WY Antelope Unit Choice

[oxn939]

Hey gents,
Total noob to the WY pronghorn game here. I just purchased my first preference point this year, and am basically wondering if there are any worthwhile units accessible to nonresidents with 2 PPs as I'll have in 2018, or if I'm better off waiting until I have more in light of last year's severe winter. I'm not one of the guys placing trophy expectations on my first hunt- really the goal is just to have as good a chance as possible at a fairly respectable buck while hunting some pretty country. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

-N. H.

 

[5Speedjim]

Welcome aboard. If you have one point now you will only have one point for the draw next year. If you don't get your first choice you will get another point for the following year. With the price increase it may be a bit easier to draw next year but you never know

 

[406LIFE]

I suggest you either get gohunt, check eastmans or go straigh to the WYFG website. They will tell you draw odds for units.

 

[oxn939]

Check, thanks for the correction- thought I'd be able to purchase a second point during the same July-September period next year. So, with just one point, probably not many units worth planning a trip around?

 

[MN Public Hunter]

I personally think next year will be tougher to draw because people will be dumping points due to the increase in price for points starting next season. With that said with 1 point you will be able to draw a tag easy and if not get a leftover tag and keep your points. The best thing to do is look at the draw odds on the website and that will show you how many points it takes to draw each unit. The more accessible public land usually the more points it takes to draw a tag fro that unit. And you never know, you pick some hard tags as your first and 2nd choice and maybe you get lucky and get the random draw success.

 

[oxn939]

Cool, thanks for the advice. I'm definitely putting in time on the Wyoming Game and Fish website and think I have a decent idea from that. Any units out there that are harder to access and might afford good hunting if you were willing to overnight spike camp and cover some serious miles?

 

[efw]

I’ll say up front that my answer to this question is always the same no matter the details of the individual circumstance.

If you can hunt DO IT.

If you simply want a representative head you can get that on zero points. Doe tags are totally random draw so if you have an area you want to hunt someday grab doe tags there and learn the country and the animals.

I have 8 points and have been Pronghorn hunting a few times by scoring second choice or leftover buck tags or doe tags. Now I know that when I cash in points I’ll know how to find and kill em.

You don’t need points to score a representative Pronghorn. Just do it.

 

[Lonesome_God_outdoors]

You can definitely find units with just one point. I understand why some people want for the high point units but there's plenty of land and antelope to be found in 1,2,3 point units for NR. Do you want to hunt or collect points?

 

[50bowhunter]

I'll be headed to a unit I drew with 1 point in the special draw this weekend. I can let you know how it goes.

 

[vanish]

We're currently hunting a unit that took 1+ points to draw. Plenty of decent bucks all over the place, and plenty of public land (for us) to find them on. You aren't going to have hundreds of square miles of public, but you don't need that much either.

 

[oxn939]

Thanks for all the replies, gents. After chatting with my buddy, we're definitely sending it on this hunt in 2018. PMing a few of you guys, but a few more general questions:

These areas that the Fish and Game website denotes with an asterisk as "difficult public access-" what kind of difficult are we talking? If distance you have to hike to get to good hunting is what they're referring to, it literally sounds like a blast doing 15+ miles a day out there... What sounds like less of a blast is tenuously treading the confusing boundaries of ten different but similar map colors of land in an attempt not to get hit with a trespassing charge (we will have a GPS with ONX maps software on it.)

Do all these hunts require 4x4 vics? This could pose an issue for guys flying in with no contacts on the X.

Again, thanks for all the input!

 

[efw]

Wyoming access laws are such that for you to use a piece of public it must intersect a public roadway or share a border with another piece of public that does. There are a lot more private roadways than public so you can look at a unit (say, 26) and see what appears to be a lot of public that doesn’t matter because it doesn’t intersect a public roadway.

My experience, limited as it is, is that this is what the state means when they say difficult access. The OnXMaps system, however, makes a hunt in an area like this a lot easier than it would otherwise be. What you end up doing is driving from small parcel to small parcel waiting for an antelope to cross a boundary that they magicsllly seem more aware of than they ought. It works just not quite what many of us imagine when we think of Western hunting.

