Wyoming antelope
 

One of the biggest hurdles for nonresident (“NR”) pronghorn (aka “antelope”) buck hunters in Wyoming is finding a place to hunt. The place to start is the Wyoming Game and Fish (WG&F) website. Go to the Hunting in Wyoming section and look at the drawing odds for past seasons. You will find two separate draws, Random and Preference Point (“PP”), with the each draw further split into NR and NR Special. That makes four separate draws, and you can only enter one. Wyoming is divided into many different hunting units with some further split into type 1 (whole unit) and type 2 (private land within the unit). It can be confusing at first but it will make sense if you spend the time to do your homework. https://wgfd.wyo.gov/

Find units that are possible to draw with your points and look at the quota for the unit. Some units may have a quota exceeding one thousand (ex. #23), and others as low as three (ex. #60). Be aware that there has been quite a bit of "point creep" in recent years.

The PP draw is where most licenses are issued and it gives tags in order to the people with the most PPs. A Special tag costs approximately double the price of a normal license resulting in odds of drawing that are normally better. The Random draw as the name suggests is done at random for far less available licenses and a drawing for the better units is a very long shot. The easily drawn units typically have difficult public access to hunting land, and plenty of tags for the outfitters on the private land. Public land can get very crowded in some units. The harder to draw tags usually have much better access and far fewer hunters.

Most public land is managed by BLM but there are also state lands to hunt and some private land that is available as a Walk In area. Trespassing is taken very seriously so crossing private land to access public land is out unless there is a public road crossing. Up to six can apply together in a party application and the points of all of them are averaged. This is great for families and friends but beware of strangers that want to join your party application. Some guys with no points troll the hunting sites looking for others that have several points and offer to help them with their special knowledge if they apply together. With the availability of GPS landowner chips and apps for phones there are no secrets anymore, and there are no special tricks for pronghorns. It is almost all spot (from a truck) and stalk for a shot.

If you think you want to hunt Wyoming in the future your best bet is to start buying Preference Points now. You can buy one per year per species, and you will be glad you did

HuntingNet gets a lot of searches and inquiries on antelope hunting in Wyoming. Many thanks to Big Uncle for posting this treatise with information and issues to avoid. This is a project that Big uncle has taken on to help new antelope hunters in Wyoming with information to help them figure out how to best apply for antelope tags in Wyoming and have a good hunt. All of the other longtime Wyoming antelope hunting members on HNI are encouraged to post other valuable information so this topic grows with useful information. This topic has been pinned to the top of the big Game forum due to so many inquiries and searches for more information. HuntingNet hopes this topic helps newer antelope hunters in Wyoming and a special thanks to Big Uncle for getting the ball rolling on this important project.

According to the Wyoming Game and Fish Dept. website page (see link below), Wyoming issues 75% of antelope tags to Preference Point holders and only 25% of the antelope tags in a random drawing. This is an effective way to substantially increase your odds of getting drawn.

https://wgfd.wyo.gov/elsapplication/...rencepoint.htm

I dislike the PP system many of the western states use. The concept is fine but since they don't allow banking the results are point creep which over time defeats the whole purpose. My friend who lives in Alamosa Co has high 20's points for elk, deer, sheep, and no matter what area he puts in for will lose all his points with the chosen species on that one tag. That high count when added into the mix of other successful candidates raises the points needed for the next year. It just keeps growing year after year. In a worse case the average person can't reach their desired GMU because the goal line moves away faster than they can buy or earn the points. If it takes 10 points and he has 25 he should get the tag at 10 not 25 and still have 15 left. Many of these lifetime points gatherers are getting older and that plan for hunt of a lifetime might be traded into 3 or 4 great GMU hunts needing less points.

Pronghorn hunting itself is fairly easy if you do not have too much competition from other hunters. I have been on BLM land before with too many other hunters and watched most of the pronghorns stream onto the private land nearby. On the opening days of season when the two tracks on BLM start to look like a NASCAR event the pronghorns seem know somehow where the property lines are. Later in the season most of the hunters have gone away and the surviving game settles down and returns to their normal patterns. The beauty of the harder to draw areas is that fewer hunters have access to a great deal more area and spread out enough to make the hunt a much higher quality experience.

It used to be easy to pay a small "trespass fee" to gain access to private ranches but those deals are getting very hard to find. The outfitters have leased many of the good ranches and almost all of the ones that sell access have raised their prices dramatically. $750 - $1,000 access fees for good ranches that are not leased to outfitters are becoming the new normal.

I went in 2017. Have a well versed friend who worked out the details. We didn't use PP. We researched permit allocations, success rates, and everything else provided on the Wyoming website. All I wanted was an antelope and all he wanted was a doe. So, entering into the draw without PP was not much of an issue to us. We also based our choices on the maps he already owned. Learned about the phone apps after the fact. Cellular service spotty.

We arrived the day before season. Saw many antelope on public land. By opening day, the game moved mostly onto private. It took several days to fill our tags. Others at the motel filled tags faster than us. They hunted a different unit.

