Wyoming Question

[waldo9190]

Looking for a little advice for a WY rifle hunt this year. Both my buddy and I have 2 points, and we are looking at trying to draw one of Unit 79 or 80 with our first choice based on the draw odds. My question is whether or not you recommend saving those points? I know point creep is getting up there in Wyoming so I'm not sure it is worth saving more than 3 or 4 points unless we plan on hunting a primo unit in 10 or so years. My other question, is if we apply for one of those units as our first choice, we would need to apply for one of the genral unit tags with our second, correct? I'm not aware of very many units that don't fulfill the full quote with first choice applicants, so most units would be a no go for a second draw if I understand things correctly, whereas I know of at least a few general unit tags that don't fill up with first choice applicants.

I called WY game and fish once already and I think I've confused myself a little again, so another call is definitely in order before applying.

Thank you for any insight.

 

[Jaden Bales]

Looking for a little advice for a WY rifle hunt this year. Both my buddy and I have 2 points, and we are looking at trying to draw one of Unit 79 or 80 with our first choice based on the draw odds. My question is whether or not you recommend saving those points? I know point creep is getting up there in Wyoming so I'm not sure it is worth saving more than 3 or 4 points unless we plan on hunting a primo unit in 10 or so years. My other question, is if we apply for one of those units as our first choice, we would need to apply for one of the genral unit tags with our second, correct? I'm not aware of very many units that don't fulfill the full quote with first choice applicants, so most units would be a no go for a second draw if I understand things correctly, whereas I know of at least a few general unit tags that don't fill up with first choice applicants.

I called WY game and fish once already and I think I've confused myself a little again, so another call is definitely in order before applying.

Thank you for any insight.

Incoming PM

 

[Laramie]

Success last year ranged from 36% to 55% in that valley through the 4 areas, 78, 79, 80 and 81. I had a buddy hunting one of them hard for 9 days. He saw exactly one buck that may have been a shooter had it not been on private. In some past years it was a little better hunt but I'm not sure I would burn points for this coming season. Just my 2 cents. It's tough to gauge what the mule deer population in Wyoming will do. Building points is a guessing game. I know several guys sitting on a lot of points just waiting for something worth using them on to develop.

 

[Jaden Bales]

Success last year ranged from 36% to 55% in that valley through the 4 areas, 78, 79, 80 and 81. I had a buddy hunting one of them hard for 9 days. He saw exactly one buck that may have been a shooter had it not been on private. In some past years it was a little better hunt but I'm not sure I would burn points for this coming season. Just my 2 cents. It's tough to gauge what the mule deer population in Wyoming will do. Building points is a guessing game. I know several guys sitting on a lot of points just waiting for something worth using them on to develop.

There's some interesting data that's come out across the west saying the vast majority of October weather-dependent migration hunt harvest numbers were way down, while areas without as much migration dependency didn't see nearly as much of a drop. Happened significantly in Colorado, too!

If you look at those 4 units' harvest data trends over time, the two Northern units versus the two Southern (migration) units reflect that pretty significantly.