Veteran Antelope hunters I have a question

[hflier]

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

 

[wyosteve]

Yes, antelope do migrate primarily in the winter. When they do leave an area they might or might not return. If they find feed, water, etc. elsewhere, the won't return. They are not territorial like a deer might be.

 

[wytx]

Numbers are just down in some areas in Wyoming.

 

[Fatcamp]

Numbers are way down in my area of SD. We didn't even apply this year.

 

[go_deep]

Water, population, and migration. If its dry or drought and there's no live water or windmills, they move to where there is. It starts to get cool or even just later in the fall, they start their migration. Like mentioned above, areas of Wyoming have seen a rough couple years on Antelope, which definitely had numbers much lower in a lot of areas.

 

[nodakian]

I don’t know what caused the change you observed, but I’ve seen blue tongue wipe out a herd between seasons in central MT. We went from six guys filling three tags each in three days to four guys struggling to fill single tags the following year. Bad deal, for sure.

 

[manitou1]

We are at a small fraction of what we had two years ago in my area of WY. The numbers from five-ten years ago haven't been seen in years.
Disease and drought has taken its toll here.

 

[Laramie]

43 should be a pretty easy hunt if you go opening day. Did you hunt later in the season? It can get rough once the have had pressure and that herds is a bit lower than in recent years.

 

[kcm2]

Antelope do change their behavior, too. In one area we hunt, their habits have been markedly different every year. Between that and the population issues from some bad winters, it's no surprise. The area we hunt has been confusing, too.

 

[BuzzH]

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.

 

[William Sublette]

So, I drove across WY from Lusk, to Lander about a month ago

I saw 26 antelope. Used to be a person would see hundreds if not thousands.


Came back on the same route yesterday, and saw 23.



Something is wrong.

 

[wyosteve]

Agree with Buzz. Had a herd of 12 does in my pasture a week ago and not one fawn! Don't know if it's the drought, coyotes or the big blizzard this past March.

 

[hflier]

Thanks for the feedback. Thought we were missing something. Hopefully next year will bring some improvement. But its not looking promising since everyone is stating this is an across the board problem.

Ron

 

[Jimss]

I agree 100% with buzz’s comments above plus have a few things to add.

Antelope browse through most of wyo is suffering from drought conditions. Poor feed and lack of water results in poor overall antelope condition and health going into winters. If you take a close look at sage, bitterbrush, and other browse species that antelope depend upon they are in poor shape in most summer and winter ranges. This results in poor fawn recruitment and even abortion of fawns by does. Healthy does mean twins or triplets and antelope numbers can increase quickly in lush years.


The i80 corridor units got hammered by winterkill 2 winters ago. This winter was super tough in a swath from Casper east. It’s been extremely hot and dry in units east of lander.

I’ve noticed areas throughout wyo where there are hundreds of antelope in June that are nearly void of antelope in august and September due to water sources totally drying up. Antelope require water almost on a daily basis. If water dries they move! Water sources could be developed in a lot of areas in wyo that would distribute antelope over larger areas.

The other reason for mass movements of antelope is deep snow. Antelope tend to wander into areas with less snow. If they wander and get trapped into areas with deep snow there may be massive winterkill.

Another factor is coyotes. I’ve seen areas with lots of twin fawns in June turn to almost nonexistent fawns by October. Even areas with great feed and water. This may Possibly be due to disease but most likely coyotes are the culprits.

Areas in wyo with the combination of drought, winterkill plus predators have extremely low antelope numbers in recent years.

 

[BuzzH]

The only thing I'd add to jims post, is that I don't believe that coyotes are killing all those fawns...its impossible for them to kill that many that quickly.

Coyotes impact fawns most when they're first born, not as they get older. That's the reason why fawns are dropped all within a couple weeks...coyotes simply can't eat them all when there's thousands on the landscape.

The herd I watch across the street from the house is losing fawns as well and its an active sheep ranch with massive predator control. I've never seen or heard a coyote here in the 7 years since we built our house. I see coyotes once in while while glassing from the house on a high ridge of the Laramie Range probably 1.5-2 miles away, but never on the flats.

Yet, its the same story, twins at first then by mid-august more single fawns than twins. Same thing I'm seeing elsewhere.

As to the browse comment, absolutely browse is compromised but pronghorn eat lots of forbs as well. In some areas where declines are still being seen, the habitat is NOT compromised, changed, or anything else. Water isn't an issue in some of those areas either, never has been, and never will be.

I think a lot like the mule deer decline, the pronghorn problems we're seeing are NOT one-size-fits-all. I think its area dependent and different things impacting them differently.

I've looked closely at several areas and there really isn't a single specific thing that those areas all share that would be the ONE thing impacting pronghorn populations.

I think the WYGF needs to start spending some money flying and getting better population estimates, spend some money collaring fawns, and trying to figure out what's going on. Pronghorn licenses are a big part of the GF budget and actually subsidize other wildlife funding. Maybe time to invest more in Pronghorn, there's big problems brewing.

 

[AntelopeEddie]

Antelope numbers in that area of SD are really taking a beating. GFP issuing double tags and double doe tags are not helping the situation. A couple years of limiting tags would do wonders on the population. The problem is landowners in the area want them all dead so the GFP have to choose between happy landowners or a healthy herd.

 

[Jimss]

Would be a great wyo task force topic!

 

[go_deep]

@BuzzH is right about the population. You don't have to go back 10-15 years and lots of hunt areas had 1,000's of buck antelope tags, and hundreds, if not thousands of doe tags. First area I use to hunt had 2,500 buck licenses, and 1,500 doe, in 1 single hunt area. Now there's 400 total licenses, and this area looks the same today as it did 15 years ago, no housing developments, no energy developments, nothing, just way less Antelope.

Any commission meetings, conversations, emails, phone calls I have going forward with anyone at the G&F, will be about Antelope population with more tag reduction. I travel all over this state for work, to every single corner, and not just driving down the interstate, I'm freaking everywhere, and I truthfully don't understand why there's even doe tags in almost every hunt area for Antelope right now.