Draw tag required to hunt landowner ground

[amboy49]

Okay. New here. Have wanted to hunt Wyoming for antelope for some time. My own fault I have no preference points. I have been on the Wyoming Hunt Planner site noodling around trying to gather info. I notice there are landowners who will let hunters on their property. Some require a trespass fee. The site provides name, unit, and phone number.

I also checked for the area with left over tags. So. . . . .question. Do I have to draw a tag to hunt these properties ? I assume the answer is yes. I see the application time for leftover tags is June 24-30. The alternative would be some type of landowner tag provided, most likely at some cost, by the landowner ? I’m 69 years old and don’t think I could hump 10 miles a day anymore searching for a ‘lope on public land even if I could figure out the logistics using Onyx and getting a county map to ensure I’m on public roads. For these and other reasons I’m thinking it is a must that I hunt private property.

I’d be willing to pay a small trespass fee but not willing to spend a typical outfitter fee of $2,000 for a three day hunt. ( Two friends and I considering an archery hunt ). I’ve had some experience hunting ‘lopes in Montana and South Dakota year’s ago when OTC licenses were still available. We were able to find private land with no trespass fee by contacting the local game warden and calling a few Chamber of Commerce offices. Got lucky as one person in Montana at the CoC Office was also a rancher who let us hunt. Not sure that is an option anymore but may give that shot. The odds of using this method is probably not all that good.

I realize I’m kinda going at this in the eleventh hour, but I’ve always lived my life as a procrastinator !

I’m not asking for someone to spoon feed me a unit # and rancher name and phone number. I am retired and have the time to blitzkreig my search efforts for the draw deadline of June 30 if I can kind of narrow down some specific(s) about how to approach the process. I’m thinking (1) define left over tag numbers, (2) check for landowner available areas, (3) and also check drawing odds. OBTW, I am a non resident looking for a do it yourself archery hunt. Any comments or suggestions really appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[Pucky Freak]

Nice trophies! You'll get a quick reply to your question from another member here. Welcome to HT

 

[pointingdogsrule]

Good luck on trying to get landowner permission. When I started out many years ago I called lots of phone numbers and no luck. Most where already filled up with hunters or didn't take hunters any more.

 

[madtom]

To answer your question, yes you have to draw the tag for the unit before you can hunt private land. A landowner can’t sell you a tag.

 

[antelopedundee]

To answer your question, yes you have to draw the tag for the unit before you can hunt private land. A landowner can’t sell you a tag.

Nor can you hunt on their landowner tag.

 

[LopeHunter]

The days of calling a few landowners or knocking on doors as hunting season is opening offering to patch up some fence for the landowner is unlikely these days to result in permission to hunt buck pronghorn in WY. Outfitters have locked up a lot of the private land in the eastern third of WY where the easier to draw tags are heavily concentrated. Ranchers like the outfitter arrangement. Ranchers can focus on ranching and they do not have to deal with people asking to hunt.

WY does not offer transferable tags so your realistic options are to build up 3 to 5 years of points then have a decent chance, but no guarantee, to draw a buck pronghorn tag in central or western WY where public land that holds pronghorn is plentiful. 25% of the pronghorn tags awarded in the main draw are based on random chance rather than points so you might draw a great tag if want to apply for a blue chip unit while are building points. $15 to apply.

NM has a lot of transferable landowner buck pronghorn tags but will usually be over $2000. The plus side with that strategy in NM is you pick the year you hunt. You will not be surrounded by a dozen orange vest road hunters taking pot shots at 500 yards at running pronghorn. What I experienced last year in WY in a unit that offered lots of tags combined with minimal public land ended my interest in buck pronghorn tags in the eastern portion of WY. Was flat out dangerous early in the season on the limited parcels of public land. I saw things that made me cringe as a person that respects the animal I am hunting.

The new normal is that hunting on the cheap and having an enjoyable hunt out West for big game is just about impossible for a non-resident without connections unless you get very lucky in the main draw or while knocking on doors. Even finding a sub-$500 tag is harder than it used to be out West. Tag prices only go up, never down.

Drawing a non-resident tag with plenty of public land to hunt that holds the animals you want to hunt with decent harvest rates is much harder than it used to be and likely means a few years of buying ever-increasingly expensive points. WY, as an example, seems to find a way to raise the cost to apply every year. Credit card fees get added now. Points go up for a species or two each year. All those years of building points adds up cost as well. If you want to apply for all species in WY you now spend more than $400 a year for points as a non-resident. If you want to apply for all species in WY that offer tags then you are fronting $14,000 as a non-resident to apply and/or buy those tags.

I am actively trying to draw over 40 tags a year out West then building points on another 30 tags a year. I have drawn as many as 5 tags in a year and as few as 1. The odds I draw a particular tag run from about even money to over 1 in 1000. This year I have two tags with only a handful of tags left to announce results. The cost to chase all those tags is over $3000 but this is my hobby. At times early in the year I will have well over $10,000 on deposit for several weeks for those tags that require prepayment to apply. No way I could have afforded to play the game when I was a kid or even the first few years of working. I was 100% a resident hunter back then. If I was a kid these days I would again only be a resident hunter and likely would never start the non-resident application game. Hearing about a new applicant needing to plan for 30 years to draw a great tag in Colorado or 60 years to draw a sheep tag in Wyoming tends to take the wind out of the sails. True, being patient is a virtue. The idea I need to check the mortality tables as I consider whether to start applying out West for non-resident hunts requires not just patience but a bit of craziness. Existing hunters have similar decisions. This is also why non-resident hunters that draw a deer tag in CO tend to seriously ponder whether to get back in line for a few decades to draw that same unit and tag again. Look at how many non-resident point holders stopped applying even though had several accumulated points for sheep and moose in WY. 100s bailed when point prices jumped.

As much as I like hunting public and on my own, I became much more open the past few years to spending money to get a way from the crowded hunts for pressured animals that are pushed to and fro daily with unsafe shooting lanes and long-distance pot shots on running animals. The experience in WY last year on public hunting pronghorns with draw tags was absolutely not more rewarding than if had paid to hunt with an outfitter to hunt the same units on private. My opinion, of course.

 

[Trial153]

^^ it's a brave new world.

 

[antelopedundee]

In the limited area I hunt I recall hardly ever hearing even one shot.