Wyoming Pronghorn Numbers

For anyone who is planning on hunting antelope in Wyoming this season you may want to check the Tentative Regulation Section on the G&F website that was just updated a couple days ago, as there are some big changes in tag allocations both up and down for a lot of the units.

https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/content/April_CH-5_Draft-3-19-18-4a.pdf

Drat, my area was lowered.

Is this document published each year with this sort of updates? Or is this a rare occasion based on an unusual winter?

Thanks for posting I've been waiting for this.

Atla said:

Drat, my area was lowered.

Is this document published each year with this sort of updates? Or is this a rare occasion based on an unusual winter?

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The Tentative Regulation is posted when the application period starts in January and is updated throughout the next several months until the final vote is taken for approval by the Commission and is posted on the G&F website towards the end of April. That allows NRs and residents that are applying for deer and antelope and also elk for residents until the end of May to apply or if you have already applied there is a window open to modify or withdraw your application.

thanks for posting Topgun

Mostly looks like positive numbers, all of the areas i usually hunt are up some.

Thanks for posting. my area went up a few hundred!

It's a shame they didn't do a total at the end. (Or I missed it)

Out of curiosity, I wonder if total tags went up or down.

Topgun 30-06 said:

The Tentative Regulation is posted when the application period starts in January and is updated throughout the next several months until the final vote is taken for approval by the Commission and is posted on the G&F website towards the end of April. That allows NRs and residents that are applying for deer and antelope and also elk for residents until the end of May to apply or if you have already applied there is a window open to modify or withdraw your application.

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That's not exactly right. Regs are posted at the end of January, however those are last years regulations for the most part. Then quotas are updated mid-march, right before the public meetings start. Quota's will be final on 4/24 or 25 this year (when the commission approves). Public comment is open until 4/4.

I went through the table line by line and it definitely went up statewide.

Tags are up, you say? Imagine that.

With WY F&G jacking up prices for NR apply, build points and for tags if you happen to draw a tag, I have zero trust the motivation has not accelerated to get revenue to feed the monster anywhere and anyhow. If that means aggressively increasing tags then is obvious the rank and file had best to salute the F&G flag rather than cause a commotion as a biologist.

The writing is on the wall. The management of game herds and quality of the hunt experience is not nearly as important as needing more, more, more and the NR is the sugar daddy. One way to get more NR money is to increase tags. I am a bit impressed by the speed of the pivot and expect will hear stories of professional biologists that bail rather than look the other way as more tags are issued.

Thanks for posting Topgun. My unit changed.

How do these numbers translate for NR allocations vs R allocations?

LopeHunter said:

Tags are up, you say? Imagine that.

With WY F&G jacking up prices for NR apply, build points and for tags if you happen to draw a tag, I have zero trust the motivation has not accelerated to get revenue to feed the monster anywhere and anyhow. If that means aggressively increasing tags then is obvious the rank and file had best to salute the F&G flag rather than cause a commotion as a biologist.

The writing is on the wall. The management of game herds and quality of the hunt experience is not nearly as important as needing more, more, more and the NR is the sugar daddy. One way to get more NR money is to increase tags. I am a bit impressed by the speed of the pivot and expect will hear stories of professional biologists that bail rather than look the other way as more tags are issued.

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I'm not saying what you surmise isn't possible, but to my eye it seems like antelope numbers are up over the last few years in most areas of the state, and most of the draft tag increases are fairly modest. Watch the commission meeting on YouTube and listen to the report or call a bio/game warden if you don't believe it. The biologists in WY that I know have not expressed the concerns that you allege.

LopeHunter said:

Tags are up, you say? Imagine that.

With WY F&G jacking up prices for NR apply, build points and for tags if you happen to draw a tag, I have zero trust the motivation has not accelerated to get revenue to feed the monster anywhere and anyhow. If that means aggressively increasing tags then is obvious the rank and file had best to salute the F&G flag rather than cause a commotion as a biologist.

The writing is on the wall. The management of game herds and quality of the hunt experience is not nearly as important as needing more, more, more and the NR is the sugar daddy. One way to get more NR money is to increase tags. I am a bit impressed by the speed of the pivot and expect will hear stories of professional biologists that bail rather than look the other way as more tags are issued.

