SaddleSore,
In some of if not most of the OTC archery units where cow elk can be killed with a bull tag the success rate of archers can meet or even exceed that of OTC rifle bull tags.
Only because of the total number of OTC rifle tags sold vs OTC archery tags. There are still only so many elk to be killed. Studies have been done that show if you put a limited number of hunters in an a certain area, XXX number of animals will be killed. Increase the number of hunters and about the same number of animals will be killed. My opinion only, but I suspect when a NR pays in the realm of $800 for an OTC or draw elk tag, they will l pass on a lot of cows. I did mention that success rates for rifle OTC units are reduced by at least 1/2 vs draw units. Either way, from what the OP noted, he was very concerned about killing an elk and it is my opinion, that an OTC tag whether it is archery or rifle reduces that probability and even more so with an archery tag. If you compare cow kills with a rifle vs archery only, I am sure the difference would be about the same
Statistics given by CPW of kills is for all seasons , for all elk for all means of kills. So I suspect those %'s are a little off for each season. You probably scour the statistics more than I do and there are probably kill ratio numbers for each season.
No worries though. OP asked for advice, and gave my opinions and others may differ.
