This post should be anchored to the top of the forum. If you follow this advice, you could be on a tropical island fishing instead of trying to get your truck off a slicked up bentonite road on day 6 of a fruitless antelope hunt in unit 21.
Definitely not my experience. Last year was heavy in my area. Sounds almost like someone that gets hunting conditions from the TV or reading hunting forums really. Get past the first couple days of hunting season, the orange hats for most part go away. If a unit is easy to draw in Wyoming, that usually means the population is well above target and fewer people are hunting it. But if you think it is easy to hunt them critters, you got some learning to do. Them big bucks do not get big by being easy to hunt. That is for sure.
Funny part is it was a 2 point unit last season and demand is only going up, imagine what the 0-1 point units are like. Guess it all depends on how bad you want to hunt, good info for people to consider that haven't experienced it, better be ready to burn some boot cause there's a lot of WY that looks accessible by road from a quick glance but really isn't once you get there, and only way to know if they are there is to go look on foot.
Exactly. But you have to take much of what you read online with a grain of salt. The best hunting info comes with boots on the ground and good ole scouting in person. Easy to draw units are sometimes more difficult to hunt and often very difficult to hunt first week of hunting season. Outside that, I find them much better once the weekend hunters leave the area so I do much of my hunting later in the season especially if my target is meat and not to get a buck.
This is true. But even then, your best info is boots on the ground scouting. And it often calls for new strategies you would not learn online. Being a resident, I am familiar with the areas I hunt and I know the roads and terrain features for the most part. A NR will not have that familiarity with the area that I would have. My hunting budget is usually less than $1000 a season and I know many NRs spend more than ten times that. But back to the original topic, your best stategy is developed by good ole boots on the ground scouting and terrain familiarization before you actually hunt. You can gain ideas, bits and pieces by research and online forum advice, but the bigger portion of hunting knowledge, experience and methods are best developed by boots on the ground and scouting before the season regardless of if you are a nonresident or resident hunter. My point is make the trip before hunting season and check out your preferred areas before you spend the large bucks on the hunting trip and try to gain as much firsthand knowledge as you can.
Quite the blanket statement. Anecdotal, but I hunted a OTC unit this past fall that had solid hunting- ya there were people around but it was far from 'suck'. I havent been on a out of state hunt that took more then 1 point the past five years, and only one hunt in CO had what I would call a annoying level of people around. I guess maybe I'm just ignorant and dont know how 'good' a high pt unit is.
Wasn't 2021 your first season to hunt antelope?
Nope. I have been hunting antelope in Wyoming since 2004. Took a break a few years from hunting due to very expensive medical issues wife had from 2010 to about 2014 and got back into it year following. Got antelope every year since and I attribute that to knowing the areas I hunted better and having a better idea how the antelope behave especially under pressure. 2004 was the year I moved to Wyoming and married my wife. Prior to that I had been hunting antelope on private land in GMU 107 since I was 18 in Colorado mostly on land associated with family or family friends. 2004-2005 I had to hunt as a nonresident since I didn't come a resident for hunting and fishing in WYoming until end of 2005. I started my Wyoming antelope hunting at Nimmo Ranch then before it became an HMA. Back then Gretchen, the owner of the ranch, who gave me permission only allowed about two dozen hunters a year on the ranch.
First light, opening day, shoot the first one you see.
Did you read through this thread yet? Lots of advice in the first few pages
Yeah, I'll help. There are about 3 areas that contain really good Antelope habitat and also allow you to get more than a mile from any road- find them (they are easy to find) and hike about a mile off the road before daylight on opening morning. The hunting pressure should run some Antelope in your direction, as they leave the area. PLEASE BE ADVISED: The season is only about 2 weeks long, and there was intense hunting pressure for at least the first 8 days of the Unit 21 season (I left after that). The popular idea of hunting later in the season to avoid other hunters is probably not good advice for Unit 21. Good Luck! Post a pic if you get one.
