Wy antelope

[bdg848]

I'm planning an antelope hunt with my Father for next year. I've wanted to go out west with him and think Antelope would be better vs mountain elk/muley etc. due to his bad back that occasionally flares up. He could be capable of a mountain hunt if his back cooperates but who knows when it will or won't.

On principle, I refuse to pay some rancher just to drive 200 yards down his road to get to PUBLIC land so therefore, with only one preference point between the two of us we will have to hunt the little chunks of public available on the east half of the state and I can only imagine most of the other hunters will do the same. Would it be better to go for opening day and try to kill one before they are pushed onto private property or go later in the season to hopefully cut down on the amount of competition for the tiny parcels. Do the lopes really get pushed far into the private and if so do they return to the public later in the season?

Also I saw something about a draw system to hunt on the hunter management areas? For example Broom creek HMU in unit 11. So when looking at units should I not count those into my equation when applying because I might draw the unit but not draw the management area and then be SOL on the land I was planning on?

What has been your experience with these two issues?

 

[Doc7]

That area had a 900 tags and only 50 hunters allowed to Broom Creek. I wouldn’t count on it if that’s a decision for applying to this unit or not.

 

[Dvidos]

That area had a 900 tags and only 50 hunters allowed to Broom Creek. I wouldn’t count on it if that’s a decision for applying to this unit or not.

+1

 

[bdg848]

Cool, Thanks guys. I wasn't specifically thinking about whatever unit broom creek is in, just using it as an example. So the HMU are different than the "walk in areas" correct? You aren't guaranteed access to an HMU but can just "walk on" to the Walk in area? I'd hate to pick an area and then not get drawn for an HMU and loose half the accessible ground in the unit. I think I will not plan on those then. Do you guys have any thoughts on going sooner or later in the season? I imagine there are fewer hunters later in the season but are the antelopes spookier and harder to kill?

 

[Doc7]

Well it is specific because many HMAs have Unlimited access permits given. So you need to take the HMA and its access policies into consideration when looking at a unit, you can’t just rule them all out off the get go.

 

[isu22andy]

Print the harvest odds out and the draw odds out ( Use a work printer its like 30 pages ) . Get 3 beers out , start circling units with high draw odds with one point - Go to the harvest odds - look at those units you circled with good draw odds, Find the highest harvest odds, circle those , you have your units. Buy Onyx for your smart phone and go kill one opening day. Ignore the *this unit has low public land BS on the WY website ...Guarantee you'll be done the first or second day. This is exactly what I did and I could I shot a truckload of antelope from the road..

 

[bowtech840]

Get onx and learn how to use it, plan on being there the day before opener with enough daylight to learn the area. No need to pay a trespass fee or apply for those limited entry areas if you do a little research.


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[bdg848]

Thanks guys I think I have found a few units I can draw that will still give me reasonable access to public. I appreciate the help. I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[menhaden_man]

I’ve got some info I’ve shared with others on here, Will PM you from my computer next couple days. Antelope is as close as a guaranteed hunt as you can get.

 

[Rich M]

Guess where the public/private border is! LOL! This will happen but part of the game.




I did what he said in Post #6 and went into "the jungle" of little public access and lotsa hunters.

Another place where I went wrong was focusing on doe tags and expecting to get a leftover buck tag. It was the first year that unit didn't have leftover buck tags. Had 6 shot opps on bucks and 2 on does. Got 2 does and had a huge buck at 25 yards on opening morning - shot one of his harem.

Am currently collecting points - want to get a place with enough land to spread out a bit.

 

[wapitibob]

congrats on the hunt

 

[Barnesc6]

Like everyone else said.. I wouldn’t be too concerned about “limited access.” Yes it won’t be your stereo typical hunt (you’ll do a lot of driving from chunk to chunk but it can be done. I took my father and 3 buddies up to north eastern Wyoming last year for our first antelope hunt (my buddies had never big game hunt before). We drew a 0 point unit with limited access... everyone tagged out. For sure have OnX maps... I shot my buck on a 20 acre piece of BLM... it was a great time. The one thing I did notice was our opportunity was always in the morning. By the evening each day the lopes had it figured out as to where they needed to be from hunting pressure. But every morning long behold those critters had moved back out to public land ... good luck, I’m sure whatever unit you pick you’ll be coming home with meat

 

[Barnesc6]

*we showed up 3 days after opening day

 

[AR hunter]

