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WY leftovers for Iowa girls?

Muskeez

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
Messages
1,738
Location
NW Iowa
Well, the only thing we can figure out is that a lot of people must have decided to cash in their points this year for WY antelope. We thought the girls would draw for sure when sharing one point. They did not and now they have no antelope tags, just like several other folks on here I assume. I kind of saw it as a sign that maybe we need to skip our western hunt this year. Well, after chewing on it for a while and talking with another guy on this site who is in the exact same situation, we have decided that we will try to get the 4 girls some left over tags. So, I am swallowing my pride and asking for a little help again. We both have sons that are grown and don't get to hunt with us much anymore and the girls are getting older as well, and our years of building memories are slipping away. So, we are going to try to put something together. The other guy and I will likely not get tags, but we are looking for a place to take at least 3 daughters and one wife, possibly 2 wives. If anyone has any advise on places where they could pay a reasonable trespass fee or an area where they could hunt public we are open to any suggestions. We have the gps chips and have taken the girls to SE WY a couple times. We are looking at the weekend of Oct. 3rd. Thanks for any advice or PMs. !
 
Why not do a little research on your end and decide on an area before you start to ask for help. You can do a lot on your own, start by looking at the leftover list and see what areas have tags then see what the public access is next call WY F&W for a list of landowners or check the hunter assistance list. That should help you get started then maybe if you need help you can ask. By the way is it buck or doe tags you want
 
Have done lots of research Mr. B, I am mostly wondering if anyone has a contact for a trespass fee ranch. There are several units where we can get tags, but most of those units have leftover tags for one main reason, they have very little publicly accessible land, and that land is well trampled after the first weekend. From the people I have talked to they said the landowner lists are often old, very long, and most land will be spoken for this late in the game. Just hoping for a long shot. If you don't want to help out that's totally fine, I don't give out my exact fishing holes to just anyone either but I will gladly get them pointed in the right direction with some tips, etc. so they can have a great time with their families :)
 
Muskeez - Maybe if you were a more regular contributor, like boutdoors, I'd help you out.. ;)

I was in 113 last year.. It was a zoo, but they cut the tag numbers big time this year. Still a few leftovers. I'm sure it will still be busy on the public the first week, but it might be an option.. Especially if you're just looking to fill doe tags.
 
Why not do a little research on your end and decide on an area before you start to ask for help. You can do a lot on your own, start by looking at the leftover list and see what areas have tags then see what the public access is next call WY F&W for a list of landowners or check the hunter assistance list. That should help you get started then maybe if you need help you can ask. By the way is it buck or doe tags you want

Trust me. . .Muskeez has done his homework!

Hope something turns up for you, good luck! We decided not to make the trip this year.. .looks like it may have been the correct call.
 
I wish I had omething to offer but the areas I'm familiar with are sold out. What I will do is say a tresspass hunt is not anything to be ashamed of especially when kids are involved. A more relaxed hunt where there is no competition with other hunters is a better situation for kids in my opinion. Quality time with kids I not as easy when more hiking miles are neaded and somebody else can blow your whole day up. Take this as an opportunity, not a set back. There will alway be another time to do a public land hunt in better units. There may never be a better time that fits different family or kids schedules. Also, asking for a good contact I the best way to insure that you don't end up on a crappy ranch with more hunters than game. Good luck.
 
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Cant offer any advice on the units that are left, but I think the days of waiting to see what's on the leftover list are over. I think its to the point now that you better look at second and third choice options and apply for them in the initial draw.

For the first time ever in 15 years that my wife and I have applied for antelope in Wyoming, one of us failed to draw our second choice. Luckily, I saw it coming and my wife did draw a 3rd choice in what is actually a pretty good area.

This could all change with tag increases in the future, but for the next few years, I think things are going to continue to be tight in Wyoming on the leftover lists.

Good luck to you.
 
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Why not do a little research on your end and decide on an area before you start to ask for help. You can do a lot on your own, start by looking at the leftover list and see what areas have tags then see what the public access is next call WY F&W for a list of landowners or check the hunter assistance list. That should help you get started then maybe if you need help you can ask. By the way is it buck or doe tags you want

My God this kinder, gentler Cush thing is difficult sometimes!!!! So many cool things I could say here..... :hump: 39 posts in 5 years? Seriously? :confused:
 
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Lloyd Braun- serenity now, insanity later! great show.

