3855WIN
Well-known member
We drew 74 Wyoming antelope. How helpful will my 4 wheeler be?
Should I Bring my ATV?
- Thread starter 3855WIN
- Start date
I have never hunted that unit, but based on our other hunts in WY I would say leave it home. Walking back to the truck to get the ATV would be a waste of time in my opinion. You can bone it out where it falls, cape it up to the base of the skull, and get all the meat and the head out in one trip with a pack. If you have 2 guys it's even better of course. I wouldn't want the mileage and worries of tire and bearing issues on a trailer all the way from Mississippi.
Topgun 30-06
Active member
I have to disagree with that first response. Having hunted in Wyoming every year since 1999 and several years before that lengthy run I'd say if you have one take it. It's not so much needing one to get an antelope out to your truck since you can literally gut one and carry it out over your shoulder if you don't own a backpack,which I highly recommend you have to bone one out and take everything out in one load much easier. A 4 wheeler can sure save a lot of wear and tear on a much more expensive PU and if the roads and two tracks get wet a 4 wheeler can be real handy to get to places where a PU couldn't get to so you can keep hunting. Even if the two tracks stay dry a 4 wheeler also saves a lot of gas compared to a PU.
shootbrownelk
Well-known member
What TopGun said about 74....take the ATV. Those roads through there can turn to snot with just a bit of moisture. You can get around with an ATV. A pickup or Suburban type SUV will tear up the roads and get stuck...been there. There are few gas stations...take extra gas along. And like TG said, save wear & tear on your truck, and save your gas.
3855WIN
Well-known member
Fortunately, my truck bed is long enough that I can put my Honda in it and close and lock the gate. I do have a Badlands 2200 that I can bring the whole thing out with if I need to pack.
Do the county maintained roads stay in decent shape? I like to set up camp off of a main road where we could get out if weather turned bad. I've got a F150 4x4 with AT tires, but don't want to have to do a lot of four wheelin with it.
Thanks for info and suggestions.
Do the county maintained roads stay in decent shape? I like to set up camp off of a main road where we could get out if weather turned bad. I've got a F150 4x4 with AT tires, but don't want to have to do a lot of four wheelin with it.
Thanks for info and suggestions.
WapitiBob
Well-known member
I don't go to WY without my atv.
Leave the truck at camp and putz around on the atv. If you find some nice washed out old roads you'll be glad you're on the quad.
Leave the truck at camp and putz around on the atv. If you find some nice washed out old roads you'll be glad you're on the quad.
Topgun 30-06
Active member
Have you ever been out there or hunted antelope before to make that post? It really depends on whether you want to actually hunt or just go out and drive around on good roads (blacktop and gravel) where everybody and his Mother are to shoot a dink! The fun hunting goats IMHO is getting out to glass areas on foot that you can't see from a road and then putting on a good stalk. Doing it just by driving around like you're saying IMHO is a lazy man's way and not really hunting.
Well antelope hunting isn't like any other hunting. Wyoming is a grid system of road vessels throughout BLM land-- one can navigate pretty close to anywhere you wanna get out and start walking. I agree that shooting from near your vehicle is lazy, but I can argue an ATV is the same laziness you just described. My point was they're not necessary when driving is allowed on BLM land
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shootbrownelk
Well-known member
You can beat your truck to death on the BLM roads I've been on. You use the ATV to get back on the BLM 2 tracks where a truck can't go....then you walk & stalk. A grid system of BLM roads? Not hardly.
Topgun 30-06
Active member
It's amazing some of the stuff people come up with that have either never hunted out there or have been out one time and they are now experts on how to do everything!
Tread lightly and take neither off of the roads.
The atv could also give you another vehicle to hunt from if you want to split up and hunt different areas within your unit.
We used to take ours on every antelope hunt and last few years haven't even bothered. Would it come in handy, yes, did we really need it , no. We have learned the roads and know which ones not to take the truck on. First timers don't have that luxury so if you have room take it.
There are some roads even an atv can't manage when wet, bentonite clay and caliche.
The atv could also give you another vehicle to hunt from if you want to split up and hunt different areas within your unit.
We used to take ours on every antelope hunt and last few years haven't even bothered. Would it come in handy, yes, did we really need it , no. We have learned the roads and know which ones not to take the truck on. First timers don't have that luxury so if you have room take it.
There are some roads even an atv can't manage when wet, bentonite clay and caliche.
BuzzH
Well-known member
I have to question some of the logic being used on this thread...there is absolutely no way, even if I had one, would I drag an ATV from Mississippi to hunt pronghorn. You don't need one.
As far as covering country in a truck...that's no the lazy mans way of hunting pronghorn, that's the smart mans way of hunting pronghorn. WTF is the difference between covering country in a truck and covering country on an ATV?
I've only shot 76 pronghorn, all without an ATV, so I'm not as qualified as topgun on how to properly hunt pronghorn.
But I will make a suggestion that you cover country in your truck, get out and glass every pronghorn you see. Find high spots and glass from them. If you see country that needs to be hiked to...hike out to a high spot and glass there.
