New to this (help)

[inthekisser]

I don't know anyone would be nice enough to lend a helping hand in any info about a Antelope hunt in WY, Me and my Friend are wanting to come kill 1 each, pref Bucks. We have never done anything like this before so we are pretty much lost on what we need. Question (1) camping? can we camp on all public land? (2) zones? I found the zone map and I have been looking at this link here for leftover tags "I think" https://wgfoapps.wyo.gov/QuotaAvailability/QuotaReport.aspx I see that zone 24 still has alot of tags that can be bought? but is it a decent place to hunt? any antelope even there? any information about this would be great. thanks

 

[sambo3006]

The units with lots of left over tags are normally ones with difficult access to public land as indicated by the red asterisk. Your best bet for hunting that unit would be to contact the Gillette chamber of commerce to see if they have a land owner list. Almost all of the land owners out there charge a trespass fee to hunt bucks. Some might be as cheap as a couple hundred bucks on up to $1000. Most of the prime areas that are along the rivers with irrigated fields have been leased by outfitters. If you are willing to pay a trespass fee, you should have a good chance at tagging a nice buck.
The alternative is to hunt public land. This is a little bit tricky. Having a land ownership chip for your gps (almost everyone uses the OnX Maps state specific chip) Pick A State To See Available Maps | HUNT by onXmaps is a must as much of public land is not enclosed by a fence. You also need to determine that the public land parcel is actually accessible by public road. It may look like the corner of public land touches a road on the map but in actuality it does not. It is also not legal to cross at corners where public and private land are interspersed in a checkerboard looking pattern. It can be done with the proper research but it takes some effort. I did it last fall but may not do it again. http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f85/my-wyoming-left-over-tag-antelope-hunt-142773/
Best of luck to you this fall!

 

[wyowinchester]

There's about 10 miles of Nat'l Forest land in the SE corner of area 24, that looks like you can access from US 450. No guaranties if you can drive much of it. Good luck

 

[Topgun 30-06]

"It is also not legal to cross at corners where public and private land are interspersed in a checkerboard looking pattern."

That statement is actually incorrect because there is nothing in the Wyoming laws that makes it legal or illegal. In fact, when the G&F cited a guy for it a few years ago he took it to court and won. After that the top brass issued orders to the GWs not to enforce any complaints that strictly involve corner crossing and they use Garmin GPS and chips just like we do to check on landownership boundaries. It is a different story depending on what county you're hunting in because the County Sheriff may decide to enforce it and issue a ticket. Then it's up to the person to decide whether it's worth challenging in court or just paying the ticket. The previous comments on hunting unit 24 are correct in that there are only one or two chunks of public land that are legally accessible. One is where hwy 450 hits public land in a couple spots, as mentioned above, and the others are where Bishop Road hits approximately 1500-2000 acres. That sounds like a lot, but out there it is chump change and may not hold a single animal. IMHO I would not go out there unless I had a ranch tied up for access, especially at this late date where ranchers are already booked up and won't even answer their phones.

 

[trebark]

Find some lessons learned here...

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f17/2-va-lrhers-eastern-wy-78874/

Antelope are not difficult to hunt and kill. The hard part is finding them. Generally speaking, the key is to find a water source as water is their least common resource (food and cover is abundant).

Have fun and good luck.

 

[sambo3006]

Topgun,
I still wouldn't risk it. You are not going to find boundary fences on most of the checkerboard land and I don't trust my gps that much. What if you shoot an antelope and it runs on to private land? The land owner might not be too receptive to letting you retrieve your goat if you didn't approach them for permission before hand. Too many other options besides trying to hunt checkerboard land if you ask me, especially for an out of stater.

 

[kraigwy]

Topgun,
I don't trust my gps that much..

When I got my Garmin Land owner chip for Wyoming I checked it with maps, and on the ground using surveys.

It is accurate and can be trusted.

To be sure, check with any Wyoming Game Warden, they also will tell you that chip is accurate.

My second chip contains walk in areas. They change from year to year with more being added every year.

Simple fix, down load the walk in area map from the WY Fish & Game web site.

As to Area 24: There is lots of public land there. Looking at a map, it looks like there aren't many roads. Forget the map. The area is covered with dirt roads. You can access several thousand acres of public land.

I live in this are, I personally hunt area 7, which borders area 24 but closer to the house.

Look at a map and find where Keeline road intersects Hwy 450. That road will get you access to the government land. Check you GPS N 43*39'50" and w 105*02'54 ". From that point follow Keeline road into the Thunder Basin Nat. Grass lands. Youll find miles of intersecting dirt roads (some listed as two track roads) that will gain you public access to excellent antelope hunting.

I live here, any more I wouldn't venture out without my GPS WY Land Owner Chip. Never heard of one being off.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

When I got my Garmin Land owner chip for Wyoming I checked it with maps, and on the ground using surveys.

It is accurate and can be trusted.

To be sure, check with any Wyoming Game Warden, they also will tell you that chip is accurate.

My second chip contains walk in areas. They change from year to year with more being added every year.

Simple fix, down load the walk in area map from the WY Fish & Game web site.

As to Area 24: There is lots of public land there. Looking at a map, it looks like there aren't many roads. Forget the map. The area is covered with dirt roads. You can access several thousand acres of public land.

I live in this are, I personally hunt area 7, which borders area 24 but closer to the house.

Look at a map and find where Keeline road intersects Hwy 450. That road will get you access to the government land. Check you GPS N 43*39'50" and w 105*02'54 ". From that point follow Keeline road into the Thunder Basin Nat. Grass lands. Youll find miles of intersecting dirt roads (some listed as two track roads) that will gain you public access to excellent antelope hunting.

I live here, any more I wouldn't venture out without my GPS WY Land Owner Chip. Never heard of one being off.

That coordinate is one of the spots I mentioned that he can go north off of 450 and be on legal public ground to the west of that road that is the boundary of unit 24. The other spots are at 105*4'51.5" at the Campbell County line and further west on 450 between 105*8'47.3" and 105*10'52.7". If he goes north from any of these spots he should have enough country to find a goat or three! As far as corners, with the chip in my Garmin I've found a lot of corner pins that are surveyed markers for corners. Those are areas where I would cross a corner if it was in a county where the Sheriff and Prosecutor don't issue tickets and prosecute for corner jumping, but you need to find out what their stance is on it and I certainly wouldn't do it if they say they will prosecute. The county where I hunt every year will not prosecute for corner jumping.

 

[sambo3006]

Here is what the BLM has to say about corner crossing on checkerboard land. While an individual game warden might not enforce it, another one might. I stand by my first statement on it and I would definitely not recommend that a new out of state hunter try to corner jump with their gps. We can all make our own decisions but here is the information.

http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/wy/information/docs.Par.1305.File.dat/publicaccess.pdf

Scroll down to page 2.

"What does the law say with regard to corner crossing?
There is no specific state or federal laws regarding corner crossings. Corner crossings in the checkerboard land pattern area or elsewhere are not considered legal public access.
Do public lands in the checkerboard or in other intermingled land ownership areas have public access?
Public access to public lands is often limited in the checkerboard and in other public and private intermingled land ownership areas in Wyoming. If there is a public road or a right-a-way (easement) for public access through the checkerboard or intermingled land, then the public has legal access to the public land crossed by the public road."