WY Pronghorn report

Well, we spent three days in the Red Desert of WY, hunting/scouting pronghorn in Unit 61. Wish I had pictures and a great report.

Son flew into Casper and we met for a weekend of chasing pronghorn. I had spent a day and a half scouting prior to that, and had glassed over 200 bucks.

We did not find a buck that would score over 74". Maybe I am just a really bad judge of WY pronghorn, or maybe they are really big bodied causing the horns to look small to me. I am amazed at the number of bucks we glassed without seeing anything that got us excited.

I will be interested to see what other hunters found in this unit, or Units 60, 57, and 58.

I know it was a really bad winter, but antelope numbers were not the problem. It makes me think the animals that survived the winter were in such bad shape that most of the early growth period was spent surviving and replenishing body condition. I would be interested in the opinion of the biologists on this site.

There were some mature bucks that were much bigger, based on body size, so not all the mature bucks perished in the winter. Those bigger bodied bucks were all average 14" bucks, with average mass and prongs.

Now that I gave this report, the web will be plastered with B&C bucks from Unit 61. I did see three guys with bucks they had shot, and they were all low 70's. Not trying to say score defines the trophy, but given the reputation of this unit, and what I saw while in this unit in past years, this was very surprising to me.

The last afternoon, we decided we would just find a real ugly one. We found one with a right horn growing down to the botton jaw. The left horn was a normal 13". He stood looking at us from 80 yards and wouldn't leave. Matthew decided that he would pass, not wanting to shoot someone's pet.

So, he flew back to college with his tag in his pocket and a smile on his face (probably a result of the numerous text messages he was getting from some chick in his dorm).

We had a blast and learned that WY desert gumbo rivals eastern MT gumbo when mixed with a decent amount of moisture. Nothing more fun than glassing lots and lots of antelope, thinking "Big Hank" is just over the next ridge.

I will be interested to see what the rest of the WY units produce this year. I am sure some whoppers exist, even after a hard winter, but was surprised to see the drop in quality this year, compared to three years ago when I was in this unit.

Still more damn fun than anything else I could have been doing.

Good luck to all of you.

Man I was hoping to see some pics of my homeland .

There are still some great bucks in those units but they are very few these days.

I remember in the 90's you could find bucks in those units that had a "hook" with "ivory" tips on the ends. You would think it was a 15" buck but with the hook they were 16" and all had great mass. But I think now those bucks are shot before they can get to that age.

The access is really opening up in all the units you mentioned. Unit 57 used to be great but now isn't what I would consider a trophy area. The last time I hunted that unit i ended up shooting a mid 70s with a bow. I didn't see many that would score more than that. Only a few years before I witness and videoed many bc bucks dropping in that unit.

I had unit 60 a couple years ago and was within bow range of the biggest buck antelope I've ever seen in person. A doe busted me and they took off. I never saw that buck again. And I was working out there 6 days a week. Not sure where he went. It ruined my season. I never got over it. Rest of my hunts I was constantly thinking about that buck.

There are way better units out there these days for antelope in WY. A lot of the "mountain" units are producing the massive bucks that used to be so common in 61, 60, 57 58 and 59. All of the attention is still on these units, which is just fine if you ask me

I'm glad at least you guys had fun. Did you shoot any coyotes while you were out there at least?

" So, he flew back to college with his tag in his pocket and a smile on his face (probably a result of the numerous text messages he was getting from some chick in his dorm)." thats funny!! gald to here you still had a good time !

Big Fin, it sounds like you guys had a blast, and more willpower than me. I didn't even apply in WY this year, in part because of the winter. At least in WY you get to look at a LOT of goats. It gives you more hope that "Big Hank" is just around the corner. When you are only seeing 25+ mature bucks a day, the odds seem worse.

Did you see any energy development out there?

Lope or no lope, sounds like good family fun.

Glad to hear you two had a good time!!! Some recent things in my life have shown me that weekends like that are more valuable than many a punched tag.

Now, if I could just find a 70" buck in a couple of weeks!

I have seen the same thing. I have a area 94 tag and I work in the area. I scope out the bucks everyday to and from work. Saw some big bucks in early summer but there has been alot more traffic than normal. I think the big ones are holed up more away from the main roads. I saw a heard 2 days ago that had 18 goats in it and ALL were bucks. NONE were what I would call a shooter. We will see what I can find tomorrow, opening day!

I had the same thing happen in one of the units west of there Fin. Not known for producing the trophies, but still should have a few good bucks in it. In reality I didn't see anything that was huge, some had great mass, but nothing monstrous. There were plenty of antelope, just not the big ones I was wanting. Going to try on Thursday with my Dad. We have one morning together to try and get both of our goats and he has never taken one. Imagine the first one we see he will shoot, and I will be pretty picky. I will post some pictures regardless.

Sounds like it was a fun time. That's always fun and good country to look at lopes.

All those units around Rawlins/Rock Springs are the same, some have more public land than others and due to that leg up, somehow earned a reputation of being the better trophy units.. (i.e. 57, 58, 60, and 61).

Trophy quality is no better than anywhere in Montana, there's just more goats and more country to cover. You have to look over just hundreds of bucks to find one of those honest 80+ inchers.

I think it's very possible, even likely, to spend 3 solid days of weeding through bucks, even on a good year in any of those Red Desert units and not see a true 80 inch buck. On a tough winter year.. it's going to be tough. I didn't apply this year because of the winter.

I like the fact that Matthew can happily go home empty like that.. I hope he has a great year at school!

C'mon....you didn't get any pics at all?? Should've at least taken a pic of your boy texting that Betty back at school. Thanks for the report....sounds like a great coupla days for you guys.

We found the exact same senerio. We saw a lot of 12-13" inch. goats, covered a ton of ground too. Here's a buck my daughter dropped the hammer on......

I like the fact that Matthew can happily go home empty like that.. I hope he has a great year at school!

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I'll second that!

Hiker, Thats a great goat! Your daughter should be proud as well as you.

Hiker:

Those are some B&C memories. Very cool to have your daughter out hunting like that. Was that Unit 61? Anywhere near?

Tell her congrats. Good on you for getting her into hunting.

Thats awesome. The smile says it all.

Good stuff there, hopefully I can post pics of my goat tomorrow.

I'll start a new thread...

Big Fin said:

Hiker:

Those are some B&C memories. Very cool to have your daughter out hunting like that. Was that Unit 61? Anywhere near?

Tell her congrats. Good on you for getting her into hunting.

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Big Fin, We were north west of 61.

Red Desert Buck from this summer. Didn't take them. No idea the score but looks pretty good.

Not sure if it is the same one or not.