What area in Wyoming is best for DIY Antelope Hunt 2014

[Fieldstone]

I have never been on a big game hunt in any of the western states. I am interested in hunting Antelope this fall and enjoy the challenge and adventure of free lance hunting and camping. My son and I enjoy long range shooting and have talked about this for a long time. We have no contacts in Wyoming so I am writing to this forum in hopes to gain information on what area we need to apply in for the best possible chance to draw a non resident buck Antelope tag. We have no preference points. What area offers the best public hunting land with a good chance of drawing a tag?
Thanks for your help!
Fieldstone
Abingdon, Virginia

 

[Altiman94]

I was in your shoes about 2 years ago looking for information on where to hunt antelope in WY. What I can tell you is that the hunting is a blast. You probably won't get very many responses until you do some research and start asking more unit specific questions. A simple search on this site or google will net you a lot of results. Also, you need to check the G & F website for Wyoming to see your draw odds. They also spell out units with best access (usually harder to draw).

 

[etisll40]

Hoping someone will chime in, I am interested in hunting Antelope in Wyoming too.

 

[WyoElk2Hunt]

It is a total draw state for Wyoming even the residents. The odds change depending on how many hunters apply for each area. Preference points help non residents and it usually don't take too many points to draw. Left over tags are available on a first come first buy bases in July, but mostly doe/fawn permits. The eastern side of the state has a lot more private land and access is usually not to hard to get. The west side has more public land and sometimes is harder to draw. Hope this helps.

 

[etisll40]

Thanks, I'm going to keep reading and start a routine of getting points.

 

[Win.308Stealth]

I have hunted eastern Wyoming for two seasons, didn't go last year, but am planning on going this year. First year i bought a buck tag the day they were made available (june?) And the following year i dought my buck tag when we arrived in WY. And there were still plenty of buck ang doe tags left over.
It sure is a fun hunt. But make sure you gut, skin and cool the carcass quickly. We collected a bunch of gatorage and soda bottles, freeze them and then after we would drag the carcass to tne truck we would roll out a small tarp, skin it shove it into a big cooler and stuff the cooler with frozen water bottles. I heard from a few of the locals if you dont cool the meat quickly, it wont taste so good.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

I have hunted eastern Wyoming for two seasons, didn't go last year, but am planning on going this year. First year i bought a buck tag the day they were made available (june?) And the following year i dought my buck tag when we arrived in WY. And there were still plenty of buck ang doe tags left over.
It sure is a fun hunt. But make sure you gut, skin and cool the carcass quickly. We collected a bunch of gatorage and soda bottles, freeze them and then after we would drag the carcass to tne truck we would roll out a small tarp, skin it shove it into a big cooler and stuff the cooler with frozen water bottles. I heard from a few of the locals if you dont cool the meat quickly, it wont taste so good.

You may not be as lucky this year if you didn't put in for the draw that just closed last Monday night. The tentative quotas for this year just came out yesterday and a lot of buck and doe tags have been cut considerably on the east side of the state where you may have been planning on going. The drought and issuing a lot of extra doe tags in some of the units to get the herds down is now showing in some of the units a lot of people rely on for leftovers that probably won't be there after the draw this year. The one that will have a ton of leftovers of both types will be unit 23, but there is very limited public land and what's there is tough hunting and not what is considered as typical antelope country.

 

[Win.308Stealth]

The harsh winter probably didn't help either.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Actually the winter for the most part out there where antelope inhabit has been average, if not easier than normal. There is a pretty high above average snow pack up in most of the mountain areas, but that will be good when it melts and brings some moisture down to the lower areas. Drought has been the real kicker for some time in a lot of areas and the G&F issued a lot of tags the last few years to bring the herds down to suitable levels for the available habitat. Now they are having to cut back with the herds either at that level or below it in a number of areas. Here are the numbers previously issued and what they are now going down to for a bunch of the eastern units (type1 is either sex & type 6 is a doe/fawn):
Unit:
7-1-----350 to 300
7-6-----No Doe Tags
9-1-----700 to 600
9-6-----1,250 to 650
10-1-----350 to 200
10-6-----500 to 300 & 1 month cut from season
15-1-----800 to 500
15-6-----600 to 400
16-6-----400 to 300
18-1-----150 to 100
18-6-----No Doe Tags
19-6-----150 to 100
21-1-----750 to 650
21-6-----600 to 500
22-6-----900 to 800
25-1-----900 t0 600
25-6-----500 to 200
26-1-----1,200 to 900
26-6-----800 to 400
27-1-----400 to 300
27-6-----150 to 0 on Public Land
29-1-----150 to 100
29-2-----550 to 500
29-6-----200 to 100
30-1-----500 to 400
30-6-----200 to 50
31-1-----350 to 150
31-6-----200 to 50
32-1-----400 to 300
32-6-----400 to 200

 

[Win.308Stealth]

Those are drastic cuts. I guess I will wait and see when the over the counter tags come out.

 

[captacademy]

+1 for very tough cuts!

 

[Cross C]

Our old area (39) was consolidated along with 40 into 38. Traditionally there has been lots of left over tags in 38. I'm anxious to see how this effects our draw going forward.

 

[Dr. Vette]

Here are the numbers previously issued and what they are now going down to for a bunch of the eastern units (type1 is either sex & type 6 is a doe/fawn):

Where on the WY Game & Fish site is this info?
I'd like to check the area where I applied.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

It's in the public meeting section on the left hand side of the main page. Click on this link and then click on whatever animal you're interested in and you can get into the proposed season dates and quotas from last year and what is proposed for this year. They should go final in about three weeks and then will be posted under the Final Regulations section on the Home page.


Wyoming Game & Fish Department