Eastern unit by Nebraska border

BRoth82

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Joined
Nov 3, 2017
Messages
265
Location
South Central Minnesota
So this fall is my 20 year anniversary and my wife has always wanted to hunt antelope. We have 2 points each this year and with 2 special needs kids at home, we can only be gone for a limited amount of days. I put in for unit 9 as a 1st choice then 11 and lastly unit 8, these are all closest to us and have a decent draw success rate for 2 points. Our plan if drawn is to hunt mid October a friday through tuesday.

My goal is to get her a buck and if I can get one as well that would be great, so has anyone hunted these units before and if so is it do able to get at least one buck? It doesn't have to be huge or big for that matter just something nice.

Thanks guys and if you want to PM me that would be cool, I'll also try to update this post when the draw results come out and how our hunt went if we are drawn.
 
We have hunted in units 9 and 11 several times over the past 10 years or so, always with doe tags. Those are getting harder to draw, however. But the answer to your question is yes, it certainly is doable to kill a buck in those places, but the key, in my opinion, especially with limited time, is to find some private ground to hunt. It is kind of amazing how you can drive along, see some antelope, look at the map and see its private ground, then see a chunk of state ground coming up, which is void of animals, then see the next group which is on private again. Sure, with enough research, legwork and luck it is certainly possible to kill one on publicly accessible land, but the odds are a whole lot better on private.

We honestly have had luck on past hunts by knocking on doors and getting access to private ground. Most (not all) of the landowners have been pretty friendly. If things go well, one rancher might put you in touch with his neighbor, etc. But such an approach might eat up a day or more, so with limited time, you would really be best off by trying to line something up in advance.

I think your timeframe is good, we hunted the 3rd or 4th week of the month long season in those units, and generally saw very few other hunters. One possible downside to hunting later is if you do knock on doors, some ranchers are just fed up with hunters by that point, and may not be very receptive. We experienced that. So again, figuring out something in advance would give the best possible odds of getting an antelope or two in a hunt that lasts just a few days.

Good luck.
 
I have no knowledge of those units but just FYI, you probably won't be able to draw any of them as a second or third choice. You may not even draw unit 9 as a first choice, since the quota was reduced this year from what it was last year. You may want to modify your application and apply for a different unit as your first choice.
 
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