back a month or so I go, I posted about trying to round out a hunt for my son and another friend of mines son. were deer hunting SE Montana and then we are wanting to try Wyoming antelope somewhere in the east/southeast area of the state. Montana antelope odds are too low for us to risk, in lew of settling for a leftover in wy. my son has 3 pts for Wyoming which will be split between him and the other young man with us. we are looking at the later part of October on our way back home. unit 9 (lusk) was my main target with a good bit of wiha, but I've been looking at 42 in the last few days. I think we can still draw it with the 1.5pt average they will have. I've hunted that country back about 10-12 years ago but cannot remember which unit. from looking at topos it appears a lot flatter with less terrain(which I do remember from my past hunt in the area) than unit 9. I see there is a HMA as well as a large amount of wiha. being the later part of October, what do you think the pressure will be like and if anyone has any experience in that unit I would really appreciate it. thanks
decisions, decisions-wyoming 42 opinions please
- Thread starter bb1379
- Start date
Don't wait til the last week. During October most will be chasing deer and elk so antelope hunting gets a little break. The last week will get hit hard by those looking to fill their tags last minute. 42 should be a good unit if you draw.
Camdu7
Active member
We hunted 42 in 2011. We were there for the opener and hunted mostly on the big HMA, but also hunted the WIA and BLM. We saw a ton a lope on the HMA. There was a pile of hunters on roads in the HMA on the opener but the three teenagers and two adults in our group managed to fill our 5 tags in a day and a half. Parts of the west side are so stinking flat you spend a lot of time crawling to get close enough to shoot. The one nephew missed three different bucks, so we spent a lot of extra time crawling. I'm not sure what it is like later in the season, but a lot of the goats from the HMA were across the road in unit 47 by the second day of the season. I would have gone back this year but I ended up splitting my points with my wife and nephew so we had to look elsewhere. Good luck!
A friend of mine has hunted 47 quite a bit. He said the pressure is pretty high, but the numbers are too. 47's quota is only 25% higher than 42 but with much more than 25% more publicly accessible land. So I would imagine the hunter density in 42 is worse. I personally am not deterred by this (I'm applying for both areas this year), but you may find this info useful.
good info. still trying to decide. 42 is a little more out of our way than 9. having to split 3 pts between 2 hunters and being on a tight schedule to get them back home really takes away at any chance of spending time looking for a big antelope. mule deer in Montana is the priority anyway. my son is fixing to be in the military or college and either way will not have the time to use his points in the near future most likely. I just hope the pressure is off of them by the time we get there. 9 opens on oct.1 and 42 on sept.25. well be coming thru around oct 24-28 if everything works out the way were hoping.
I think you'll do great waiting till then end of season like that.There will be a lot less antelope but next to no hunting pressure.I was deer hunting in a unit with antelope season ending that week last year and saw no one hunting them and some real big bucks right next to the roads.They will be calmed down that late and more accessible.They wont be stupid though so plan your stalks well.I could have filled at least 10 buck tags on good antelope that last week in 3 days.This isn't in either unit your talking about but have noticed this same thing in a unit I use to hunt antelope in.If I went 2nd week, I'd be alone and plenty of antelope in the HMA.This was in a place that was a zoo the 1st couple days of season
I'd pick the unit with most amount of land to hunt,and the one you'll be able to give enough time
I'd pick the unit with most amount of land to hunt,and the one you'll be able to give enough time