Friends suggest I “lead an alternative lifestyle” for it (if you know what I mean) but I drive a Prius and have done a couple of these hunts in it so no 4WD necessary.

A good way to strike a balance for me has been to take second choice or leftover tags while accumulating points for that hard to get big country unit “someday” (mine is coming). That way I can get out west, learn the animals and landscape and have a blast doing it, therefore being ready when that awesome tag comes my way!

These hunts are a blast because of the country, quarry, and company. It’s all amazing you’ll love it.

 

[rmyoung1]

Another thing to remember is that even if a unit has less-than-stellar access to public land, it may have some great opportunities on private parcels enrolled in the Walk-In program. You can easily find info on those properties using the Hunt Planner tool on the Wyo Game & Fish website.

 

[vanish]

If the roads are dry, any vehicle can do the county roads, but I'd hesitate on some of the unofficial roads.

If the roads are wet, even the county roads can be difficult even with 4x4. We verified that this weekend.

 

[Lonesome_God_outdoors]

Cross reference difficult to access areas with the walk in maps and hma's and you can find units with plenty of hunting land

 

[oxn939]

Cross reference difficult to access areas with the walk in maps and hma's and you can find units with plenty of hunting land

Yeah, I think I've got a decent idea going on. I would really prefer to avoid the previously described scenario by which you're sitting on a boundary line, waiting for an animal to cross so you can whack it... seems a little more artificial than the idyllic Western hunting scenario I'd imagine.

Any recent reports from the central Eastern part of the state? Those units seem to fit the bill in terms of availability and potential land access

 

[LuketheDog]

What sounds like less of a blast is tenuously treading the confusing boundaries of ten different but similar map colors of land in an attempt not to get hit with a trespassing charge (we will have a GPS with ONX maps software on it.)

To the contrary, I find that one of the most fun parts of that hunt is figuring out where the animals are and how to get to them when they're on public land, it can be a real challenge sometimes! OnX, GPS, and Walk-In areas are your friends...

 

[Bowaddic]

I drew a unit with a hundred percent chance of draw odds. With no points then I bought a buck tag and for doe tags for the same unit. I may eat some tags but I can't wait for the experience.

 

[Dr. Vette]

Thanks for all the replies, gents. After chatting with my buddy, we're definitely sending it on this hunt in 2018. PMing a few of you guys, but a few more general questions:

These areas that the Fish and Game website denotes with an asterisk as "difficult public access-" what kind of difficult are we talking? If distance you have to hike to get to good hunting is what they're referring to, it literally sounds like a blast doing 15+ miles a day out there... What sounds like less of a blast is tenuously treading the confusing boundaries of ten different but similar map colors of land in an attempt not to get hit with a trespassing charge (we will have a GPS with ONX maps software on it.)

Do all these hunts require 4x4 vics?

With this comment, I'll ask if you are from relatively flat land in the east?
In Wyoming, often what looks like flat land isn't even flat. At best it undulates, at worst there are gully's and crevasses that you will need to cross. You need to think about the vertical as well as the horizontal.
Last year we walked in 2 1/2 miles each way (as the crow flies) to go deep into one particular piece of public land, and it was some of the toughest hunting/hiking we've done, even after a few elk hunts, mule deer and antelope. The next day we picked a less aggressive piece, but Dad was too tired after the first day. The point is, 15 miles might be possible if all you did is hike in some areas, but extremely difficult in others. And, you can't tell how bad it is until you're there. Even Google Earth doesn't tell all.

Every time we've gone for antelope I've been glad to have a 4x4. Much of this is due to ground clearance vs ruts in the road or rocks, but on occasion for a steep hill. We were glad that we didn't take my wife's crossover just to save $ on gas.

 

[BlakeA]

If you are doing 15+ miles a day to find antelope, that is a rough unit.