Idiotic oversight, what now?

Joined
Jan 7, 2026
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I had grand dreams of getting out for my first western hunt with my dad and brother. Life did what it does, and the application deadline passed. I was going to let it go, but then I saw the leftover draw was still open, and got excited. Being hasty, and new, and dumb, I didn't realize it was a private land only tag. Feel pretty damn stupid. I don't have outfitter money, but maybe I can get lucky and find a reasonable trespass fee.
 
Maybe. Wyoming, I assume? They are planning to keep your money, if I remember correctly. You have all summer to research, make calls and send emails. Riding and talking to folks would be better, much better, but guessing you live too far away. Trespass hunts seem scarce these days but Use any and all resources and you can find something.
 
I had grand dreams of getting out for my first western hunt with my dad and brother. Life did what it does, and the application deadline passed. I was going to let it go, but then I saw the leftover draw was still open, and got excited. Being hasty, and new, and dumb, I didn't realize it was a private land only tag. Feel pretty damn stupid. I don't have outfitter money, but maybe I can get lucky and find a reasonable trespass fee.
If this is for WY, it might be worth your time to see if you can use the private land only tag on a walk in hunting area. Or check out the Hunter Management Areas. Depending on the unit, there could be some options. Or not.

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Yeah, it's wyoming.
If this is for WY, it might be worth your time to see if you can use the private land only tag on a walk in hunting area. Or check out the Hunter Management Areas. Depending on the unit, there could be some options. Or not.

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yeah, that was the first thing I checked. I need to look closer to see if there's some small parcels but the big one in the unit specifically says type 2 isn't allowed
 
Have you called a game warden or biologist for the area your tag is good for? They may have some advice or contacts for you.
 
Have you called a game warden or biologist for the area your tag is good for? They may have some advice or contacts for you.
Definitely reach out. I had a tag like this (albeit 10 years ago ago) and they gave us a list of like 20 landowner phone numbers of ag folks that were looking to have the herd cut down.
 
I had grand dreams of getting out for my first western hunt with my dad and brother. Life did what it does, and the application deadline passed. I was going to let it go, but then I saw the leftover draw was still open, and got excited. Being hasty, and new, and dumb, I didn't realize it was a private land only tag. Feel pretty damn stupid. I don't have outfitter money, but maybe I can get lucky and find a reasonable trespass fee.
If it’s Co you can alter your tag. TBH youth get 100% preference so if it’s a decent tag you most likely won’t draw, you will probably draw a PLO tag though, going rate for trespassing on a buck antelope tag can be anywhere from 1000 bucks and up completely not worth it in my opinion, why not just grab an OTC elk tag and go for it?
 
Making grand dreams come true can take real work. The western state regs are difficult for an easterner to understand and take a lot of time to sort thru, and each western state is different. You just have to put in the work.
 
Water over the dam now. While I'd rather have options to hunt public or private, there are advantages to hunting private - the landowner should have a good idea of where the goats are and who else will be hunting the land. This could be way better than a public land free-for-all. All you have to do is find that private land - it may not be easy, but rewarding if if pays off. Good luck.
 
Making grand dreams come true can take real work. The western state regs are difficult for an easterner to understand and take a lot of time to sort thru, and each western state is different. You just have to put in the work.
Yup, and despite my best initial efforts, I still bobbled it. Thanks for your feedback. I'll keep after it.
 
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