Are there a lot of antelope in Wyoming Unit 17?

Is there any public land, or any easy access with reasonable fees?

Would this be a doable hunt in four days with a couple of teenagers?

Call the Sheridan game and fish office and they will send you a list of landowners who allow hunting. They don't break down if they charge or not. There is a decent amount of public land but a lot of it is in 1-3 section parcels. There is one walk in area up in the north portion. I spent quite a bit of time up there and didn't see any antelope up there last year. This was the weekend after 10" of early snow so that may have affected where they were located. I would definitely not attempt area 17 without a gps and the landownership chip in it. If you have more questions shoot me an email at [email protected]. I live in Gillette so I am right here all year. Probably doable in 4 days if you are not picky about what you shoot, may have to settle for a doe or two.

ToddNEWY,
Don't mean to hijack the thread but can you tell me how the opening week is in area 24, is it pretty crazy?

boutdoors,

I have not hunted 24 for quite a few years but it doesn't have much public land so it was always pretty heavily hunted the first week.

Todd

Thanks for the reply. They have a lot of tags available--I wonder why so many tags if there aren't any antelope around.

Dakota

If you go to the WY Fish and game, they have a hunter assistance program and area 22 & 102 (SHERIDAN AREA) have landowners that will let you shoot doe or fawns only.

area 22 Travis Rule 307-217-0898
area 102 Gerry Miller 307-684-7997

DakotaDeer,

Its not that there are not a lot of antelope its just that most of them reside on private land. I am not willing to pay to hunt so all of my comments are based on public land.

Boww777,

I would't put a lot of stock in the hunter assistance program. Those 2 names have been on there for years. They re did it this year so it says updated in 2014 but all the information looks just like all the years past.

What kind of trespass fee would I be looking at to hunt on a decent ranch for three people?

And how do I find the willing landowner?

I do not know about Area 17, but in the Buffalo area trespass fees are called guided hunt fees anymore and NOT what I call reasonable trespass fees......Like above statements, the public land is crowded and the antelope are on the private. Pack your GPS and be sure all available info . is on it...... Good Luck.
As far as the Hunter Assistance program I think their info. is dated.... From the highway you can see lots of antelope on Rule's land and they never get disturbed. So I can not believe they get hunted too much. Either he no longer participates or the price has gone WAY skyward......
P.S. You can PM me if you have further questions about this area.

Dakota:

I have another source which I dont want to make it public but I have gone to this place many of times. It is around the Recluse area in Unit 17. The person charges $500 per antelope. It use to be $350 but I heard he bumped it up a couple of years ago. If this is something of interest, PM me and I will give you his information.
I have been wanting to find PUBLIC land as well so I can do a DIY hunt, but based on local responses, it seems Private land is the way to go. When I was there last time, I went to check out public land a little north of Recluse and it also appeared that all the antelope was on private land. I really dont understand why because the public and private land were basically side by side each other.

BTW, you will be able to shoot your 3 antelope bucks in 1 day.

If you were on the public land the first few days of the season you would understand why the antelope move off it real fast . Between people camping on the small quarter sections and the droves of circling trucks , the goats see more people in them first few days then the whole rest of the year.

ok, that makes alot of sense.
I guess you would have a good chance to get on one the first day of the season then? I was thinking of the 4000 acres walk in Area on unit 17 off Elk Creek Road. The land is also surrounded by BLM land.

The BLM is also available to hunt correct?

Do you have to have landowner permission to hunt the BLM land, or can you go on at will?

You can go on at will but, and this is a big but. You have to be able to access it from a "Public" road. You cannot cross any private land to access the public. "Public roads" are defined basically as named roads be they county, forest service or blm, un named 2 tracks do not qualify if they cross private ground on the way to the public. Not all roads on public ground are public and usable, the ranchers are quick to get the oil and gas companies to label the 2 track roads to their well locations as private roads. This is a loophole that allows them to not allow access on roads that should be usable.

Are they required to label the 2-track oil roads as "private"? Are they marked as such?

It has to be a public right of way road, like a named county road. All those oil field roads are private, unless on the public property.

They cannot be used to cross private property.

If they are public land it is ok to use them unless they are marked "private road" you will find about half of the roads will be marked with signs. A second concern about roads on public lands is to be aware of the "off road travel restrictions" of the land you are on(forest service, blm, etc) the 2 tracks may be off limits even if they are not marked private.

Honestly the best approach is to assume you will be restricted to the main roads and walk in. I take my game cart, I can't drive down the roads but nothing says I can't walk down it pulling my game cart in and out. Makes for easy pulling.

Walking would be the plan as of now. I see some BLM tracts on the map that have public roads going to the edge, but they look as though oil roads continue from there across the BLM land. I was hoping that I could drive the oil road further in, then walk off-road even farther.

In Wyoming you can hunt the state land too(blue) if access is public.

The funny thing about the access is , the last few years lots of roads get labelled private that are not private at all. I spoke to a few people about it and they say ignore the signs...... Most all the BLM, State Land Trust and walk in signs have also mysteriously disappeared , around Buffalo anyways. It is getting tricky to distinguish what is public, what was public and what is private. Your GPS with an updated public lands guide is a big help. On BLM land the oil companies have mineral rights, not blockade rights. Travel Schoonover Rd, and tell me what they are doing!