The WGFD hunt planner now also shows county/public roads
https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Hunt-Planner/Antelope-Hunting/Antelope-Map
https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Hunt-Planner/Antelope-Hunting/Antelope-Map
Access Quality of Eastern Wyoming?
- Thread starter np307
- Start date
You're best bet it to contact the Road and Bridge Superintendent for each county. If you read the online maps carefully they say not all roads are public that are depicted. Some are ranch roads shown for emergency access purposes.
Some counties do have better maps now though, Campbell Co being one of them.
Some counties do have better maps now though, Campbell Co being one of them.
SaskHunter
Well-known member
I hunted NE Wyoming this fall. Although I am no stranger to hunting out west here in Canada, it was my first hunting trip states side and first time hunting Antelopes. I have to admit, I was prepared for the worst in terms of hunting pressure and having an overall hard hunt. I knew access was limited and I had warnings of private land owners posting public land.
I wasn't really prepared for the "poor" access to public land. I ended up tagging my Antelope on day 4 of a 5 day trip. Day 1 was mostly scouting and getting the layout of the land, the unit I hunted was small enough to pretty much drive the whole thing in one day. Day 2,3 and 4 were mostly hunting days, at that point, I had 5 pieces of BLM land that had easy access and those are the ones I hunted. Due to the weather and extremely low visibility, I had a couple days where I couldn't sit and glass, so it was mostly driving and still hunting. On the last day and a half, the weather cleared and I was able to sit back, glass and make moves on antelopes and was successful in doing so.
Like I mentioned above, I was prepared for a lot, one thing I actually wasn't prepared for, was the frustrations associated with being close enough to public land that you can see it but couldn't physically get to it because it was landlocked by private land or roads. It wasn't an impossible hunt and I will most likely hit the same unit next year if I can.
One last thing, some of you have posted very good links above, I just realized that a county road that was posted private is actually public, so next year if I draw a tag, I intend on hitting those two BLM land. As a Canadian non-resident, I was really reluctant to "push my luck", if I saw posted land, I moved on, but now I'm actually starting to wonder how many times I turned around because some gutsy land owner posted a road or parcel of public land...
My advice to you, even when you think you have done all your homework, do more research. I thought I knew all the information I needed to know before making the trip, I was wrong.
I wasn't really prepared for the "poor" access to public land. I ended up tagging my Antelope on day 4 of a 5 day trip. Day 1 was mostly scouting and getting the layout of the land, the unit I hunted was small enough to pretty much drive the whole thing in one day. Day 2,3 and 4 were mostly hunting days, at that point, I had 5 pieces of BLM land that had easy access and those are the ones I hunted. Due to the weather and extremely low visibility, I had a couple days where I couldn't sit and glass, so it was mostly driving and still hunting. On the last day and a half, the weather cleared and I was able to sit back, glass and make moves on antelopes and was successful in doing so.
Like I mentioned above, I was prepared for a lot, one thing I actually wasn't prepared for, was the frustrations associated with being close enough to public land that you can see it but couldn't physically get to it because it was landlocked by private land or roads. It wasn't an impossible hunt and I will most likely hit the same unit next year if I can.
One last thing, some of you have posted very good links above, I just realized that a county road that was posted private is actually public, so next year if I draw a tag, I intend on hitting those two BLM land. As a Canadian non-resident, I was really reluctant to "push my luck", if I saw posted land, I moved on, but now I'm actually starting to wonder how many times I turned around because some gutsy land owner posted a road or parcel of public land...
My advice to you, even when you think you have done all your homework, do more research. I thought I knew all the information I needed to know before making the trip, I was wrong.
Don't let the "hard access" units deter you, they can be fun if you put in the work. All the info mention already is good stuff and the only other info I can provide is get off the dang road and walk. I drew a hard access eastern unit as my second choice this year and had a good hunt, lots of people running the roads and exactly zero back in the WIA's, State and BLM chunks on foot. OnX maps is a must.
EdP
Member
This year I did exactly what emf said, got my first DIY antelope, and had fun. If I had an opportunity to access 40K acres of private land for a reasonable cost I would probably take it. Being able to do your own thing with only 2 other hunters on the land would be a better hunt, but I had fun doing what I did and plan to do it again next year. I applied for an "any antelope" tag in one of the difficult access units of eastern Wy. First choice draw odds for a non-res were 80% and I got my tag. I had taken a decent buck on a guided hunt in 2015 so my intent was just to take a buck, any buck. After seeing the number of hunters and how the antelope were behaving, I quickly changed my focus to any antelope and took a doe early on day 2 in one of the Walk-in Areas. If I had been travelling alone I could have held out several days longer and probably gotten a buck, but the wife was along and we wanted time to do some other things out west before heading home to Va.
I did spend a lot of time studying maps and I got OnxHunt and did a day of scouting before the season opened. It all paid off.
I did spend a lot of time studying maps and I got OnxHunt and did a day of scouting before the season opened. It all paid off.
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