Another noob to WY Antelope

[smithja79]

My dad has always wanted to do an antelope hunt and, since he's turning 60 this year, I've decided to plan a surprise trip to Wyoming for him and I. Neither of us have ever been there and have 0 points. I've started doing some research and am looking to put in for some of the units that are guaranteed draw with 0 points, understanding that land access is going to be tough. So far I've been looking at 102, 109, 10, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 26, 7, etc. To help narrow down my choices, I have a couple questions for those that might know:

1. I have a small travel trailer that I was intending to tow over with us. I hear some of the roads can be bad in Wyoming, especially when it rains, and I intend to bring chains for all four tires. But, is a trailer a bad idea? Will it be difficult to find a place to camp? I don't need a campground and know that I can camp on BLM but not state.

2. I was thinking about getting the GoHunt subscription to aid my research of units/success/odds. I've been using the Wyoming Fish & Game website, but didn't know if the GoHunt service would help simplify my search. Any opinions from subscribers to this service?

I'm really excited about finding this forum as there seems to be a wealth of information. I hope to be able to contribute in the future. Any information is greatly appreciated.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

PM sent

 

[cedahm]

My dad has always wanted to do an antelope hunt and, since he's turning 60 this year, I've decided to plan a surprise trip to Wyoming for him and I. Neither of us have ever been there and have 0 points. I've started doing some research and am looking to put in for some of the units that are guaranteed draw with 0 points, understanding that land access is going to be tough. So far I've been looking at 102, 109, 10, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 26, 7, etc. To help narrow down my choices, I have a couple questions for those that might know:

1. I have a small travel trailer that I was intending to tow over with us. I hear some of the roads can be bad in Wyoming, especially when it rains, and I intend to bring chains for all four tires. But, is a trailer a bad idea? Will it be difficult to find a place to camp? I don't need a campground and know that I can camp on BLM but not state.

2. I was thinking about getting the GoHunt subscription to aid my research of units/success/odds. I've been using the Wyoming Fish & Game website, but didn't know if the GoHunt service would help simplify my search. Any opinions from subscribers to this service?

I'm really excited about finding this forum as there seems to be a wealth of information. I hope to be able to contribute in the future. Any information is greatly appreciated.

1: like any sagebrush country, the roads can get ultra-snotty when wet. Luckily, wind and sun dry them out pretty quick and you (mostlikely) won't lack for either most of the season. Most of those units will have an abundance of BLM to camp on, might be tough to find shade and respite from the wind, sun, and dust, but that's Wyoming.

2: I think GoHunt is the best hundred bucks I've spent on gear in the last year. The unit breakdowns have more detail than the WGFD reports, and if by any chance you decided to look @ another state, it will pay for itself quickly. If I was ONLY hunting WY, maybe I'd not subscribe, but as Fin has said on-air: "I spill that much money in coffee"

I don't have much to offer specifically on those units, I'm sure others on here do, but keep us posted as the trip develops. I for one never tire of pronghorn stories.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

1: like any sagebrush country, the roads can get ultra-snotty when wet. Luckily, wind and sun dry them out pretty quick and you (mostlikely) won't lack for either most of the season. Most of those units will have an abundance of BLM to camp on, might be tough to find shade and respite from the wind, sun, and dust, but that's Wyoming.

2: I think GoHunt is the best hundred bucks I've spent on gear in the last year. The unit breakdowns have more detail than the WGFD reports, and if by any chance you decided to look @ another state, it will pay for itself quickly. If I was ONLY hunting WY, maybe I'd not subscribe, but as Fin has said on-air: "I spill that much money in coffee"

I don't have much to offer specifically on those units, I'm sure others on here do, but keep us posted as the trip develops. I for one never tire of pronghorn stories.

That's really not an accurate statement and why there are so many leftover tags due to those units predominantly private land.

 

[cedahm]

That's really not an accurate statement and why there are so many leftover tags due to those units predominantly private land.

You're right, Topgun, 'Abundance' is overly strong, but even when 80%+ of the unit is private, there's still, relatively speaking, a good amount of BLM ground to park a camper on in the ones mentioned. I should have qualified that.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

You're right, Topgun, 'Abundance' is overly strong, but even when 80%+ of the unit is private, there's still, relatively speaking, a good amount of BLM ground to park a camper on in the ones mentioned. I should have qualified that.

On that I can more than agree with!

 

[smithja79]

Thanks guys for the input. I think I will spring for the GoHunt subscription too, because I am thinking about an Idaho elk trip this year. Really appreciate the advice so far. Hopefully this is just the beginnings of a great hunting story!

 

[VAspeedgoat]

We towed a small trailer with us last time to haul our stuff. It locked up better than a topper for the trip. I don't think I would have wanted it on the gravel roads we traveled to hunt, but to tow in and drop I think it would be fine. Chains are great but have a tow strap with you too.

As stated before there should be adequate blm to find a spot to camp but it will likely be in the wide open.

 

[jlh321]

http://toprut.com/hunt/wyoming-antelope/
Here is a sight that will help you figure out what units you can draw.

