Unit 73 Antelope Wyoming

[HOWITZER]

Just checked the wyoming fish and wildlife page and drew my first choice antelope tag unit 73.  Now comes the hard part, never been there, read a few books about antelope but never been before.  Any help or advice from more seasoned antelope hunters out there?  Looks like I'm planning on going the end of Sept.  Regardless I'm pretty excited to try and harvest an antelope with trad gear.

[Muleyslayer]

I hunt area 9  for a few years now,just east of you.This will be my first trad.hunt but I can tell you pitching a ground blind on a water hole and sitting is one way, probably your best. Rut may still be on too, buy a cheap decoy the bucks will run at you like there gonna kick your butt, but they dont stick around and they seem to know your effective range.Lol. Feel free to pm me and Ill give you my number. Wyoming has it all, its beautiful and has a ton of game, espesialy them goats. Buy some good glass.

[centaur]

Muleyslayer gives some good advice. Get some good maps showing  land ownership; 73 has a good bit of BLM land, I believe. Then get some topos to give an idea about water availability. September can be 90 degrees or snowing, so bring appropriate clothing. It will be windy; count on it. End of September should have the bucks rutting, so expect that they will be acting a bit crazy. It is a fun hunt.

[HOWITZER]

I did buy a great pair of binos and a good spotting scope so that was covered.  I got a good topo of the area, now is it worth the effort of trying to secure some private land to hunt or (this is one of the reasons I picked unit 73) is the BLM land to hunt just as good?  Goodness you guys got the old blood pumping!

[centaur]

I see that the rifle season starts Sept 15. The rifle guys will have them wild and stirred up, but the Casper hunters will usually be about done by the end of opening weekend. Success rates for rifle run about 90% on goats. So if you can't go prior to the gun guys, go late. Antelope don't care if they are on BLM or private, unless you can find a rancher that limits access to gun hunters but allows archery. Then you may have found antelope heaven. Casper's G and F office should have a listing of ranchers who allow hunting in the area.

[HOWITZER]

Thanks, centaur, we are planning on flying directly into casper, that's exactly what I read in one of the books to go the week or two after gun opens cause all the locals will have harvested thier goat and the pressure will be less.

[jtwalsh62]

I am meeting a friend out there (Colorado) to hunt them he said that we would be in blinds..Going to be there open week Aug 15 said that it will be hot sitting in blinds. but other than that this is all I know.did say we would be in blind daybreak Never hunt them

[Drew]

Originally posted by centaur:
. September can be 90 degrees or snowing, so bring appropriate clothing. It will be windy; count on it.

Listen to that right there! We went in August and caught a storm...snow in the mountains, temp drop bigtime for a day or two and the wind was BAD! I watched an arrow get pushed about 8 feet to the left in less than 20 yards.

Sitting in a blind is fun, but spot and stalk is a blast! Be prepared to get busted A LOT but there's nothing quite like it.

Good glass is a must!

[HOWITZER]

I doubt I will be using a blind to much unless it's a natural blind do to the luggage constraints.

[centaur]

Howitzer, If you are dead set on a blind I can loan you one if you want to make the drive to Buffalo and back. As Drew said, spot and stalk is a blast, but can be very frustrating.

[Muleyslayer]

Howitzer, wind is nothing like out east by me and you, their not kidding it will feel like a tornado to us eastern boys.private land as I found has cheap tresspass fees for the goats, by me its anywhere from 100-300 dollars, but that doesn't mean its better hunting.Topos and I bought some bears feet from cabelas( they go over your boots) they make walking on the rocks  alot quieter and may help with the last 20-30yrds. Good luck and now you got me going, should be drawing my muley tag soon.  

[HOWITZER]

centaur, I appreciate your generousity but I'm leaning toward spot and stalk which may come back and bite me in the *** but who knows.  

Does any one know of a meat processing venue that would be able to freeze the meat should I be blessed with good fortune!

[PrarrieDog]

I do know some processers in Casper. We'll hook ya up.