Big Game by State

About

About this site

A free, independent reference for hunters applying for western big-game tags — built because the information already exists in public, and is almost impossible to actually use.

Why this exists

Every western state that runs a limited-entry draw publishes its results. Those results contain the answer to the only question that matters when you're deciding where to apply: given the points you're holding, what did it actually take to draw this tag?

The answer is free and public. It is also, in practice, unreachable — distributed across hundreds of PDF reports that can't be sorted, filtered, or compared across years. The subscription tools solve the access problem and charge $99 to $199 a year for it. The free sites that rank well mostly publish pooled odds, which look like an answer and aren't one.

This site is the transformation and nothing else: state documents into a sortable, point-level table, with the source linked on every number. The data isn't ours. The work of making it usable is.

Who runs it

Big Game by State is published and edited by Justin Adams. Every number that appears here is checked against the agency document it came from before it goes live, and state coverage is released one state at a time for exactly that reason.

Reach the editor at editor@biggamebystate.com, or send a correction to corrections@biggamebystate.com. Corrections are handled the way a software team handles a shipped bug — fixed on the page, with a note saying what changed and when.

Independence

This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any state wildlife agency, and it isn't a licensed outfitter, guide service, or application service. We don't sell tags, applications, point-management services, or memberships. We don't take payment to feature a unit, and we never will — the moment a unit appears here because someone paid for it, every other number on the site becomes worthless.

The site is free and supported by advertising. That's the whole business model.

What we don't do

No accounts, no logins, no email capture, no credit card — there is nothing here to sign up for. No predictions or simulated odds. No maps, trophy scores, or "recommended units." The full reasoning behind those choices is on the methodology page.

Always confirm against the state before you apply. This site reports what state agencies have published about past draws. Regulations, quotas, fees and deadlines change, sometimes mid-season. Every page links the agency source — use it, and treat the agency's word as final.