First time Antelope in Wyoming, help needed!

[Archimedes]

I am trying to put together an Antelope hunt for next fall in Wyoming and I'm looking for advice. I have no preference points. Are there any areas which I can be guaranteed to draw a tag and have a decent chance at a antelope buck? How many doe tags can one purchase? Are there listings of ranchers that charge tresspass fees online or at chamber of commerces? I don't mind walking several miles to get a goat, so please point me in the right direction.

 

[Big Fin]

The answer to all of your questions is "YES." Look at the areas up near Gillette. Tons of tags, lots of antelope, and the G&F will provide a list of landowners willing to let you hunt for a trespass fee. You can usually add one or two doe tags in those units.

For the areas with more public land, move further west. But, expect to get lucky in the random draw, or to need a couple points for some of those units.

Wyoming antelope is about as much fun as you can have.

 

[Bowhuntrben]

There are definitely areas with lots of goats which you can draw a tag for with no points. By doing the special draw, you open up more areas. I did my first antelope hunt last year in an easy to draw area. I had a blast. I saw a pile of goats, and my hunt only lasted part of a day and had a buck I was very happy with!
Good luck on your hunt.

 

[1_pointer]

Hunting pronghorns, like stated above, is great F U N! Be sure to pick up some doe tags, it makes the fun last longer. Besides, they are just too darn tasty not to take more than one home.

 

[Muskeez]

You are starting at the right time as it takes a ton of time to research all of this on your first go at it. I did the same thing last year, and it gets quite overwhelming at times if you let it. Warning: It will totally consume you! Start by reading old posts on this site and others and take LOTS of notes. Also go to the WY G&F site and read all that you can, and then call them and ask questions. I'm told that a Huntin' Fool subscription can be helpful as well but it's probably not necessary for WY pronghorn hunts. You will find a lot of advise, but the single best tool I found was a combination of a Garmin handheld gps, a WY Hunting GPS Maps chip for your Garmin, and a paper map by the same company of the area that you eventually get drawn for. You did not state where you are coming from to hunt, but I found that it was nothing at all like back home and the GPS chip helped us find small pieces of checker board land that was accessible. We simply drove where we could, spotted animals and then determined which property they were on with the aid of the map and map chip/Garmin. Granted they were usually on private, but we found enough animals on public land to make it a great hunt. Some guys will tell you that it is very easy, drive out, wack one, go home,... my thoughts were to go out prepared to work hard at it and be a little selective so that I could make several stalks, learn about the animals, not shoot more than one animal per day, and enjoy the landscape, and the people. You will love it! Enjoy the process!

 

[Archimedes]

Thank you for the info Randy and everyone else. I had looked on the draw results and the Gillette area had definitely caught my eye. I had wondered why it had so many hundreds of tags, but very few people applying for them. Access issues I assume? Looks like areas 17-23 are some of the easiest draws any one better than others? Ben, what unit did you hunt last year if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Archimedes]

Muskeez, I'm coming from GA. I have a garmin and plan on getting the chip. Haven't been hunting out west since I was a kid with my dad, and looking to start again. I have been reading the WGF site for the past few nights but was getting overwhelmed. Any other reccomendtions are welcomed.

 

[dustinf]

Pay a trespass fee if you have to.

I love hunting public land, but I hate not hunting more...

 

[Topgun 30-06]

17 and 23 are units with mostly private ranches, but there is huntable public land in both if you do enough searching and have your GPS/chip. The Gillette G&F Office can send you a list of landowners that charge trespass fees and the sooner you make those arrangements the better as a tag in unit 23 is a sure thing. Up to 4 doe tags (only two in the initial draw) can be purchased depending on the units and 23 even allows a second buck tag. There is really no point in even putting in for a buck tag in the initial draw for 23, as there are literally hundreds of tags left even after the season is over.

 

[MN Public Hunter]

You can also just get a leftover tag as well.

 

[blb078]

Anyone know roughly how much an access fee is? Just a average/ball park number.

 

[utah400elk]

i would be happy to point you to a great unit near Cheyenne. It is listed as limited public access but I can point you to some school trust land where there are pleny of goats. It is a fun and easy hunt. Even if you add a couple of doe tags it would take you less than a day to finish the hunt. PM me if you are interested.

 

[dustinf]

Anyone know roughly how much an access fee is? Just a average/ball park number.

I paid $200 in 2012. I have no idea if that is average or not.

Just for perspective, our float plane flight to hunt an island(public) in southeast Alaska was $1,200 this year(2013).

 

[jvanderlinde]

This is what I did.

I located a few areas that interested me. I called the county that they were located in. I got a current county map that located all public roads. As some ranchers think they own the county roads. I then corresponded the maps with BLM maps to help decide where I had the most options. The next step was to call the friendly guys at hunting gps maps and ordered a chip for my Garmin. If you hunt hard, get out and walk you will have a successful hunt. Its a ton of fun. We hunt every year without any points and are very successful.

Good luck!!

 

[boof]

Lot of useful information here! Next year I'll be buying my first point for WY antelope.

 

[gritz]

I hunted unit 23 this year with no success. I hunted 5 day and didnt even see a buck on public land. I wouldnt recomend this unit to any body. I was there towards the end of the season and after much rain and snow. So maybe it was timing or just bad luck. There was several people I camped by that also went home empty handed. Just my 2 cents

 

[WapitiBob]

The unit I hunted this year only had 2 herds in it. I was there late Oct. and the snow did move most of the animals to the south, to their winter range. Could have happened in 23 also. I covered the entire hunt area and except for a short stint of county road, I was the only guy off the pavement. The quad paid for itself with the gumbo roads.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

I hunted unit 23 this year with no success. I hunted 5 day and didnt even see a buck on public land. I wouldnt recomend this unit to any body. I was there towards the end of the season and after much rain and snow. So maybe it was timing or just bad luck. There was several people I camped by that also went home empty handed. Just my 2 cents

*** Was this the first time you've hunted antelope? It could be that the animals bunched up with all the nasty weather we had out there in October and you just didn't find the right spot. I was there the entire month of October and it was the worst I've seen since I started going out there most every year since 1992. One real old timer said it was the worst October in 70 years on the west side of the BigHorns where we hunt and I'd believe it. I've hunted unit 23 before and the public land obviously isn't like hunting on private property, but I saw good numbers and the guy I sent out there several years ago killed a buck and two does in less than three days up in the nw BLM land I sent him to.

 

[gritz]

*** Was this the first time you've hunted antelope? It could be that the animals bunched up with all the nasty weather we had out there in October and you just didn't find the right spot. I was there the entire month of October and it was the worst I've seen since I started going out there most every year since 1992. One real old timer said it was the worst October in 70 years on the west side of the BigHorns where we hunt and I'd believe it. I've hunted unit 23 before and the public land obviously isn't like hunting on private property, but I saw good numbers and the guy I sent out there several years ago killed a buck and two does in less than three days up in the nw BLM land I sent him to.

Yes it was my first time, had a good time and learned alot. I walked many miles until the roads dried enoough to be passable then "road hunted" stoping at alot of places to walk in and check. I will hunt wyoming again but I dont know if I would go back to 23. It was pretty country along the red cliffs.

 

[JohnCushman]

Prepare yourself to become addicted to antelope hunting