LLBUX

For those who are interested:

As of last week, only about 11,000 of the 20,000 available NR bow tags have been applied for. This includes about 4700 of the 7500 outfitter tags.

Good luck!

Cougar Mag

NR's have until July 31st to apply right? Maybe its the economy, fuel prices, NR either/or tag fee or a combination of above but this surprises me. I figured the numbers of NR's applying would be higher. Still, they have almost 2 weeks.

LLBUX

That is correct. NR hunters have until July 31 to apply in the lottery. I expect tags will be left over and available thru August.

Good luck all!

Shockwave

LLBUX - Thanks for the information. My confirmation # is 7005400 ... and I applied for an outfitter permit. Does this mean that the 5400 # was the number of TOTAL applications at that point? We were getting worried that it was only the outfitter app's and that the 7500 would be gone in a hurry.

Thanks ... Shockwave

LLBUX

Don't know about any 5400 you mention. The numbers of applicants shown above were given out by DNR.

About 11,000 of 20,000 total tags
About 4700 of 7500 outfitter tags. (Included in the 20,000 total)

Shockwave

Sorry about the confusion. The #7005400 was my confirmation number on my NR application. I was just curious if the 5400 in that number meant anything. I applied about 1 week into the application period (6/22/05) and was nervous that the number was the number of tags applied for at that point, but didn't know if that was total tags or outfitter only. Your response cleared it up just fine. With only a week and half to go it is unlikely that they will sell out! Good news for us N/R's that are getting nervous!

... Shockwave

silentassassin

Shockwave, I applied the very second that they came online and my app. # was 7000001.

SKIDMARK

I just spoke to the D.N.R. yesterday and as of the end of last week there were 12,395 applications. I was a little confused, does the outfitters permits come out of the 20,000 or are their's separate? Also we are planning on either a trip to Illinois to hunt some private land or a trip to Wisconsin to hunt public land. A few of my buddies have been to Wisconsin but none of us have ever seen this land in Illinois so we would be going there blind. If anyone has an opinion please reply.

silentassassin

The 5,000 outfitter permits come out of the total of 20,000. I didn't apply for an outfitter permit even thoughI could have. However, with the outfitter permits I would have only been able to hunt on the outfitters properties. Which is fine if I kill one and I hope I do but if not I will be able to go back and hunt some public ground later in the year. I can't tell you whether or not to go to Illinois or Wisconsin because I have never hunting Wisconsin but I can tell that the ground in Illinois is normally pretty to easy to scout and figure out in a realtively short amount of time. Where is the ground in Illinois? If you can get some coordinates you can pull up some backs and have a good idea of where you will hunt just by looking at topos and aerials. In most cases you will probably be better off hunting public than private but that all depends on the two pieces of property but you will have more control over the pressure on the private ground. Just some things to think about.

BGfisher

I guess a friend of mine got some eroneous info. He called in about three weeks ago and was told that at that time there had been about 40,000 applicants.

Frankly, for the price this year, I can add another $100 and go hunt elk in Colorado. Illinois is starting to get out of hand.