 

[MN Public Hunter]

A few things to think about:

Do you want to do buck or can you hunt doe's instead?

Are you willing to pay for Special tags? That will open up what you can get with zero PP, but not cheap.

The first year I hunted lopes we actually set up camp in the parking lot of a hotel for like $10 a night and had a nice bathroom and electricity Don't over look that as a possibility.

 

[smithja79]

Thanks guys, great advice. We are definitely willing to hunt does, but it would obviously be nice to have a buck opportunity as well. The special draw isn't out of the question, but I've seen success stories from people who went into the limited access units and I think I'd like to try that. I know it will be a challenge and results aren't typical. We're willing to hike in a ways from the road and definitely aren't expecting huge bucks. For our first antelope, any would be considered a trophy to us.

Even if we come back with nothing I think my dad and I will be happy having gone on such a trip together. Thanks again everyone, I'm really getting excited about this trip. Too bad it's only February still.

 

[Tom]

Cross your draw list with the success list and pick good options for both. The third list to cross is land to hunt. For example unit 102 had 108% pooled non-resident success in 2015 and unit 20 had 74.2% pooled non-resident success. https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/content/PDF/Hunting/Harvest Reports/HR2015_Antelope.pdf

https://wgfd.wyo.gov/plpwhmprogram/uploads/huntingwalk/sheridan/Sheridan.pdf Unit 109 has 5-6K of private land/public access besides the state land and BLM land in Sheridan county and 98.1% pooled non-resident success and is on your easy draw list.

 

[NoWiser]

You have the right attitude to make your trip a success! Good luck! You will find antelope.

 

[JDH]

Tom hit the nail on the head. Two years ago I hunted a unit that had that pesky asterisk beside it that said it was limited access and we still had plenty of areas to hunt. I scouted the heck out of google earth for camping spots and managed to find a few that provided shade and still kept us near the areas we expected to hunt. Most guys that had trailers were camped near the main roads though. One detail though that we noticed was the guys who parked on the east side of the road had way more oil trucks dusting them. That's just a small detail that you may not notice until you get camp set up.

 

[Tom]

One year three of us went and we scouted one of those blue squares (640 acres). It had two ponds with lots of tracks and we saw antelope just over the border fence, so we went there opening morning. We all three shot a pronghorn there opening morning. We camped/stayed at a cabin in a KOA camp with many other hunters from several states. It was very nice.

 

[idahofishnhunt]

My dad has always wanted to do an antelope hunt and, since he's turning 60 this year, I've decided to plan a surprise trip to Wyoming for him and I. Neither of us have ever been there and have 0 points. I've started doing some research and am looking to put in for some of the units that are guaranteed draw with 0 points, understanding that land access is going to be tough. So far I've been looking at 102, 109, 10, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 26, 7, etc. To help narrow down my choices, I have a couple questions for those that might know:

1. I have a small travel trailer that I was intending to tow over with us. I hear some of the roads can be bad in Wyoming, especially when it rains, and I intend to bring chains for all four tires. But, is a trailer a bad idea? Will it be difficult to find a place to camp? I don't need a campground and know that I can camp on BLM but not state.

2. I was thinking about getting the GoHunt subscription to aid my research of units/success/odds. I've been using the Wyoming Fish & Game website, but didn't know if the GoHunt service would help simplify my search. Any opinions from subscribers to this service?

I'm really excited about finding this forum as there seems to be a wealth of information. I hope to be able to contribute in the future. Any information is greatly appreciated.

Curious...as my old man is up there too. How do you plan a surprise trip for him when he needs a sportman's ID number. I'm thinking the same, but not sure how to do this without asking for personal info from him to set that up.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Curious...as my old man is up there too. How do you plan a surprise trip for him when he needs a sportman's ID number. I'm thinking the same, but not sure how to do this without asking for personal info from him to set that up.

All you'll need besides his name and address is his DOB and social security number if he hasn't hunted out there before to set up an account for him. If his wife doesn't know his social security number then you may not be able to surprise him and have to ask him for it.

 

[smithja79]

Yeah, I was trying to decide how to make it a surprise. At this point I think I'm just going to have the whole thing planned, then tell him in the next couple weeks just to make sure he doesn't make other plans. It will still be a surprise I guess. And, if it's all planned out I think he'll be excited. Thanks again for the help everyone!

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Yeah, I was trying to decide how to make it a surprise. At this point I think I'm just going to have the whole thing planned, then tell him in the next couple weeks just to make sure he doesn't make other plans. It will still be a surprise I guess. And, if it's all planned out I think he'll be excited. Thanks again for the help everyone!

That's probably the best way to do it. It would be a witch if you set everything up and then all of a sudden found out he had a cruise or something planned for the hunt dates!

 

[Revharvey9576]

Took my 64 Yr old dad with me this past season. He had a blast but his age did tell on him. Didn't take him long to realize that its not as easy as it looks unless you shoot a dink from the truck....which I had to keep insisting he not do.