Outfitter hunt while buying points?

[ruger35]

I have been buying points for elk in WY and currently have 7, but I have gotten the speed goat itch. I bought my first WY point this year for them and am browsing through 100 tabs I have open reading about doing the same in other states. I have only archery hunted whitetail in Kansas in what I would call semi-guided. For those of you that got started late on the pronghorn train, would you recommend going with an outfitter somewhere like NM where its a little easier to get a tag while waiting on other states for public land?

I was thinking an outfitter may be good exposure for my first trip out west hunting an animal I'm not familiar with. Or would you go with purchasing a land owner tag in a state like NM where a license is guaranteed if you get the tag and try that route? I plan on rifle hunting. I am currently setting up my GOHunt account and watching videos on the different draws to get familiar, just looking for past experiences and what someone may would do different to get out hunting quicker.

 

[Kurts86]

Going with an outfitter is a good way to speed up going on a hunt but don’t think you will learn a lot on most guided pronghorn hunts. Most guided pronghorn hunts you will just get sent out with a ranch hand to drive around until you see something you want to shoot. Unless you spend days trying to kill a B&C buck by looking over hundreds of bucks you won’t learn a lot that will apply to a future public land pronghorn hunts.

A landowner tag would at least let you learn in an environment where you still have a 90% of success.

Public land pronghorn hunts often are land navigation puzzle and a bit of combat hunting unless you have 10+ PP’s. I’ve known a few guys to go on guided pronghorn hunts that later when on public land hunts and they were borderline worse off for it. They couldn’t pick a unit and sort it all out.

 

[Rich M]

I've done DIY and guided.

The DIY hunt was orange army all the way - road hunters racing around, some hunters 400 yds down from me, tucked up into a corner of public & private. Had a big buck at 25 yards 15 minutes after shooting light, shot a yearling next to him cause only had doe tags - biggest mistake of my hunting career.

Did guided because I wanted a buck, and "pure" antelope hunt vs fighting with the orange army. It was like in the movies - had 4-5 stalks and they stayed put long enough to get into good position.

Saving points for next go-around but know it will be 5-10 years before we get enough points to do what I want. Otherwise, could go in 2 yrs and get on some.

I'd say if you want to get hunting faster, try a diff species - do a guided muley hunt or something. If you choose your unit wisely, antelope will be fun and fulfilling. If you pick and ez-pz unit & don't do your homework, you may end up with a dry run because of other hunters, but won't burn many points.

Have fun doing the research, the anticipation is 1/2 the fun.

 

[ruger35]

I've done DIY and guided.

The DIY hunt was orange army all the way - road hunters racing around, some hunters 400 yds down from me, tucked up into a corner of public & private. Had a big buck at 25 yards 15 minutes after shooting light, shot a yearling next to him cause only had doe tags - biggest mistake of my hunting career.

Did guided because I wanted a buck, and "pure" antelope hunt vs fighting with the orange army. It was like in the movies - had 4-5 stalks and they stayed put long enough to get into good position.

Saving points for next go-around but know it will be 5-10 years before we get enough points to do what I want. Otherwise, could go in 2 yrs and get on some.

I'd say if you want to get hunting faster, try a diff species - do a guided muley hunt or something. If you choose your unit wisely, antelope will be fun and fulfilling. If you pick and ez-pz unit & don't do your homework, you may end up with a dry run because of other hunters, but won't burn many points.

Have fun doing the research, the anticipation is 1/2 the fun.

What state did you go with the guide in?

 

[Rich M]

What state did you go with the guide in?

WY for DIY and guided.

 

[wytx]

Wyoming sets aside a percentage for the random draw, you have a chance at a decent area with 0 PP but odds are long.
Bucks have a black cheek patch, not doe.

 

[Mojave]

1. You don't need an outfitter to hunt pronghorns. It is a simple hunt.

2. You 100% need an outfitter or a landowner willing to sell you a tag. New Mexico tags are some of the best. Especially in Northern New Mexico. I am not burning the spot, almost everything around is private.

3. There are landowner tags/hunts in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, California, and Alberta. There are also some on the Crow Reservation in Montana.

 

[TurkeyReaper69]

Probably an unpopular opinion on the antelope forum. But I wouldn't support buying a tag from an outfitter or landowner in New Mexico. Yeah I'm sure you could have a good hunt, but New Mexico is privatizing it's wildlife through E-Plus, guided tags, unlimited private land antelope tags, unit wide landowner vouchers, the list goes on. Go against the grain, don't feed into the NM privatized system!

If you are going to go on a guided antelope hunt, go in WY in a majority private unit. Tag won't be difficult to draw.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Mojave]

Probably an unpopular opinion on the antelope forum. But I wouldn't support buying a tag from an outfitter or landowner in New Mexico. Yeah I'm sure you could have a good hunt, but New Mexico is privatizing it's wildlife through E-Plus, guided tags, unlimited private land antelope tags, unit wide landowner vouchers, the list goes on. Go against the grain, don't feed into the NM privatized system!

If you are going to go on a guided antelope hunt, go in WY in a majority private unit. Tag won't be difficult to draw.

Just my 2 cents.

it will never go away. No use in ignoring the $18 giant box of 100 diapers at Costco versus the $8 8 pack at Walmart. Bad analogy but it won't change.

you have to get tags where they are available.

 

[EdP]

My first western hunt was guided pronghorn in Wy back when no points were needed to draw a tag. It was a learning experience to be able to hunt private land and see pronghorn in a more natural environment vs on public land where they are pushed around a lot by hunters. Both my buddy and I shot bucks we were happy with on the first day of a 3 day hunt. I think the hunt cost $2250 not including license and tags. That was 2015. I hunted DIY in 2018 and 2019 in an area with "limited public land." I found places to hunt with other hunters and some without. I didn't see hunters or pronghorns on the withouts but had success on the spots with other hunters. Although other hunters blew an opportunity for me early on day 1 in 2018, I was successful on day 2 both in 2018 and 2019. All 3 hunts were fun. I learned things about pronghorn behavior on the guided hunt that I would never have learned otherwise but it was an expensive lesson that didn't really help me hunting public ground.

 

[FLS]

In Wyoming I buy leftover private land tag and hunt via trespass fee. I also buy points. The low point units have become a shit show.

 

[EdP]

The low point units have become a shit show.

I was afraid that might be the case post Covid.

 

[Jimss]

Wyo is handing out a fraction of tags issued a few years ago. Units that used to have left over tags available to nonres now take a number of pts to draw and getting tougher to draw by the year. Winterkill, disease, drought, predators, and other factors have put a big kink in things.

Obviously the units with more public land plus bigger buck potential will take even more years to draw as more and more applicants apply for a handful of nonres tags.

Keep your fingers crossed that there are no rough winters and there are lots of fawns that survive their first birthday or years of pts won’t really matter.

If you have the $ you can buy a tag and hunt NM every year. Draw odds for the average joe nonguided nonres hunter in NM in the public draw are pretty close to slim to 0.