Watched a landowner continually push game back onto private. He parked on public and as the antelope started to leave his property, he would drive onto the public ground pushing them back. After Day 1, if you saw antelope you could almost guarantee they were on private.

Whitetails were lousy in the wooded, creek bottoms. Dozens and dozens around every corner. By the time we left, whitetail doe/fawn tags were $5 over the counter.

Now you guys have me piqued for another antelope hunt. They are so much fun. Going to have to talk with my buddy and see about doing another.

I can't add too much more than what big Uncle has said. While I haven't gone on our hunt yet, I've been buying points and researching for the last four years for a group of 6 of us.

Take the time and do your research. The Wyoming website offers allot of information on past draws, as well as hunters success, land access, etc. Make use of that website and all that it offers. Also, make phone calls. This can help you get a better understanding of what the public Access is really like on the units that you are interested in, as well as better information on winter kills and the local antelope herd.

If you think you want to do it in the future, start applying for points now. $30/year will get you a preference point. And will greatly increase your ability to draw into better units when you are ready to hunt. A couple of points can still go a long way. Although, just like every where else, its taking more points each year to draw better units.

We apply as a group. So each year the members of my group have bought a preference point each. They will average out your groups points. (If one person has 6 points and one person has no points then the two of you will apply with 3 points.)

One member has to get online and open the group application. You will get a group ID number to give to your party, and then they can join the group application using that ID. This allows everyone in the group to be drawn, or not drawn, together.

There is allot of information on the Wyoming website, and it's the place to start if you want to plan an antelope hunt.

Unfortunately the days of easy to get license, and lots of available land are gone. But I think a good hunt can still be planned relatively cheaply if you do your homework.

-Jake

Wyoming Game and Fish Department just put out a nice video explaining how to understand the drawing odds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA7D...ature=youtu.be

The end date for applying for a license in 2019 is quickly approaching. May 31 is the drop-dead date. My applications are already in. Waiting until the last minute to apply might bite you if a problem (computer, etc.) pops up, so get to it.

Put in yesterday for Unit 65, same unit I have cow elk tag for.

By the way Wyoming results were moved up to 20 June.

I got lucky and will be headed to the Casper area in September.

Big Nope here

Unfortunately mentioning a unit number on an open forum has become almost a guarantee that other guys will apply for that unit and make the unit harder to draw. There seem to be a huge number of guys that are looking for a unit for their first pronghorn hunt on the forums. It can turn an easily drawn unit into a high-point unit quickly. So many guys cruise looking for information anymore that some guys on certain other forums will sometimes give bad reviews or bad information (winter kill, etc.) on a unit just to discourage others from applying for that unit.

The time to buy preference points for future applications is normally July 1 through October 31. You can buy one point per year per species unless you were successful in drawing a first choice tag this year.

Link to buy points - https://wgfd.wyo.gov/apply-or-buy

Excellent info thanks . im looking forward to coming down pretty excited.

good info!

This is a link to the Boone & Crockett scoring sheet https://www.boone-crockett.org/pdf/SC_pronghorn.pdf

I wanted to add my experiences after a successful trip to Wyoming for antelope. This will be lengthy, but thorough. Hope somebody can put it to good use.

First, A little background: When this process started six hunters were applying for points and planned on going as a group. Myself, My dad, Sister, Friend, and two uncles. All of us are experienced whitetail hunters, several of us have also taken hogs, elk, and mule deer as well. Dad and his two brothers had hunted antelope in WYO back in the early 90s (Things were a little different then!). We’ve also all travelled together before on camping trips, motorcycles trips, and hunt out of the same deer camp in PA each year. All that to say we had an experienced group, who I knew worked well together. That simplified things for me while planning everything as I knew what everyone would be capable of and what gear everyone could bring.
By the time 2019 rolled around we were down to four. Myself, dad, and two uncles. Sister and friend had other commitments going on. (They still have and will keep applying for points. We’ll go again in a few years)

Preference Points and Application Process: We applied as a group. That way we all either drew or didn’t together. We went into the 2019 season with 3 preference points. The 2018 season we applied for tags but did not draw. We were a small percentage of people with 2 points who didn’t draw the unit that I applied for. In 2019 I applied to a different unit with 3 points and was successful. However, we were right on the edge of not having enough points. Points are cheap, and easy to apply for. If you think an antelope hunt is in your future, start putting in for points now (There’s still time for this year even). A few preference points will make a big difference if you can save them up for a few years. Especially if you can add the extra cash for the special draw.

Land Access, Maps, GPS, ONX Hunt: The unit we hunted was notated as “Difficult Access” This had me nervous. I spent allot of time looking at online maps, google earth, paper maps that I bought, internet forums, etc. I honestly did not know what to expect. And I was nervous that I would get out there with 3 other people and not be able to find a spot to hunt that had antelope on it. My studying paid off and I’ll talk about that later. Units marked with difficult access are just that. Difficult. But, if you put the time in, buy the maps, buy the gps chip or download the ONX app, you can find areas to hunt. As long as you can find game in those areas, you have a chance.

