Antelope suggestions

Bobby Linton · Nov 11, 2017

I have always wanted to go on an out of state hunt. Out west, preferably. Read a post on here where an old timer said he wished he had saved half the money he had spent on guns over the years and spent it on more hunting opportunities. Any suggestions about where to get started on an antelope hunt? Is it doable on a $2500 budget? Im not looking for a trophy to mount. I just want to give it a try. Would even be open to taking a doe on public land.

huntfish · Nov 13, 2017

Easily. Wyoming has plenty of tags and land access isn't that hard. Colorado also doable but might require a little time to get the tag. Drive out there with coolers, process your own animal.

deers2ward · Nov 13, 2017

I would go here:

http://www.rockin7ranch.com/antelope_hunting.html

Bobby Linton · Nov 13, 2017

Thanks guys I will give them a look. Early searches said to be careful of some of the "Guides" unless you wanted to ride around and shoot one off the hood of a ranch hands truck. Probably see if I can't round up a small group to drive out together.

Bobby Linton · Nov 13, 2017

Thank you for the rockin 7 link. It's the only one I have seen without trophy fees.

HunterJoe24 · Nov 13, 2017

huntfish said:
Easily. Wyoming has plenty of tags and land access isn't that hard.

Actually access can be very hard in some units. Alot of public land, but sometimes it's only accessible through private land and they normally won't let you do it. Wyoming is notorious for having a lot of public land with alot of accessibility issues

Bobby Linton · Nov 13, 2017

HunterJoe24 said:
Actually access can be very hard in some units. Alot of public land, but sometimes it's only accessible through private land and they normally won't let you do it. Wyoming is notorious for having a lot of public land with alot of accessibility issues

Have you tried it? I'd like to hear about positive trips folks have been on. Or bad ones for that matter.

HunterJoe24 · Nov 13, 2017

Bobby Linton said:
Have you tried it? I'd like to hear about positive trips folks have been on. Or bad ones for that matter.

I haven't, but that's from researching it. I'm planning on going next year. And while your doing research, 9/10 people when antelope hunting drive around in a truck until they see one, that's just how it is. Any local will even tell you that's how they do it. Look at some of the units that don't get as much pressure or are not your "stereotypical" antelope habitat. Fell free to pm me and I'll let you know what I've found also

HunterJoe24 · Nov 13, 2017

Bobby Linton said:
Have you tried it? I'd like to hear about positive trips folks have been on. Or bad ones for that matter.

Look up Randy Newberg. He does a podcast weekly on public land hunting, he has a very good one on Wyoming as well

cohuttahunter · Nov 13, 2017

Playing the point game is critical to dyi western hunting on public land. Wyoming and Colorado both have excellent databases on their websites detailing draw odds, points required, access issues, etc. For antelope Wyoming is better just because they have more of them and more opportunity. Montana looks good too but I don't have any experience with Montana. When I have went I just save enough points to get a tag in an accessible area and try to keep points going in both states for multiple species to be able to go every 2 or 3 years.

acurasquirrel · Nov 13, 2017

I went to Wyoming in October of this year with a friend of mine. We both had one point and didn't get drawn for a tag initially. Did a little research online and bought a leftover tag in a unit that was designated as difficult public access. The particular unit is 70% private, leaving only about 200 square miles of public to hunt. Yes 200 miles. Now that seems like a lot, but there is a ton of inaccessible public land, because there isn't public road access to it. With all that said, both of us took bucks in 3.5 days of hunting. It took a day and a half to figure out the best terrain to spend our time in. We didn't do the typical drive the roads hunt. We parked and snaked our way through tracts of public land until we found a buck. This particular unit has very broken terrain which makes for very hard going, but makes stalking to within 200 yards very easy. As far as cost, a tag is now $326, fuel should cost about $600 if you drive ($300 per person if you have a partner), camping is free or budget about $80 a night for a hotel, you don't need any special gear with the exception of good boots (I wear Lowa hiking boots, the terrain is rough and you will need something that will handle it). We butchered our animals in the field and antelope are small enough two guys can handle it (if you don't have a good pack get one). ONXmaps is pretty much essential when you hunt a unit like the one we hunted, as is agood set of binos (I found a spotting scope to be heavy and not worth carrying). I've included a screenshot of one of the hunts where we were successful. The marker in the lower left is where we parked and the markers in the upper right is the general area where we took the antelope. On that day our total hiking distance was a little over 9 miles. There is no reason to pay more than $1000 dollars to hunt antelope or wait years to draw a tag in a trophy unit. My long term plan is to put in for hard to draw units and build points (with the off chance I might draw), while still having the ability to buy an over the counter tag and get experience hunting these critters so when I do get to hunt a trophy unit I'm a better hunter. If you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask.

Also on the map yellow is BLM, blue is state land, and the red dotted land was a walk-in hunting unit (private land open to the public), everything else is private.

huntfish · Nov 14, 2017

HunterJoe24 said:
Actually access can be very hard in some units. Alot of public land, but sometimes it's only accessible through private land and they normally won't let you do it. Wyoming is notorious for having a lot of public land with alot of accessibility issues

This is my experience in Colorado.

Not really, you just need to put some leg work and effort into it. Talk to the local biologist and then go visit. Face to face is better. You would be surprised on what that will get you. Also, be flexible. You might not get access for opening weekend, but access can be gained after. That means visits and scouting well before the season and not knocking on doors two days before season started.

