Wyoming Combo

dcoryn

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 14, 2014
Messages
74
Location
Sheridan, WY
Hi All,

Looking for some guidance, I am planning a hunt for this fall. We will be primarily hunting antelope but 3/4 of us would like to hunt muleys also. We have hunted muleys in Montana the last 2 years with great success. We decided to try a new state this year and give Wyoming a shot. I have spent countless hours pouring over literally hundreds of pages of info trying to find overlapping units for deer and antelope that we could draw with zero deer points and one antelope point. So far I have had terrible luck, another factor we are battling is our conflicting schedules, the only dates we are able to hunt are Oct.13-25th which limits our units even more. Basically I am just looking for units with decent public access and an opportunity to shoot average animals, trophies are not necessarily important to us. At this point I think we will have to break up the hunt into two different areas and focus on lopes for a couple days and then move to a new zone for deer. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated. We bought leftover lope doe tags for unit 20 last year and had one day to hunt (the last day of the season) and had one shot all day (guy ended up missing). Unit 20 was disappointing, mainly the lack of access to the public land that was there.

Thanks in advance,

-Dusty
 
In my opinion you may be biting off too much. It sounds like something is gonna have to give. It may mean picking one animal, or splitting up the group or something. I'm a bit of a pessimist though, but good luck. The only way I think you could pull it all together would be a trespass hunt on a ranch that has good opportunity for both or ranches that are in close proximity. I'm not sure the season dates will line up with your proposed hunt dates. Good luck.
 
I think you need more points in order to do the combo hunt. Just not enough options available to you with only one antelope point and no deer points. It might be best to hunt only antelope this year, since you do have 1 point. If the combo hunt is a must for this year then an outfitter may be something worth considering.
 
I think you need more points in order to do the combo hunt. Just not enough options available to you with only one antelope point and no deer points. It might be best to hunt only antelope this year, since you do have 1 point. If the combo hunt is a must for this year then an outfitter may be something worth considering.

He had the same question up in the Antelope Forum and what you mentioned about options is about what I told him. There are a few possibilities for a DIY with several deer Regions that I told him they had a good chance to draw with no PPs and then going to another part to the east for antelope. However, I also mentioned that I would not spend money for a combo hunt like that if I didn't have a decent number of days (4 or 5 at a minimum IMHO) to hunt each animal.
 
dcoryn,

It can be done...keep researching and don't listen to the naysayers. Better to give it a shot rather than sit on the couch.

One thing I would recommend is planning a hunt with just one other person, rather than 4. It will be easier only having to figure out the schedule for 2 hunters, lining up vacations, drawing tags, finding only 4 animals versus 8, etc. etc.
 
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Hey, I hope I'm not being considered a naysayer! I didn't say to stay home on the couch, just pick one or the other (deer or antelope). Buzz offered a good suggestion as well, to plan your hunt with only one other person. But as someone else put it, something has to give. Unless you don't mind spending the money on tags and then being disappointed with your hunt.. I just think your options are really limited due to your lack of points. I think Topgun mentioned Region Y and that would work for your deer hunt, as you could draw with 1 point and the season opens October 15th. The difficult part though would be the antelope, although there are lots of leftover tags available in that area, or nearby. But the issue would be that it's mostly private property, and also the antelope season dates may not necessarily match up with the Region Y deer season dates. But it's an option worth looking into, especially if you don't mind paying a trespass fee to hunt antelope on private land.
 
We did a combo in 2012. Don't do it unless you have either a lot of time, or some private. I'd suggest getting antelope doe tags with your bucks tags while building a few more points for deer. You guys will have a blast, and if you don't fill the doe tags your not out much money.
 
I have done the combo several times, and the biggest challenge I had was that I wanted to spend more time chasing mulies, and ended up shooting small pronghorn opening day. The general impression I have is that there is potential for relatively nicer pronghorn in the areas where you will be able to find both tags and public land.

You can certainly do it, but time is definitely your biggest enemy. You kind of have to decide which is your priority and then focus your efforts, jumping back and forth can just burn time as you may find a unit that has both, but you will be looking in slightly different areas for each species, so at any given time you are chasing one or the other.

If you have reasonable expectations, and do your homework, you will have a blast. Region Y isn't a terrible option, but the amount of public that is accessible is a bit deceiving, and they give out a boat load of tags there.
 
Thanks for all the replays, I ended up finding a unit with overlapping seasons that work for our dates and that we can draw both tags for. We will focus on antelope the first two days till deer season opens and try to get them out of the way early. None of us have killed antelope before so we will not be picky on the lopes. We have killed some nice Muleys so the focus will likely shift to them once the lopes are down
 
Thanks for all the replays, I ended up finding a unit with overlapping seasons that work for our dates and that we can draw both tags for. We will focus on antelope the first two days till deer season opens and try to get them out of the way early. None of us have killed antelope before so we will not be picky on the lopes. We have killed some nice Muleys so the focus will likely shift to them once the lopes are down

If you'd care to send me a PM with what you decided on, I might be able to help you.
 
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There's opportunity on the eastern side of the state with some general deer tags. The deer hunting won't be great. Your dates are the bigger problem. I've done 4 combo hunts for antelope/deer, but I always a week earlier than the dates you mention.
 
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