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DIY antelope hunt

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bohunter2001

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Anyone ever done one? If so can you give me some information that I can pass one. Thanks

guess I should add, they are looking at Wyoming. Which is a draw tag state.

Or if you know of a reasonably priced outfitter that would help as well
 
There are many outfitter opportunities in Wyoming, the epi-center of antelope in the country, some very economical if someone is going to invest the time, trouble and expense in a western hunt. IMO, particularly for a first timer, Wyoming's game laws are very complex and confusing. Therefore, I think that it is good to have someone help you with the application process. That person, would be an outfitter who obviously knows all of the particulars for his area. Just click on the internet under Antelope and Wyoming and you will have access to many possibilites. Start eliminating the ones that don't sound appealing to you for whatever reason, cost, etc., and you will end up with a good hunt.
 
You are very correct and I agree 100% with what you are saying but I was hoping that I could find some folks on here with personal experiences that they would be willing to pass on.
 
10 years ago, you could just drive around and ask ranchers permission to shoot the does. Tags then were OTC. I applied for a buck tag this past year, but the units with good public access and a decent chance at a 15"er have draw odds around 3-5%. The way I look at it, I'm not going to go hunt speedgoats unless I've got a decent chance at one I want to put on the wall. (I also put in for Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah as well).
 
I just got back last Friday from Wyoming where we hunted antelope and mule deer. We were lucky enough to find a landowner who lets us hunt for free (antelope only). We didn't get into any monsters, but we all tagged out over a three day period with a couple going close to the 13.5-14" mark. I will point out that the area we were hunting had been open for a couple of weeks so the goats were very spooky which resulted in some very long shots (400-750 yards). But if you were to go at the beginning of the season I have every confidence that you could get plenty of opportunities inside 200-250 yards. We saw antelope constantly they were just very far away and very skittish. We were just outside the town of Kaycee. Hope this helps!
 
We checked with the town Chamber of Commerce and got a list of landowners who allow hunting. Then got on the phone and talked to several of them about how many acres, how far from town, etc.
 
cleatus2506 said:
I just got back last Friday from Wyoming where we hunted antelope and mule deer. We were lucky enough to find a landowner who lets us hunt for free (antelope only). We didn't get into any monsters, but we all tagged out over a three day period with a couple going close to the 13.5-14" mark. I will point out that the area we were hunting had been open for a couple of weeks so the goats were very spooky which resulted in some very long shots (400-750 yards). But if you were to go at the beginning of the season I have every confidence that you could get plenty of opportunities inside 200-250 yards. We saw antelope constantly they were just very far away and very skittish. We were just outside the town of Kaycee. Hope this helps!
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Exceptional shooting to kill one at 750 yards. Particularly with the wind that is always blowing on the high plains. Curious to know what caliber was used?
 
We had 3 kills between 450-750 with 2 25-06's, and 1 300Win Mag.
Normally you would be right on the money about the wind, but this was one of the few times where it wasn't blowing very much and we were hunting back in some draws where the hills knocked down a lot of what little wind there was blowing.
 
That's some really great shooting. How high do you have to hold to hit a pie plate sized kill zone at 750 yards? I commonly see all sorts of goats at that range, but I don't shoot because I know that I personally am not that good. I prefer to make great stalks and miss at 200. LOL
 
The best way we've found to make those long shots is to chronograph whatever load you're shooting, enter the data into a ballistics program and make a laminated "come-up" sheet that we tape to our stocks. Then you click up your scope to whatever the yardage is and hold dead on, the old Kentucky windage doesn't work very well at those distances. We also prefer to shoot a lot closer if possible, makes field judging much easier too, but on this particular trip we were hunting antelope that were extremely skittish after being shot at for two weeks prior to our arrival. So after two days of chasing, glassing, stalking, and chasing some more we decided to take a few long shots. And with a little luck and a lot of preparation we were pretty successful.
 