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I'll happily take your spot.

LopeHunter said:

Tags are up, you say? Imagine that.

With WY F&G jacking up prices for NR apply, build points and for tags if you happen to draw a tag, I have zero trust the motivation has not accelerated to get revenue to feed the monster anywhere and anyhow. If that means aggressively increasing tags then is obvious the rank and file had best to salute the F&G flag rather than cause a commotion as a biologist.

The writing is on the wall. The management of game herds and quality of the hunt experience is not nearly as important as needing more, more, more and the NR is the sugar daddy. One way to get more NR money is to increase tags. I am a bit impressed by the speed of the pivot and expect will hear stories of professional biologists that bail rather than look the other way as more tags are issued.

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There was a 10% increase in NR elk apps again this year. I expect it to be at least that for antelope. Lots of money to be had from NR's. I hope WY does not become MT.

I too have noticed that the increase of antelope hunters in Wyoming has significantly reduced the number and quality of bucks in the units I hunt. Probably best to start looking elsewhere I suppose...

Are WY antelope tag allocations not well under what they were 6-7 years ago before some significant die-off events? I'm not sure this is a pivot, seems more like natural flux on the whole to me. This is a Buzz type of question.

LopeHunter said:

Tags are up, you say? Imagine that.

With WY F&G jacking up prices for NR apply, build points and for tags if you happen to draw a tag, I have zero trust the motivation has not accelerated to get revenue to feed the monster anywhere and anyhow. If that means aggressively increasing tags then is obvious the rank and file had best to salute the F&G flag rather than cause a commotion as a biologist.

The writing is on the wall. The management of game herds and quality of the hunt experience is not nearly as important as needing more, more, more and the NR is the sugar daddy. One way to get more NR money is to increase tags. I am a bit impressed by the speed of the pivot and expect will hear stories of professional biologists that bail rather than look the other way as more tags are issued.

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Some of the units with significant increases are still not close to where they were a decade ago. I think the monster to which you refer does a pretty darn good job.

SnowyMountaineer said:

Are WY antelope tag allocations not well under what they were 6-7 years ago before some significant die-off events? I'm not sure this is a pivot, seems more like natural flux on the whole to me. This is a Buzz type of question.

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Lopehunter is not correct and its a shame that this type of rhetoric is allowed to even be posted. Hardly worth even responding to really, his conjecture just doesn't line up with reality. This is the exact reason why I'm actively involved in wildlife issues in Wyoming and why I talk to biologists all across the State routinely.

I attended the general meeting in Baggs, Wyoming last night...6 hours of driving for 2 hours of meeting, but well worth getting home near midnight.

As others have pointed out, the increases in quotas are very modest, but are in direct response to population increases following 2 mild winters in a row in large portions of the State. Every pronghorn herd unit in the Baggs area is right at population objectives or slightly over. Deer are the same way, and as per always, elk are doing very good.

I also talked again today with the area biologist, as well as another serious hunter from Baggs and who was also at the meeting last night (Greenhorn knows who I'm talking about). Their conclusion, and these guys would know, is that the bump in tag numbers is needed to keep the populations right at objective as the over-all range conditions are not as good as they've been in the past. This would also confirm what I'm seeing on the ground when I'm working/hunting the same area. There is only so many groceries out there for the wildlife, while its not dire by any means, its just that where the populations are currently at, combined with range conditions...the quotas make total biological sense.

That's all I'm ever looking for, and the area Biologist is spot on. What they try to do is find that sweet spot where they avoid the huge population swings and the high peaks and low valleys that often occur in populations. IMO/E the Biologists here are very pro-active in management and provide the data to support their recommendations. Rarely do quotas go unchanged from year to year, fluctuating both up and down depending on what the data shows.

Its unrealistic to ask for more than that.

Also, if anyone believes that I would be a person to "salute the FG flag" as lopehunter said, if I truly believe these modest increases weren't warranted...you'd be dead wrong. I'd be the first to call BS, and so would a lot of others that are involved.

For the record, on the drive over, I saw a lot of pronghorn and horn growth looks pretty darn impressive...