My First Western Hunt

Hey guys my buddy and I got drawn for antelope tags this year in Wyoming Unit 7. This will be my first trip hunting out west and both of our first pronghorn hunts. I have grown up in Missouri and am used to hunting whitetails. The first thing I always do before hunting whitetails in a new area is I spend hours looking at a map pinpointing funnels, food, bedding, etc. However, having never been antelope hunting, I am unsure of what to look for on a map. I live 13 hours away from where I will be hunting so it won't be possible to put boots on the ground before our hunt so it'll be helpful to locate some good spots on a map first, I just need help knowing what to look for. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

I've never hunted unit 7, but I think your biggest map-reading task will be to understand private/public land boundaries. Antelope are prairie animals that rely on their eyes and their speed. Much, much different than whitetails. Antelope are not hard to find, and they don't work to conceal themselves. They want to keep you at a safe distance and if you get within that comfort zone, they'll put it in 5th gear and create a couple of miles of separation in about 2 minutes. Just understand where you can hunt (and where you can't) and find some reliable water sources. You'll find antelope. Have fun. (You'll have a blast.)

Alright thanks! I have onX maps and an onX hunt chip for my GPS so hopefully that will help out quite a bit with public/private boundaries

Good advice by rmyoung1, as knowing where you are and that you're legally accessing and staying on public land will be your main concern like he stated. T odo that you'll also need a good county map showing all the legal roads you can be on that access the public land. Just go out and cover territory, especially where you can park and walk a ways to look over country that's not visible from the road.

Good luck on your trip, you'll want to go back again and again.

For pronghorn, I order a large paper map of the unit. Then I look at a county road map and highlight all the public roads on my unit map. Then I use a sharpie marker and trace the boundaries of all of the public land that touches those roads. If there are any HMAs or WIAs, I trace the boundaries of those also. When you get to your unit, it's just a matter of driving to those areas and looking for pronghorn. If there are any chunks of public that extend out of sight of the road, get out and hike, those are often the best.

I was in your shoes a couple years ago. Dont stress the where to find them as much as the how to access the areas to hunt. Antelope are all over. I am also new to it but for what its worth thats gonna be the challenge. Havent hunted 7 but if Iwere in your shoes I would do as these guys said and get the maps they recommend and find legal roads you can use. Then start marking the places that I can access. That may cut your land in half. My situation I "assumed" a road was legal and when i arrived found a 400' section that was posted (verified with G&F) that cut my hunt into a fraction without traveling a 1.5 hrs the long way to get to the rest. Not too big of a deal but logistics wise it i could have been better prepared for my fuel situation. 2nd thing is once you get there dont just ride and look for animals. Get out and walk to the place you cant see from the truck. Its a blast, learn to judge them and try not to shoot the first one you see (unless hes a stud). Good luck!

Awesome advice above! Will send you a PM also.

Pronghorn are not like whitetail that might stop after a short run to look back at you when are spooked. Pronghorn will run 100s of yards or further if were recently bumped by an earlier hunter.

You can use terrain such as gulleys to duck down into to try and cut the distance for a rifle shot. For archery, difficult unless sit water. Pronghorn hate jumping fences though can. I have set up near narrow gaps in fences or even where the lower strand was propped up a few inches and had pronghorn run up then put on the brakes to single file shimmy under the lower, but slightly raised strand. I have seen herds divert to go through a fence gap then divert back to where would have been if merely hopped that fence.

Heat waves will distort your ability to spot and judge pronghorn. Bucks have the black cheek patch so easy to identify but at 500 yards with heat waves you are hard-pressed to tell the difference between a 16" and a 14" and a 12" and between mass and prong differences. So, glass early and late when shadows are your friend. If a dry year, you often locate a running herd by the dust cloud rising up.

I have watched 30 pronghorn walk into 24" high scattered sagebrush and lay down disappearing. Have to see it to believe how well they blend in.

If seeing lots of hunters then try to figure out where the herds will get pushed as when bumped they will run up to 1/2 mile before slow to trot another few 100 yards.

Is hard to geo-scout pronghorns. You can look for terrain that would offer water or the ability to sneak up on a herd but herds in one area may be 2 miles away the next morning.