I am planning my first Wyoming pronghorn hunt, and have been reading all the great advice here. I'm looking at some units with landlocked BLM land. How much do landowners typically charge to gain access? Is it usually a one-time fee for the duration of your hunt, or do they have daily rates? Any info based on your experience would be appreciated.
Typical cost to access landlocked BLM in WY?
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LCH
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I've never gone this route, but from hearing other peoples' experience I believe it's typically a one time charge for the duration of the hunt. I have heard of $1000 or more charged for access. Some may not allow access at all if they're being outfitted or if they just want to keep it for themselves. Some may not charge anything.
My approach, and my suggestion to anyone else, would be to spend time now finding areas that don't require private access. That may mean the special draw for someone with zero points, but I'd rather pay that than line a rancher's pockets just to drive a road to public ground. Make sure you check out the AccessYes properties also, some units don't have a lot of public land but have a lot of public access private. Of course if you already have an "in" with a landowner that could change things for sure.
My approach, and my suggestion to anyone else, would be to spend time now finding areas that don't require private access. That may mean the special draw for someone with zero points, but I'd rather pay that than line a rancher's pockets just to drive a road to public ground. Make sure you check out the AccessYes properties also, some units don't have a lot of public land but have a lot of public access private. Of course if you already have an "in" with a landowner that could change things for sure.
Not many ranchers are going to view it as "paying to access BLM". If the BLM is landlocked within their ranch boundaries, they are most likely going to view it as paying to hunt their ranch, hence the higher price. Although, you might get lucky and find someone to work out a deal for just access for less money. Good luck, you never know until you start making phone calls/knocking on doors!
D
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I cant fathom why any of this would be necessary for a Wyoming antelope hunt. So many units with so many options for public and free private land access.
AvidIndoorsman
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Have your looked at draw odds for non-residents with 0pts. Things aren't like the one were, you can certainly have a quality experience with 0pts, but it's not like it was 10 years ago.
ClearCreek
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As has been mentioned, most landowners don't necessarily charge a fee to access land locked public lands. The fee they charge would be for access to the land they control (their private lands or state, BLM or FS leased lands).
Now having said that, it is getting more and more difficult, at least in northeast Wyoming, to find a ranch that will allow hunting with a trespass fee. A lot of ranches are leased by outfitters and the "public" access to those properties is practically nonexistent. On those ranches that do have trespass fee hunting, groups that hunt those places tend to return each year, so no "new" groups have an opportunity to gain access.
So, hunters wanting to antelope (or deer) hunt in northeast Wyoming have basically two options. One, go on an outfitted hunt; or two, hunt public lands that are accessible. Outfitted antelope hunts are expensive but success is very high, usually near 100%. A DIY antelope hunt in this area can be done, it just takes a little more planning, etc. to find spots where there is public lands that are accessible. If you are willing to get away from the roads success can be very good.
good luck,
ClearCreek
Now having said that, it is getting more and more difficult, at least in northeast Wyoming, to find a ranch that will allow hunting with a trespass fee. A lot of ranches are leased by outfitters and the "public" access to those properties is practically nonexistent. On those ranches that do have trespass fee hunting, groups that hunt those places tend to return each year, so no "new" groups have an opportunity to gain access.
So, hunters wanting to antelope (or deer) hunt in northeast Wyoming have basically two options. One, go on an outfitted hunt; or two, hunt public lands that are accessible. Outfitted antelope hunts are expensive but success is very high, usually near 100%. A DIY antelope hunt in this area can be done, it just takes a little more planning, etc. to find spots where there is public lands that are accessible. If you are willing to get away from the roads success can be very good.
good luck,
ClearCreek
Exactly. wllm1313 is correct. And the odds are better in units with landlocked BLM. I am not interested in a ranch hunt - just in getting to the public.
Schaaf
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I'd rather pay $1000 for a helicopter ride than $100 to a landowner.
D
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And I'd rather pay double the tag price and go for the special than pay a helo or landowner a dime to access public land. My hell, rather than give your $1000 to a landowner for crossing privileges make a $1000 access yes donation. Help yourself and everyone else in the long run. If you are dead set on going in 2019 and you have 0 points then you still have options to get a tag that don't result in incentivizing landowners to keep the public from accessing our land.
I agree 100% with that sentiment. However, I am still curious about my original question. Would like to hear more answers about typical fees to cross private parcels. Any answers based on actual experience in WY would be appreciated.
mhungerford
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Exactly
LopeHunter
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For example, GMU 20 and 102 are difficult to hunt using only public and WIA. Those are buck tags could get every year as non-resident using 2nd choice and Leftover. I can build points for 3-5 years and get a 1st Choice buck tag for a unit with plenty of public land. I like to hunt pronghorn every year so 2nd Choice and Leftover are often my only options for WY buck antelope tags as non-resident.
AvidIndoorsman
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You probably won't get much in terms of response because paying trespass fees really isn't what most hunters are here are about. That being said, I assume that it will depend greatly on the rancher and what you are willing to pay and that if you haggle with 20 different people you will get 20 different prices. If forcef to take a WAG I would say $100 per doe and $500 per buck and I would guess you aren't going to be successful in arguing the distinction of hunting private property with hunting public and just trespassing to get there.
406LIFE
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I have found $100-200 trespass fees by knocking on doors. I have also had guys just say "don't shoot the cows". That got me on their place and through it to BLM. I have not yet found a $1000 trespass fee, excluding outfitting ranches and the like.
LopeHunter
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I track what pronghorn GMU tags fall to 2nd choice, 3rd, Leftover. As the economy picked up steam around 2010 the number of units not requiring using a 1st choice to draw have declined. The reality is if you want to hunt on your own on public and WIA then the units you can hunt every year are a handful and most have 100s of buck and doe tags issued that result in a week or more of pounding of the public and WIA areas to start the season. I was in 20 and 102 this year and you could not get away from the orange vests. I hiked down/up/in some nasty gullies for two miles to reach a parcel of BLM land one morning and never was beyond orange vests. Even if only 5% of the hunters are willing to hike 1/2 mile from a road the result is every piece of public land has multiple hunters on it. The parcels tend to be less than a mile square so gets crowded on the roads and off the roads. The public land that could be seen from a road was a dangerous place as any string of bumped pronghorn was shot at by multiple hunters from multiple directions if a road was on more than one edge or if there were internal roads. I just do not feel I had a quality hunting experience and yet did not need the outfitted experience as I can field-judge, quarter and pack a pronghorn.
Outfitters have tied up most of the private that allows hunting so a trespass hunt in 20 and 102 so is difficult to arrange access as a newcomer. I saw private land parcels with plenty of nice pronghorn bucks so this reminds me of the recent Montana discussion about the harvest quantity not changing much even if double the tags awarded since the animals are not on public. I enjoyed seeing Buffalo, WY, and found a fossil one afternoon as was hiking into another piece of public. The pronghorn hunting experience was not something I enjoyed and more than once felt had entered a war zone as multiple rifles were shooting.
I had the same experience in gmu 20, and I didn't go until 2 weeks into the season. What a zoo! Stayed 2 weeks, hunted daylight till dark and killed my buck the last day... on private with the help of a generous aquaintance.
If there was an antelope to be seen on public, there were 2-4 guys on it.
If there was an antelope to be seen on public, there were 2-4 guys on it.
VikingsGuy
Well-known member
As much as we enjoyed our first public lands WY antelope hunt this year, this post reflects my experience in unit 9. The public land/private access/tag allocation system is broken, but I don't know that there is a solution. Nonetheless, I will give it a try again next year, but I can see why the hunting sport is loosing participants.
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