WY 'lope

[davep]

Well, after FINALLY drawing what should have been a"sure thing" tag, I put together my Do It Yourself antelope hunt.

Had 52,000 acres of this to roam, for FREE!



Slept in the POS rental truck (5.7 Tundra) and froze my butt off.




Yup, that's snow!
Day before was rain, which turned the 52,000 acres into a "walk in " area. 1/4 mile of driving in the gumbo made the 265 tires turn into 44s! Couldn't go anywhere, except by foot.

Tons of antelope, saw lots of mule deer, heard elk bugling,and even seen a few, tons of coyotes etc.
Learned a whole lot, including driving 160 miles ain't going to get me an extra cooler! And I'll NEVER get the smell of sage out of my stuff.

Wound up taking this buck about 2 miles from the truck. Had to skin it where it fell (on a Dollar Store shower curtain (couldn't find a tarp anywhere!). Took a BUNCH of rocks to hold it down in 30-40 mph winds). Then boned out the entire thing, into two bags, tied them over my shoulders, and hoofed it the 2 miles, uphill, back to the truck. I SHOULD have made two trips.




MY brother took a similiar buck, and a doe. I came home with an unused doe tag, but mostly because we had no more room/weight for the flight back. Sure wasn't from the lack of opportunity! ;D

Everyone out there was incredibly nice, from the rancher and his wife,to the folks we met everywhere along the way.

I had just a hair over $900 in this trip, including EVERYTHING (tags,licenses, air fare,rental,fuel,eats (PBJ,and filled the cooler with McD's dollar dbl cheeseburgers ),etc, and could cut that down a little more. (we did stay 3 of the six nights in motels,esp during the accumulating hail/thunderstorm! (2"), and to wash up before the return flight.

Whole diffferent kind of hunting out there. Constantly saw game, whether antelope, or mulies,or coyotes. Could see antelopes at about 1 mile with the naked eye! Then use binocs to see if it was worth the crawl/run/crawl. We stuck to an area of broken, rolling ground, where you could put the sneak on them.

If anyone is interested, I can go into more detail regarding the particulars.

Also have a bunch more pics, but having trouble with either my comp, or photobucket.

[mdbowhuntr]

Congratulations!! that's a dang nice 'lope. Now I really miss the west

[BIG FOX]

awesome......

[osprey]

Alright, great job!

Dang it, now I'm thinking about North Dakota. Just had to mention mulies, didn't ya!

[busco]

Looks like a good time congrats on your buck!!

[Hardcorehunter]

Dave Congrats! The scenery out there looks awesome, and I know you were waiting a long time for this hunt. You deserve a nice lope like that one!! Can't wait to see more pics.

[reed]

Can't wait for more pics. From the first picture, how much of that could you hunt? I haven't hunted anything larger than Myrtle Grove and that is only a couple thousand. I am guessing not to the horizon??

What is the process for getting an Antelope hunt together? Do you submit for a tag and hope to draw one, then are you assigned an area to hunt or do you just go to Wyoming and find some public land?

What was the rifle setup?

I didn't know it could be that cheap and now you got me thinking!!

[cootshooter]

nice goat! I miss chasing thos speedy little bastards! Bowhunted them mainly around water holes in CO. Hated seeing the pissed off flared rump! Gues I smell bad.

[davep]

The guys ranch was over 15 miles long!! And pretty wide as well!
Until last year, you just put in for the draw.
Last year, WY started giving preference points:every year that you don't get a tag, you get a point.
So I got a point in '06, and the tag in '07. You can also just put in for a point. That way. say you want to hunt in '09, you get the point in '08,and you SHOULD get the tag in '09,at least in this unit.

As far as units, it's confusing as hell. I started looking for areas of easy access. There are lots of units where tags are left over after the drawing, but most of these areas have NO public land available.WY has a great program to get hunters on private land.(called HMA) I got the tag in late June/early July, then sometime in midJuly, you can get permission to access property online:spots go pretty fast in some units.
I put in for us the first day,and got permission no problem.(they allowed 250 hunters on this piece and I only saw a handful of them)

The ranch across the only paved road from this one ,was also in the program. They allowed an additional 150 hunters, and that place was LOADED with antelope!

The rancher and his wife were absolutely great to us. I got their email addresss after I got permission,and sent them a Thank You for allowing us the privledge of hunting their place.
Well, they must have liked that because she told me to stop by the house and they'd "fix us up!" She let us camp there (state program says no camping w/o landowners written permission: she gave us that) and also told us we were welcome to come back even if not in the state access program! After all the rain, he told us what area would dry out the fastest, where the most broken ground was if we wanted to hoof it, and where the least folks hunted.

We never even saw more than 10-20% of the place,and hunted a pretty small piece:maybe a couple thousand acres.

He did tell everyone that he PREFERRED to save the water holes and stock tanks for archers.

You can have up to 3 hunters( I THINK) apply together in Wyoming, .Either everyone draws, or no one draws.Most states allow this.

I've applied, and failed, for a muzzleloader tag in a great area of Colorado for the last 11 years. It's taking 16+ years to draw there!
BUT, the two guys I hunted Assateauge with the last few days, bought over the counter archery tags and both scored on a D0-It-Yourself elk hunt last fall in NE Colorado.One a bull, the other a cow.
CO stopped OTC tags, but they got a preference point this year,so should draw again next fall. MUCH easier to draw if using a bow. They are both die-hards though-I'm more of a half-assed bowhunter. Couple other guys I know drive out every other year.LOW buck trips!

I guess what I'm trying to say is start applying NOW for stuff you want to do someday. It took me 10 years to draw a Maine moose tag. I had maybe $600 bucks in my whole hunt. Drew New Hampshire my third year of trying. Hadn't gone anywhere since 2000 until this past month.

I'm even building preference points for a Georgia gator hunt! Should draw in 3-5 years!

Most western states have EARLY deadline. Have to have your application and $$$ in as early as Jan, or as late as April, depending on state, animal,etc. Most make you pony up the entire cost of the license, then sit on your money,and millions more, for 6 months, drawing interest, then refund all those who don't draw,minus $3-$12 as an application fee.

Tags have been going thru the ceiling the last few years. I've been toying with Nebraska's late ML season:all of December, whitetail or mulie, and they have some NICE bucks. I want a mulie. Nonres tag WAS about $175. Then $350.Now over $450,and I ain't buying!

Between the internet and the phone, it's easier than you think to put this stuff together. Most biologists/wardens etc LOVE to talk, IF you call them in the off season. I've had them send me lists of landowners who allow hunting:some for free, others charge a small access fee,etc
Same with some towns' Chamber Of Commerce out West.

Oh yeah Reed: Browning stainless stalker, in '06, 150 gr Rem CoreLoks. Gun loves them,and I didn't want to sight in with handloads them have them get lost on the way out.

[reed]

Thanks for all the info. I guess I will have to pick a hunt and start trying. I also hate how the nonres tags are priced outrageously.

Do you also have to put up the whole cost if you are just buying a point, or do you just pay the application fee?

Good thinking on the ammo. Nothing like trying to find a place in another state to sight in a rifle because the ammo was lost.