This year and last year the wife and I have struck out on Antelope. We have gone the last four years. We alternate between the west side of South Dakota and Unit 43 in Wyoming. The first two years we went we saw lots of Antelope in both areas and had a blast and my wife took her first big game animal in Wyoming. The last two years we went, last year Wyoming and this year SD. We saw zero animals in unit 43 last year in the same areas were we previously saw many. This year in SD we saw 1/10 of the number of Antelope we previously did in west SD. The only thing I can attribute the difference to is that the first two years we went later when the temps were cooler (20's at night). Anyone know why there has been the change? Do Antelope migrate? Maybe they were higher up? Any knowledge transfer would be appreciated.
Ron
I've hunted 43 for a long time and there are less than half the pronghorn in that unit then there used to be. I took a spin through there about 10 days ago, saw 72 pronghorn and that was stopping to glass the areas that typically hold them. That's pathetic compared to the past, when making that same drive, I'd see 3-4 hundred. The GF better get it together, they're killing wayyyy too many pronghorn in that unit and many others. Its not rocket science, just lay off issuing 500 doe tags every year and they would recover. Buck quality is absolute crap in there too compared to 10-15 years ago as well.
Really, across all the units I hunt or have hunted, numbers are down significantly. I drive through the Red Desert country every week and depending on the area, its a shell of its former self. Still OK quality and fair numbers in the RD but nothing like it was in the past. One area, where my wife has shot 3 B&C pronghorn on the 3 tags she's drawn there...you see less than 25% of the pronghorn that we used to. Still some great bucks to be had, just a lot fewer and tags have been reduced by 70% over the years. With that tag reduction, the numbers just don't rebound, something going on and nobody seems to have any answers.
Another area I used to hunt West of Laramie I would see 150-200 a day, including some nicer bucks. Was out in that unit a couple times in August and saw 2 bucks in about 7-8 hours of looking, maybe a dozen another day. That area has been dreadful for the last 5-6 years and plagued with horrific fawn recruitment for at least that long (biologists don't know for sure why). Quality habitat with TONS of water.
Fair to note too, the GF is finally getting the hint, they reduced tags by 4,000 statewide, which, IMO, was not nearly enough. I would expect deeper cuts next year and I'll be asking for them to do just that.
In recent discussions with friends that live in Gillette, Casper, Cheyenne, Laramie, Sheridan....its pretty much across the board they all say numbers are down significantly from the past. That's been my observation as well in all those areas.
In fact, one good friend of mine that hunts an area near Casper, tags have been reduced since the mid 1980's from 2000 tags to 75 this year. Same friend was talking to a biologist who made the comment that Pronghorn may be on the same downward trajectory as mule deer and experiencing similar problems.
Some of the factors I've seen are drought, disease, development, and migration problems. I think lead poisoning and over-issuing tags, mainly doe tags, for too long is also having an impact.
Would be nice to see more pro-active management on pronghorn, other than the BS that they're trying to pull increasing the any pronghorn tags in areas under special management. It seems WY may be starting to manage similar to Montana, which is maximizing tag sales and hammering on big-game in the few areas that are still half decent.
