Wy Pronghorn - We all start somewhere......

[Aries_Ranger]

3 guys coming from Wisconsin.

Looks like, with zero points, Unit 16 and 22 have a decent quota and a good chance of producing.

Draw Odds look good. Antelope range is there.

Am I missing something? I'm open to any (legit) advice you'll toss my way.

HintinFoolz, Basemap, and the WY Website can only provide so much raw data.

 

[wapitibob]

this isn't a secret so ....

In 16 the terrain is semi rough, broken with lots of cuts; it isn't flat antelope country. Access is on the west thru the walk in area and east side with landowners patrolling all roads every 30 minutes or so. The warden is close by and I watched a dad and his kid get tickets and their animals taken; blatant trespass that was easily avoided with onX or a map. On the east side the access is at each well head, multiple camps at each, and on occasion there will be a cpl dickheads that think that access is theirs alone. You will need to hike a cpl miles in to get to the antelope, which I wasn't going to do for a Doe. There will be dozens of antelope 20 feet on the other side of the road or fence.

 

[Aries_Ranger]

this isn't a secret so ....

In 16 the terrain is semi rough, broken with lots of cuts; it isn't flat antelope country. Access is on the west thru the walk in area and east side with landowners patrolling every 30 minutes or so. The warden is close by and I watched a dad and his kid get tickets and their animals taken; blatant trespass that was easily avoided with onX or a map. On the east side the access is at each well head, multiple camps at each, and on occasion there will be a cpl dickheads that think that access is theirs alone. You will need to hike a cpl miles in to get to the antelope, which I wasn't going to do for a Doe. There will be dozens of antelope 20 feet on the other side of the road or fence.

I appreciate that.

 

[browning2480]

Make sure you are there a day and a half ahead of the opener. Scout the first night and all the next day marking off areas you know are not any good. Find one the evening before the opener and watch him until it is dark. Be there in the dark on Opening day and you have a good chance of killing him.

 

[Aries_Ranger]

Make sure you are there a day and a half ahead of the opener. Scout the first night and all the next day marking off areas you know are not any good. Find one the evening before the opener and watch him until it is dark. Be there in the dark on Opening day and you have a good chance of killing him.

Plan is to depart Western Wisco 3 days prior to opener. Get there and have camp set with a day and a half to scout prior to opening day. Allot 4-5 for hunting.

Same strategy were planning, put them to bed, and be there before 1st light. I heard somewhere Rutting bucks are very territorial.

 

[browning2480]

We did this last year and killed two bucks 15 minutes after daylight. Also be prepared for there to be people everywhere lol. It was a fun time for sure. We killed 4 bucks and 2 does the first day. It is fast and furious for sure.

 

[Aries_Ranger]

We did this last year and killed two bucks 15 minutes after daylight. Also be prepared for there to be people everywhere lol. It was a fun time for sure. We killed 4 bucks and 2 does the first day. It is fast and furious for sure.

I'm hoping for a successful hunt. Because of my overseas work schedule I can only hit the first 5 days of the season.

 

[Laramie]

Plan on several other guys setting up on the buck you put to bed... Those areas can be drawn with zero points for a reason... It's a $hit show.

 

[Wyoming Hart]

What everyone before has said is spot on. I have hunted 16 a couple of times with others; albeit the last couple of days of the season. We killed 4 bucks in 3 days. Be aware of private/public property lines, be prepared to put some miles on the boots and enjoy.

 

[WCB]

Plan is to depart Western Wisco 3 days prior to opener. Get there and have camp set with a day and a half to scout prior to opening day. Allot 4-5 for hunting.

Same strategy were planning, put them to bed, and be there before 1st light. I heard somewhere Rutting bucks are very territorial.

If the buck is anywhere obvious or visibly seen with little effort there will be 3 trucks on him in the morning. Also, don't get lulled into thinking Antelope are a slam dunk or you will have any place to yourself if you get out there that early. The last couple hours before dark before the opener the place will turn into a complete Sh!t show.

I did two days scouting last year before opener in a different 0 pt unit. We saw exactly 1 other vehicle of guys scouting and we covered ever public access point of the unit. from 5pm till dark the night before opener the population of the county doubled and guys were parked in the ditch of the highways sitting on bucks for the morning. Also, even if you are sitting on a buck till dark 3 other vehicles will pull up and spoke the buck off.

We were on buck option #5 before sunrise opening morning...buddy killed him then I killed mine around 1PM and honestly after opening day I would not have wanted a tag in my pocket in that unit.

 

[Fitzwho]

Hunted Unit 16 in 2018. We hunted the last weekend to avoid some of the pressure. Very nearly shot a doe with my Type 1 tag just to get one killed. I ended up taking a buck off of BLM and my buddy talked a landowner into letting him kill one off his property the day before a blizzard rolled into town.

It can be done, but there are a lot of tags given out and not a whole lot of public access points. There are a few spots you can walk in and get away from the roads. You can't pull over on the ditch from an Interstate Highway in Wyoming, so accessing some of the larger tracts of BLM in Unit 16 gets a little convoluted. I have been contemplating using it as my 2nd or 3rd choice for this fall.

 

[NEWHunter]

I’ve hunted three units in WY which I would consider marginally better than those and I could see where the hunting would get really tough after the opening day or so. That said, success can be had. Take full advantage of your preseason scouting and be prepared to walk - a lot.

Also, if those units are 10/1 openers the bucks should still be moving around pretty good. Sometimes they just seem to materialize out of nowhere. Be ready.

 

[Aries_Ranger]

If it were me alone, I'd show up 2 days early, backpack in and set up camp about 2-3 miles off road. Staying mobile as necessary.

Do all my scouting from remote camp, and hopefully tag out day 1 or 2, back to the truck with a couple loads and call it a trip.

 

[browning2480]

If it were me alone, I'd show up 2 days early, backpack in and set up camp about 2-3 miles off road. Staying mobile as necessary.

Do all my scouting from remote camp, and hopefully tag out day 1 or 2, back to the truck with a couple loads and call it a trip.

All depends on the unit. The unit we hunted last year had some big tracts of public you could walk into. The problem was, there were all kinds of private roads going into it. You could walk in 2-3 miles and camp, only to have guys drive right past you who had permision or were paying trespass fees to drive the roads.

 

[Two70win]

I have hunted that region in the past and agree that there will be a lot of people, landowners patrolling, etc. Just make sure you know where you are (public/private) and keep moving and glassing. All of my antelope were killed mid-day and not on the weekend. Make sure they are not spooked when you shoot if you value good tasting meat and have ice at the truck. If you're staying in Buffalo, Winchester's has good prime rib and steaks.