It's hard to believe that we are already a week into December. This month means that application season is right around the corner and with that comes the hope of pulling a few great tags for 2017.

The best way to gain an understanding of how a state’s draw system works is to pay close attention to our Application Strategy Articles that are available from January through May. These articles are strategically released to coincide with upcoming hunt application deadlines across the states that we cover.

If you’re unfamiliar with our Application Strategy articles, you will quickly realize we do things a little differently. These application strategy articles are focused on how you can gain an edge on trophy units as well as over-the-counter units and they provide important tables, charts and graphics to help you understand key information.

Dates and Deadlines

Below is the tentative state application deadlines and the application strategy article release dates. These dates will be modified as the state releases more information. We release INSIDER Application Strategy articles two to three weeks before the state deadlines. This gives you plenty of time to check out the new regulations, unit boundary changes, herd dieoff information and tag allocation changes before you try to draw your dream tag. Another benefit to our online presence is you will have access to the latest and best information possible to help you prepare for hunts. Also, once an application strategy article is released, INSIDERs will be able to click on the date of release in the table below to view the entire application strategy.

* December 1, 2016 is the first-day nonresidents can start to purchase deer and elk tags (except Sawtooth elk tags).

* New for 2017. Check out the article on Montana's new system here.

You can also see all of the important western hunting deadlines on our INSIDER Basecamp page. That is sort of like your INSIDER "homepage." You can find a quick link to Basecamp in the upper right-hand corner of the screen if you click on the INSIDER button. We keep that page updated with all the latest dates and deadlines.

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Our 2016 Application Strategy Articles

Another great tactic this time of year is to review our old Application Strategy articles. This can be especially useful if you're thinking about applying in a new state. All of the links to the 2016 Application Strategy articles can be found below.

Application season can be very overwhelming and we try to keep it simple with an easy to follow schedule of article release dates. Some of the Application Strategy articles are released within a small window, but that is done to ensure we are providing the best possible information to our users. Different states release their regulations and herd information at tight windows to the application deadline. So we strive to release these articles with all the information possible. One of the best supplements to our Application Strategy articles is Filtering and Draw Odds. Both are always available for you to start your 2017 research.

Filtering 2.0

We now cover nine western states on INSIDER. The Filtering tool is an industry first that provides you with the ability to search for hunt choices that meet your criteria. You can filter by state, species, season, weapon type, trophy potential, draw odds, dates of availability, harvest success and male:female ratios. In addition, you can search for over-the-counter only options if desired. This is revolutionary in helping you to take literally thousands of unit choices and quickly narrow it down to only a few. Think of the time and money this potentially saves you each year!

Draw Odds

Last year we released Draw Odds to INSIDER. That launch was a major milestone for us and an incredible research tool for you. This year we're going a step further with our Draw Odds. Before the end of this year we will have updated 2017 Draw Odds available and you'll also be able to see year-over-year draw odd trends. This involved an update on both our standalone Draw Odds page as well as some changes to our Unit Profiles. On top of the new changes to Draw Odds, we also changed up our display for New Mexico odds to provide a cleaner approach.

Best of luck in the 2017 draws. Feel free to reach out to us at any time if you have questions.