Hunting big game in America has changed over the last 30 years.  When I did my first big game hunt for Mule Deer in California the area we hunted was X-9 on the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.  X-9 at that time was a huge unit and the tag was an over the counter tag that anyone could get.  Today, that unit is a hard to draw lottery tag and the unit is broken into several sub units that if you are lucky, you can get drawn for every 5 to 6 years as a resident and every 7 to 10 years as a non-resident.

The reality is that if you want to get drawn in a Western state where you will have high opportunity at a trophy tag or you are looking to hunt a species like sheep, Mountain Goat or Moose you have to put in for the draw and build up preference points.  Even states like Iowa and Kansas are getting tough to draw in prime whitetail areas.  Elk and Deer in areas of certain states where the animals are big and known to be trophy units are almost impossible to draw without several years of preference points.

Every state has different rules and the application process is complex.  There are several agencies out there though that can help you navigate the Western application process. The reality is that if you want to hunt you have to apply

Garth and Jason Carter the entire team are some of the best  and their service is a breeze to use.  For the past 12 years Carter's Application Service and the team have put out The Huntin Fool magazine and provided advice to tens of 1000' of customers.  For the last several years, I have been a member of The Huntin Fool and I have used their team to apply for all of my Western big game draws.  Because of those preference points, during 2010 I am going to be able to have a real opportunity to start applying for some fantastic units to hunt Mule deer, Elk and Antelope and in the next several years, I might have a good shot at some Moose tags as well as Mountain Goat and Sheep.

The Truest Statement you will ever hear: 

If you want to hunt these units you MUST, APPLY, APPLY, APPLY!!!!

The Huntin Fool membership provides you with a one year magazine which in an of itself is worth every penny that you pay, coupled with that the magazine is filled Fantastic hunting stories, Great gear reviews.  Your membership provides you access to the application service and the costs are very reasonable for the work they do to ensure that your application is accurate and submitted on time.  Your membership also gets you a access to a drawing for some pretty great hunts and some nice gear.

Over the past serveral years the team at Huntin Fool has been very communicative with me, honest, open and extremely professional in working with me and I have been happy knowing that they are taking care of my applications with that same professionalism.  I have been happy to get their magazine and i read it every month......

I Fully Endorse....Huntin Fool

If you choose to use them to handle your Western Big Game Applications or just to get there magazine every year then please let them know that I sent you.  You will get a ticket into their drawing for a big game hunt and I will get a ticket as well.  I appreciate the ticket because any hunts I get the chance to win or any gear that I get to use is just more opportunity for me to write and share knowledge with all of you.  That being said, I am certainly not going to endorse someone just because they give me a raffle ticket, I endorse this service because after all of the research that I have done, THEY ARE THE BEST, Period.