duckhunt
Well-known member
With all the public land in wyoming is it worth paying a tresspass fee when hunting antelope?
Tresspass fee
- Thread starter duckhunt
- Start date
BuzzH
Well-known member
I dont think so, but lots of people pay them.
I suppose it would depend somewhat on the fee and the unit you draw.
I suppose it would depend somewhat on the fee and the unit you draw.
Topgun 30-06
Active member
+1 BuzzH
MKotur325
New member
Would really depend on the fee. When I first started hunting right around the 2000 mark, there were places in Eastern MT that would charge $100 trespass fee for antelope. That seems quite fair in my book. I'd assume the rates have gone up considerably since, but I'd bet they are still fairly reasonable.
jvanderlinde
Member
I would never pay. You can kill a mid 70'' in most units on public land.
duckhunt
Well-known member
I was looking at units 22 23 and 113. Looks like enough BLM ground to hunt with an easy draw. Didnt draw last year so were gonna try some easy draw units this year. Not a big fan of paying a trespass fee.
sbhooper
Well-known member
In most units, I would say not, but that is personal choice. The advantage may be that you will know exactly how much competition you have on the land you are going to hunt. I have never paid one and probably never will.
Topgun 30-06
Active member
***Before you commit to one of those units you had better have good maps to know exactly how much of that BLM land is legally accessible. Just because it's there doesn't mean you can get to it legally to hunt it since a lot of it is landlocked by private holdings. If it isn't accessible from a public road that touches it you will need landowner permission to cross private property to get there. A lot of first time hunters make that mistake and see a lot of public land on a map and then find when they get out there that they can't access it.
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Toadslayer
Member
There are tons of leftover tags in those units for a reason. A whole lot of those BLM chunks you see are impossible to access and the ones that are get hunted very hard. I would suggest staying away from those units. IMO
duckhunt
Well-known member
The last 2 years ive spent hours doing research looking for units for the first time antelope hunt. Looks like my homework is not done yet. Funny how much research ive done and im still learning new stuff about the draw system all the time. still might consider trespass fee.
sbhooper
Well-known member
BLM maps are cheap and will give you a great idea of how much accessible land there is. Consider some of the walk-in private areas, too.
While in general I agree, however BLM maps do not distinguish between private and public roads. Don't ask me how I found that out...
I can chime in on 23,, north part of blm is better deer than goats, center part south of beaver creek is all locked in by private, south areas are huntable but expect a lot of company,, a lot of the school sections are leased and not accessable,, treat as private. I will never put down 23 as a last choice again a lot of goats behind private fences,,,, good luck,
a lot of goats behind private fences,,,, good luck,
Topgun 30-06
Active member
I can chime in on 23,, north part of blm is better deer than goats, center part south of beaver creek is all locked in by private, south areas are huntable but expect a lot of company,, a lot of the school sections are leased and not accessable,, treat as private. I will never put down 23 as a last choice again
***Unless those state sections are landlocked by private property or there are standing crops, the latter of which are probably harvested before hunting season, they are certainly legally huntable land. Also, just because someone has a grazing lease on state land does not disallow hunting either, although some ranchers will try and BS the unsuspecting NR that they own it or it isn't legally huntable because of their lease.
Topgun 30-06
Active member
dihardhunter
Active member
Hunted Unit 23 several years ago starting 10 days after 'lope opener and running the next 8 days. Spent most of our time hunting for my buddy a good mulie and successfully tagged on the 5th day. Granted it was a week after opener, but we were thankful to have made trespass fee arrangements because in those 5 days we saw exactly 0 antelope on public land. On private lands, literally a couple thousand and counted several hundred within 100-300 yards of public - but exactly zero on public. Plenty of gutpiles and carcasses from the opening weekend slaughter though. The private rancher that we had contacted hooked us up big time, 40,000 acres all to ourselves. We glassed well over 600 'lopes in 2 days before killing a pair of respectable bucks. Opening weekend, yes there were goats on public as evidenced by the remains. Later in the season after that initial wave of pressure wore off, I'm sure you would have been able to find some goats on public, but just fair warning as that was our experience during the middle part...
dihardhunter
Active member
If you couldn't see the hidden message in my above post, if you're going Unit 23 - either go opening weekend and expect a circus or request a landowner list from the Chamber of Commerce and start calling ranchers. PM for more info on exactly where we hunted - I've put 8 or 10 guys on to that ranch over the past 5 years and everybody has had similar excellent experiences.
Here's the 2 pronghorn bucks we took. Again, not BIG by any means, but decent bucks. My buddy's certainly won the "unique" award - 20 1/2" tip-to-tip spread. Too bad that doesn't count in the scoring!
Here's the 2 pronghorn bucks we took. Again, not BIG by any means, but decent bucks. My buddy's certainly won the "unique" award - 20 1/2" tip-to-tip spread. Too bad that doesn't count in the scoring!
duckhunt
Well-known member
dihardhunter. I am new at this site. Did you get the PM I sent you?
dihardhunter
Active member
Returned...
