Douglas WY antelope hunt

[lakedelavan]

hello everyone i am new to the forum and I was planning on taking an antelope hunt around Douglas WY in units 26 or 30 and i was wondering if I could get some help. Has anyone hunted these areas and have had success. I am not looking into shooting a monster antelope just a nice experience with a father and son taking there first antelope bucks. Also does anyone know if there are mule deer in these areas too(units 22 and 65 for mule deer). Any tips would be helpful and thank you all very much. Pm if you want.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Can I assume you are talking about going in 2014 since the application period for deer and antelope closed two weeks ago on 3/15. If you're talking about going this year, you will have to wait until summer to see if any of those areas have leftover tags that will go on sale the middle of July.

 

[lakedelavan]

Yes I know I missed the application deadline but those are 2 Units where last year had a lot of open tags available.

 

[WapitiBob]

30 was my first WY Antelope hunt. The HMA I hunted is no longer in the program and I didn't see anything but my feet outside the HMA. Wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.
I don't know 26 and can't provide info. There have to be other units worthy of consideration.

 

[e300winmag]

Have hunted in 26. Tons of private land, lots of outfitters, and a lot of hunters for the little public there is. I would seriously consider other areas if you want to do it yourself. If you want to pay an outfitter then it would be an easy go for this year. Some of the outfitters in this area will try and push you off public land and ranchers have even closed county (dirt) roads limiting access even further.
Good luck.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

What these guys mentioned is exactly why there were plenty of leftover tags in those and many other units. If you're not careful and have never been out there, it can look like a slam dunk on a map and when you get out there what public land that's there is either landlocked or devoid of animals. You really need to do a lot of research to avoid a big letdown like I had the first year I went out there in 1992 between Gillette and Buffalo. A good example is unit 23 that has tons of tags left every year because it's mostly private land. You can kill some goats in the limited BLM land on the west side of the unit, but you need to do a lot of walking and glassing in that tougher country and a lot of people aren't up for that when hunting antelope. Your best bet now if you want to go this year might be to get a list of ranchers from the Gillette G&F Office and start making some calls to see if you can pay an access fee to hunt the second week of the season because a lot of places will be booked for opening week. You might even get a free hunt for does, especially with you son along, and the doe tags are real cheap too, with a max of four allowed. If you find that you can't work things out for this year, at least go online and buy a PP this summer (7/1-9/30). Drawing a tag with 1 PP for antelope gives you quite a few diffferent units with public land and decent hunting. Unit 27 would be one to look at in that scenario.

 

[mr_steve]

We went antelope hunting in that area last year. Two guys and we tagged out the first day. A few reasons we had success: 1) we went the first week during the week 2) we camped in a trailer right in the area we hunted 3) we had a good gps mapping system (Kirsch outdoor products http://www.koutdoorproducts.com/). If you have specific questions PM me.

Link to our 2012 DIY Antelope Hunt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MopBEQnWkE

 

[GKimPrice]

a guy could get the impression that the ranchers in WY don't like speed goat hunters, or at least nonresident ones anyways - is this a fact ? I'm a late comer to the Wyoming nonres game but I'm also willing to knock on doors, be polite, abide by a landowner's rules or go even steps further than that -

 

[Topgun 30-06]

a guy could get the impression that the ranchers in WY don't like speed goat hunters, or at least nonresident ones anyways - is this a fact ? I'm a late comer to the Wyoming nonres game but I'm also willing to knock on doors, be polite, abide by a landowner's rules or go even steps further than that -

No, it's not that. It's just that it's like all the other states now coast to coast in that animals are a way for a landowner to make money that's needed to sustain their way of life. Costs don't go down and when there is a drought like is presently occurring there isn't enough feed for the livestock. Thus, they are either sold off or have to be fed high-priced feed from other parts of the country. Pay to play now is a way they can make up for some of that lost income and I can't blame them at all. Many are struggling to keep their places afloat that are in the 3rd and 4th generation of family ownership. IMHO the real problem lies when outfitters get together and pay ridiculous sums of money to tie up ranches and then charge what seems to be exorbitant prices to their customers for the priviledge of hunting the property. The days are pretty much gone for the most part where you could go out anywhere and do a little farm work or just ask and get permission to hunt. A few will allow a person on their land to shoot a doe antelope or two, especially if there are young kid along just starting out, but that's about it. I've hunted Wyoming almost every year since 1992 and have only found two small ranches that allow me to hunt for free after taking a number of years to get to know them and trust me. In turn, just last year alone I repaired several miles of their fences, repaired a chicken coop, brought in a lot of irrigation pipe from the fields for the winter, started the process of replacing the roof on a small outbuilding that I'll finish this year, and spent one long day helping in the corrals during preg. tests on all their cows. All of that was volunteered and you can bet my time and work was greatly appreciated, especially by the old couple that owns one of the places. The old man is in very bad shape to the point where his wife has to do almost everything but drive the truck and tractors. Anyway, I doubt that you'll find places offering free hunting for other than what I mentioned and the other problem I failed to mention is even being able to find who owns what and where they live to be able to contact them.