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This is one in Montana, just got back.
I hunted Wyoming for four years DIY Antelope and Mulie. It I seem to remember when we first started planning there was on the, Wyoming Fish and Game, a link to places that would provide a list of ranchers (as someone prev stated). You have to start calling those on the list and find your best bet. I seen a lot of Antelope in Wyoming. Montana has them as well but not the numbers that Wyoming has.
 
bohunter2001, i lived in Laramie for quite awhile and all you need to do is get an out of state license, which i know is expensive, but when you do, you can go after pronghorn, whitetail, and mulies. theres alot of public land which you can go after whitetails and mule deer in the mountains, but as far as the pronghorn goes, take small dirt roads which lead to farm houses i.e. landowners and simply ask them for permission to hunt pronghorn, (don't say antelope, thats not what the locals call them) good luck, and kill all those dang grazing horns you can!
 
I don't know if this counts as a DIY, but not professional guides/outfitters were involved. I did have the assistance and planning from my brother-in-law who lives in Montana.

I applied for out of state license, but didn't get drawn. I went out there anyway, and manned a pair of binocs and a video camera while Luke was the trigger man.

In Montana, they have a hunter-access program where farmers "lease" the land to the state, and allow a pre-determined number of hunters per day. The hunters have to fill out a tag at the property gate before entering, and if the daily tags are gone, so is the opportunity. We never had any trouble.

In two days, which happened to be the first two of the season, we shared a 10 mile radius with about three other hunting groups of two or three hunters. We glassed antelop, mulies, whitetails, and coyotes almost constantly. We did about 4 stalks each day, finally tagging a doe with one shot from a .243 at 325 paces. The rest of the week we "fed the magpies" at a local prarie dog town and caught dozens of rainbows from the Yellowstone River. Best vacation I ever took. Hope to do it again next September.
 
There are all sorts of things that can go wrong, when you secure a "gratis place to hunt" via long distance telephone, so beware! I was refered to a guy in Colorado and he absolutely talked a great game. His dad had 2,000 acres, etc. etc. When we got out there with a tag for the unit(which has no public land), this guy was out-of-town, and whereabouts unknown. Also, some people told me that his dad did not have a place even large enough to hunt(maybe that's why I couldn't find him!). So we spent the money, got drawn, made the trip and never hunted! I just read about a guy who experienced something similar in Wyoming. Got permission from a rancher by phone, got his draw permit, and showed up only to discover that the ranch was in one unit and his permit was for another. To avoid such, I prefer either to pay to hunt, and make sure that all of the money doesn't change hands until you arrive, or put up with public land. While sometimes crowded, you at least know that you will have a place to hunt.
 
Working on a hunt next year with my brother-in-law who lives in Cody. Wants me to go elk hunting, but I would rather kill a speedgoat or a mulie right now. I asked about pronghorns or mulies and he said "Aah heck, you can stop on the side of the road and kill one of them, I'm a 16 mile horse ride to elk paradise". Got to get working on that.
 
Tnyoteboy said:
Working on a hunt next year with my brother-in-law who lives in Cody. Wants me to go elk hunting, but I would rather kill a speedgoat or a mulie right now. I asked about pronghorns or mulies and he said "Aah heck, you can stop on the side of the road and kill one of them, I'm a 16 mile horse ride to elk paradise". Got to get working on that.
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You may be a young man, but I ain't! So, while I can still physically handle a goat, an elk is another matter for DIY'rs. Besides, I'd rather hunt goats anyway. You can usually drive to where you hunt, although the fun is in the stalk or luring one to come to you(not at the vehicle, I might add). And, if he's out there, you can usually see him, maybe at 1200 yards, but you still know that what you are hunting is in the area. Elk, unless its during the peak of the rut with the bugling, you haven't the foggiest if what you are after is even around. Besides, even a mile and 6 tenths ride on a horse(much less 16 miles) does absolutely nothing for me. And, given my choice of a Best Western or a wall tent(or smaller), the motel wins every time with me!
 

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