Need some Help Planning

Joined
Nov 28, 2018
Messages
310
Location
CA
I have a few questions for all of who if you could help me out that would be great. My dad and son drew antelope tags around Riverton. They pulled the tag in the random and I am trying to plan this out for everyone. My sons also have deer tags for Utah so balancing school will be important.
I am trying to make sure we get the max out of these tags and trip. The plan is to hunt at least a few days really seeing what we can find and spend some other days fishing or evening scouting for future hunts. My son can miss roughly a week of school for the hunt. Here are a few questions

1. Would you hotel it or stay deeper in the unit and not have to drive out each day. We have the options of a nice tent camp or even trailer. If we go this route I would like to find a nice camp with shade and enjoy a week out there. Or does getting a hotel make more sense.

2. If they shoot really good goats there is a chance they would mount them since it will be awhile before they go again. I have skinned enough deer but never antelope. If you were going to mount one would you skin it to the neck/skull and then freeze it and let the taxidermist do the rest or skin it all the way out. I have heard they can have a lot of slippage because of the heat. Would it make the most since to have someone in Wyoming do the taxidermy since they probably do a lot more than my taxidermist.

3. I am really debating when would be a good time to get out there.
Option 1 We could arrive on a Wednesday and scout the unit for a few days. Figure out where to camp, best goats we can find for opening morning and be ready to go on the opener. If we go this route then we would only have 3.5 days of hunting and would leave Tuesday back for home. I know 3.5 days is more than enough time to get it done. If we go this way I am a little worried we will be wont save time for fishing and other things. Yes its a hunt and a really good tag so maybe the time should just be on the hunt if free time opens up then that's a bonus.
Option 2 if to arrive Friday morning and stay all the way through until the next Saturday. This would give us more than enough time to hunt and do other things. Problem is finding a place to camp Friday and then finding a goat Friday evening to chance on Saturday. I know there will be some hunting pressure the 1st couple of days. I would really like to put them on upper 70's goats which is doable. I am worried that if we show up Friday we just wont get enough time to really look over enough goats to get a good feel of judging them. The last thing I want to is tag out opening morning on low 70's goat and wish we would have just soaked the experience in. Keeping my dad off the trigger wont be easy. Getting out a few days early might calm with down a little.

4. I would like to get some fishing in around Riverton. Hoping to get some nice browns on lures. What is the fishing pressure during September in the area. Any creeks or rivers that you would suggest. Is it worth it to get a guide and do a float trip down the bighorn.

Thanks
 
Joined
Jul 27, 2021
Messages
1,422
A lot depends on the effort you want to go to, I hunt wyoming and am from the east coast my first hunt we stayed at a hotel and commuted to the hunt area, really was not a far drive left well before daylight and stayed until well after dark bye the time we got out of the hunting area. ALSO THE WEATHER COULD BE A FACTOR IN THE CAMPING, I would not want to be in far in a camp and bad weather come along and have to worry about getting out. Last year spent three days in the hotel lobby waiting out a blizzard, My first Antelope was a decent goat he now graces my wall it was mounted in Wyoming and shipped to me, I also was worried about the hair slippage so decided this was best for me to do it that way, Last hunt was for mule deer pretty much the same set up, I did not kill as the weather was horrible but we hunted as much as we could, my buddy killed a decent mule deer and is now waiting on the mount to arrive. If we draw tags in 2023 the hunt will be the same senerio I like the camp ideal but would rather spend time hunting than tending camp, we would pack a cooler with things for lunch as well as items to eat while hunting, the items we packed in the cooler never got touched as the hunting was more important, ate a few late night meals in the hotels parking lot from the cooler. It is a good ideal to have a few days to scout the area you want to hunt, we are now to the point in our hunting area where we are familiar with the area but still take at least two days to do scouting. I would concetrate on the hunting and perhaps the fishing could happen, GOOD LUCK
 

Kurts86

WKR
Joined
Aug 15, 2020
Messages
330
I think you are trying to plan too much to fill multiple tags with high 70’s buck, go fishing, savor the trip and keep a relatively tight schedule when those days could go towards another hunt. I would really recommend deciding on priorities and going from there.

As far as hotel versus camping for antelope I’ve done both and it’s unit dependent. Google maps the time from the hotel to where you actually are hunting including the routes that are public to legally access a spot. Lots of public places in Wyoming are visible from a road across 400 yards of private and take a 10 mile loop of BLM 2 track to get there on public. Camping is generally nice during antelope season but it’s a dice roll too. I’ve torned down camp and driven out to avoid thunderstorms leaving us stuck 6 miles down 2 track that turns to grease with the slightest moisture. Antelope hunting doesn’t require being somewhere deep an hour before sunrise like mule deer so extra driving isn’t always a problem. It also means quite minimal gear for antelope day hunting from a hotel.
 

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