Top Antelope areas in Wyoming?

Moman

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Feb 7, 2008
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Sonoma County, CA
Hey everyone, my son and I have a couple preference points for Antelope in Wyoming and I want to find a quality area, even if it means waiting another year. Can anyone tell me what are the top areas that we should look at for a quality hunt?
 
Top areas as far as trophy quality, or numbers of antelope? Any other criteria such as percentage of public land?
 
I just came from hunting area 72 and easily saw 50 nice bucks each day for the first 3 days of the hunt. They were all in the 13" range, but had lots of mass and good cutters. One more year of good food and there will be a LOT of good bucks to choose from. We put the largest that we saw after 3 days to bed on the third day and I took him @ 610 Yds the morning of the 4th day.
We watched him from 1300 or so yards the 3rd day and he looked good, and glassed him again from between 1500 and 1100 Yds on the morning that I took him. He's still bigger than the one that I took last year, but not the "Vern" that I was looking for. I'll be back next year, with a rifle that will reach out a bit more than my .257 Wby. :D

We covered probably 80% of the available hunting ground in 72 in those 3 days (good glass really helps!). We also saw a couple of nice mulie bucks and a herd of Elk that had a nice 6x6 and a raghorn 5x5. We also had a Pronghorn buck walk within 20 yds of the truck with an arrow in him right above the withers. He wasn't limping, but I wonder if he'll go down or reach back and yank the arrow out. I have pics to post later tonite.
 
Ron, this will be my son and mine first time Antelope hunting and really looking for a good area with good numbers of animals to keep things interesting. Public land or private with tresspass permission. Is it too much to ask for trophy animals to go with this?

Esshup, that sounds like a good hunt you guys had. I'll look into that area as well. Look forward to seeing the pics.
 
Moman:

What do you consider a "trophy"? There were a LOT of good looking antelope, I just wanted a bigger one than I got last year. That was accomplished. There are a lot of walk-in areas in 72, and if you haven't accumulated any preference points, it's easier to draw in that one than one that is known for putting out larger antelope, like 73, which is right across the highway. I saw a really good one, but it was almost in Casper itself, and not in my area. I don't know if you could even hunt that close to town! I think antelope are hard to judge in the field if you are looking for one that hits a certain B&C number. If you are doing a do-it-yourself hunt, look at lots of pics. Be prepared to shoot 200 yds or more after the first few days. Bring a large cooler with you on the hunt that is filled with ice. As soon as you field dress the antelope, fill the body cavity with ice, the meat will taste a LOT better, also don't shoot one that has been running hard, that taints the meat as well. You can't drive off the 2-track trails that are there. Best thing that I can tell you is to get a map of the area, with walk-in areas shown (private, but with public access). Look at the map carefully, and then overlay the areas that WY designates for hunting areas or zones. They also have a spot on the WY Game & Fish website that tells you the % of successful draws for that area. Eastman's Hunting magazine also puts out in one of their issues what the upcoming hunting opportunities in the different states are like, hunting zone by hunting zone.

I like Antelope hunting in Wy. You see LOTS of animals, if you can shoot a distance, you 'bout can pick what distance you want to shoot the animal at, and if you're lucky, you can also drop one right next to the road (2-track) so you won't have to drag it at all! Or, you can make the hunt as difficult as you want. Glass the area, find the animal, park a way's back and sneak up to them. We saw some that were quite a ways off the road, and really didn't want to pack them out in 80* temps.
 
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Moman:

If you are not in a rush, I'll have a chat with some of my friends with the Game and Fish and give you some current information on harvest data, etc. If you want to call and talk send me a PM.
 
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