Wyoming antelope tag question

Joined
Dec 31, 2017
Messages
319
Location
WY
Nope still find it bizarre that they expect or anticipate 1600 people to gain access to private land... if i was a land owner I wouldnt want even 100 people who I dont know on my land. Unless it was with a program like Idaho has. Where land owners openly allow people to access their land as long as they sign in..

You are not understanding the situation in the hunt area. There is no "they expect or anticipate 1600 people to gain access to private land". In this particular hunt area a lot (probably most) of the landowners either charge a trespass fee to hunt, outfit their own land or lease their land to an outfitter. Bottom line is they make money from antelope hunters.

Many antelope hunters hunting in the hunt area have been hunting a certain ranch for decades. When they apply for a Type 2 license in the hunt area they know they are going to draw the license.

This situation did not happen in a vacuum, it came about after wardens and biologists had discussions with landowners and the result is what you now see in the regulations.

Bizarre ??, only if you do not understand the history.

ClearCreek
 

Richieber

FNG
Joined
Feb 12, 2020
Messages
57
I'm looking at a unit which has a type 2 tag for later in the season then type 1 but it still can be used for public land. What is the reason they use a type 2 license to stagger the season?
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2017
Messages
319
Location
WY
I'm looking at a unit which has a type 2 tag for later in the season then type 1 but it still can be used for public land. What is the reason they use a type 2 license to stagger the season?

To distribute hunters. Gives more hunters a chance to hunt and not have the crowding that could or would happen if all the hunters were able to hunt at the same time.

ClearCreek
 

Richieber

FNG
Joined
Feb 12, 2020
Messages
57
To distribute hunters. Gives more hunters a chance to hunt and not have the crowding that could or would happen if all the hunters were able to hunt at the same time.

ClearCreek
So should I assume that it's a very crowded unit since they are allocating licenses as type 1 and type 2? It's a low/no point unit so i expect many other hunters but since they don't do this in all units wondering if it will be worse then other options I may have.
 

Jimss

WKR
Joined
Mar 6, 2015
Messages
2,074
The WG&F is trying to thin the population of antelope without having dense hunting pressure in some units. They can manage harvest with number of tags issued. They've found they can sometimes get a better harvest with a better quality hunting experience by having 2 separate seasons rather than 1 longer season in the same unit.

They can offer twice as many tags with 1/2 (or what ever ratio they want) of the hunters hunting the first season and the other 1/2 hunting the 2nd season. There is 1/2 the hunting pressure vs having all of the hunters in the unit at the same time.

Obviously by the 2nd season the antelope have been pressured pretty hard and many of the antelope have been shot or pushed to areas that may not have hunting pressure. A chunk of bucks have been shot the first season. Some of the bigger bucks may already be harvested by the 2nd season.

Depending upon timing of the seasons, there may be migration to and from different units. If you draw a later season type 2 tag you may want to know whether the antelope tend to migrate to or from that unit if there is deep snow. Also, snow can sometimes make access very tough in some units during the later season dates. Depending upon the dates antelope tend to herd up into large groups in October and can often be tougher to stalk and hunt....especially if they've had much hunting pressure.

As you are likely finding out, there often is a lot more to an antelope hunt than just drawing a tag!
 

Richieber

FNG
Joined
Feb 12, 2020
Messages
57
The WG&F is trying to thin the population of antelope without having dense hunting pressure in some units. They can manage harvest with number of tags issued. They've found they can sometimes get a better harvest with a better quality hunting experience by having 2 separate seasons rather than 1 longer season in the same unit.

They can offer twice as many tags with 1/2 (or what ever ratio they want) of the hunters hunting the first season and the other 1/2 hunting the 2nd season. There is 1/2 the hunting pressure vs having all of the hunters in the unit at the same time.

Obviously by the 2nd season the antelope have been pressured pretty hard and many of the antelope have been shot or pushed to areas that may not have hunting pressure. A chunk of bucks have been shot the first season. Some of the bigger bucks may already be harvested by the 2nd season.

Depending upon timing of the seasons, there may be migration to and from different units. If you draw a later season type 2 tag you may want to know whether the antelope tend to migrate to or from that unit if there is deep snow. Also, snow can sometimes make access very tough in some units during the later season dates. Depending upon the dates antelope tend to herd up into large groups in October and can often be tougher to stalk and hunt....especially if they've had much hunting pressure.

As you are likely finding out, there often is a lot more to an antelope hunt than just drawing a tag!

Thanks Jimss...the problem I'm thinking about is the unit I'm looking at has a Type 1 license which runs the full month and the Type 2 runs from the middle of the month to the end. So it's not type 1 get first half Type 2 gets second half of month.
 

Jimss

WKR
Joined
Mar 6, 2015
Messages
2,074
My guess is that 85% of the type 1 buck hunters will fill their tags the first 2 days of their season....or the first weekend of the season. I doubt many type 1 hunters will want to wait to join the type 2 hunters. I'm not sure about the antelope dates for the unit you are considering but you may also want to consider deer and/or elk hunters. Some units hand out a lot of extra doe antelope and deer tags which can add a bunch more hunters to the mix.
 

Megalodon

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 8, 2019
Messages
208
So I see there are different types of tags. The type two says any antelope valod on private land.
Does that mean the tag is good only on private land?

Just curious, but how do you think this could’ve been worded more clearly? “Any antelope valid on private land” seems pretty straightforward to me...
 
OP
HuntInWild88
Joined
Aug 16, 2018
Messages
1,149
Location
Alaska
Just curious, but how do you think this could’ve been worded more clearly? “Any antelope valid on private land” seems pretty straightforward to me...
How could have it been worded more clearly. " Any Antalope on private land" or "Any Antalope, valid on private land only"
If they would have added the word "only" then thats pretty strait forward!
 
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