Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game wyoming Antelope unit 26 help

Me and couple friends have permits to hunt antelope in area 26 in wyoming but are looking for a place to hunt. I was wondering if anyone had any info about landowners in the area that may allow antelope hunting. I have already contacted the game and fish and the douglas chamber and called some biologist but I havent had any luck they dont release landowners names anymore thanks for any help.

Did you apply for the area or did you get leftover doe or buck tags?

There is a walk in area off the Ginny Trail Road. It covers quite a few acres. I would definitely plan to be there for the opener. The antelope population is very down here in WY. I talked to a rancher/guide today and he feels like his population is down by 2/3 since last year. He said the hayfield across the road from his house usually has 300+ head on it now only has about 60. This area is north of 26 but its indicative of the overall numbers.

Not sure if this helps, good luck.

Todd

I applied and I have a buck tag and a doe tag. Ya thanks todd Ill check it out We wont be hunting opening day we wont be able to go out until about 2 days after the opener I guess will see how it goes.

Why would you purchase a tag without knowing if you had a place to hunt?

Unit 26 is mostly private land but you will find plenty of antelope.

Couple options
1- purchase mytopo map and study public land with road access, plan on walking a little.

2- Purchase onx huntmaps with land owner contact info and start calling.

My hunting pard & I took our boys out there last fall. Was tough. My buddy's son shot a buck and mine passed up a dink.

A few things:

1) without the OnXMaps chip for my GPS we'd have just as well stayed home

2) just because there is public land "up that road" doesn't mean the road is public and if there isn't public access there isn't public land

3) the list the chamber & visitors bureau will offer you is worthless for gaining access

4) strongly consider hitting the walk-in area mentioned already on the opener; it was all but empty when we got there the second week of the season

5) there is no room on accessible public land to walk; plan on driving in circles

Good luck!

Buster1:

Wish I could help you positively but I probably won't. I have all of the GMU maps around here somewhere but haven't as yet dug them out.

I/we had pretty good success just driving around, stopping in towns, going into bars, saloons and businesses and just asking. Folks were friendly and forthcoming. We got contact info and called. Some were guides and some were ranchers.

We hooked up with guides on the spur of the moment with the full regalia, camp tents, cook, cots and hunted next day.

Other times we just drove around and visited ranchers and asked about prairie dog shooting and oh yes, any antelope. They were really friendly and didn't ask for any compensation. Just invited me/us in. Saw antelope, in range, just driving around on the ranch.

Other times I just stopped in town asked for a lead and got names. Went to the ranch and the rancher furnished horses and hunted/guided for a very nominal fee.

Couple of years ago the Gillette/Devils Tower area was swarming with a super abundance of antelope. Then the big, deep snows hit and wiped out 90% - 95% - it was a shocking catastrophe. 90%95 % 5,000 antelope.

Sorry I don't have contact names for you. Good luck. I think that if you motor around and flip over a few rocks you will come up with something good. Those private landowners are for the most part really good, decent people. I can't speak for them but I think that if some dollars were offered, to grease the deal, it couldn't hurt. ( Say around $100. ) *( Some of those that I offered to just didn't want anything ). If you can cultivate a rancher, and he likes you and you like him, and you strike it off, and he has antelope in acceptable numbers then you have set a precedent and you're pretty well set for life in a place to hunt them.

Those that have colony's of pestiferous prairie dogs areas, digging holes, are also happy to have someone interested in reducing the population.

There were times that we saw shootables in the first half hour. Going a full day without was strange. Two days - not usual. 3 day not. But now that there seems to be some population losses it becomes more of a curious question as to what is going on.

sounds made up.

What ?

Unit 26 is North of Douglas, Eastern Wyoming, just South of Devils Tower. A long way from the Kendall Dace ranch in Western Wyoming. And from Afton, Green Lake.

It's in the area where the devastation occurred.

You can verify population, and history, with the Wyoming Fish and Game Department.

HTTPS/wgfd.wyo.gov/

And an abundance of outfitters/guides there in that area one of which I know very personally and trust implicitly as a very credible and honest enterprise that guides hunters.

I don't know where OP Buster1 lives since he didn't provide his location/home address so it makes that more difficult to give advice.

If anyone wants to be more specific, it well help me to be more specific too.

Surprised to hear population is that low. We just drove south from spearfish SD to Denver for elk trip and it seemed every pasture/alfalfa field along the highway had a good number of goats in Wyoming. Saw some dandys as well.

I hunted a few times on a private ranch in 26 . I called the rancher last March and he said numbers way down so opted not to pay trespass fee and hunt this year for OTC tags. I spent weeks making phone calls writing ranchers to get access .


Start doing research min 6 months out.

I just drove thru area 26 on my way home tonight. Had to detour over along the walk in area off The Ginny Trail Road because of a fire on Hwy 59. Saw more antelope than I have in the past couple of years. That said it still wasn't very many. Most herds were 7-8 with 1 buck, yes the bucks are nice but I only saw about 6. That is both the public and private lands up the Ginny trail and from where it connects with hwy 59 up to Wright. Duckduckgoose, yes the numbers are that low, not many years ago you would see herds of 30-50 while going from Gillette to Douglas, these would literally be one after the other. If you tried to keep count you literally could not keep up. Now you usually count less that 150 total in that same distance.

To the OP if you have the chip in your GPS there is a spot just past Bill where you can go under the railroad and access several public sections. Just have your phone and have the Forest Service and Game and Fish numbers programmed in because there is a high likelihood of being challenged and asked to leave by someone claiming it is private land. We have talked to the Forest Service and they are aware of the problem and will help if they are open but don't seem real interested in being proactive and solving the problem.

Good luck, let us know how you do.

Thanks for the info we are heading out Saturday and will see how it goes

The population is down? I'd love to see it when it's up! I drove across WY from the black hills, SD to the Tetons, and saw literally thousands of goats.

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You're right thankfully. Your input sees to bolster the supposition that the die off was isolated area.

I did find recently that antelope in the Sheridan area are in good supply.

Yep population last fall was WAY down from when I'd last visited in 2010.

You're right; it's an amazing spectical!

Wyoming/Montana are as close as I've come to heaven...

I respectfully disagree. I live here full time and in the past 3 months I have been from Gillette to Cheyenne, Gillette to Douglas(separate trip from Cheyenne) and Gillette to Green River. On none of these trips have I seen anywhere near "thousands of goats" we didn't keep a running tally but I would venture to say we did not see 1000 antelope total. As I said above the size of the herds is less than 1/4 of what it was a few years ago, now generally 6-9 instead of 25-30.