WY, Old(er) with some antelope points.

[Western Traveler1]

I’ve been trying to burn my points (currently 11) in WY for the last 3 years. Have done an awful job predicting point creep.
I guess I’m not the only one applying with the 100% likelihood to draw thinking I added enough points to account for it.

I’ll be a month shy of 75 in October and have decided to split my points with a 20 year plus hunting partner, a lot younger but hasn’t done anything outside of our resident hunts here in Montana up to now, though he has come along on a couple of out of state hunts with me, so the decision was easy. Plus he is in Billings and agreed to do the drive from there.

I asked him after looking at Area sixty9 thinking a non-resident Special app would get us in. I offered to split my 10 deer points as well but he wanted me to burn them on myself in Area 8nine thinking we could be hunting both in the same area.
I was going by GoHunt percentages. Now having dug deeper on WY Game and Fish statistics both look doubtful to draw.

I need to stay below 9500 altitude and willing to sit on the deer points another year.
We use OnX but would like to have enough public land that will still have animals on it after the opening salvos.
Looking for a limited entry area that we can see plenty of animals and have a chance at something above average even if we don’t kill it.

Any help in the right direction would be appreciated.
Also, how does WY handle half points. Are we at 5 1/2 or 5?

 

[RobertD]

5 1/2

You guys will be able to find a unit worth messing with with that amount. The strategy you've been using is about as good as you can do, just going to have to do the research and roll the dice on whatever you think is best.

 

[Kentucky Jack]

Wow 11 points, wish I had that problem! You definitely shouldn't have a problem with that many points if so I need to stop wasting money cause I will never be able to catch up with so many in front of me.

 

[NEWHunter]

Plan on a full point creep. Look at units that took 4.5 points last year. Any unit that takes that many points will have a few above average animals on public. The WY Game & Fish site has all the info you need. Good luck.

 

[Bluffgruff]

I did about 10 minutes of gohunt research with your criteria in mind and found 6-18 units in the special draw that should give you a good hunt. It really depends on where you want to drive and how many days you plan to hunt and how much company you care to have. I think tag numbers really tell you what kind of hunt you're likely to have in a place with lots of public land.

 

[Western Traveler1]

Thanks for the responses. I am still following up on a couple private messages.

We have found some conflicting info between GoHunt and WY Game and Fish.
As RobertD pointed out I think we are on the right tract but allowing 1 point for point creep hasn’t worked so good up to this point as there are a lot of hunters with 11 or more.
Now looking at 1 to 1 1/2 and hoping this is enough on the lesser points Areas.

i think what is happening is that there are a lot of hunters with a good amount of points that are trying to burn them and move away from WY hunts before more changes. Me it is age.
So we research and see 100% draw probability in places like Huntin Fool and GoHunt and that inflates the apps and changes the odds downward. Beginning to think an 80% odds Area is a better shot but not sure of others experiences.

We see that large Area with a ton of tags but tend to steer clear of those. May not have a choice this year.

Oh, and thanks RobertD on the points question. WY goes to the decimal point.

 

[RobertD]

i think what is happening is that there are a lot of hunters with a good amount of points that are trying to burn them and move away from WY hunts before more changes. Me it is age.
So we research and see 100% draw probability in places like Huntin Fool and GoHunt and that inflates the apps and changes the odds downward. Beginning to think an 80% odds Area is a better shot but not sure of others experiences.

It's that and tag cuts that are happening each year because the population is struggling in some areas - hint.

 

[dgaudi]

Go hunt is a great resource for these situations.

 

[Western Traveler1]

Go hunt is a great resource for these situations.

Actually, it’s a tool but I would not say great on its own…

 

[oxn939]

Plan on a full point creep. Look at units that took 4.5 points last year. Any unit that takes that many points will have a few above average animals on public. The WY Game & Fish site has all the info you need. Good luck.

For everyone's SA, point creep can be worse than one point. The unit I applied for in '21 took 3 points to draw as of the latest data. I applied with 5 and did not draw. Things getting weird out there right now.

 

[NEWHunter]

For everyone's SA, point creep can be worse than one point. The unit I applied for in '21 took 3 points to draw as of the latest data. I applied with 5 and did not draw. Things getting weird out there right now.

Sure, and it can be well less than one too - over two points isn’t the norm right now. Unfortunately, with increasing applications and decreasing tags the trends aren’t favorable

 

[Baerman]

Inflation...it's happening to our points too. We have the perfect storm of tag cuts and talk of non-resident tags being greatly reduced when the 90/10 split happens that are greatly devaluing our points. I would not be surprised if we see a 2 point creep on hyped units and maybe more if tags are greatly cut in those units.

 

[Western Traveler1]

Inflation...it's happening to our points too. We have the perfect storm of tag cuts and talk of non-resident tags being greatly reduced when the 90/10 split happens that are greatly devaluing our points.

I would not be surprised if we see a 2 point creep “On The Hyped Units”

Yep, I bit a couple times…

Well, the die is cast…
Thanks to the HT folks that responded here and DM with the data I needed to whittle things down. I was definitely missing a couple pieces, so thank you again.
Will know next month however it goes...

 

[Western Traveler1]

My update…

Split my WY Antelope Points

Split my 11 Wyoming antelope points with my longtime friend and hunting partner as my legs are getting shorter. Did our research but had a communication breakdown I thought day three after the weekend. We arrived day 3 and started day 4. The unit had 3 distinct areas. We saw our largest buck...

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