Ladykiller
Member
Which week would it be? Might burn my points for my first antelope hunt this year and am trying to see what fits in my schedule.
If you were to pick one week for rifle antelope hunting in WY?
- Thread starter Ladykiller
- Start date
ida homer
Well-known member
A couple weeks after the season has been open, with that ideally falling the last week of Sept or first week of Oct.
Depends: for a fun relaxing hunt 2nd week or later. For a trophy i would scout for 3/4 days before opener and focus on 1 or 2 big bucks and hunt till i ran out of time or killed him.
Added: this only applies to type 1 tags not type 2 or zones with tons of early doe tags.
Added: this only applies to type 1 tags not type 2 or zones with tons of early doe tags.
Djfan
Well-known member
I have filled on opening day most every year, lately.
WyoDoug
Well-known member
My preference is special archery season. I got a cross-bow due to my shoulder surgery and where I hunt, I am able to get within 50 yards of them most of the time and the cross bow don't seem to alert them to danger. I did rifle in 2020 but adding archery to 2021 for some scouting and archery hunting prior to rifle hunt. Got some HTers wanting to join me on my antelope hunt so making sure I get my t's crossed and my i's dotted.
For rifle for bucks, I prefer from opening day to the next 3 days. After that, they are so spooky it's hard to close in on them.
For does, I prefer middle of November. Rut is pretty much done with. They still do some breeding but not a lot but bucks are starting to drop their horns and they are starting to gather in larger herds around middle of October and become a whole lot harder to hunt but didn't seem to be near as spooky in my experience.
In November though, my experience where I hunt is they have massed into even larger herds, probably for protection from predators like coyotes. They seemed to not be near as spooky towards people as they were in early to mid October. I have been able to get close to large herds this year and picked off my does within 1-3 hours of hunting on the weekends. A lot of the bucks have dropped their horns where I hunted this year.
A hint: I found the HMA I hunted on to be underwhelming so I went north to an area someone told me about and hit pay dirt. I used to tag out quickly on Nimmo and in other HMAs but seems they are letting way too many people hunt them and not only is the crowd irritating, the HMAs are typically surrounded by private that is hard to get permission from. I am sticking to the areas I hunted this year now.
Knight.54
Well-known member
Opening week>last week.
In my experience.
That being said I often avoid opening weekend. Seems the traffic can be a little lighter during the week.
In my experience.
That being said I often avoid opening weekend. Seems the traffic can be a little lighter during the week.
thusby
Well-known member
The first day you can hunt with a rifle. Don't want to knock the bow hunters but antelope are troublesome quarry for that weapon.
WIWhitetailer
New member
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
- Messages
- 11
Hunted 4 days last season last 2 days Sept first 2 days Oct in 8 point
unit and never seen another hunter. Could not find a real good buck
but what a great time with unit to ourselves.
unit and never seen another hunter. Could not find a real good buck
but what a great time with unit to ourselves.
SaskHunter
Well-known member
In a higher point unit with low quota and high public? Opening day.
In a low point unit with high quota and low public? Second week and avoid weekends.
In a low point unit with high quota and low public? Second week and avoid weekends.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
I hunted a high quota unit days 4-9. It was swamped every day except Monday. If I did it again I’d hunt the very end of the season, or else arrive before opener and scout, then try to tag out the first morning.
Hawk Tuah
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2018
- Messages
- 1,600
A week of antelope hunting is a lot unless you have a primo tag and are searching for a Booner. I think I would just do a weekend. I usually look over a bunch of bucks to see where trophy quality is in that year or if it is a new unit in that unit...then I shoot one.
I have done the opening day or weekend thing before, and it can be frustrating. I prefer going later in the season because there are less people.
I have done the opening day or weekend thing before, and it can be frustrating. I prefer going later in the season because there are less people.
Wy067
Active member
IMO earlier in the season is better. In the earlier dates of rifle, bucks are trying to keep their herds together and you can use that to your advantage. As the season progresses, they end up getting shot at for 4-6 weeks and they get kinda wary. They will take off as soon as they see anything unusual on the horizon. Once it gets late in October, they can herd up into much larger groups. More eyes, more difficult.
JohnCushman
Well-known member
There's no antelope in Wyoming
This.
Seriously, Since I am (was) one of those accountant types, I usually haven't gone until after October 15th. I like going later in the year. It's cooler, there's no one there, and ranchers are more likely to give you cheap or free access to keep them from eating all their winter wheat. Since I'm slowing down, I can go earlier. But I still plan to go in early October. The caveat is that I'm not after an 80" goat. 79.5" will do just fine thank you...ok. 70" will be good also....wait, is that a doe?
CGeminski42
Member
- Joined
- May 10, 2013
- Messages
- 43
Great info
ashersdad
Well-known member
Really depends alot on the unit. My sons and brother drew a mid points unit with minimal public land and we hunted the first 2 days of season and never saw another hunter. That being said, I've hunted units where the first few days can be a zoo. Really hard to go wrong though when hunting antelope in Wyoming. Good luck!