But, I would be cautious of taking topguns advice that you can only shoot "dinks" from areas where there are good roads and truck access...that's just a bunch of bullchit.
Dink...that spent almost all its time near a highly traveled county road...probably the heaviest used road in the hunting district it came from. In fact, if you look to the left of the horn...you can see the county road.
Glassed this one from a highway for my Dad:
Glassed this one from I-80, parked in the right of way, hopped the fence, put a mile stalk on it...game over:
Bottom line is that big pronghorn are where you find them and the way to find the best ones is to cover ground...primarily with glass and driving in between.
You don't need an ATV and like I said, there is NO way I would drag one clear from Mississippi...no way.
As far as covering country in a truck...that's no the lazy mans way of hunting pronghorn, that's the smart mans way of hunting pronghorn. WTF is the difference between covering country in a truck and covering country on an ATV?
I've only shot 76 pronghorn, all without an ATV, so I'm not as qualified as topgun on how to properly hunt pronghorn.
But I will make a suggestion that you cover country in your truck, get out and glass every pronghorn you see. Find high spots and glass from them. If you see country that needs to be hiked to...hike out to a high spot and glass there.
But, I would be cautious of taking topguns advice that you can only shoot "dinks" from areas where there are good roads and truck access...that's just a bunch of bullchit.
Dink...that spent almost all its time near a highly traveled county road...probably the heaviest used road in the hunting district it came from. In fact, if you look to the left of the horn...you can see the county road.
Glassed this one from a highway for my Dad:
Glassed this one from I-80, parked in the right of way, hopped the fence, put a mile stalk on it...game over:
Bottom line is that big pronghorn are where you find them and the way to find the best ones is to cover ground...primarily with glass and driving in between.
You don't need an ATV and like I said, there is NO way I would drag one clear from Mississippi...no way.
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Don't need to have been out there 100 times to look at some maps and see there's roads everywhere. Don't need to have gone out 100 times to know that if you're going to call driving around and glassing lazy, that the argument is the exact same for using an ATV. Thanks to BuzzH for confirming what I just said. Thanks to Randy Newberg for saying EXACTLY what I just said as well. But, what does he know? I always thought the purpose of hunting was for meat... I'm not going to judge someone for not passing up a big buck just because it's close to a road.
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Khunter
Well-known member
i have hunted 74 a couple times. no ATV needed. period, especially one hauled from Mississippi as Buzz noted. I live 5 hours from that unit and own an ATV and never pondered bringing it. Yes roads get slick when wet. When that happens you adjust. And will be glad you drove the unit and found great glassing spots you can still get to till smaller 2 tracks dry out.
BTW you took "my" tag.
you are in for some fun. are you rifle or bow hunting?
BTW you took "my" tag.
you are in for some fun. are you rifle or bow hunting?
Here you go, Topgun-- straight from Randy himself on Wyoming antelope-- "a hunt like this, there are SO many roads, that if we were to park here and walk a half mile that way, we'd cross two roads...so this is going to be a very mobile hunt where we drive to a spot and we go and glass"
Topgun 30-06
Active member
I wasn't talking specifically about unit 74, nor was WapitiBob, but if any of you hunted the big unit we hunt every year and have for 20 years you'd be shit out of luck trying to hunt more than about 10% of it out of a PU and I'm not just talking when the roads are greasy! I wondered where our resident expert has been hiding most of the time, but all it takes to bring him out of the woodwork is when I post, LOL! He also can pick and choose when he hunts since he lives right out there and can stay in if the roads get greasy and you can't get around in a PU. If you're out for a just few days from Mississippi on an expensive hunt and it gets greasy such that you can't hunt where/when you want to or get stuck in your PU trying to get around, etc. you may wish you had listened to other than our resident expert with his grip and grin photos he always has to put up to prove himself!
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There have been a very few times (rarely) where one would have been useful to me, but generally I think they are not needed. IF you stay on the two tracks (as you should) a pickup truck and boots are a better way to get around. All bets are off if rain has turned the dust into grease and there is a possibility of finding a rutted two track so an ATV might give an occasional advantage but I seriously doubt if it is worth the effort to haul one from a long distance. I do often see guys getting their kicks Hunting (ripping around) and making lots of noise on their ATVs, so some guys obviously hunt differently than I do and really enjoy them.
Topgun 30-06
Active member
I'm not questioning anything Randy mentioned, but he was talking about one particular unit where he was hunting. He hasn't hunted the unit we hunt every year and have for 20 years, nor many of the others where an ATV can be very useful, if not necessary to continue hunting in bad weather. If you're also going to depend on maps for "all of these roads that are everywhere" according to you, you are sadly mistaken because a good share of them, at least where we hunt, don't even exist any more or are so grown up and unmarked that you can't even find them. Yes, we use a PU a lot of the time to glass from what few main roads are available, but to get around easily and safely off the beaten track using an ATV can be very handy just as several of us, including some from Wyoming, have mentioned. I'd rather have one, if needed, than to wish I had brought it, especially if the one the OP has fits right in the back of his truck like he mentioned.
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