avoiding opener?

[Mdfowlman2]

My dad and I are putting in this year and should be able to draw goat tags. I like to avoid crowds and I'm sure opening week is a zoo. I know this question is quite broad, but how is the later portions of the antelope rifle season? Id think that maybe they're venturing back onto public after the first half of the seasons pressure.
for reference this will be an average unit that can be drawn with 5-6pts
Any insight is welcome.
thanks in advance!

 

[Montucky]

What are the dates for WY antelope rifle? I would tell you to consider that the bucks are still rutting early in rifle season & are still with the does. Later in the season the herds are pretty spooky & the Bucks will begin to shed their horns as well……

 

[HairyScandinavian]

We've always avoided the opener but none of us are after trophies.

 

[Nine Banger]

I've been one time...

I'd say get your heinie out there a day ahead of time and have somewhere picked out to be before well before dawn on the opener.

Trucks will come pouring in after your brief time to yourself. Be on a stalk already or tagged out by the time they come rolling over the horizon.

 

[graniteghost]

Hunted eastern MT this year with my dad and brother in a unit you can reasonably expect to draw every other year. Did not go out on the opener due to work scheduling, but made it out during the middle of the following week. We noticed that typically the antelope would be on giant chunks of public deep in where the usual crowd wouldn’t want to hike into for an antelope. Brothers and dads bucks were both about 2 miles away from any road. If you do your homework I’d be willing to bet your experience is better during the week than on the opener.

 

[wapitibob]

I generally avoid the opener but mostly because they open mid week. I've never seen a "zoo" when Pronghorn hunting over the last 10+ years.

 

[Rich M]

Opening day is a zoo. But the animals will be where you scouted them. The trucks will be like a track race as they run from one spot to another.

I sat in one place on opening day and had 3 200 yards or less shots at bucks along with 3 doe herds come thru. Shot 2, shoulda had 3. Actually shoulda had a buck tag instead of doe tags.

One buck/herd was behind a treed area, away from the road - was so close could see their eye lashes. They ran out of the woods while I was coming down the edge (3rd time they did this) and were right in my lap. Awesome experience.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've always avoided the opener in Wyoming. Never had an issue with finding and hunting good quantities of lopes. I guess if a guy is after a B&C buck you would be wise to be spend 3-4 days before the season finding the buck you want and be on him at first light. If a guy wants a solid buck there tends to be quite a few of those running around and I prefer hunting a little later with less pressure.

 

[Fetty Wapiti]

99% of hunters wouldn't know an 80" goat if it slapped them in the face. Combine that with trigger happy and by the end of season the vast majority of top end bucks are still alive and well. No reason to go on opener.

 

[Duckhunter14]

I waiting on the last WY tag I had. Hunted the archery season with my wife and kids, saw a ton animals and made some stalks. Passed some speed goats, but had a great time and treated it more as a scouting mission. I went back for the rifle season with a buddy, mid week after the opener and we saw one other person, a rancher checking cows. Didn’t see a single other hunter. Glassed over a bunch of lopers and ended up filling my tag on my best speed goat to date.

After like 7 years I finally drew MT antelope, waited until later in the season due to other hunts and had a really tough time finding animals on public land. Everything had been pushed down into private right next to the road, like literally standing on the side of the road in AG. Finally after a couple days we found a walk in area on state land and I filled the tag, but it was night and day from my WY experience.

Take it for what it’s worth, the local game warden or biologist could probably shed more light on the specifics in that area. Unless you had a giant scouted and tried to kill him opening morning, you may opt to let the dust settle for a more enjoyable hunt.

 

[S.Clancy]

I think if you can get out and hike some miles it's fine to wait and go when the crowds die a bit.

If you aren't super mobile I think I would go for opener cause the goats get chased all over hell.

My sister and GF had really compromised mobility this fall (one was almost 8 months pregnant the other recovering from an Achilles tendon tear) and it was tough getting them on goats the week after opener.

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

I have killed the biggest bucks usually in the end of season

 

[Kurts86]

With those points you are really on the threshold of having a unit that supports skipping the opener. The pronghorn density, habitat, tag numbers and access all play into this equation.

My favorite way to hunt them is to scout for 2 days before the season and kill a buck on the opener I like the best. I did hunt week #3 this year but that was entirely due to scheduling rather than my preference.

 

[Mdfowlman2]

99% of hunters wouldn't know an 80" goat if it slapped them in the face. Combine that with trigger happy and by the end of season the vast majority of top end bucks are still alive and well. No reason to go on opener.

put me into that group. I’m looking for a good hunt with my dad and for him to shoot a buck, and he’s shooting the first buck that isn’t a yearling

With those points you are really on the threshold of having a unit that supports skipping the opener. The pronghorn density, habitat, tag numbers and access all play into this equation.

My favorite way to hunt them is to scout for 2 days before the season and kill a buck on the opener I like the best. I did hunt week #3 this year but that was entirely due to scheduling rather than my preference.

Unfortunately the creep isn’t getting any better, units that took 3pts two years ago ago are now taking 5 or more.
We are technically going in with 5.5pts. I’m not against going in the special draw, odds look a lot better for some better units in the special.

 

[Kurts86]

Here is my general input on this topic. You will hear a lot more residents that get to hunt more frequently or guys who have done these hunts say they skip the opener.

If it’s your first pronghorn hunt you should hunt the opener.

If you waited a bunch of years to draw a tag you should hunt the opener.

If you are hunting public in a unit with the *hard to access code hunt the opener.

If you are a Wyoming resident and have a tag in a unit near Casper with 500 tags allocated absolutely wait until after the first 2 weekends of the season for things to calm down.

 

[Macintosh]

I've hunted antelope in WY a couple times. 2018 we were in a unit with a moderate amount of tags and hunted the opener. We had zero issues with crowding or finding antelope on public. There are fewer antelope now, and that is a 7point unit now. 2022 we hunted a unit that took 1 point to draw--there were literally thousands of non-res tags, doe tags, etc and it was a unit with very little public. Everyone told us to be there before dawn ont he opener and be done when everyone showed up. If that was my plan I might wantto be there for the week ahead of the opener and only plan to carry a gun for the last day or two of the trip, so we actually have a "hunt", rather than a "shoot". I imagine you didnt buy points for all those years to be done and heading for the river in one scouting afternoon and 15 minutes of hunting. Instead, we went on the 3rd week of the season for that unit. pickins were slim on a lot of the single-section public in that unit, but they were there off and on and we did see antelope on public every day. We had very little competition (I think we saw 3 other hunting parties on public in like 4 days of scouting/hunting during the season, none of which affected us at all). We ended up with 1 failed stalk, seeing plenty of antelope, and both shooting bucks we were happy with. It's going to depend a bit, had the exact access situation been different the hunt could have turned out very differently, but it ended up being exactly what we wanted with ZERO "rodeo" or crowding. I would encourage you to decide how you want the hunt to unfold, put the exactt unit and how much public there is, and # of tags, length of season (I might prefer the 4th week rather than the second week) into perspective, and only then make your decision.