 

[EBOLAVIRS]

a guy could get the impression that the ranchers in WY don't like speed goat hunters, or at least nonresident ones anyways - is this a fact ? I'm a late comer to the Wyoming nonres game but I'm also willing to knock on doors, be polite, abide by a landowner's rules or go even steps further than that -

Wasn't that way too many years ago, used to be it was rare to be told no, people were very kind and accommodating. The swing in attitudes has occurred in the last 5 years IMO. Its all about the dollar now with outfitters leasing up everything. Hunters are our own worst enemy, people willing to pay 3k for guided antelope hunts are who are driving the change.

 

[sbhooper]

Good posts, Topgun and EBO. You are on the money. Outfitters are a scourge to us who like the DIY. I can't blame the landowners, as I would take the money, too, if it was me. It is just the world that we now live in and it isn't very promising for future generations. I am about to the point that I don't care anymore and may just stay home for the most part. I am going to buy one more pref point in Wyoming for a trophy antelope hunt (I'll have five next year) and then, IF I go back, it will be for does only.

I am tired of the locked-off public land and general bad issues for non-residents.

 

[hunt1up]

I hunted 26 with a bow on a leftover tag this past year. There isn't a lot of public land, but since we were bowhunting, we didn't see another hunter in 5 days and hunted the same dozen pieces of public every day. More than enough goats, but I'm more than sure that road we hunted would be a zoo during rifle season. We purely spot and stalked with our bows, which was a blast. We killed one doe. We had tons of opportunity and with guns would easily have tagged out.

If I were to rifle hunt 26, I'd go later in the season or I'd find a landowner and pay a trespass fee.

 

[WapitiBob]

There are plenty of units to hunt without paying for access or using points to draw. I've hunted WY Antelope the last 3 years and haven't done either. I've also never seen another hunter out of their rig. If you can find a unit with a 6-10 section block of BLM with a road to it you should be set. I would also look for that area to have some contour to the ground so the animals aren't constantly visible from that road.

 

[lakedelavan]

I was also looking into unit 30 because it has 2 big pieces of walk in land and was wondering if anyone has hunted that. Thank you.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Be aware that there are archery only restrictions on 2 of the 4 WIHAs in Converse County that affect unit 30. The two that don't show the restriction amount to about 6,000 acres, which seems like a lot of land. Howver, depending on what it is and how much hunting it receives will determine whether it's worth the risk of drawing a tag in hopes that you can hunt it and do well. It may be fantastic and then again it may not even be worth looking at. I'd make sure and do like you're doing and get word from people who know the area, whether it's hunters, GWs or Biologists.

 

[Whitetail180ks]

I have been hunting unit 30 for a long time now on a private Ranch, I did a lot of leg work to find this gem. He does charge me a TP fee only if I kill a buck. I pay 250.00 for the TP fee. There is some great booners in that area, at least on the ranch I hunt. I spent countless hours researching and calling ranchers and just enquiring about the possibility of hunting opportunities, some were receptive and some were not. I actually got to the point where I could pick and choose what Ranch I wanted to hunt. So my advice would be do some home work. As far a public land, I have never hunted any, but there are Goats everywhere. Good luck...

 

[Whitetail180ks]

Also, there is always Left over tags available in unit 30. Find a place to hunt, get your tag and go chase em', it's a blast.......

 

[jvanderlinde]

I was kinda interisted in the same idea, Isnt the thunder basin national grassland in that area or is that just another "area on the map? If anyone would have info about that just pm me. Can you even hunt the greassland?

Thanks Jeff

 

[pointingdogsrule]

I was kinda interisted in the same idea, Isnt the thunder basin national grassland in that area or is that just another "area on the map? If anyone would have info about that just pm me. Can you even hunt the greassland?

Thanks Jeff

27 & 24 have most of the Thunder basin nat. grasslands. points necessary for buck tags.

good luck to all
the dog