Western Rookie - My 5 to 7 Year Western Hunt Plans
Sportsmen's Empire - Whitetail Hunting
Sportsmen's Empire Outdoor Network
4.8 • 615 Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Planning My 5-7 Year Western Hunting Strategy and Goals In this episode, Dan Johnson shares his detailed hunting plan for the next five to seven years, covering everything from preference points and unit selections to physical preparation and gear. Whether you're a seasoned hunter or just starting to plan your own adventure, get insights on long-term strategy, resource management, and hunting logistics.
Key Topics:
- Dan's personal hunting goals for mule deer, elk, antelope, and whitetails
- Navigating non-resident tag allocations and preference point systems in western states
- Physical recovery and preparation after knee replacement surgery for effective hunting
- Strategies for unit selection, hunting with others, and leveraging preference points
- Planning for the ultimate archery elk hunt and logistical considerations
- Applying for lottery and over-the-counter hunts in states like New Mexico and Colorado
- Long-term planning tips for aspiring western hunters
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of the sportsman's empire is brought to you by Interstate Batteries. |
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| 0:33.3 | Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, good night, middle of the night, early morning, whenever you're listening to this, welcome to the Western Rookie Podcast. |
| 0:42.8 | I'm your host, Dan Johnson. |
| 0:44.7 | And it's just me today. |
| 0:47.8 | And here's what I wanted to talk about today. |
| 0:49.7 | I want to talk about my western hunting plans for the next i'm going to say five to seven years |
| 1:00.9 | and what that looks like now um there's been a lot of changes based off of um resident and |
| 1:07.7 | non-resident tag allocations um there's been how many years you can go into the preference point draw. For example, like the state of Wyoming is proposing that you've got to be active in the preference point draw, and this is somehow going to help prevent point creep for the future. |
| 1:33.7 | And so there's a couple things that I want to talk about that what the next, I don't know, |
| 1:41.2 | what the next five to seven years looks like for me, knowing that I'm sitting on several preference points for the state of Wyoming. |
| 1:52.2 | My love for, you know, prairie mule deer such as North South Dakota, Western Nebraska, |
| 1:53.9 | what that looks like. |
| 2:20.0 | And if I want to maybe go back to Colorado or start collecting points for Colorado in some of these units, maybe play the Idaho game or a lottery state like New Mexico and what that kind of looks like for me, along with maybe some other, like sprinkling in some other non-resident hunts in whitetail states like Wisconsin, Missouri is getting ready to change. |
| 2:23.0 | It's non-resident tag allocations as well. So there's a lot to kind of consider now. |
| 2:26.3 | And with all of these changes, you're definitely going to need to be on top of what it is you're trying to accomplish. |
| 2:34.4 | Right. With, you know, some of these states. going to need to be on top of what it is you're trying to accomplish, right? |
... |
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