My two friends and I are planning an Antelope hunt in Wyoming for 2011. It will be the first out of state hunt for any of us, and we'll be driving over from Oregon. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on and been looking on the Wyoming F&G website for what units to put in for, etc. but what I'd like to hear is how others have done it. What was your plan? How did it work out? What went well, and what would you do differently?

To give you an idea of our priorities for this trip, we plan on bringing five coolers and no tape measure. We'll each be buying a buck tag and at least one doe tag, perhaps more depending on the unit and how much meat we each need by this time next year.

As for rifles, I'm taking a pre-war Model 70 in 270. 130 Nosler BT's over 59gr of H4831sc. Scope to be determined; I'm pretty comfortable with this setup.

I live about 100 miles from "my" WY antelope unit.

sometimes I drive from home each day.

sometimes I stay in a hotel in town.

sometimes I car-camp.

if you plan on barreling out there 1/2 hour before dawn, you're going to be sitting there for a couple hours waiting for the antelope to wake up and start moving!

It's pretty easy once you settle on where to go.

First time we did it, we left the house about noon on the last weekend of the season. I didn't have a tag, but a neighbor talked my friend into buying two tags, said he had a landowner contact, then backed out. I decided to go along for the ride, as I had at least hunted them a few times in when I lived in Montana. He was kinda clueless.

Anyway, had a BLM map of the area from a previous deer hunt, and sure enough, first piece of public land we hit had about 60 antelope on it! That one was quick and easy.

Talked to the landowner contact, who turned out to be part of a public access agreement with Wyoming G&F (Hunter Management Area) slept in the truck in her yard.
Next morning, took a few minutes to find some goats, stalk took about an hour. Hunt over, made it home before noon. 23 hours, two goats.

Now we sleep in campers at a KOA, have a few more guys, head out each morning with two hunters per truck.
One guy has a real nice collapsable tripod for skinning and deboning the antelope. That might be a neat idea to add because there will be NO trees. I usually hunt the end of October, so it doesn't usually get too hot.
Also will want a bipod.

I've posted this before, but it's pertinent so I'll repeat:

I have a "truck cooler" that's 48x48" that I made and fill with four 6gallon ice blocks. it'll keep 4 antelope below 40* for at least 7 days, even if it's 90* outside. (It's gotten a lotta miles of use and is pretty patched up, but still works!)

Cool, what do you use for insulation?

4x8 Styrofoam sheets, one 2" layer and one 1" layer all around, with the lid edges offset.

it was probably $50 total 10 years ago when I made it but I bet I've spent close to that in duct tape trying to keep it going

covering the jugs + dry ice with leftover sheets (halving the cooler) cuts down on deadspace prior to needed use and extends ice life greatly

I like it.
I don't have a very good picture of it, but here's that little portable tripod and critter winch. Beats the heck out of doing everything on the ground, keeps the meat cleaner.

I've taken four of them in SD. If I go this year I will take kneepads and leather gloves. I'm tired of picking cactus needles out of my knees and hands when I stalk them.

Oh, hey that reminds me. I bought a pair of "turkey hunting pants" on sale at Sportsmen's Warehouse prior to last hunting season. They are sage brushy camo, but with removable foam knee pads built into them.

Last week, I drove up I 25 and out the main road west of Gillette (escapes me at the moment). Saw antelope about every mile or so. I think most of that is private but there has to be BLM land with lopes on it somewhere handy...........

As an easterner I did several DIY hunts in the 1990's. Hunted on public land out of Rock Springs. I believe it is difficult to draw there now. What I want to tell you is that on all these trips we saw hardly any deer. Lots of antelope and even a desert elk herd and wild horses but no deer. Besides that the locals don't seem to care much about the antelope hunters but are very protective of their deer. Just do the antelope hunt and bring extra ammo for the prairie dogs.

I'm with UL. Meat care is essential with these guys. Consider butchering them yourself, immediately and then have a place in town picked out that can flash freeze them for you.

Your choice of rifle and bullet are probably the absolute least important issue. Anything will work. Open sights on a .30-30 Savage junker have worked for me.

I've got tags for 4 WYgoats this year.

Brent

We'll be doing our own butchering. Thanks for the tip on flash freezing. Does that have any effect on taste when the meat later thaws?

UL: Neat set up, I'll have to give that some thought.

Exbiologist: That's a neat piece of equipment. That'd work great in some parts of Oregon as well because sometimes there are trees, but they're just not thick enough to support weight or the branches are too far up to be of any use.

Flash freezing doesn't add anything per se, but what you don't want is to put your antelope in a weak freezer, stacked too deep and after 3 days, you come to take it home and find that some of it is not frozen even yet.

Flash freezing just gets the job done right quickly before anything untoward can happen. And, if you are headed home in a day later, you can be sure it is as ready for the trip as you can make it.

I've done it both ways, and I can tell you that there is no comparison! Esp. if the weather is running a bit hot.

If you are going to kill a lot of animals, and you are driving a pickup, you can take a variation on Lefty's cooler and to the following.