To the OP Im trying 16 this year with my wife for our first western antelope hunt. From all the threads I've read on here and much research seems like if willing to walk a bit farther then the average hunter there's enough places to have success even with limited access. vaspeed goat made a good point on trespass fee rout tho.
Good luck!
 
I hope you get a few bones thrown your way Muskeez, I got nothin for ya though. The left over unit we bought 4 antelope doe tags for last season was sold out in this years opening draw.
As you know my 14 yr old drew an elk tag so were going to do that hunt and buy Antelope and Mule Deer points for next years draw. I am hoping to draw one of the three species for my son and I starting next year and do the same by purchasing points for the other two. If we can keep that up starting the year after next we should always have 2 points for one of the draws every year after that.
 
I would call the game warden for the area that has leftover tags and see if he can recommend a ranch that might let your girls come out and shoot a goat. I understand that they are more likely to let you shoot does for a smaller fee and especially after opening weekend.
 
I've talked to 3 Wyoming wardens now...........

The first said I should ask another warden.
The second said he didn't know.
The third said he never gives recommendations.

I didn't bother to call the fourth one...............

YMMV but I doubt it.
 
To me I would look at any leftover unit that has double or single digit numbers of doe tags open and hunt public.

I would look pretty hard at 25 and 113. 113 gets a bad rep on the internet because a few guys tried to access it from the west where you have to cross a very small piece of private and the warden camped out there. There are 2 solid access points from the south although you have to decide which one you want to go for. 25 would be a decent choice for doe tags at this point. The E side of unit seems readily accessible if you are willing to walk a little ways and are smart about driving as far in as you can before walking. So far as I can tell the only easement is on the west side of the unit, but you can cover some silly amount of ground walking on BLM. 113 does have a better success rate on "-6" tags 78% vs 71% in 25 and 3.5 days/harvest in 113 vs 5 days in 25

The formula is pretty straight forward from what I've seen and that is find an area you can only access by walking, but only after driving a few miles of driving on BLM ground. In the more fragmented units there are a lot of spots you can only drive maybe 2-3 miles from the road but in theory could access 5-10+ miles walking.

The concept of hard to access in Wyoming just means you can't drive there legally which will stop 95% of antelope hunters. I don't think there is an antelope unit in Wyoming where you could walk more than 3 miles of road access free BLM land and not run into some antelope.

Its worth noting the only real point of frustration I have run across antelope hunting is when you are on foot and someone else is zipping around in a truck/atv.
 
To me I would look at any leftover unit that has double or single digit numbers of doe tags open and hunt public.

I would look pretty hard at 25 and 113. 113 gets a bad rep on the internet because a few guys tried to access it from the west where you have to cross a very small piece of private and the warden camped out there. There are 2 solid access points from the south although you have to decide which one you want to go for. 25 would be a decent choice for doe tags at this point. The E side of unit seems readily accessible if you are willing to walk a little ways and are smart about driving as far in as you can before walking. So far as I can tell the only easement is on the west side of the unit, but you can cover some silly amount of ground walking on BLM. 113 does have a better success rate on "-6" tags 78% vs 71% in 25 and 3.5 days/harvest in 113 vs 5 days in 25

The formula is pretty straight forward from what I've seen and that is find an area you can only access by walking, but only after driving a few miles of driving on BLM ground. In the more fragmented units there are a lot of spots you can only drive maybe 2-3 miles from the road but in theory could access 5-10+ miles walking.

The concept of hard to access in Wyoming just means you can't drive there legally which will stop 95% of antelope hunters. I don't think there is an antelope unit in Wyoming where you could walk more than 3 miles of road access free BLM land and not run into some antelope.

Its worth noting the only real point of frustration I have run across antelope hunting is when you are on foot and someone else is zipping around in a truck/atv.


Damn good info there for a relatively new member, thanks for the great advice.....
Matt
 
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