Wyoming Region W unit 131

[BrentD]

Having realized there there is life after not drawing my elk tag, we are in regrouping mode and considering mulies in Wyoming. We have only one point each though.

This evening, I decided, almost totally arbitrarily, that I unit 131 would be interesting. I can make a few calls and learn a bit about it's productivity. The interactive map suggests productivity is low 84 bucks out of 480 "active hunters" however, the listed % is just under 20% which includes does and fawns (i.e., hunters that are not hunting on the General tag that would require only 4 pt or better bucks), so this percentage cannot really be interpreted.

The interactive map did not give a draw odds data for Region W General nonresidents, but I can't interpret the odds that they produce on the interactive map and correlate it to the actual draw results for elk, so I'm about ready to just ignore drawing odds at this point.

anyhow, any opinions on hunting in unit 131?

 

[Topgun 30-06]

No opinion on 131, but you might want to look hard at Region R way up in the northern part of the state with your 1 PP.

 

[BrentD]

Thanks. Will do.

 

[madtom]

I don't know anything about 131 either, just that the season is only 6 days and there's a 4 pt antler restriction. Your 1 pp in last year's draw would have gotten you any of 13 of the 16 general tags, so you have all kinds of options.

Don't know what interactive map you used to get draw odds (the WGFD hunt planner?), but here are links to last year's draw odds and harvest report:

https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Drawing-Odds/2017-Drawing-Odds
https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Harvest-Reports/2017-Harvest-Report

Good luck with your research. You have some really good options for general tags out here.

 

[BrentD]

I knew about the for point Rule. I didn't see the 6 day issue, but that's no problem since that's about all the longer we could hunt anyway. Having to shoot a bigger buck is a good bar for me. As king of the baby killers, I need to up my game a little bit.

Where did you see the draw odds with points? All I see is the number of applicants by 1st and 2nd and 3rd choice and the number of permits awarded to non residents. It looked like we would have about a 16% chance of drawing in Region W from what I could see.

 

[madtom]

I knew about the for point Rule. I didn't see the 6 day issue, but that's no problem since that's about all the longer we could hunt anyway. Having to shoot a bigger buck is a good bar for me. As king of the baby killers, I need to up my game a little bit.

Where did you see the draw odds with points? All I see is the number of applicants by 1st and 2nd and 3rd choice and the number of permits awarded to non residents. It looked like we would have about a 16% chance of drawing in Region W from what I could see.

Go to the drawing odds link in my earlier post and click on this link

 

[Topgun 30-06]

I knew about the for point Rule. I didn't see the 6 day issue, but that's no problem since that's about all the longer we could hunt anyway. Having to shoot a bigger buck is a good bar for me. As king of the baby killers, I need to up my game a little bit.

Where did you see the draw odds with points? All I see is the number of applicants by 1st and 2nd and 3rd choice and the number of permits awarded to non residents. It looked like we would have about a 16% chance of drawing in Region W from what I could see.

You were looking at the Random Draw odds, which you would go into after the PP Draw if you didn't draw a tag. If you didn't have any points to draw in the PP Draw and ended up in that draw, that is where you're seeing only 119 tags available for 574 first choice applicants and that would be a 20.7% chance of drawing the tag in that draw for W. As was stated, if you look in that odds section he C/Pd, you'll see that the only Deer Regions you can't draw with 1 PP are G, H, and K.

 

[teamhoyt]

Not the most populated deer area by far

 

[BrentD]

Indeed, I was looking at the wrong file. Thanks for point out what should have been obvious.

teamhoyt, the most populated places might not be the best places for a big buck. Or maybe they are. I don't really know.

I do know that I have a habit of whitetail hunting where I see the most deer and generally, (being outside of the rut period), I see very few mature bucks, tons of does and a lot of immature bucks. I have begun to question this "going for the mostest" strategy for big deer.

Could the same be true of mulies?

 

[madtom]

Worth a try. The beauty of the general tag is you can poke around 131 for 2-3 days. Then, if it sucks you can stop for a sammich in Wamsutter and try area 100 or 82.

 

[BrentD]

Worth a try. The beauty of the general tag is you can poke around 131 for 2-3 days. Then, if it sucks you can stop for a sammich in Wamsutter and try area 100 or 82.

I like how you think.