DIY Antelope Wyoming

J

Joe222

Guest
Hello,

I have read some great info on this site- thanks! Few quick questions for anyone kind enough to answer:

1. Is it possible in this day to find a "trespass" fee hunt in a high draw odds area for under 500 a person? Anyone kind enough to share a lead for 3 young and responsible hunters would be immensely appreciated.

2. Are antelope numbers down dramatic in NE due to recent disease?

3. How do I start evaluating good public areas? I am overwhelmed with the amount of units and do not know where to even start looking...

4. Also- any tips specific to archery?

Thank you in advance for any help!
 
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I'm no expert, but I am planning on a DIY Antelope WY trip in the near future.

For resources, The WY Hunt Planner at https://wgfd.wyo.gov/hunting/hunt-planner is a great resource to start with.
I have been using it to look at units and a lot of info is right there on the units page (Harvest Success, Drawing Odds).

Besides that https://www.toprut.com/ is another great one to look at.

I have been trying to find units by narrowing down based on the success rate, amount of public land, and how long it takes to draw.

I think after you do some of this research, you will have some really specific questions about the unit and access.
 
I would imagine it would be quite easy to find a ranch with a trespass fee for much less than that. I knew of one that charged $100 but he sold the ranch a few years ago and the new folks don’t allow hunting anymore.

Look at draw odds the last few years to see what you can draw.
Review the tentative tags numbers this year to see if they went up, down, or stayed the same to figure out whether those draw odds will be in the same ballpark this year.
Review the harvest reports for the units you know you can draw and figure out what level of success you’re comfortable with.
Take a look at the amount of accessible public that’s in each unit. Wyoming G&F categorizes units into a few groups based on little, fair, a bunch, etc. amount of access.
Wyoming has lots of great walk-in and HMAs, so don’t overlook a unit just because you don’t see much BLM or state.

It is a bit overwhelming at first but you’ll get the hang of it. Most “bad” units in Wyoming are still tons of fun.
 
Call local sporting goods stores in the area you pick. Also taxidermists and meat processors.
 
If the OP wants to pay a trespass fee, he needs to find a ranch in unit 23 since there are a ton of Type 2 private land only tags that don't sell out all the way through the actual season itself. Find a ranch that will let you on and then getting the tag with no preference points will be the simple part.
 
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Topgun 30-06 said:
If the OP wants to pay a trespass fee, he needs to find a ranch in unit 23 since there are a ton of Type 2 private land only tags that don't sell out all the way through the actual season itself. Find a ranch that will let you on and then getting the tag with no preference points will be the simple part.
Click to expand...

This!
 
Joe222 said:
2. Are antelope numbers down dramatic in NE due to recent disease?
Click to expand...


Not from WY, so no "boot on the ground" info, but the updated proposed quotas came out last week and the quota is proposed to go UP in 9 of 17 units in the northeast WY. Only proposed to go DOWN in 1 unit. That strongly suggests flat to increasing populations, not "dramatic" decreases.
 
I was in unit 18 last year. Antelope still haven't recovered from a bad winter several years ago. We only saw a few animals in three days. We saw some animals in the northeast traveling through but it isn't like it was 15 years ago. I would concentrate my efforts a little farther south.
 
GAoutdoors has given you some really good advice. Go to the Wyoming game and fish web site, go into hunting in Wyoming. This will bring up drawing odds, license fees etc..etc. You can look in hunt planner to look at the state map for the hunt areas. You can look at harvest reports lots of info on the site. Top Rut is really good for telling you what % of land is public or private. It also gives harvest data, draw data and also shows a map of that unit color coded for private, state and blm land. Another resource would be blm maps and also look at the county map server that the unit is in. It will show you which roads are county roads, this will help you determine if there is legal access to the state or blm lands. Research research research. Then once you decide and get drawn buy a good gps with onXhunt chip. Good Luck
 
4. Also- any tips specific to archery?

Joe, I also was really set on trying out archery for my first antelope hunt, but after watching a lot of videos, it seems difficult. I am an Eastern hunter and have not done many spot and stalk hunts so doing it in antelope habitat that is generally more open will take some work. I decided to try my hand at rifle hunting first by building a few years of points, then go after them with a bow. With that said, I still think its better to be hunting with a bow than not at all!

I have been checking out videos on YouTube for archery hunting tactics. As far as drawing, there are units in WY that can be drawn pretty easily with archery. If you are not against going to a different state, I would check out Montana's 900 series tags for antelope. A lot of land to hunt on that tag.

Good luck!
 
I would think most archery antelope are harvested over water, not all by any means.
Find a good used waterhole and set up a popup blind or if possible dig a pit blind. Just watch out for snakes in your blind.
 
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