0-1 point WY Skinny

3darcher2

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 21, 2018
Messages
174
Location
NE Pittsburgh, PA area
I know we are mid season right now, but I am looking for someone to bounce some northeastern WY rifle antelope questions. I have some general and fairly specific questions but I don't want ask anyone to go public with any of their hard earned knowledge. I've read about every thread on WY here and a few other sites, and the general consensus seems to be anything from "there's no public access no matter how hard you look and it's a waste of time" to "the only way you can't get an antelope buck is to lock yourself in the truck."

I've never hunted 'lopes or WY yet, but at 57 I better get moving. I would either be with my 17yo daughter and/or a guy from work who needs to put in his vacation in the next couple weeks for next year, so that's spurring me along. Really interested in pure DIY on public but open to ideas. Like all the other folks who do this, looking for fun and not size. Promise not to shoot the first buck we see. Camping on BLM/NF or motel/cabin both OK.

Twist - could possibly add in a deer tag or some extra antelope doe tags but the focus would be getting an antelope buck first.

Anyone who could lend me some insight, please drop me a PM.
 
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3darcher2

3darcher2

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 21, 2018
Messages
174
Location
NE Pittsburgh, PA area
I've gotten just a few PMs but I'd like to ask a more general question that won't give too much away if anyone could chime in.

The opener, if in the common Oct 1 areas, will be on Friday next year. The guy I might come with has to take vacation by the week. So we could leave home Friday night and get home the following Sunday. That means we'd have a few options. First would be to come out and be there a few days before the opener on Friday, but we'd need to leave no later than Saturday night to get home for him to be at work Monday. That doesn't leave much wiggle room. The second option would be to leave home on the opener and arrive sometime Sunday AM Oct 3. We'd then be able to hunt comfortably through the week and maybe leave Saturday AM and get 5 solid days plus of hunting in. We could also do the same thing in one of the following weeks throughout the season.

There's a school of thought to be there first day, but a day and a half or two days doesn't give much to work with. I've also read some folks recommend waiting for the circus to die down and wait until after the opener or go later in the season. If we try to stay on public only (or WIAs), will the antelope filter their way back into the public once things settle down, or will we just be taking our rifles out for a hike every day? Probably easier to find a motel a week or two later if we go that route, but the later in the month the more chance for weather to head south as well. So which week would you all select?
 
Joined
Jul 17, 2018
Messages
1,279
Location
NW Arkansas
This was our fist year and we were there a day ahead to scout. This year was a Thursday opener and there were people everywhere. Still killed out on bucks (4 of them) on the first day. By the end of the second day, Antelope were pretty scarce in public. I would think it would settle down and they will come back after a few days, but if I would be there to hunt the opener. You would be shocked at the amount of Antelope killed that first day. Literally gut piles everywhere.
 
Joined
May 17, 2015
Messages
711
We hunted a very limited public land area this year, my 89 year old Grandpa killed a buck and 2 does. Between 4 of us we managed to fill all 12 of our tags in 4 days. Days 1 & 2 there were antelope everywhere, day 3 it seemed they were still there as my dad and grandpa found them off on some side roads, but every time it was groups bedded up in little out of the way places but that day was especially windy and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees from the day before and it was raining off and on, day 4 we filled the 2 remaining doe tags very easily and it seemed there were antelope all over the public land again. There are enough antelope in any unit in Wyoming that if there is any amount of public land there will be antelope on it eventually. Also remember that most of the tags go to people who are paying trespass fees or going outfitted on private.


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Nubs

FNG
Joined
Nov 3, 2016
Messages
62
Location
Green Bay WI
I have been out in the general area you are speaking of the past 5 seasons and was only out on opener once. I usually leave here Friday after work before the first full week after opener.

The first year I went out was around the 15th and I did not see another hunter in my unit and the antelope were not hard to get at.

The year I was out there on opener was a shitshow especially in a unit with little public area.

This year, we scouted a bit Saturday after getting to wyoming. Walked about 6.5 miles poking around Sunday and both got our tags filled on Monday after about a mile and a half walk in.

In my experience, most people are unwilling to walk in and want to road hunt. Don't be afraid of walking off what is visible from the road and looking on the backside or further in where you cannot see what is visible from the road.

Biggest thing is making sure there are antelope where there is access available. The first year the unit my buddy had, there were no antelope on public that we could find and the unit i got last year was the same.

Hope this helps.

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3darcher2

3darcher2

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 21, 2018
Messages
174
Location
NE Pittsburgh, PA area
So my situation got a little clearer. We have to go the last week of Oct 2021 because of vacation. That throws out all the units that close the 15th. We will also focus only on lopes and skip the deer this year. We'll probably try to pick up a doe tag each to go with a buck tag.

The two concerns are whether they'll have calmed down enough to be back on the public and WIAs, and will the weather cooperate. This twist also put a larger area in play for us, basically any area in the eastern half of the state that we can regular draw with 1 point and is open until Oct 31 is now the list. If deer is closed, better yet to keep the pressure down.
 

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