and elk meat, and invited me to go hunting with them for our winter's meat. Back then I think all of Colorado's deer and elk tags were OTC, so we just bought our tags and went hunting near their home town. The first year I shot a spike mule deer and the second year a 5x5 bull elk, and I became hooked on hunting.
Except for a 3 year interruption for my time in the Army and Vietnam, I kept that up until I moved to Montana in 1975. In the early 70's Colorado black bear tags were also OTC and one spring I bought a tag and got my first bear.
When I got to Montana, resident deer, elk, and bear tags (both black and grizzly) were OTC so I started buying them, and have kept my freezers full of deer and elk meat ever since. In 1978 I moved to my current location in southwest Montana and discovered that Montana had OTC tags for bighorn sheep in a number of units outside of Yellowstone Park, so for a dozen or so years I'd also buy one of them.
Most of my life I've chosen to live in deer and elk country, so all of my Colorado and Montana OTC hunting has been within a tank of gas from my home.
In 1980 a few of my friends had planned a DIY caribou hunt in Alaska, and invited me along. These were also OTC tags, and each of us got a caribou bull.
It wasn't until 1999 that I bought a OTC tag anywhere beside my home state of Montana. That year I heard about a Dall sheep hunt cancellation in the Mackenzie Mountains in Canada's Northwest Territories. It was my first guided hunt, and I was able to buy OTC tags for a Dall ram, Mountain caribou, Wolverine, and Wolf. The first afternoon in base camp we saw a wolf coming toward us, but an over-eager guide put himself between me and the wolf, and I couldn't get a shot. I did get nice trophies of the other animals that I had bought tags for.
The last year or two that I lived in Colorado and many years here in Montana, I've bought OTC Mountain lion tags, hoping to see a lion while I was hunting deer or elk. Over the years I have seen about a half dozen lions, but never while I could hunt them. So in 2015 I saw a good deal with an outfitter in western Colorado for a Mountain lion, and in December of that year I went on a hunt with him and got a nice tom on the first day.
Canada has been good to me with some other OTC tags:
In 2004 I booked a fall hunt for Central Canadian Barren Ground caribou and Musk ox in northern Northwest Territories, and I was able to get two great caribou bulls and a super bull Musk ox. These were all OTC tags.
Then in January of 2017 I was at the International Sportsman's Expo in Denver. I had wanted to hunt caribou in Quebec for many years, and while I was visiting with the representative from Leaf River Outfitters, he said he still had a couple of caribou tags, and that 2017 would be the last year for non-resident caribou hunting in Quebec. I ended up getting one of the highest B&C scoring Quebec-Labrador caribou bulls in the last 3 years.
And this past January I was again at the ISE show in Denver, and talked an outfitter from Newfoundland who had OTC tags for both caribou and moose. I will be hunting with him in September.
I guess technically, the tags for the exotic species in Texas, and tags in many other foreign countries are also OTC. Many of these hunts can be done in other times of the year than our North American fall hunting seasons. I won't go into the details, but I did do a January Exotic hunt in 2010 in Texas, a March hunt in New Zealand in 2014, a number of hunts in the months of July, August, and September to the African countries of South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique between 2000 and 2016, and a hunt in Azerbaijan in 2017. On most of those hunts, you either just buy the hunt from the outfitter or you pay the outfitter for the government tag(s) for the animal(s).
Except for a 3 year interruption for my time in the Army and Vietnam, I kept that up until I moved to Montana in 1975. In the early 70's Colorado black bear tags were also OTC and one spring I bought a tag and got my first bear.
When I got to Montana, resident deer, elk, and bear tags (both black and grizzly) were OTC so I started buying them, and have kept my freezers full of deer and elk meat ever since. In 1978 I moved to my current location in southwest Montana and discovered that Montana had OTC tags for bighorn sheep in a number of units outside of Yellowstone Park, so for a dozen or so years I'd also buy one of them.
Most of my life I've chosen to live in deer and elk country, so all of my Colorado and Montana OTC hunting has been within a tank of gas from my home.
In 1980 a few of my friends had planned a DIY caribou hunt in Alaska, and invited me along. These were also OTC tags, and each of us got a caribou bull.
It wasn't until 1999 that I bought a OTC tag anywhere beside my home state of Montana. That year I heard about a Dall sheep hunt cancellation in the Mackenzie Mountains in Canada's Northwest Territories. It was my first guided hunt, and I was able to buy OTC tags for a Dall ram, Mountain caribou, Wolverine, and Wolf. The first afternoon in base camp we saw a wolf coming toward us, but an over-eager guide put himself between me and the wolf, and I couldn't get a shot. I did get nice trophies of the other animals that I had bought tags for.
The last year or two that I lived in Colorado and many years here in Montana, I've bought OTC Mountain lion tags, hoping to see a lion while I was hunting deer or elk. Over the years I have seen about a half dozen lions, but never while I could hunt them. So in 2015 I saw a good deal with an outfitter in western Colorado for a Mountain lion, and in December of that year I went on a hunt with him and got a nice tom on the first day.
Canada has been good to me with some other OTC tags:
In 2004 I booked a fall hunt for Central Canadian Barren Ground caribou and Musk ox in northern Northwest Territories, and I was able to get two great caribou bulls and a super bull Musk ox. These were all OTC tags.
