We were able to tag out yesterday. The key is the NWA lottery. We seen 11 elk outside the NWA (all bulls so we could not shoot) and yesterday 30 mins after entering the NWA we had a cow on the ground.
There are a lot of guys pounding the roads and we found our herd of roughly 80 just over the first rolling hill off the road. Like the post above they were chirping like crazy, really neat experience.
The base guys were great and after ironing out a few issues in the first couple days the briefing and time to get on the base was quicker. There is a 1 hr delay after briefing and they really mean 1 hour. You can wait at the gate or just inside the gate but they won't let you pass sooner.
The doors did not open before 6:00am and although we filled out paperwork before from the net they had us redo it the first day as they said it was a different version. Bring a pen if you remember, they have some but you will have to wait for one to be free.
To get into the NWA you need food and water for 12hrs, a hunting partner, a way to get the elk out, a solar blanket, a gps (most important part and they do check) and map they provide you. The map is really detailed topo map and is very useful on planning your hunt areas and places to walk where trucks should hopefully not be driving.
They will list a lot of rules and they will also search your vehicle (depending on the MP they search it really well) so don't try to sneak something on as they will lifetime ban you. They said the first day 12 people received lifetime bans with 2 being from alcohol.
This was my second year there and it was a really different experience. Last year IMO the briefing went a lot smoother and we were hunting a lot sooner. I also seen way way more elk and never went into the NWA. This year was a bit slower and I don't think there are many elk that are not in the NWA. I did not witness any of the crazy stuff people have stories of and found most everyone to be very respectful other than a few guys that did some hard tailgating.
Hope the other hunts go well this year and IMO I would try hard to get the NWA draw.
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