Ollin Magnetic Digiscoping System

Wyoming Unit 9. WIA and State Land Update?

dannyb278

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After failing to draw last year with 0 points in Wyoming, my dad and I are looking to hopefully hunt in Unit 9 this year, which was 100% draw last year with 1 preference point, which we know have. Can anyone give me a update (within the last 2 years) of access to the state and WIA land blocks in the south central part of the unit and of the unit in general?

The reason I ask, is we hunted unit 24 last year, and was completely shocked on how limited access was, with only about 20% of the state land actually being accessible and more than 1 WIA closed off to rifle hunting.

We learned A LOT last year, and had a absolute blast. Really hoping to get my dad on a antelope while he still has the knees for hiking.
 
Check success rates for unit 9 before you plan on hunting there.I was thru the area last year and was not impressed .Only saw a handful of antelope and no deer.
 
Unit 9 has a lot of access to both State Lands and also in the WIA program.

I have hunted there for pronghorn, on a leftover tag, additional buck tag. There are going to be other hunters, but it has enough access to spread the pressure around some.

I hunted north of Manville and shot a buck on State Land.

I've never seen any really big bucks in that unit, but some bucks in the low 70's...tons of smaller ones.

Here is a link to the WIA's

https://wgfd.wyo.gov/plpwhmprogram/uploads/huntingwalk/niobrara/Niobrara.pdf

Also check converse county as well, cant remember if there is any WIA in unit 9???
 
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Thanks for the info guys. It seems like one of the better units that we could get on with only 1 point, access wise. I was just worried that the state land wasn't accessible like we ran into in Unit 24 last year. We only saw 4 bucks all week and were never able to close the deal.
 
You might want to contact some ranchs,the animals we saw in unit 9 was all on private land.Some do not charge very much and success rate is much higher.
 
You might want to contact some ranchs,the animals we saw in unit 9 was all on private land.Some do not charge very much and success rate is much higher.

Honest question. We haven't applied yet. If we were considering paying for access at a private ranch in Unit 9, wouldn't we be just as good off and maybe save a few bucks by finding a better unit with a very high to 100% chance at the special draw?
 
Honest question. We haven't applied yet. If we were considering paying for access at a private ranch in Unit 9, wouldn't we be just as good off and maybe save a few bucks by finding a better unit with a very high to 100% chance at the special draw?

Yes. I think you may be better off paying the special fee vs. A tresspass fee. Trophy quality could be a little better on private but that area isn't exactly a trophy area. Some nice bucks around m, just not one around every corner.
 
I usually hunt units west of Laramie to Rawlins and always found a good place to hunt. I do not know much about the eastern units.
 
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I don't think you should have any trouble finding antelope in unit 9 if you are willing to hike off the roads even a bit. My experience is limited, but it seems 90% of antelope hunters aren't willing to walk more than 20 feet from their truck. If we'd have road hunted our unit last year we'd have come home cursing that the antelope were only on private property. Once we got a mile from the truck, we had more than enough animals to chase.

Find some areas with a few contours to hide the animals from the roads, tighten up those boot laces, and go have fun! Good luck!
 
Honest question. We haven't applied yet. If we were considering paying for access at a private ranch in Unit 9, wouldn't we be just as good off and maybe save a few bucks by finding a better unit with a very high to 100% chance at the special draw?

Depends... If you are willing to pay a trespass fee, why not hunt a leftover unit and get preference points so you can hunt a unit with a lot of public and more trophy potential in a few years.
 
Depends... If you are willing to pay a trespass fee, why not hunt a leftover unit and get preference points so you can hunt a unit with a lot of public and more trophy potential in a few years.
Good advice.
 
I don't believe they give out landowner lists anymore, so the tough part would be figuring out who to contact that accepts trespass fees
 
I don't believe they give out landowner lists anymore, so the tough part would be figuring out who to contact that accepts trespass fees

I'm planning a hunt this fall and this is what I've found. No more lists so I'm going public. I'll knock on doors if I need
 
I'm planning a hunt this fall and this is what I've found. No more lists so I'm going public. I'll knock on doors if I need

The WYG&F warden I spoke too last week also indicated it is likely tag allotments will go up quite a bit this year. I wouldn't be afraid to put in for a harder to draw unit. With that said, that was one wardens opinion.
 
If you contact area chamber of commerce they sometimes have landowner lists. I hunted unit 20 last year and the was told the game and fish didn't give lists but found that the Buffalo area chamber had lists for several diffrent landowners in several diffrent units about six pages worth. Research helped me alot call the local wardens and biologists they are a wealth of information. The regional game and fish office will give their numbers to you, they will know about regional populations and later in the spring about the winter kills if any, I have been told a late spring snowstorm can hurt the population as bad as anything. Good luck.
 
I'm planning a hunt this fall and this is what I've found. No more lists so I'm going public. I'll knock on doors if I need

That is not really a very good way to gain access for a couple reasons. First, most ranchers don't want people coming up during an open season bothering them. Second, it's very difficult to find who owns a particular piece of property since the owner might live apart from it and possibly not even in the same county. It's getting very difficult to gain access for free unless it's for does even if you can find a property owner like you mentioned. I would look at hunting the public land in the unit you plan to hunt and then if that isn't going good hope that you can run into some out working in the field that might have a minute or two to talk with.
 
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Buffalo chamber does not have a list this year. I have not contacted worsens or bio yet so not sure if they have lists. I'm not to worried about finding lopes on public. The area I hunt in Montana has less accessible public and less antelope. I will be putting in for harder to draw unit and then a leftover area for second choice.
 
I only hunt public land and have always had a good hunt for antelope.
hope you get a tag !!
 
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I only hunt public land and have always had a good hunt for antelope.
hope you get a tag !!

Thanks! I would prefer to hunt public land on these trips as well, as I hunt mostly private in my home state of Minnesota.

I spent 5 years out west working for the U.S. Forest Service as a field technician, and miss my long treks through public land.

Thanks everyone for the good advice.
 

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