Anyone antelope hunting out west this year?

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

My 13 yr old son and I are headed out to Wyoming again this October for antelope. Last season was out first and our 7 day hunt was taken down to a three day hunt due to a blizzard. Last season we hunted a Hunter Management Area and while not exactly true public access the amount of other hunters on the HMA was crazy. This year we are in a new unit and have permission on two separate private ranches. We can camp on both and even have a barn available on each for trimming out the quarters when we are successful. My son has 1 either sex tag along with some doe / fawn tags and I have some doe / fawn tags as well. Anyone else heading out west for some antelope action this fall?

[Siwulat]

My dad, brother, and I are heading to unit 16 in October. This is going to be our first trip out west and is a DIY public land hunt. I'm pumped and can't wait for it. We decided to do doe/fawn only to keep the cost down.

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

My dad, brother, and I are heading to unit 16 in October. This is going to be our first trip out west and is a DIY public land hunt. I'm pumped and can't wait for it. We decided to do doe/fawn only to keep the cost down.

Nice!!!! Are you camping out or staying in a hotel? Last year we planned on camping but the blizzard made tent camping pretty much impossible so we stayed in Laramie and drove an hour each morning to our hunting area. This year we have planned it a bit better with one of the ranches having a bunk house if needed (hopefully not) each one has a nice place for us to pitch our tent with electricity near by.

[Siwulat]

Ya we are camping on BLM land. I'm hoping the weather stays decent and the goats are plentiful. 16 is one of those units with a lot of public land but tough access so who knows. We found a few areas that are accessible without paying any fees. Any advice for a first timer?

[mrklean]

Did you buy your BLM maps yet when I went out to Montana last year they were a huge key to our success knowing where we were? Is the public land land locked is that the issue?

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

Did you buy your BLM maps yet when I went out to Montana last year they were a huge key to our success knowing where we were? Is the public land land locked is that the issue?

Since you have doe / fawn tags only (no buck tags).

1). access to ranches will get a whole lot easier after the second weekend of the season. So if you can hunt then do it, the later in the season the better for gaining access.

2). Get a landowner list from the Game Fish regional office and call everyone on the list; be sure to mention the doe tags only and ask if the landowners would let you take does for the land owner coupon only.

3). Get a GPS and a Wyoming map chip from "On X Maps"

4). Travel on the weekends hunt during the week

5). Don't be afraid to knock on a ranch door or call a number on a no trespassing sign. Most times the phone number on the sign means a fee to hunt but again later on in the season a land owner coupon or 4 of them may be enough to get permission to hunt.

6). If you've walked your tail off for a few days on end take a break and drive the roads in your unit using your map chip to look for BLM and state ground touching the road, once found find a vantage point to hike up to so you can see the BLM not visible from the road.

7). Take a camera and lots of pictures lots of neat things to see out there. Take a tripod for timer shots too, that way you can get the whole group in the pic.

8). Take a varmint call and squeal up a few coyotes, they were thick out where we were last year.

9). Take a .22 and shoot some prairie dogs, no sense in burning up antelope rifle rounds when a .22 lr works just fine.

10). When you get an antelope down use the gutless method to quarter and harvest the meat. If you don't know how to do this google it; Fred Eichler has a great clip of it.

11). Drag the remains out of sight if out in the open, a shallow gully is better than an open hillside visible to the rancher or passing cars.

12). Buy some game bags and use them for boned out meat.

13). If you don't own a nice backpack but turkey hunt consider using your turkey vest as your pack. We used ours last season ours held one antelope each.

14). Buy a point right now from the Wyoming game and fish, after the doe hunt you will want to get back there and harvest a buck.

15). Unit 16 shows 4000+ acres of walk in access, call the Game and Fish regional office and ask about the locations of the walkin area's. You may just find one that has everything you need to have a fun successful hunt.

and lastly

16).Just relax and have fun.

[Siwulat]

We already have BLM maps and are looking to hunt exclusively on public land. I've found several large parcels of land that are accessible by a public road (and confirmed with the authorities that the roads are indeed public). We are planning on arriving on a Saturday and staying all week, so hopefully crowds won't be a huge issue. We are already talking about buying points for next year, but we did not this year because it is more about the adventure than the horns. Any public land free range harvest is a trophy in my book! I am going to look into the land owner list, in the event the public land is crawling with orange.

I can't wait for the season to get here, just looking forward to hunting another species in a totally new section of the country!

[Siwulat]

Another question for you Calvin, were you successful last year and if so, at what distance did you take your animal? I am envisioning a spot and stalk hunt, which is much different than the sit and wait approach I am used to.

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

Another question for you Calvin, were you successful last year and if so, at what distance did you take your animal? I am envisioning a spot and stalk hunt, which is much different than the sit and wait approach I am used to.

My son (12 at the time) got a buck and a doe, the buck was about 120 yards and the doe about 300 yards. I should have added a quality range finder to the list above. Both were spot and stalk, but the sit and wait approach can work too. Especially if you are hunting opening day and there are alot of hunters around. Are you hunting the first week, second week or later in the season? We are hunting the second week and have 2 travel days and 8 hunt days allotted for this years adventure. My son has 1 buck tag and 3 doe tags; I have three doe tags. How about you guys how many tags do you guys have?

[Siwulat]

A rangefinder is already on the list. We are going to arrive on Saturday, 10/4 which is the opening weekend and leave the following Saturday, so we will have 6 full days to hunt. Because this is our first foray into the west, we each have 1 doe/fawn tag so 3 total tags. What part of Wyoming are you heading to?

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

We are hunting around Laramie, you will have a good time. Since your hunting opening week getting on private for just the land owner coupon probably won't happen. Be sure to go to the Wyoming g&f HSOforum and look up the walk in area's in 16, it's always good to have as many spots as you can to hunt.

[Siwulat]

Yes I agree. We have the BLM access, a walk in area, another public piece of land (I forget what they call their WMAs out there) and I have been keeping tabs on the landowner list although no one from our unit has added their name. Like I said, I am really looking forward to it. Good luck and be sure to post a story or two from your trip.

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

Be sure to call the regional office and ask if they have a list, then ask to talk to the biologist and ask him about the unit and if he knows any ranches needing does removed. Then ask for the warden's number of your unit and ask him if he knows anyone. Sounds strange but they sometimes get a name and it doesn't always make it to the g&fwebsite.

[mrklean]

Curious how did the hunt go?

[Siwulat]

Our hunt went well although we did not punch any tags. We learned a lot about western hunting (it was our first time), had a great time, and everyone made it home in one piece. We saw lots of animals both deer and antelope, but they were all really far away or on private land. We did speak to one landowner out there and obtained permission to hunt his piece "only 400 acres" as he put it. It was an eye opening experience to say the least and i can't wait to go back again.

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

4 does 1 buck for us, all on private ranches. Hunting after the opening week opens up alot of ranch land that is locked up for the opener.