DIY pronghorn hunts
 

I've been tossing the idea around of going for pronghorn in the the fall of 16. i received a preference point for Wyoming this year so i thought i should start looking into going there, but im open to any state. Ive never been for antelope nor to the areas where they reside. Im open to camping or staying in a hotel, and hunt with the rifle or bow. Rifle would be a better choice just because the over all hunt would be completely new to be but im certainly willing to hunt with a bow. To say the least, im completely lost on which area to look for. Online searches dont get me very far. Where do i start?

thank you for any help.

You might check with some of the regular outfitters in the Hunts/Outfitters section of the Classified forum. Some of those guys also offer DIY trespass hunts on private property. If nothing else, they can get you thinking about different areas.

Thank you. i already sent out a message to an outfitter.

Look over the 2015 drawing odds (https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/cont...ONRES_2015.pdf ) and find some units that have reasonable success with one PP. Then start matching those possible units with public lands (BLM, etc) that have access. Watch out for areas that have a lot of "checkerboarding" of BLM land as legal access can be difficult. Trespass is taken seriously so make sure about your location when you hunt.
You might be able to draw a unit like 26 and have a good hunt, but too easily drawn units like 31 are best avoided. Phone the local BLM office and stop in to visit when you are in the area. Sometimes you will find them to be a tremendous help in finding access.

I've hunted pronghorns most years for almost 45 years, in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. All of these hunts were DIY, and most were on public land or private land open to hunting with permission either by knocking in doors or Montana's Block Management System.

In recent years, access to private lands has become increasingly difficult, so be careful about applying in units with very little public land.

Pronghorn country is usually very open sagebrush (although they do love alfalfa) and they are usually easy to spot. If you're hunting in unfamiliar country, it would help to get there a couple of days early and scout.

The only way I've ever hunted speed goats is DIY. I've hunted both WY and CO. I get info off the game dept websites and then go hunting. I can't remember not filling a speed goat tag.

There are plenty of units in Wyoming that you can draw with 1 pref point. someone mentioned above about being careful about checkerboard land. While I agree with that, some of those areas are great to hunt as other hunters typically avoid them. With a map and gps (with land status chip) it's pretty easy to find access points as long as the checkerboard land has public land running through them.
Also, with antelope, I will never understand why someone would pay an outfitter, unless you are looking for some type of record book head on your first hunt. The hardest part of an antelope hunt is not shooting one the first morning.

my father in law paid 2800 for a pronghorn hunt and got a nice one within hours of starting out. he said he would never do it again.

do you guys recommend hunting on or staying away leased privite land? quite a few people offer only a few hundred dollars to hunt these large ranches.

Hunting in one of the one PP units sometimes gets you a good view of guys wearing orange hats seemingly driving on every two track. One group of fellows gave me the unsolicited advice "bring lots of gas and lots of ammo". I had watched that group and a few others all morning driving around, plinking at long range, and generally messing up the area. The animals were spooked badly and many of them left the BLM land and headed to the private ranchland.
Sometimes you will luck out and not see much pressure on the BLM land. For a first time group I would think that paying for access to less pressured hunting ground would be worth it, others will surely disagree.