Antelope Hunting ?

[rugerfan.64]

 My brothers and I have long discussed the idea of going out west for an Antelope hunt. My question is,where is the best state? Area within that state? Cost? Do all western states draw for tags? Just in the thinkin about stage at this point. I've looked at Wy DNR websites, and all I can say is its confusing as the devil just browsing through. Any thoughts or opinions would be welcome and greatly appreciated.

[mauser98us]

Don't come to Arizona. Limited amount of tags. Only 25 to 50 per unit,and it's a draw system.In 40 years of hunting, I have only draw n one tag.

[jedman]

  I believe Wyoming has the most antelope by far.  I go out every year from OH and hunt in the area between Douglas and Lusk.
   There is alot of Walk In land, state land and BLM and trust lands to hunt so I would not pay a trespass fee to hunt.
 If you are looking for a buck tag you can do the draw and get 1 or 2  but you pay a application fee.
If you wait until the leftover tags become available ( about late July ) there are usually buck tags available but they sell out quickly online.   Area 26 had hundreds of tags this year and you could still get a buck tag after the season was open.
To me all of the Western states have confusing rules and regs. ? The WY fish and game people are good to talk to and can explain things that you cant make sense of.
      Jedman

[Ranch13]

You don't necessarily have to put in the drawing for Antelope here in Wyoming. There are usually an abundance of tags left over in many areas.
 I would suggest you schedule a vacation somewhere around the 10 of October. Then after the draw results in Wy are out look at the left over license list and begin your hunt planning from there.
Keep in mind just for the simple pleasure of hunting nonresidents can get the type 6 doe/fawn licenses for under 50$, so if you got one or two of those you could do some scouting get a chance to shoot an antelope and decide if coming back the next year after a buck would be something you really wanted to do.

[bilmac]

Wyoming has way more goats than any other State. There is lots of Government land in the west side of the State, but licenses are hard to draw there. Some residents go several years between licenses in the more popular areas. The east half of the State, say from Casper east is largely private land.This is the situation like has already been described,with licenses left over after the drawing. If I wanted to be sure, I would put in for the drawing in some of the eastern areas. If you wait for leftover licenses there is a chance you may not get what you want.

A pre trip, even before you apply for the license is the best if you can swing it. Drive through some habitat and stop and talk to landowners. A lot of them have hunters that come back year after year, but some have room for a new outfit. I suppose most want a trespass fee, I don't know much about that, but I doubt it is very high. There are walk in areas where you don't have to have permission to hunt, and State land, but State land is almost always only 640 acres in any one parcel. If you have some map reading skills you can get a goat from them but it takes more effort.

[rugerfan.64]

Thanks y'all. Like I said this is still in the tossing around stage at the moment. I've learned more from these replies than 2 weeks worth of Wy reg reading. Any comments and thoughts are welcome and appreciated. You're never to old to learn. Thanks again and keep em coming!

[Swift One]

As far as tresspass fees:  I called some of the landowners listed in the WY fish and game and they wanted some crazy prices.  It really dissapointed me until I got to WY and talked to a couple of landowners. Most of the guys I talked to out there charged between $75 nd $150 per tag.  A VERY SMALL FRACTION of the price that the landowners listed in the WY book were charging.
 
 

[freddogs]

There are lots of antelope and plenty of places to hunt in Wyoming. It's much like the other guys said. There are tresspass fees that aren't that bad. Some areas have lots of public land. It's not hard to get an average antelope but the big ones take a lot of looking. I stay at motels because I like a shower and I don't care to haul a lot of camping gear with me. Most grocery stores sell dry ice you can freeze your meat with or there are lots of meat cutters.
I've hunted around Gillette on private land, around Casper on public, walk on and private lands, and around Riverton/Lander area on BLM lands. They were all good hunts.The areas with lots of BLM land are great hunts but tags are hard to draw. Shot my best antelope on private land. Good luck.