Wyo makes additional cuts to pronghorn

cnelk

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The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has made additional reductions to antelope license quotas for several hunt areas located in Carbon, Lincoln, Sublette and Teton counties.

Quotas in the following antelope hunt areas have been reduced: 53, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91 and 101. Affected hunt areas are indicated in green on the map below.

Baggs Pronghorn Herd – Hunt Area 53

Quotas in the Baggs Pronghorn Herd, Hunt Area 53, have been reduced due to many pronghorn moving out of the area this winter and having yet to return, some having died due to severe winter conditions and others likely still migrating back to their summer ranges. Collar data is unavailable for the Baggs Pronghorn Herd, and these reductions were made due to field observations and the absence of pronghorn in the hunt area.

Sublette Pronghorn Herd — Hunt Areas 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91 and 101

Antelope in the Sublette Pronghorn Herd experienced severe winter conditions, record-breaking snow depths and a devastating pneumonia outbreak. Recent snowmelt has allowed wildlife managers to spend more time on the landscape and observe a significant increase in antelope mortalities. The observations and updated collar data now indicate approximately 75% of the collared adult doe population in the Sublette Pronghorn Herd have died due to Mycoplasma bovis induced pneumonia and winter severity.

Full-price antelope license quotas in the region were initially reduced during the season-setting process by approximately 50% compared to 2022 quotas, and all reduced price doe/fawn licenses were removed. The emergency rule further reduces quotas in these hunt areas.

The license application period for antelope closes at midnight MDT on May 31. Applicants can modify or withdraw their application at any time before the deadline. Tentative draw results for antelope will be available June 15. The full list of updated license quotas is available on the Game and Fish website.
 
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Saw that. I keep dragging out my WY speed goat hunt because it seems like the light at the end of the tunnel keeps getting farther and farther away.

Can’t believe they got the double whammy this year.


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Wapiti

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WY Antelope was going to be my backup plan if I do not draw KS deer. I'm punting on that Plan B now.
 

wyo2track

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western WY
I live in the northern part of these areas, usually you see large groups 30-40 antelope migrating with deer, scattered across the landscape. A group may be 3 to 5 antelope now. It's really unbelievable. Most are already near or on their summer ranges on those large private parcels near the forest. They're are so few...its just really unbelievable. To anyone that has applied for these areas, take the advice from G&F and modify your application to somewhere else from those areas listed.
 

TxLite

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Western hunting is done.


People are going to have to pivot to southern deer, and hogs.

Those species/regions can absorb all the hunting pressure, and still have room for more.
The downside is finding public land for those species. Our public land is scarce in Texas and most folks don’t want to pay the some of crazy costs landowners are asking to hunt on private. In areas that don’t require a draw, it already looks like a pumpkin patch with just the local hunters. Draw areas are getting harder and harder to draw as well. And most of the draw hunts here are for specific weekends, not just the entirety of a season. I think most folks that are used to western public hunting will be very disappointed trying to hunt public in Texas. Especially if it got the additional pressure of western hunters shifting over. I haven’t looked into the other southern states that offer hog/wt hunting though, so maybe they offer more opportunity.
 

Rich M

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The downside is finding public land for those species. Our public land is scarce in Texas and most folks don’t want to pay the some of crazy costs landowners are asking to hunt on private. In areas that don’t require a draw, it already looks like a pumpkin patch with just the local hunters. Draw areas are getting harder and harder to draw as well. And most of the draw hunts here are for specific weekends, not just the entirety of a season. I think most folks that are used to western public hunting will be very disappointed trying to hunt public in Texas. Especially if it got the additional pressure of western hunters shifting over. I haven’t looked into the other southern states that offer hog/wt hunting though, so maybe they offer more opportunity.

FL public land is similar - you get a quota hunt for 3-5 days of hunting. Not a bunch of opportunity.
 

TxLite

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FL public land is similar - you get a quota hunt for 3-5 days of hunting. Not a bunch of opportunity.
Yep. Usually you’re awarded a Thursday-Sunday type hunt with a mandatory meeting the day prior on site with parks and wildlife to review the rules. Some hunts you are able to wander the property, others you are assigned a box blind to stay at. Just depends how they set it up and how many other hunters you’re sharing the property with. Some units are 100 acres, while others can be over a thousand
 

Rich M

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Yep. Usually you’re awarded a Thursday-Sunday type hunt with a mandatory meeting the day prior on site with parks and wildlife to review the rules. Some hunts you are able to wander the property, others you are assigned a box blind to stay at. Just depends how they set it up and how many other hunters you’re sharing the property with. Some units are 100 acres, while others can be over a thousand
Very similar.

We get a couple thousand acres, one place comes to mind - about 6,500 acres with 150 permits for each of 9 hunts. We are allowed to bring a guest with us - so max of 300 hunters on 6,500 acres. Free-for-all kind of thing, if you find a lot of deer sign, chances are you'll have company.

Flip side, we get some that have say 10,000 acres and 20-30-40 permits. Much more elbow room. Just not a lot of time to get dialed in.
 
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I've tried to find this same kind of quota information for Wyoming deer on their website. Can't find it. Can anyone help point me in the right direction?
 

Wags

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I'm a landowner in one of those areas and this will probably be the first time I don't draw and I'm ok with that. Our herd took a massive hit and need time and mild winters to catch up. I know they will, but until then I hope tag quotas stay low. As much as I'll miss getting to hunt, I'd rather spend it on beef than continue to hurt a population that's already taken that big a loss.
 

Laramie

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I spent some time over this past weekend scouting for future years. The lack of antelope was sad, even in some areas that didn't suffer a bad winter. There is something else hurting their population.
 
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I spent some time over this past weekend scouting for future years. The lack of antelope was sad, even in some areas that didn't suffer a bad winter. There is something else hurting their population.

Seems odd to hear that, in 2020 I drove home from Wyoming, then across highway 20 through the heart of Idaho “antelope country” I saw 1000’s of antelope in Wyoming, couldn’t drive 1/4 mile without seeing a herd from the highway, but once I got to Idaho I saw 2 antelope. I haven’t been to Wyoming since the winter but antelope are everywhere in Idaho right now


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I spent some time over this past weekend scouting for future years. The lack of antelope was sad, even in some areas that didn't suffer a bad winter. There is something else hurting their population.
You might be onto something. Aside from the winterkill there was a pneumonia outbreak circulating within the herds up there. It seems like they got it pretty badly in that region.
 
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