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Hart Mt Archery Pronghorn

Hey guys, after 18 yrs of trying I finally pulled the only nonresident archery tag for pronghorn on the Antelope Refuge. Being 9+ hrs away and the hunt starting in about 5 weeks I have a ton of research to do and scouting is going to be real tough. If anyone can shed some info on this hunt or area it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!

I would camp at the hot springs and spot the critters along the way out to Guano Creek. There are a lot of trophy antelope in that area. You can stay at the campground up Guano Creek, but I prefer going into the hot springs after a long day out. A good spotting scope could come in handy, but it is not necessary. Usually the side roads are closed that time of year due to the fire danger. I do not know what, if any impact the winter had on the animals. Good luck.

Thanks for the info swede. I spoke with one of the biologists today and he said they came out of the winter great with historical highs right now. And with all of the moisture and green grass it will be a great year for horn growth. Thanks again!!!

They are going to be spread out because there will be water in just about every catchment this year. I think if you follow Swede's advice to take a spotting scope you can cover a lot more territory with your eyes. Another thing to think about is pre scouting. You can cover most of the unit in a couple of days and in about 3-4 days you can get to alot of the off the beaten track places too. I would try to get up there over the forth of july weekend and take July 3rd off to scout the unit. after 18 years you may feel like you have squandered an opportunity if you havent given it the effort this hunt deserves. Of course you could just get lucky and kill a booner. Most guys are going to sit a water hole and many of those will have a blind on them this weekend (even if the regs say they shouldn't be up until just before the season - I'm not sure about what the regs say but some states discourage blinds being up before the season). Some of the bigger playa's with bigger water will have more antelope, but big water is hard to hunt from a ground blind. Hope you have time to pattern the one you like. Definitely soak in the hot springs. Good luck.

Thanks del_binari, I haven't received my packet yet but I've been told that the blinds can not be put up before 5 days of the opener. So I will be going down the end of July for 4 days to scout and put up my blind. The bio seems to think that a lot of the water will be gone by the Aug 3rd opener but still enough so that their isn't a huge competition for water holes. If I went down in early July my luck would be that my blind would be setting next to a dried up water hole a month later :) In your opinion can I get a 28' travel trailer into a spot up by the Hot Springs or should I stay down at the Headquarters campground? Thanks for the help!!!

There is no problem with setting up a 28 foot trailer near the hot springs. You could put a 40 footer in there in some spaces with no problem. The roads over there are wash boarded so driving is slow. There is a space right before you cross the bridge to the hot springs. I would grab it if it is open. Otherwise I would stop in the open spot near the springs and check down the road to the right. Look on G.E. and review the campground and you can see the layout.

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