Reasonable points

[bnewt3]

Looking at hunt planners for WY, it looks like for a non-resident ill need minimum 6 points, probably more like 7 or 8 to draw a unit with good harvest %(good animal #s), good amount of accessible, public land, and not a type 2 private land tag.

Does that sound right?

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Not in all cases. I know units that fit SOME of your definitions that only take 3 or 4 , they used to take 1 or 2 a few years ago. You have to stay on top of the conditions that are causing the extra points. Wyoming has had some tough winters and dieoff of antelope. It changes from year to year and their biologists do a good job of adjusting the tag numbers. My favorite antelope has had no doe/fawn tags for 5 years and fewer buck tags also. Demand is still there for fewer tags, point required to draw a tag go up.
Pick your unit and do some historical research of the data and see what is happening.

 

[Chad E]

The points required to get "good" antelope tags really keep creeping at an accelerated rate after the bad winter. Demand is up and for the most part tag numbers are down. Tough combo

That being said I highly recommend doing some escouting vs simply looking at public land percentages. Ill take less public but its legally accessible and is actually antelope habitat vs more public that's not accessible or is not in antelope country. The % doesn't tell the whole story.
Everyone can look at the stats and all the tag services make the stats easy to navigate so the days of finding a " hidden gem" that way are over. Try to find difficult or overlooked public access into antelope country in a lower point unit and you can have a good hunt for a lot fewer points.

 

[TaperPin]

Statistics are deceptive. You only need one good goat. We’ve hunted horrible areas with hardly anything alive for miles and came out with a whopper.

A friend drew for an area with very low numbers last fall and he was stressed, but I reminded him it only takes one good one. For days he didn’t see anything scouting or hunting, but then a good one came along and now he is so happy he drew that crappy area. Lol

 

[EdP]

I drew one of the "low public access" units in eastern Wy in the special draw with 2 points. Antelope numbers and quotas were way down from when I hunted the same unit in 2015, 2018, and 2019 when no points were required to draw in the regular random. Hunter numbers were way down also and the public land access was good enough for me to take a buck I am happy with the morning of day 3. I'm not picky. Any mature buck will do me fine and will eat as well as a monster. I had fun walking a lot of country that is very different from what I hunt in the east even though I didn't see an antelope for the first day and 1/2. I didn't see another hunter in that time either. All that walking paid dividends when what I learned the 2nd half of day 2 paid off the morning of day 3 with a buck down within a 10 minute walk of my truck.

It's just a matter of what makes you happy in a hunt. I would rather hunt this unit every 3rd year than accumulate enough points for one hunt in a "prime" unit, especially since antelope numbers and quotas are a crap shoot year to year.

 

[wytx]

Not all Type 2 tags are private land only.

 

[Dwnw/theAltitudesickness]

Think Wyoming has lots of opportunity. Can hunt it more often on lower tier/ point units just understand what tradeoffs the unit (s) offer.

 

[bnewt3]

Not all Type 2 tags are private land only.

Yeah I know some are just shorter seasons

 

[TheGreek]

Looking at hunt planners for WY, it looks like for a non-resident ill need minimum 6 points, probably more like 7 or 8 to draw a unit with good harvest %(good animal #s), good amount of accessible, public land, and not a type 2 private land tag.

Does that sound right?

For the regular draw, I think you are pretty spot on.

 

[pirogue]

You can’t rule out the weather effect. A bad winter in the next few months could further reduce tags.

 

[bnewt3]

You can’t rule out the weather effect. A bad winter in the next few months could further reduce tags.

Of course ill keep monitoring, but I can only really go by what things are at now.

 

[bnewt3]

Statistics are deceptive. You only need one good goat. We’ve hunted horrible areas with hardly anything alive for miles and came out with a whopper.

A friend drew for an area with very low numbers last fall and he was stressed, but I reminded him it only takes one good one. For days he didn’t see anything scouting or hunting, but then a good one came along and now he is so happy he drew that crappy area. Lol

Point taken. However, there will be at least 5 in our group.

We are not trophy hunters, but we would all like a buck that looks like a buck. And some of us have more points than others so those with fewer points will be relying on those of us with more points to draw a good unit. Also, im not sure about the others but i plan to get a doe tag if i can. Coming from NC & TN, we want to make this trip count. We may or may not do it again. Probably depends how this first trip goes.

One of the others lived in Idaho for a few years and applied for the same unit every year and never drew a tag so hes really salivating over the chance to get one. He had a cow tag in 2019 in the same unit, I went out to hunt with him. We saw a ton of goats, one herd was probably 100+.

Fun story: we were on the side of a hill glassing for cows up the hills in front of us and we saw a small herd of goats grazing their way toward us. We just sat still. They made their way within about 50 yds of us then they skirted below us to the right, which put them downwind and out of sight of us maybe as close as 30yds away, then a few seconds later the whole herd had reversed course right back to just before where we lost sight of them and they looked right at us for a few seconds before taking off in another direction. So as soon as they caught our wind they knew exactly where we were. But until then, they had no idea we were there. Was pretty cool to watch.

 

[TaperPin]

Point taken. However, there will be at least 5 in our group.

We are not trophy hunters, but we would all like a buck that looks like a buck. And some of us have more points than others so those with fewer points will be relying on those of us with more points to draw a good unit. Also, im not sure about the others but i plan to get a doe tag if i can. Coming from NC & TN, we want to make this trip count. We may or may not do it again. Probably depends how this first trip goes.

One of the others lived in Idaho for a few years and applied for the same unit every year and never drew a tag so hes really salivating over the chance to get one. He had a cow tag in 2019 in the same unit, I went out to hunt with him. We saw a ton of goats, one herd was probably 100+.

Fun story: we were on the side of a hill glassing for cows up the hills in front of us and we saw a small herd of goats grazing their way toward us. We just sat still. They made their way within about 50 yds of us then they skirted below us to the right, which put them downwind and out of sight of us maybe as close as 30yds away, then a few seconds later the whole herd had reversed course right back to just before where we lost sight of them and they looked right at us for a few seconds before taking off in another direction. So as soon as they caught our wind they knew exactly where we were. But until then, they had no idea we were there. Was pretty cool to watch.

With multiple hunters I’d agree you’ll get more opportunities with higher antelope numbers. If you will be crawling dirt two tracks, two vehicles can be a nice luxury with that many shooters so you can split up, but antelope stalks are also a lot of fun to watch and a fun a social sport if you all stick together.

One very productive area that historically has had a lot of extra doe tags has a big basin that’s quite the spectacle opening morning. One year there were 10 pickups within sight, driving, shooting, loading goats, zooming all around, goats running in big circles all day, and from a distance the dust kicked up with this combat hunting reminded me of Mad Max. After the first day things calmed way down and was more enjoyable.

You should have fun - I can’t ever remember not enjoying an antelope hunt of any kind.