She is super excited, and has been helping me do some research on areas we can draw as well as doing some e-scouting. This will be her first out of state hunt and she is excited to hunt antelope. We did do a little on the ground scouting back in 2018 while on family vacation and some of that information has been helpful.
Basically, I have some questions that I believe other people also have or maybe you've experienced these same issues before. 1. Has anyone here ever had the type 2 permit for Unit 76? Seems like a good chance to draw a good unit if it isn't too crowded near the river.
2. Has anyone ever hunted 75 or even 73? If we apply for the special more expensive tag, we have a decent chance at drawing.
3. In 26, is it impossible to get access to the little bit of public there? Is the public over run with hunters?
4. While scouting, we saw tons of bucks in 25, 30 and 31, why are they relatively easy to draw? Is it because of access issues to public land or is it trophy quality.
5. Do you have to apply for a doe tag as one of your three choices or is that a separate application for doe/fawn tags?
We are just looking to put ourselves in a good position to have an fun enjoyable hunt. We would like to see plenty of animals and have the possibility of having several opportunities as I believe it will be a numbers game for us.
Depending on how things go this summer, she might also decide to take her bow which might give us a little more flexibility in dates in order to miss as little school as possible. She will be a freshman when school starts back up again.
Korey Wolfe
For doe, you can apply like any other rag or hope for leftovers, depends on the unit.
I use onx to figure out how to access public land. But keep in mind all public is not accessible
There is a separate draw for reduced price doe/fawn tags (type 6).
Generally, the easier to draw units are due to lack of public land.
Can't help you with info on any of those units but I hope you have a great hunt with your daughter and thanks for passing it on!
WapitiBob's Link
From my antelope hunting experience-
You can get access to private by asking and knocking doors! Especially with a Daughter! Most land owners hate the antelope which goes to the next point -
Get a doe tag or two! It is a separate draw. If you are debating between units and one has 100% draw on reduced doe tags go with that. It is easier to get private land telling them you will shoot a doe.
Talk to the local Game warden/CO. They will give you names to contact of ranchers who let kids/hunter on to kill lope. Also ask about Land status permissions-
A lot of WY is checker board private/public. In my experience In Southern WY if it’s like that and owned by oil companies it is by “default” open to hunting. Basically everyone including the law said open roads, no signs etc go ahead and hunt because the big oil company I ant going to deal with individuals or explicitly give permission.
Some harder to draw units just have fewer tags, or higher trophy potential. If you want to kill with a bow you need to hunt where there is less water. Sitting in a blind by a creek/river bow hunting is a recipe for a super boring hunt!
I have never decoyed antelope before, but during a mule deer hunt last year, my brother and I barely crested a hill to glass for mulies and 200 yards away was a antelope buck that was tending his does and being harassed by some other bucks. He must have saw something that made him think we were a buck, because he came charging in to 40 yards. Sure was exciting.
Brotsky, we remember your hunt! It was a great adventure for sure.
PushCoArcher Last year those with 2 points only had a 9.9% chance of drawing in the special pool. That would be our number one choice if we ended up deciding to go that direction. With reduced tag numbers, I'm not sure if the odds will decrease. I also wonder if the recession will reduce the number of applicants in the special pool.
And thanks again for everyone's input. We may end up sitting water, but we are going to have a good time no matter what.
I was thinking that points wouldn't be used for permits drawn on the second and third choice. Is that at least accurate?
Area 73 special had 23 tags available in the random and 232 1st choice apps. goHUNT shows 9.9% draw odds for 2 points in the special.
Will we lose our points if we draw our second or third choice?
What are the best dates to use a decoy?
EDIT=== here is a link to the tentative season data, they pulled it from the public comment section.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15vBJDgAvrl3-i7IBRkK0ziM9gqegrkJY
Korey Wolfe's Link
I'm also going to get some doe tags and try to get permission on private ground to give us more opportunities.
Any suggestions on how to choose between 25, 26, and 30?
Also, my daughter wants to hunt 31 since that is one of the areas we scouted and marked bucks on our GPS, so I guess there is logic in letting her pick the unit.
Any tips for unit 30 would be appreciated. Please send me a PM if you have info that you would be willing to share.
My daughter's school has moved the opening of school back to the 25th of August. With the opener on the 15th, that gives us 10 full days of hunting to get it done with our bows. However, this will likely require us to sit water. Biologist told me that blinds are not allowed on walk in areas...didn't realize this.
We've applied for the HMA drawing, but won't know the results until August 4th.