Then in January of 2017 I was at the International Sportsman's Expo in Denver. I had wanted to hunt caribou in Quebec for many years, and while I was visiting with the representative from Leaf River Outfitters, he said he still had a couple of caribou tags, and that 2017 would be the last year for non-resident caribou hunting in Quebec. I ended up getting one of the highest B&C scoring Quebec-Labrador caribou bulls in the last 3 years.
And this past January I was again at the ISE show in Denver, and talked an outfitter from Newfoundland who had OTC tags for both caribou and moose. I will be hunting with him in September.
I guess technically, the tags for the exotic species in Texas, and tags in many other foreign countries are also OTC. Many of these hunts can be done in other times of the year than our North American fall hunting seasons. I won't go into the details, but I did do a January Exotic hunt in 2010 in Texas, a March hunt in New Zealand in 2014, a number of hunts in the months of July, August, and September to the African countries of South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique between 2000 and 2016, and a hunt in Azerbaijan in 2017. On most of those hunts, you either just buy the hunt from the outfitter or you pay the outfitter for the government tag(s) for the animal(s).
It it also seems like you’ve taken a good number of species towards the North American super slam, that’s my ultimate goal. Will be a lifelong goal, if god has it in his plans for me!
03-17-2019, 04:31 PM
#7
Super Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Trumbull County, Ohio
Posts: 9,520
Thank you so much for sharing! It seems like I’m in the current version of you from the 60s, and you the future version of myself. I turned 24 in January, and pray my future holds some of the same adventures as you.
It it also seems like you’ve taken a good number of species towards the North American super slam, that’s my ultimate goal. Will be a lifelong goal, if god has it in his plans for me!
Tag availability and price for some of the hunts that require guides will be your biggest hurdle.
-Jake
03-17-2019, 09:44 PM
#8
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW Montana
Posts: 550
@Nickkaderli, " It seems like I’m in the current version of you from the 60s, and you the future version of myself." Wow, make me feel old! 
Actually, I've had a pretty good hunting life, and along with 50+ years of great hunting memories, I have a house full of trophies to spark those memories.
Looking back, there were a lot of things that I should have done differently...Like all of those years that I bought an OTC Montana Bighorn sheep tag and I would hunt the opening weekend, and not go back even when the season was 3 months long and the quota of rams was not taken. Now there is only a fraction of the number of Unlimited Sheep units, and the quota is filled in most of them the first week. Or the years that I bought an OTC Montana Grizzly tag and most of my Grizzly hunting was basically limited to just hoping that when I went back to get the meat, I would find a bear on the gut pile of an elk or moose that I had shot. We will never see another OTC Grizzly tag in the lower 48.
And like Bocajnala posted, "Tag availability and price for some of the hunts that require guides will be your biggest hurdle. " When I drew my first Montana Mountain Goat tag back in 1976, I had a 25% chance of drawing a tag in that area. Now there are no tags in that area, and most of the Montana Goat areas have less than a 1% chance of drawing a tag. In 2017 I was one of the last non-resident hunters to shoot a Caribou in Quebec before they closed Caribou hunting to non-residents. My DIY Montana Bighorn sheep, Moose, Goat and Elk hunts all cost me less than $100 each (tag and a tank of gas), where guided hunts for these animals can cost from $5,000-$20,000 or more for each of these animals, and I have seen Desert Sheep hunts advertised for up to $80,000.
I do not have a goal of taking all 29 animals of the North American super slam, but I do like hunting new and different animals and in new places. I'm hoping to add 3 new ones this year.
Good luck on your quest.
Actually, I've had a pretty good hunting life, and along with 50+ years of great hunting memories, I have a house full of trophies to spark those memories.
Looking back, there were a lot of things that I should have done differently...Like all of those years that I bought an OTC Montana Bighorn sheep tag and I would hunt the opening weekend, and not go back even when the season was 3 months long and the quota of rams was not taken. Now there is only a fraction of the number of Unlimited Sheep units, and the quota is filled in most of them the first week. Or the years that I bought an OTC Montana Grizzly tag and most of my Grizzly hunting was basically limited to just hoping that when I went back to get the meat, I would find a bear on the gut pile of an elk or moose that I had shot. We will never see another OTC Grizzly tag in the lower 48.
And like Bocajnala posted, "Tag availability and price for some of the hunts that require guides will be your biggest hurdle. " When I drew my first Montana Mountain Goat tag back in 1976, I had a 25% chance of drawing a tag in that area. Now there are no tags in that area, and most of the Montana Goat areas have less than a 1% chance of drawing a tag. In 2017 I was one of the last non-resident hunters to shoot a Caribou in Quebec before they closed Caribou hunting to non-residents. My DIY Montana Bighorn sheep, Moose, Goat and Elk hunts all cost me less than $100 each (tag and a tank of gas), where guided hunts for these animals can cost from $5,000-$20,000 or more for each of these animals, and I have seen Desert Sheep hunts advertised for up to $80,000.
I do not have a goal of taking all 29 animals of the North American super slam, but I do like hunting new and different animals and in new places. I'm hoping to add 3 new ones this year.
Good luck on your quest.
