Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Full circle back to Antelope

Getting old enough the waining years of my life.....will be difficult to climb for elk and deer. Haven't hunted antelope since the early '80's. Living in Utah, sure i'll apply for tags here but what about the surrounding states, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, etc. No so much in buck quality, though that's a plus, but rather.....reliable year to year successful drawing a tag. I don't mind my due diligence in reading the states hunting regs but hoping to not have to find out "after" the draw it takes bunches of points to draw a particular unit or the quantity/quality of the unit is poor or tons and tons of locked up private land, etc.

Any simple pointers would be most appreciated.

Alan

Draw is tough every where, don't know about non resident odds in Nevada, but resident is no walk in the park, Great hunt as it is before the rut and the meat is much better than states wit post rut hunts IMHO. I killed a Montana antelope last year in mid October and it was pretty gamey.

Am a WY resident and haven't drawn an antelope tag in 3 years.

Eastern part of state odds are better but very limited public land.

And I know other residents that haven't drawn a tag in 10+ years.

Things are tough all over enter as many state draws as you can.

At tag I got in Wyoming as a leftover in 2010 now requires 2 points to get.

Demand I am way up.

Pronghorn are, in my opinion, the most fun hunt.

Your odds are far better than Idaho. The odds here are more like 20:1.3

Forget about drawing antelope in AZ. Even as a resident, I feel it is almost like a once in a lifetime for a rifle hunt. I have had one tag in 30 years. Nonresidents are limited to up to 10% of the permits, and half of those go to those with max BPs. I'd focus on WY.

This is the 1st year I didnt draw a goat tag as a resident here in Wyoming in 40 yrs.
Asked dfg why as it surprised me.
Supposedly antelope count was way down due to winter kills this year, so they cut all zones limits.
I drew all my deer tags though.
Talked to others and those who drew for deer didn't get goat tags, those who drew goat tags didn't get deer tags.
The draw system is a joke here and I voiced that with them in person, they didn't discount my thoughts.

Demand for antelope licenses here in Wyoming is way up. Antelope numbers have fallen in many area's. So naturally drawing a license is getting hard. Some area's you can get a doe/fawn license fairly easy, other area's that up until the last few years left over licenses could be bought over the counter up until the last few days of the season, now are all gone in the first draw..
Do the research on drawing odds, pays your money and take your chances.

^^^^^^^^What Ranch 13 says^^^^^^^^

Wife and I neither one drew this year. First time in years one or the other or both did not draw a antelope tag.

Wyoming has a great draw for resident, no PP. Tag numbers vary every year based on population estimates and range conditions.
PP are needed for NR and without many you'll be left with areas that have little pubic access and trespass fee hunts are much harder to find these days.

If a resident hasn't drawn an antelope tag in years it's because they are only applying for the best areas with long draw odds. We've drawn the same area for years now and get our pronghorn every year.
Good bucks can be found all over the state but some areas have better genetics and access, those areas are much harder to draw.

Leftover tags are getting less and less due to NR drawing all the tags rolled over from the resident draw. Residents are raising their voices and want this practice stopped and those under allocated tags put into a resident leftover draw. That would further limit NR tags to their allotment in the 1st draw and make NR odds longer.
You need some PP for a better hunt area.

Wyoming resident hunters have the most fair draw system for Elk, Deer, and Antelope. No bullchit point system to contend with.

Putting in for points is fine if you have enough time to wait. Trespass fees in NM are another option if you want to hunt every year.

Texas is another state you can hunt every year.