Wyoming antelope, best uits for non-resident?

[duck911]

(edit: Sorry for the typo, I'm looking for "units" not "uits!")

Hey gang! I'm beginning to plan a Wyoming antelope trip next year. I have the luxury of living close to Wyoming so I'll be able todrive wherever I hunt and maybe even pull a camper.

I've scoured the Wyo G&F website and checked all of the draw and hunt stats. I have a few points and questions for those of you more in the know:

1) It looks like the non-resident success rates are basicaly 100%. Is that right??? If you draw a tag, you can essentially shoot an antelope???

2) I also see that many units are 80-100% DRAW success rate for non-residents. Would it be a safe assumption that the the units that are harder to draw for are the trophy units?

What I am looking for is a unit in the western half of the state, with good public land access and enough respectible animals to hopefully find a nice "first" antelope.

All of the game distributon maps I've seen simply show antelope all over the state. So, I'm having a hard time figuring out which units may have more (and bigger) animals.

Any general ideas on what I could look for?

thanks!

--Duck911

 

[TahoeHuntr]

Hey ducky! I've been tracking Big Game stats in NV, UT, ID, CO and WY for over a decade. Only in the last few years has this info become easily available on the web. Here's the deal on WY Pronghorns: The success rates combine bucks, does, and fawns (where some hunters get both a buck and a doe tag in the same unit, and take each). As a result, the success rates are a bit inflated (some units report more than 100% success using this method). But buck success still runs from around 70% to 90% in most units. So, if you practice 250-300 yard shots before you go, and use your optics rather than just driving around, you should get a buck. As for draw odds, they are considerably lower in western and south-central WY (mostly public lands), but run near 100% in eastern and NE WY (with tags still remaining in some units today!) That's the good news. The bad news is that much of the land in eastern/NE WY is private lands. The WY F&G booklet puts red astericks (sp?) on those units with a lot of private lands as a warning to you. You need to arrange (read that "pay for") access (or hire a guide who has locked up private lands) in order to hunt there. That means more $ out-of-pocket. The trophy units historically are those areas in or bordering the Red Desert (basically N. of I-80 between Rock Springs and Rawlins). These units are very hard to draw, some less than a 5% chance! It's a dilemma that could be resolved IF WY would wake up to a bonus point system for non-successful applicants. But if you want an area with a decent drawing chance and good bucks, the Special Tag application for the Shirley Basin (unit 47) has averaged 80% draw odds over the last two years, with a 85% buck success rate. There is decent public land access, and there is also the Muddy Mt. Hunter Management Area there to hunt on.
WY has two types of non-resident buck tag drawings. The "Special tag" costs more than the "Regular Tag", and supposedly has better draw odds. That isn't always true. Although I haven't studied pronghorn applicant psychology, I did see a pattern in Muley Units G and H where the draw odds between Special and Regular would yo-yo back and forth every other year. I concluded that non-resident applicants looked at whichever type of draw application was best in the prior year, and then a disproportionate number would chase those prior year's results. That caused the OTHER type of draw to produce better draw odds for the current year. MY advice is if you see this pattern, go for the one with the poorer draw odds in the prior year.
Finally, WY does have some private lands available for walk-in hunters in units with a lot of private lands. Check out the WY website for these Hunter Management Areas.
Hope this helps. Good Luck,
TahoeHuntr

 

[ratsnest]

well it help me thanks.

 

[Cda55]

Nice write up and good info TahoeHuntr.

 

[TahoeHuntr]

Hey Guys, Everything is changing in 2006!
I just received Eastman's Journal for Dec 2005-Jan 2006. Pg 83 has an article titled "Wyoming Preference Point System Set for Wyoming Deer, Elk, and Pronghorn". Basically, starting in 2006 you can buy a preference point for use in the next year's SPECIAL non-resident draw (not the Regular non-resident draw), or enter the SPECIAL NR draw and get a preference point if you don't draw your 1st choice. Starting in the 2007 draw, 75% of SPECIAL non-resident draw tags go to those with highest preference points, the other 25% goes into a draw amongst those who didn't draw from the first 75%.
If you were only going to hunt in a 100% draw area and didn't care about trophy areas, then forget preference points and go in the Regular (cheaper) draw for those units with private lands. Pay the access fees or hire an outfitter.
The Preference point strategy here would be to put in for a Public Lands trophy unit for your first choice, then use 2nd choice for an area that did not have leftover tags last year but did get into the 2nd and 3rd choices, and a 3rd choice for a NE or E zone with 100% chance of draw (if you wanted to hunt every year). If you didn't want to hunt every year, just put in for the trophy area only, no 2nd or 3rd choices. I 'll tell you, if you want a trophy area but don't put in for Preference points the first year they are available, you'll be chasing others for years until they all draw out ahead of you! If you get in on the ground floor, you are always amongst the draw for the 75% of tags (and may get to a point where you are assured of drawing a tag). The other strategy is to just buy the preference points ($30 antelope, $40 deer, $50 elk) for several years, then look at how many others have points in the various areas (like the stats available from Utah on Restricted hunts) to figure out what year you will likely draw the unit you want.
You may want to pass on this news on WY preference points to others in deer or elk forums.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TahoeHuntr

 

[duck911]

Thanks a ton for all of the help guys!

Just got back from a couple of days of duck hunting so let me digest this over a beer and I am sure I'll have some questions!

--Duck911

 

[COHunter]

Scott....is that you?


I here 47 is the place to go, but the draw odds aren't the best. Looking to head up myself next year. As luck would have it, one of my wifes co-workers is a recent transplant from Wyoming and has offered to take me up north of Cheyenne for some speed goats, in area's that have leftover tags.

Jason

 

[duck911]

Yup, it's me. Still looking through the regs, maps, and draw results to make my final plan! I've been saving preference points in Colorado so I still haven't killed my first antelope, so next year I think I will warm up and practice on some goats in Wyo!

--Duck911 (Scott)

 

[tmoniz]

I used to see a fair number of antelope off the 13 just south of Baggs on my way to Wyoming. I'm familiar with the Shirley Basin area. When hunting Region D for deer one or two of us would have an antelope tag. Over the years we started to notice a decrease in their numbers and had to fan out to other areas to find a decent buck.

Some of the best bucks I last saw was around the Pathfinder Ranch just south of Alcova.

 

[LoRdSbUrG]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

You may want to pass on this news on WY preference points to others in deer or elk forums.[/b]

Or you may NOT want to!