Wyoming Hunt Question

Rieckman

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 11, 2018
Messages
100
Location
Central Minnesota
Hello,

Some of my extended family has decided to take a hunting trip to Wyoming. I believe there will be 10 of us going and we all drew the same unit. Most of us never having antelope hunted before.

Logistically, what is the optimum amount of people that could be hunting together? As we are traveling from different locations and meeting there, possibly car pooling, is it beneficial to have a minimum of 5 vehicles or would 3-4 be sufficient? Or would 6-7 make more sense for hunting?

Rifle hunting, most of us are proficient with rifles, and have many rounds through the rifles. Other family members are shotgun only hunters, little to no experience behind a rifle. We are planning several days to practice in the future to familiarize everyone, and practice from several positions, but what distance should we shoot for? Is 300 yards far enough?

In the event that we are successful and have some vacation left, I've noticed several prairie dog marks on OnX. Not that we need everyone of those to be a town, but would we be in the right area if we wanted to go shoot some?

Thanks for any advice/help.
 

WCB

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Messages
3,249
Depends on how long you will be out there, and what unit you will be in. A low point unit with limited public...I would guess you would want to split up into as small of groups as possible. This way you can cover more available ground and get at goats early especially if you are going out opening week. I would say 2-3 guys for vehicle.

Now in a unit with more goats and more land you probably will get more opportunities. probably can hunt with 4 guys.

Here is a tip for hunting with multiple people. figure out an order of who gets 1st chance, 2nd, 3rd , etc right away. When an animal is spotted 1st guy decides to shoot it or not, if not it passes to 2nd guy then he decides. Don't pass opportunities because 1 guy is picky or takes too long to decide or doesn't want to go over the next ridge to shoot the animal. You get a couple minutes to decide then its the next guys option. After that the 1st guy still gets first choice on the next animal even if the 2nd guy shoots the animal.

300yds is easily doable. For Prairie Dogs...they are everywhere in WY...I would assume there would be some available.
 

wytx

WKR
Joined
Feb 2, 2017
Messages
2,057
Location
Wyoming
You may find the antelope are more spooky from your vehicles than people on foot. Limit the number of vehicles driving around, use them to get into a certain area then go by foot to find your bucks.
I would also say not to do a lot of shooting right where you plan to hunt, you could run them out of the region. Find a spot that doesn't mess up someone else's hunt and shoot there.
 

j_volt

WKR
Joined
Jan 15, 2019
Messages
708
Location
Missouri
I personally would prefer 2 people per vehicle if that wasn't too big inconvenience of an inconvenience. When you get down to only a few unfilled tags, you can consolidate and hunt as a group.

However, you would be fine with 3 vehicles. You can be creative with less vehicles. For example, you can let a pair of guys out of the truck to hike into areas that cannot be seen from the roads while that truck goes elsewhere.
 

OFFHNTN

WKR
Joined
Apr 10, 2015
Messages
472
Hello,

Some of my extended family has decided to take a hunting trip to Wyoming. I believe there will be 10 of us going and we all drew the same unit. Most of us never having antelope hunted before.

Logistically, what is the optimum amount of people that could be hunting together? As we are traveling from different locations and meeting there, possibly car pooling, is it beneficial to have a minimum of 5 vehicles or would 3-4 be sufficient? Or would 6-7 make more sense for hunting?

Rifle hunting, most of us are proficient with rifles, and have many rounds through the rifles. Other family members are shotgun only hunters, little to no experience behind a rifle. We are planning several days to practice in the future to familiarize everyone, and practice from several positions, but what distance should we shoot for? Is 300 yards far enough?

In the event that we are successful and have some vacation left, I've noticed several prairie dog marks on OnX. Not that we need everyone of those to be a town, but would we be in the right area if we wanted to go shoot some?

Thanks for any advice/help.

You are screwed, stay in Minnesota.

LOL.....how ya doing Ryan! :)
I would think 3-4 vehicles would work. I'm going to predict that as each day goes by, the hunters that still have tags will be less and less. So for example after day one, there are only 6 of the 10 that still have tags, now you are down to 1-2 actual hunters per vehicle.
Yes, 300 yards is plenty enough. I think my farthest shot on antelope has been around 150, but obviously a lo too that has to do with terrain. I don't think I'd shoot 300 yards at an antelope unless they were in the wide open without a blade of grass between us, I like to sneak on critters too much. :)
What unit or part of the state did you draw again? 16 or 17 wasn't it? Hmmmm......I've hunted 23 just south of 17, but it was quite a few years ago and I don't remember seeing any prairie dog towns. So sorry, can't help there!
 

1234AveA

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 23, 2020
Messages
149

Antelope has 8k magnification. We had 6 in our group total and tried to limit to 3 together at 1 time. They travel in groups as well so if one of them gets spooked, they all will run off. The plains can seem flat but if you pay enough attention to the landscape you will find angles to get in closer for a ethical shot.

Good times. We were all able to fill our tags DIY public land on our first go around.

Other thing I would add is to have OnX pulled up. Ranchers have fences out there sometimes that are well into public land. In Wyoming they are allowed to use adjacent public land for their cattle to feed.

Lastly, is that we found that the farther you go into the unit from the access point the better chance you have. Less hunter pressure.
 

Jack321

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 15, 2020
Messages
181
Less cars means more saving $$ for gas.

I'd also suggest you think how much gear & coolers y'all bring. Are you camping on public land or staying in a hotel (ie. Do you need extra room in the trucks for camping gear, coolers, stoves, food etc?) Or if your hunting from town your in a hotel & eating at restaurants.....

But generally, the less trucks, the more savings for gas $$.

Remember too that not everyone needs to be on the stalk together, lol! A couple guys could stay back & watch from the truck. I have to admit that's pretty cool watching guys in your hunting party work to get game. You can really learn a lot too by watching game react to hunters. I like to think it actually makes me a better hunter because I can see how they approach animals, how movement can be seen, how/why you pick terrain & getting into position. It's actually pretty educational.

So my advice is to think about all your gear & take as few trucks as you need.

I figured 1-2 large coolers for an antelope. Depending on if you quarter it or debone it.
 

Rich M

WKR
Joined
Jun 14, 2017
Messages
5,102
Location
Orlando
Antelope are fun.

Drop everyone off on an area w a herd and if the don't kill make em walk back.

You'll be amazed and have fun
Just don't hunt out of vehicle, makes it harder. Really.
 
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