Looking at putting together a DYI Wyoming antelope rifle hunt and just looking to see if anyone has any tips or general info on what to do/not do. I have 1 preference point and have already been looking at drawing odds in different areas. Looking to do public land also just to keep the cost down.
Wyoming antelope DYI info
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#1: OnX
#2: Be sure you have road access. Call the area game warden and county road super.
#3: Use a rangefinder. Lil boogers are hard to judge distance on.
#4: Practice shooting to 300+yds.
#5: I have had winds over 65 mph when hunting in October. Plan your camping judiciously. It can be 80 degrees one day and 25 degrees the next, with 50-60+ mph winds at times. I'm usually lucky and only deal with high winds 2-3 of days per 8- day trip.
#6: Leather gloves and knee pads. There are little, low growing cactus everywhere, and are hard to see until you "find" them.
#7: Skin, quarter and cool the antelope ASAP. They are our favorite meat if handled correctly. Learn the " gutless method" if hunting far from the truck.
#8: To each his own, but I try not to go opening week. It is a zoo. By the second/third week most hunters have gone home or directed their attention to other game. Conversely, if you do go for the opener, I would suggest going a day or two before, scout some goats and be on one before daylight opening day.
#9: Don't overlook doe tags. Inexpensive and there are a lot of them! Did I say the meat is delicious?
#10: Unlike most big game animals, antelope do not seek cover, but instead prefer to see predators at long distance and then they kick in the afterburners... so for the most part country that has a lot of trees and tall brush won't be a preferred hangout for antelope. They like to use that 8x vision!
If you do your homework and spend some time on the Wy Game and Fish website and make a couple calls you should be fine. There are a lot of antelope in most all areas of Wyoming. The trick is intercepting them before they cross onto private.
Best of luck to you.
#2: Be sure you have road access. Call the area game warden and county road super.
#3: Use a rangefinder. Lil boogers are hard to judge distance on.
#4: Practice shooting to 300+yds.
#5: I have had winds over 65 mph when hunting in October. Plan your camping judiciously. It can be 80 degrees one day and 25 degrees the next, with 50-60+ mph winds at times. I'm usually lucky and only deal with high winds 2-3 of days per 8- day trip.
#6: Leather gloves and knee pads. There are little, low growing cactus everywhere, and are hard to see until you "find" them.
#7: Skin, quarter and cool the antelope ASAP. They are our favorite meat if handled correctly. Learn the " gutless method" if hunting far from the truck.
#8: To each his own, but I try not to go opening week. It is a zoo. By the second/third week most hunters have gone home or directed their attention to other game. Conversely, if you do go for the opener, I would suggest going a day or two before, scout some goats and be on one before daylight opening day.
#9: Don't overlook doe tags. Inexpensive and there are a lot of them! Did I say the meat is delicious?
#10: Unlike most big game animals, antelope do not seek cover, but instead prefer to see predators at long distance and then they kick in the afterburners... so for the most part country that has a lot of trees and tall brush won't be a preferred hangout for antelope. They like to use that 8x vision!
If you do your homework and spend some time on the Wy Game and Fish website and make a couple calls you should be fine. There are a lot of antelope in most all areas of Wyoming. The trick is intercepting them before they cross onto private.
Best of luck to you.
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Everything Manitou said . They’re diurnal , so put them to bed when the sun goes down , and go get em in the morning . Like a turkey
Manitou is right on the money. Absolutely must have the GPS and OnX chip to even think about it. That’s the absolute most important part. Save your points for a quality trophy unit in about 7-10yrs. Get on TopRut or Wyoming’s website and find the units with 100% draw odds. They will all have “limited access”. Study maps and find somewhere you can get a cpl miles off the road. If you hike in and camp the day before season opens, you will probably be done by 8am. Watch out for rattlesnakes, they can curl up inside a sage bush and you’ll never see em. If you hear it, freeze til you find it. Be sure you have a quality scope and as Mani said, be sure you can shoot out to 300 minimum. If you get doe tags, you can usually ride around and check the blocks of private ground you pass, then hop out and knock em down.
All sounds like good advise. As far as saving points for trophy units, I wouldn't know the difference nor really care about a trophy antelope. Pretty much just looking for something else to do and would be just as content with does.
Pretty sure you only loose points if you draw your 1st choice.
You apply for first choice PP, then second choice in a 100% draw unit. It's basically just buying an early leftover.
Look for one with cutters above his ears at least. Mass makes a better score like with anything. If you save up points and hunt every year in an open unit, you will know what a good buck looks like by the time you have enough points. And hunting them is so much fun, you might want a good one some day.
That is correct, and applying for doe tags is sort of an added bonus. You can draw a buck and two doe tags in the initial drawing, and then buy another buck tag, and 2 more leftover doe tags. It's common to see guys who have filled buck tags in one unit, then drive to another unit to finish filling doe tags they bought as leftovers. 6 is the most you can get I think.
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I've never not drawn and never not kilt one in 6 trips to WY.... But then again I've never had any desire to kill one with a rifle.
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+1 on avoiding the first 5 days of the season if score does not matter especially if your unit also overlaps with the deer opener. You will enjoy it w/o all the traffic, and spooky lopes. Its probably the biggest road hunting "sport" in the history of modern hunting. Burn your points and go as soon as you can, winter kill can really mess with quotas and you can end up waiting longer than originally expected, lope numbers are getting closer to normal after the winter of 2010 and 2012 drought. Take your time and look some over, enjoy the hunt, getting a lope will not be a problem, your group could be done the first day if you don't. Combo it with a muley tag if you can and want to hunt a week or so, your going anyway with money and time invested getting there.
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YES! Couldn't agree with you more Camo.
Ton of good info above, only thing I might add is if you aren't totally dedicated to rifle hunting, they are a blast to bow hunt. Can also have some options for trespass fee hunts if you contact local chamber of commerce to get on private land during bow season. Plus the doe tags are easy to get if you want to shoot another.
Only did it one time, but loved it. Hunted outside Casper out of pop up blinds over water holes. Missed a thumper opening morning, couldn't cant my recurve enough to shoot it out of the blind initially. Finally figured it out!!
Only did it one time, but loved it. Hunted outside Casper out of pop up blinds over water holes. Missed a thumper opening morning, couldn't cant my recurve enough to shoot it out of the blind initially. Finally figured it out!!
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