Buy some 2" or thicker foamboard insulation, the blue or pink stuff. Put it on the bottom of your truck. Add half of a large plastic tarp. Then your meat. Then fold the other half of the tarp over the meat, add bags or blocks of ice. Add another tarp.

On top of the whole thing, put your sleeping bags - two or three or more. Then cover some way to keep wind and rain off.

Drive like hell!

Brent

Thanks Brent, this is definitely a meat hunt as well as a fun hunt so we'll be spending some time figuring out how to get the meat back to Oregon as fresh as possible.

only way to get good speed goat meat is cool down the meat quick....properly cared for goat meat is better than deer or elk IMHO......poorly cared for is darn near inedible.....get the meat on ice ASAP, dont let them flop around in the back of the pickup all day on a warm day and expect them to taste good.....we shoot them and basically just start getting the meat off the carcass and dont wait....can just quarter them and such, no need to do the fine butchering but get that hide off and the meat on ice....

And Pronghorn is some of the best wild game I've eaten. My wife agrees.

You can build a fairly simple hitch-mount hoist. I made another with a boat winch that also breaks down for storage, but I don't have a photo of it.

You might find THIS thread to be of interest.

Depending on where you are, there should be a local processing operation in the area. Antelope are one of the cash crops that time of year. We dropped off 6 or more and they had them done a day later, sausage mostly (my preference). Prices were modest. I usually go in the Douglas area due to many left over tags, Douglas has several processors.

Thanks, that'll be something to consider as well. Are the processors pretty good about getting you your particular antelope back?

if you want steaks and such DO NOT take it to just any processor.....most when yah drop off a critter, they weight it and just make sure you get the equivalent amount of meat back and not necessarily your animal.....unless yah like a specific guys sausage or other processed products or know the guy will give you your animal back i wouldnt do it......also a bandsaw used to cut up a deer or goat drastically increases any gamey or off taste.....

Here's my saga from last year's Wyoming antelope hunt: https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...oming_Antelope_Hunt_With_Fel#Post3376882

Be sure to bring knee pads for crawling. That was the best tip that I got here!

Knee pads and leather gloves are a good thing, lots of cactus where we hunted near Casper and you're likely to do some crawling.

A buddy and I went the first time last year, put in for areas which had lots of accessable public land but ended up paying a very reasonable trespass fee and gaining access to several thousand acres of private land. The owner considers antelope vermin, I suspect that is a common view. We're going back to the same place this year and have already contacted him. WY Fish and Game can provide you with a list of ranchers who will allow hunting on their land, I strongly suggest getting one and contacting folks on it.

The processor we used (Kompac) was great, asked when we were leaving and had the last one done in about 36 hours.

Oh yeah, the mud has to be experienced to be believed.

Waders: Thanks for the link!

Thanks for all the tips guys, and keep'em coming.

How bad is the mud? I've got 4WD on my F150 but my tires don't have aggressive tread (they're not plain street tires, but kind of an in between tread; they came with the truck). Would it be worth getting a set of off-road type tires?

Last years trip.

http://onyourownadventures.com/hunttalk/showthread.php?t=241213

Headed back there next month.

I suggest having chains for all four, a Hi-Jack lift, and a board as a base for the lift; all for emergency extraction. Otherwise, if the roads are bad-- don't drive. You don't want to get stuck, and nobody wants the roads rutted up.
The second thing a permitting rancher will tell you, after "don't shoot the cows", is "stay off the roads if it rains".

Thanks Macrabbit; I'm not much for off-roading and would rather not tear up the land anymore than it already has been.

as far as i know eastern Wyo is like eastern MT in that whats on the surface is mainly the bottom of a shallow inland sea from bout 68 million years ago....meaning its mainly gumbo clay......when wet it is slick as axle grease but also sticks to everything.....i like 4x4'ing and all that as much as the next guy but if we get a rain i dont hunt......the stuff is nothing but a huge headache when its wet even with real aggressive tires....

Thanks, I'd prefer not to drive in poor conditions as well. Planning on an early season hunt to miss rain/snow but it's good to know what to be prepared for.

Yep. I thought this red stuff we have down here was bad, but it isn't nearly as slimy as WY's.

We were in a Chevy 4x4 with not particularly agressive tires and never (quite) got stuck, but it only rained a little one day.

its nasty chit, especially when really wet.....get yourself a garden hoe, cut the handle to about 2 foot.....when it hits the perfect moisture level it will build up in your wheel wells thick enough you cant turn your front wheels.....the short handled hoe is about the perfect tool to dig it out to gain back your steering.....

but its also so slick you will slide off side hills or slide yah into the ruts your trying to avoid like just like grease and your wheels will just sit in spin cause the clay fills in the tred so in all reality your running on slicks.....

horrible to walk in especially after a light rain that just wets the top half inch or so, builds up on the bottom of your shoes to about 6 inches thick than falls off to start the process all over.....you will twist an ankle on perfectly level ground or atleast jar the hell out of all your joints.....

good news is, with some sun and wind, it dries out pretty fast except for low areas.....so long as the top 1/4 inch or so is dry it aint to bad to walk on but a truck sinks through....