I started with 2 sections of access, sleeping in a tent. Soon had access to 20 sections and was sleeping in the house.

huntfish · Nov 14, 2017

HunterJoe24 said:
I haven't, but that's from researching it. I'm planning on going next year. And while your doing research, 9/10 people when antelope hunting drive around in a truck until they see one, that's just how it is. Any local will even tell you that's how they do it. Look at some of the units that don't get as much pressure or are not your "stereotypical" antelope habitat. Fell free to pm me and I'll let you know what I've found also

From multiple years of experience. Driving around spotting animals is one thing. Driving around shooting them is another. There are 2 ways to take a good goat. 1) Put one to bed on Friday night and be in place on Saturday morning or 2) Forget opening weekend when all the weekend warriors are chasing them with trucks and start hunting Wednesday.

huntfish · Nov 14, 2017

acurasquirrel said:
I went to Wyoming in October of this year with a friend of mine. We both had one point and didn't get drawn for a tag initially. Did a little research online and bought a leftover tag in a unit that was designated as difficult public access. The particular unit is 70% private, leaving only about 200 square miles of public to hunt. Yes 200 miles. Now that seems like a lot, but there is a ton of inaccessible public land, because there isn't public road access to it. With all that said, both of us took bucks in 3.5 days of hunting. It took a day and a half to figure out the best terrain to spend our time in. We didn't do the typical drive the roads hunt. We parked and snaked our way through tracts of public land until we found a buck. This particular unit has very broken terrain which makes for very hard going, but makes stalking to within 200 yards very easy. As far as cost, a tag is now $326, fuel should cost about $600 if you drive ($300 per person if you have a partner), camping is free or budget about $80 a night for a hotel, you don't need any special gear with the exception of good boots (I wear Lowa hiking boots, the terrain is rough and you will need something that will handle it). We butchered our animals in the field and antelope are small enough two guys can handle it (if you don't have a good pack get one). ONXmaps is pretty much essential when you hunt a unit like the one we hunted, as is agood set of binos (I found a spotting scope to be heavy and not worth carrying). I've included a screenshot of one of the hunts where we were successful. The marker in the lower left is where we parked and the markers in the upper right is the general area where we took the antelope. On that day our total hiking distance was a little over 9 miles. There is no reason to pay more than $1000 dollars to hunt antelope or wait years to draw a tag in a trophy unit. My long term plan is to put in for hard to draw units and build points (with the off chance I might draw), while still having the ability to buy an over the counter tag and get experience hunting these critters so when I do get to hunt a trophy unit I'm a better hunter. If you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask.

Also on the map yellow is BLM, blue is state land, and the red dotted land was a walk-in hunting unit (private land open to the public), everything else is private.

Exactly. We also have a place to freeze the meat solid. Place in coolers with frozen jugs, cover with towel, and close the cooler. Meat is still frozen when we get back to Georgia.

Bobby Linton · Nov 14, 2017

Thanks a lot guys.

acurasquirrel · Nov 14, 2017

huntfish said:
From multiple years of experience. Driving around spotting animals is one thing. Driving around shooting them is another. There are 2 ways to take a good goat. 1) Put one to bed on Friday night and be in place on Saturday morning or 2) Forget opening weekend when all the weekend warriors are chasing them with trucks and start hunting Wednesday.

Lesson learned totally on the opening day. It was a zoo, although once you get half a mile in everyone seems to vanish.

acurasquirrel · Nov 14, 2017

huntfish said:
Exactly. We also have a place to freeze the meat solid. Place in coolers with frozen jugs, cover with towel, and close the cooler. Meat is still frozen when we get back to Georgia.

Same thing, found a place to freeze the meat and did the frozen jug trick, worked like a charm.

Rich M · Nov 17, 2017

This year's opener was on a Sunday and we put goats to sleep Saturday night - they were nowhere to be found on Sunday. I got 2 and partner got 1 opener - rained most of next day, day after that put partner on another goat and watched the herd go onto private from a bad vantage point. Left for home the next day.

We hunted a limited access unit and were covered up in guys. Every pickup had 3 or 4 guys in it and there was only so much land to go around. Then you have the road hunters doing "the loop" - the animals go from seeing 1 or 2 vehicles a day to 30 and tend to shy off - can't figure why???

I encourage anyone to go - no-one is going to tell you how to do the unit selection & permit acquisition, you have to figure that out on your own.

Someone once said that the unsuccessful antelope hunter was impatient. I got stuck on a piece of property for 11 hours cause bud took off road hunting without me, and I managed to take 2 of 3 shot opps that presented themselves - had a herd walk by 200 yards behind me that I didn't see until they were cresting the next hill and running back by cause the guy over there spooked em.

Uptonongood · Dec 10, 2017

I love to see guys grab a chance to have an adventure and head to new places to hunt.

I’ve hunted public land in Montana with a friend who lives there. Opening day in our hunting area consisted of guys in pickups driving around, seeing herds, stopping and shooting from the truck. Not much fun.

If you can afford a guided hunt, it is a good way to learn the animals, terrain and equipment needs. Plus, access to private lands provides less stressed animals, more time to pick and choose, and get oriented to western hunting.

If you do take the adventure there is a serious likelihood that hunting in your local area may never be the same again.

Good luck to you.

ben300win · Dec 25, 2017

We hunted Wyoming this year for antelope. Flew into Denver. Rented a truck, stayed in hotel and ate good food. Still was only 1200.00 each. We had two buck tags and three doe tags. Filled all of them. We hunted private land that was in a hunter management area. Only problem was it was really open and hard to get close. We hunted the last week of the season and they were still scared of trucks. Rangefinder was hard to get to range with such open county. Had a blast though.

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