Good DIY antelope unites in WY?

[HenryBraxton]

So I'm getting pretty serious about putting in for antelope tags in WY this year. I've got the right gun, the right gear, enough time off to make it there and back. The daunting part of the whole operation is trying to figure out what unit to draw for. Obviously public land is essential, but even those units marked as having little public land still seem to have quite a bit by eastern standards. Success rates seem pretty uniform statewide, so I'm trying to decide based on total amount of public land and how many tags are issued for that unit. Any good unit suggestions for a beginner pronghorn hunter?Nox VidMate Mobdro

 

[S.Clancy]

Call a bio in WYGFD. Wyoming is full of antelope. If there public land and sagebrush prairie, they're everywhere.

 

[cnelk]

Here's last years WYO draw odds / shows # of tags and applicants - https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Drawing-Odds/2018-Drawing-Odds

 

[Copen1822]

Shouldn't have a problem finding goats in WY. Pick a unit and go.

When evaluating the public land in a unit make sure you can access it. There are units that have a ton of public land but much of it is land locked due to WY having a lot of private roads.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[NDGuy]

Here's last years WYO draw odds / shows # of tags and applicants - https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Drawing-Odds/2018-Drawing-Odds

But that takes too long to read..

 

[cnelk]

But that takes too long to read..

Definitely a 'Lost Art' anymore

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

 

[NDGuy]

So I'm getting pretty serious about putting in for antelope tags in WY this year. I've got the right gun, the right gear, enough time off to make it there and back. The daunting part of the whole operation is trying to figure out what unit to draw for. Obviously public land is essential, but even those units marked as having little public land still seem to have quite a bit by eastern standards. Success rates seem pretty uniform statewide, so I'm trying to decide based on total amount of public land and how many tags are issued for that unit. Any good unit suggestions for a beginner pronghorn hunter?

In all seriousness, just try to contribute to the site before asking questions like this on the forum. Nobody wants to answer a lazy question and post unit numbers on the internet least of all for someone that joined 2 hours ago. Do a search on WY Antelope on Rokslide and read up.

 

[OFFHNTN]

So I'm getting pretty serious about putting in for antelope tags in WY this year. I've got the right gun, the right gear, enough time off to make it there and back. The daunting part of the whole operation is trying to figure out what unit to draw for. Obviously public land is essential, but even those units marked as having little public land still seem to have quite a bit by eastern standards. Success rates seem pretty uniform statewide, so I'm trying to decide based on total amount of public land and how many tags are issued for that unit. Any good unit suggestions for a beginner pronghorn hunter?

Welcome to Rokslide!

 

[fatlander]

Welcome to Rokslide!

Do your own research. If you want a guide service, ask and guys here will be more than happy to point you in the right direction. If you want to DIY, then do it yourself, literally. All the information is out there, you’ve just gotta work to find it. Good luck!


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[bobr1]

 

[ChrisAU]

I'll play devil's advocate - when I first started to delve into this it was overwhelming, and by no means would I have thought OP's question to be odd.

To OP, narrow it down to a few based on geography, proximity to the direction you'll be coming from. Then start looking at harvest stats and draw odds, this may lead you outside your original geographically limited area. For example, when I first started looking at CO I focused on the SW corner of the state, because that is the direction I'd be coming from. As I got better at finding info and disseminating that information on those few units, I started to look outside those few and wound up well outside those few. But pick a few and "practice" researching them just to get better at researching.

 

[BuzzH]

How is it overwhelming?

No time in history has it been easier to find information on anything you want...its called the internet.

You can look at maps, hunt planners, draw odds, harvest statistics, county road access, look up phone numbers for biologists, land managers, county, state, federal agencies., etc. etc. etc. all right at your fingertips.

Its not even a challenge anymore.

 

[ChrisAU]

How is it overwhelming?

No time in history has it been easier to find information on anything you want...its called the internet.

You can look at maps, hunt planners, draw odds, harvest statistics, county road access, look up phone numbers for biologists, land managers, county, state, federal agencies., etc. etc. etc. all right at your fingertips.

Its not even a challenge anymore.

Oh I get it, and I quickly realized it, but it took months to get comfortable with it. You're talking about evil easterners who have never even heard of hunt planners, draw odds, harvest statistics, game management units, or ever had to think about road access, talking to a biologist, etc.

 

[wytx]

Not evil , just uninformed.
It's pretty easy to do a search on here and see what has been put out there and the kind of responses you're likely to get. A google search will turn up probably 3-4 forums that will have good info for you on how to choose an area. Read some threads and see what kind of questions get the answers you need.

You need some PP for a good area . Random tags are possible though.

 

[Glendon Mullins]

How is it overwhelming?

No time in history has it been easier to find information on anything you want...its called the internet.

You can look at maps, hunt planners, draw odds, harvest statistics, county road access, look up phone numbers for biologists, land managers, county, state, federal agencies., etc. etc. etc. all right at your fingertips.

Its not even a challenge anymore.

I can tell you how it gets somewhat overwhelming, you have all that information at your finger tips and it makes your mind go nuts lol, when i started researching western hunts , I would look at all that, for multiple species, because I want to do it all, and it overwhelmed me! And once u settled on one unit, u would find a tidbit of info somewhere on the web on some obscure forum and next thing i know i was researching a totally different unit, over and over again.

I have since learned to focus on one species at a time, and pick a unit/area and just go do it!!! Meanwhile buy the points you will need in the future for other species and worry about reseaching them later.

just my 2 cents for the newbies on the forum

 

[robtattoo]

I'm an English dude living in Tennessee.....I managed figure it out pretty quickly. It's really not all that difficult.

 

[archp625]

So I'm getting pretty serious about putting in for antelope tags in WY this year. I've got the right gun, the right gear, enough time off to make it there and back. The daunting part of the whole operation is trying to figure out what unit to draw for. Obviously public land is essential, but even those units marked as having little public land still seem to have quite a bit by eastern standards. Success rates seem pretty uniform statewide, so I'm trying to decide based on total amount of public land and how many tags are issued for that unit. Any good unit suggestions for a beginner pronghorn hunter?

Do you have any points saved up? That would be the first place to start. Go on WY Game and Fish website and look up the odds from last year. Go down the list and only look at units that you can hunt. Put those on an excel spreadsheet. Remember, special tags may get you in a unit that a normal wont. You will pay more money but that's up to you on that. After that look at how much public land it has. You will eventually start to narrow down your decision.

If you don't want to do the home work and want the info now, I hear goHunt is the place to be. I haven't used it yet. Maybe one year I will. Part of the fun is getting my buddies together to have a few beers and food and working through the website with the points we have.

 

[KHNC]

Well, these posts are still fun to read. And its true, WY is full of antelope. Get a mile off the road in the prairie with a rifle, you should find them pretty easily.

 

[NoWiser]

Throw a dart and when it lands on a unit, make some calls. 5 years ago when there were oodles of leftover tags you'd have gotten more help. Now anyone would be nuts to list the unit they like to hunt, online, for all to see. The writing is on the wall that 2nd choice sure-thing tags will be a thing of the past just like leftovers for halfway decent units now are. The unit I've hunted had a butt-load of leftover tags even during the season the first year I went out there. Last year there were none after the second draw. I also noticed way more people on the limited public land. This is all after it was specifically mentioned on numerous forums.

If you do your homework, you'll have a good hunt. It's going to take some good old-fashioned elbow grease to do the research, though. Asking for specific units on your first ever post to a forum will most likely not be productive. Good luck. I hope you have a great hunt!