Upcoming 2012 Goat season

[Foxpro]

I have a standing invite to hunt out in the Wind River Indian Reservation area this year for antelope. In talking with a friend who invited us out about the trip, I wanted to see if some of you guys might help me get clarification on the following:

1.) We will be hunting either Unit 67 or 74. As a non-Res having two P/Pnts, would we stand a fairly good chance of drawing a Group permit for (3) people?
2.) Can we also apply for D/Fawn permits? If so are you allowed (1) each in addition to your regular Non-Res Buck permit?
3.) In talking to several outfitters last year, they seemed to indicate that you have to use an "Authorized" Processor to butcher your antelope in WY. The folks we would be hunting with said that is incorrect.
4.) We were also told the season for these Units start in Mid-Sept? I think they may be confused with Archery season since he knows we are planning a Rifle hunt.
5.) We were told this is a fairly good Mulie area as well. I know that a lot of WY outfitters offer Combo (Mulie/Antelope) hunts. Do the seasons run together or cross over in these Units?

 

[Nimrod]

Most of your questions could be answered by going over to the Wyoming Game & Fish website. They have updated the site and made it much more user friendly IMHO. One thing I will say is that if you are the only one with p-points they will be split among the group leaving you in the less than 1 point category. If you get the info from F&G you know it will be the strait scoop.

Bob

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Do what Nimrod stated and spend some time on the F&G website. Asking all those questions can make it look like you're lazy and just want someone else to do all your homework for you. Here are answers to a couple of your questions. If you apply as a group, the F&G adds all your PPs and divides them by the number of persons so that you go into the draw with that PP average and it's not rounded up or down. Therefore, you will need to look at last years draw odds on the F&G website to see what the odds are of drawing for the units you want to apply for while remembering that this year the max PP people will be entering the draws with 6 PPs. Also, you can process your own game or have it processed at a licensed facility. FYI many states require that you not bring back anything other than boned out meat and the head must be minus all brain matter under their CWD rules.

 

[300 ultra]

Wind river Indian reservation is closed to hunting, I thought anyway. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I hunt a unit that borders Indian res and was told by a warden to not even go close to the fence because the boundary is vague.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

The two units he's talking about putting in for are way over to the southeast of the Reservation past the town of Riverton.

 

[nfhjr62]

Having hunted all my life in Pennsylvania i don't understand this point system you have in most of the western states can someone explain them to me.
I under stand the the state in broken up into hunting units, but how would this apply to non resident hunter.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Preference points are obtained by buying them each year for a particular species and it varies in the different states. Basically the theory is that the better the area or unit that you want to hunt the more PPs it is going to take to draw a tag. Some don't take any PPs, while others take many years to draw a tag because either there are so many people applying or few tags are issued, or both. The F&G Departments have odds charts so you can see if you have enough points to have a chance at drawing a unit before you even apply. That's it in a nutshell.

 

[6.5Express]

Most of the Western states have some sort of point system because the units have limited quotas. Some states (wy for example) have preference point systems where basically the people with the most points draw the tag. So, the more years you've applied and not drawn, you get preference over others that haven't applied as many years. When you draw for that species, your points go back to zero. There is also a small % (maybe 10% of NR tags?) of the tags for a given unit that are drawn randomly - disregarding any accumulated points.

Other Western states have bonus point systems. In a state that offers bonus points (NV for example) your name basically goes in the drawing an equal number of times for the points you've accumulated and the names are drawn randomly. So, in this situation, the guy with the most points isn't necesarily guaranteed a tag, he / she just has a higher probability of drawing.

Some Western states have no point system at all (ID for example). Units have a limited quota and folks that apply all go into the drawing for that unit with equal odds of drawing. And, in some Western states there are still some units which offer over the counter (no draw) tags.

Typically, the units that are hardest to draw are the most sought after tags.

Sorry for the long post, I've been studying this stuff for quite awhile. Many of us apply and build points in several different Western States per year to be able to hunt in units with good trophy potential without having to wait to build points in your own state.