Thanks, does the severity of the mud vary by time of season or is it fairly constant throughout the hunting season?

wet is wet......before the snow starts to fly its normally dry up here.....problem with fall is it takes awhile for the ground to freeze so if it snows it hits the ground and starts to melt just like had it rained...had some interesting hunts late season deer where we would get out early while the ground was froze and bout 11 am be driving as fast as possible to get to gravel before the ground thawed and we had to sit and wait for it to freeze again at night to get out.....

in Montana the first part of speed goat season is usually warm and dry and rarely a problem....Nov is normally when it gets interesting.....

Thanks, we'd be looking at going in September so we can get back for Oregon's deer opener in early October.

its like anything......who knows for sure, can have a rain storm at any time.......good thing bout Sept and Oct is the sun is usually still high enough to dry stuff out fast enough to usually not completely kill a hunt provided your out for more than 3 days of hunting.....

Planning on at least five days so we can take our time, I'll bring that short-handled hoe for sure, just in case.

its rare that provided i coulda missed work that rain screwed up more than 2 days worth of hunting in Oct......Sept tends to be a lil drier yet.....last fall was the first time in 7 years that rain actually totally screwed up a hunting weekend for me.....November when it starts snowing, the ground aint quite froze yet, the nights get below freezing and the days are above that and sunny that it can get entertaining...

but seriously if the dirt your on is pale gray and baby powder fine when you crumble it up in your hand thats the stuff that will give yah hell when wet....

And that grey powder seems to be a lot more common to the north and East of Wyoming. Further south and west, it is more like rock/gravel.

Might be a dumb question, but does the topsoil there contain bentonite of drilling mud and kitty litter fame?

Yup.

NE WY is the center of the bentonite universe.
Brent

bentonite is mined in northeast Wyoming and is also found in southeast MT.....the gumbo im talking bout is similar but not quite the same and much more common than bentonite.....

Unless I missed it, I haven't seen anyone suggest that you put in for preference points. Be sure to buy a preference point before the end of August to increase your chances in the draw. Otherwise, you will have to put in for areas with lots of private land and pay for access.

I would also take some time, now, to look at the different Hunter Management Areas. The current info is up. Many are easy to get permits on and are a good way to hunt some units that are easier to draw because of less public land. Unless you try for a premier unit, if you get your point this year you should be pretty much garanteed a tag for next year.

Oregon, you may hanker to find a big buck and don't assume they are all out on flat ground,although many will be in places seemingly impossible to approach.....

If there is some rough country near or in your area, take a little time to go where a vehicle cannot take you, on foot into rougher country.Not uncommon to encounter a big buck up by himself or with a few does after pressure has pushed him where he feels more secure. I have killed more than one in that type country.

Bring a pack frame and game bags to handle cape, boned meat, etc.This is also a very fun way to hunt them,and a pleasant change from bouncing around in vehicles.

Thanks for the tip, Bob, I'd rather not spend all my time in a vehicle either; particularly as I'm better at getting my feet out of mud than I am at getting my truck out of mud That and half the fun of getting to another state is seeing the country and if I wanted to look at it through a windshield, I'd stay on the interstate.

And if you're the patient type, you can hike out (in the morning dark might be best) into the middle of an area antelope frequent, crawl into a shallow gully or a ditch or a clump of sage or rocks, and wait. Those peripatetic beasties will come by eventually. It's much easier to have them sneak up on you than vice versa.

That's exactly what I do hunting public land. When the motorized circus shows up and starts stirring things around, there will be action.

I am also planning a DIY antelope hunt for my dad and i. i am from ohio and want to make the trip out next year or possibly 2010 as i am going black bear in Manitoba in May. so planning this hunt has been fulfilling most of my day dreaming at work. If it all possible i would like to get mulie tags and goat tags since we are coming suh a long way. As a non resident would it be possible to buy points this year and next, put in for mulie tags and try to buy OTC buck goat tags? can a non-resident put in for two different species? any ideas on how to go about this without using an outfitter?

I am sorry i meant i would most likely make it to Wy in 2012.

Have only hunted Wyoming once, last year for antelope. My son-in-law and I picked up leftover doe tags for Area 29. We were completely clueless as to what the area was like except for what the maps told us.

Nevertheless, my son-in-law had a shot opportunity at dawn (he missed) and finally took one around 1PM. (I�ve never seen antelope so skittish.) I got the one in the photo below at sundown. The rig we used to hang them while skinning worked very well and was pretty inexpensive � the pipe on each side consists of a long pipe, three nipples, a tee and a 90 degree elbow, forming a �u� with a long tail. It set up in seconds and came down when we were driving. Some wooden strips were used to brace the pipe in a more or less vertical position. It was MUCH better than skinning them on the ground. The only mistake I made was I should have used longer pipe and the rear stake holders rather than the center ones. We�ll be using it again this year as my son-in-law and two nephews are going with me. Highly recommended.

Get some good maps, talk to the Wyoming F&G people and you should do fine.