I should have done this one a couple weeks ago, but better late than never. In this episode I describe how the Arizona big game draw process works, and how to access and use previous draw data to improve your odds in the future. The main AZ draw deadline just passed, but this info applies to all draws. I start by describing the draw and bonus point processes then do a deeper dive into the data you can find on the AZGFD website and how to use it to your advantage. I give several simple tips you should use to help your chances of drawing a big game tag, and some warnings about things that might hurt your chances. Hopefully it's not too confusing without visual aids. Maybe I'll make a YouTube video about this before the next draw so I can show exactly what to do. I hope you get something from this that will change the way you apply for AZ tags. Enjoy.

This episode was supposed to be about my recent trip to Colorado for the Compton Traditional Bowhunters Big Game Classic, but thanks to listener PJ Selinski (and I do mean thanks PJ) it was confirmed that the numbers I used for the previous episode on the 2024 archery deer quotas were wrong. I knew then that something was off, but I went with the numbers I got off the AZ Game and Fish website at that time. So, in this episode the first 20 minutes are the new stats based on the hopefully correct numbers. The rest of the episode is me gushing about how awesome the Compton event was and how great the people are. I did a hard sell on joining Compton and teased the idea of starting our own traditional bowhunting organization in Arizona. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to contact me at my email: closerangehunter@gmail.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Closerangehunter. Happy hunting!

In this episode I breakdown some numbers and stats of the archery deer quota from 2024. What units closed when, how many deer were killed by archers in 2024, how that compares to 2023, and what do these numbers tell us? At the end I did a little catching up and told some stories about a couple of crazy coincidences between big game hunting and meteorite hunting and a bit on drought and antler growth. I also made another pitch for traditional archery seasons. I thought I had uploaded a podcast in February, but I guess I didn't. I recorded this a few weeks ago, but the audio was not up to par. So, here is my second attempt. I will follow up soon with another podcast about my experience at the Compton Traditional Bowhunters Big Game Classic I attended in Golden Colorado in March. As always I hope you get some useful info out of this one.