Me, my dad and my two brothers have been going to Wyoming the last 3 years for antelopes and have been successful every year, we’ve went the first week twice and the second week once, I will say that out of the two years we went the opening week I harvested a nice antelope within the first 3 hours of opening day. The second time to go the opening week I was alittle more picky but found some public close to private that was holding antelope and just got to good glassing spot, glassed for about an hour and they started making there way over into the public land and was able to harvest another good one. The best advice I can give being from out of state in my opinion, is to go the opening week just because the later in the season we go the antelope just seem to slowly disappear from the public and quality goes down in my opinion, another big thing is get there at least a day early and do some scouting and find a few different ones u would like to go after and mark on your onxmaps and I have had better luck hunting small pockets of public land. Best of luck to u and your dad

 

[TSAMP]

Assume this was all rifle? How does everyone feel about this same scenario with archery gear? I have a few PP but my buddies dont. I was considering trying NE first as the wyoming unit/draw/access is a bit overwhelming.

 

[AR hunter]

Yes all those where rifle, as far the archery goes, one of my brothers who started working up there in that part of the world started archery hunting while he was up there for work and said he had several opportunities to harvest one while out scouting but ultimately decided to wait until the rest of us got up there. I think and I may be wrong but going off what he said I think u could be successful in harvesting a lope with a bow, what I would do is if bow season goes straight into rifle season ( which I’m not sure how there season works in regard to bow hunting ) but I would go up there for the last few days of September and bow hunt/ scout and then row right into rifle season which usually opens on the 1st of October which would kinda be a double edged sword just cause u could bow hunt, scout, and rifle hunt all in that same week but like I said u would need to check and see if the bow season rolls over into rifle season,.... and in Wyoming as far as the PP goes and u taking a group, u would want to apply as a party hunt/ group hunt bc the way it was explained to us last year was if one of u get drawn u all get drawn and since u have some PP u should all be drawn if u apply together... ( that’s my understanding from talking with game and fish out there over the few years ) but as far as the where to go I’ve only hunted NE Wyoming and in all honesty have no desire to go anywhere in Wyoming from what I’ve seen, I know there are really nice lopes and it’s just a game of figuring out what u like, I would definitely get on line and look up how to field judge one bc I don’t think your going have a problem seeing lopes its determining which one is for u, if u have any more I would be glad to help in anyway I can

 

[sqdougherty]

Great info. I had some similar questions

 

[jmakar09]

I've taken antelope the past two years just by going to walk-in areas. Both were taken day 1 of rifle season, so if you're not too choosy you can make it a quick little trip. In my experience they seem to be attracted to the hunter's orange beanie that I wear, when they spot me I just prone-out and they move closer for a better look lol. HMA's are cool but its like a lottery within a lottery, worth it for a chance to hunt good land with less hunting pressure, but they have different rules so read up on it, the one I applied for had unlimited permits for archery hunts but only a few for rifle season. Also like everyone was saying, a GPS with onX maps is worth its weight in gold.

 

[Jimss]

Obviously there are more bucks available on opening but depending upon the unit it may be a challenge harvesting a quality buck with all the other hunters running up and down roads. This is especially true if it's a unit with hundreds or even close to a thousand buck plus doe licenses. There will likely be a lot more pressure if there is only one small parcel of public, HMA, or Walkin and every hunter that draws is concentrated in that parcel of land. By far the majority of hunters that draw tags hunt opening day. In particular, local hunters often hunt opening weekend.

The chance of you hunting alone is greater later in the season. There will be fewer bucks but there always are a few nice bucks that slip through the cracks...especially if there are large parcels of lightly hunted private land around. Antelope in units with lots of hunters and roads likely get spooked from areas where they can be seen from roads. You may need to hike to high vantage points and glass vast areas to find secluded pockets of antelope. I would highly recommend glassing away from the sun at both sunrise and sunset....antelope white rumps stick out a lot easier instead of glassing into the sun!

In regard to HMA's. Some are staggered into different dates that you draw....within your unit season. If so, the bucks likely don't have much of a break. Obviously the larger HMA's with fewest tags likely have the least amount of hunting pressure. HMA's that have limited roads may be a good way to go since most antelope hunters tend to hunt from their truck.

 

[Jimss]

Oops....forgot about archery! It really depends upon the unit. Units that are flat and mostly grass (no sage) may be super tough to spot and stalk with bow. The more brush and broken up ridges...the better. If you want to waterhole hunt there may not be very many water sources available if there is only limited acres of public land. There is a good chance you may not be the only guy with a blind set up at a waterhole if there is only 1 or 2 water sources and lots of hunters on limited amount of public land. If there is a lot of water sources the smarter bucks will likely water somewhere away from your blind. You may be able to figure out a spot to set up a blind in a "funnel" area where antelope tend to wander on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes a cow decoy may work. Most archery seasons are open prior to the antelope rut...so a decoy likely won't be much help.