Our unit had spotty “Checkerboard” public land. It also had some larger chunks that I saw could be accessed by doing a little hiking. My plan going out was to do a mixture of hiking into these harder to access areas and also driving public roads that crossed public sections and seeing what we could find.

Gear: Good binoculars are a must. So is a range finder. A spotting scope helps as well, although we just used it from near the road to plan some stocks. Sharp knives. We used cloth game bags to pack the meat out and to cool it initially in the freezer before fully butchering. Comfortable back packs with a hydration bladder. GPS, Maps. Leather boots- there are cactus (and snakes).

We all took our primary deer rifles- .30-06s for all of us. Use whatever you are comfortable shooting. The antelope were not tough and went down pretty easy. If I was hunting them yearly I think I would have a .25-06 or .257Bob. A .243 even or of course the 6.5 Creed would do well I’m sure. They aren’t hard to kill, take whatever you want.

The hunt: Everything that I read said that opening day/week/weekend would be busy. I wasn’t really interested in seeing a bunch of trucks and other hunters. I asked the group what their preference was: A better chance at a bigger buck on opening morning but having to deal with other hunters or to go during the second week and hopefully deal with less hunters, but also knowing that allot of the good bucks could have been shot off. 3 of us voted for the 2nd week and 1 said he’d rather go opening day. So we went the 2nd week. This paid off for us and worked well. It seemed we had the unit to ourselves.

We arrived in our unit Sunday afternoon and drove about 80 miles of roads scouting, glassing, and watching antelope. We saw a few other hunters, maybe 4 different trucks. And we saw two guys dragging one out off of a public area. We saw a ton of game. Mule deer, antelope everywhere. But mostly on private land. For the first 40 miles of our drive everything we saw was on private land and I was getting a little discouraged. However, we eventually came to a chunk of public that we glassed 5 bucks on and three of them were definitely “Shooters” to us. I probably have a lower standard of a shooter than many people- I was primarily looking for visible horns above the ears. After glassing those 5 bucks we continued seeing antelope on public chunks. We could have filled our tags that afternoon from the road had we wanted to. We went to bed Sunday night feeling pretty good about our chances.

The forecast was not good. Monday had good weather; mid 60s and clear. Tuesday was calling for the same, but a high wind advisory. And WEDS was calling for a lot of snow, and single digit low temperatures. The regular wind in Wyoming seems “high” to people who are used to hunting in the woods and the deep snow would definitely be a challenge just for getting to and from our hunting area. So I knew we needed to try to tag out by Tuesday if not Monday.

Monday my plan was to drive about 30 minutes into an area that we could hike into, near the area where we had glassed the 5 bucks the day before. I figured we would plan to park the trucks right about day break (No sense in blindly hiking and bumping game off of land I’m not familiar with) and hike/glass our way around the first half of the day. Then break for lunch back at the trucks and try to drive to a few other areas and check those out, and back to hiking around for the evening. The plan mostly worked out that way.

We had two bucks down before 830 am and got them back to the truck, quartered into game bags and into the coolers. By the time the hard work was done it was nearly lunch time so we ate some sandwiches and came up with a plan for the afternoon. One uncle (Still hunting) was going to take a truck down the road a little over a mile to a piece of public land that jutted out to the road and set up out there and wait. My dad (still hunting), an uncle and I were going to make a big loop on public land around a section of private land and eventually come out to the road. We quickly got onto a big group of goats that weren’t visible from any road section. There were 20+ and at least 9 bucks in the group. After 2 miles of playing tag with them, Dad finally shot a nice goat at about 250 yards. We quartered it up into game bags and had about a mile pack out to meet the truck. It was a fun afternoon. We were all pretty tired after getting 3 antelope packed out and cleaned. But an uncle still had a tag.

We drove for a while not seeing anything. Eventually heading back to the west side of the unit where we had more luck. I’ll note here that to me it seemed that game numbers were high. But there were also miles and miles of areas that didn’t seem to have much. Maybe a lack of water, or something. I wasn’t there long enough to figure that out. But you might see 50-100 antelope in a couple mile stretch then go miles and miles without seeing a thing. Lesson being: Hunt where the game is and don’t waste your time looking where it isn’t (That’s good advice no matter what you’re after). We came across several areas and tried a few stocks on groups of antelope that didn’t work out. Eventually finding a buck and three doe pretty close to the road that my uncle decided to take. We were able to get it quartered up and into the freezer- finishing up by lantern light. It was a long but fun day and we all four tagged our bucks.

I had hoped to get into some rabbits so we all brought .22s. We saw no rabbits unfortunately. We did get a tip from a local about a place to shoot prairie dogs. And we did that for a little while on Tuesday. Be careful doing this as there are places that you aren’t allowed to shoot prairie dogs.

Tips/Lessons Learned/Things I could have done differently: We were bringing a truck with a cap with three people from North East Ohio, and an uncle was driving up from Colorado with a camper. I debated pulling my utility trailer from Ohio, but after packing the truck we decided we didn’t need it. We took a chest freezer set on a back porch hitch rack. This worked fine. But I should have brought the trailer. It would have made packing easier and given us more flexibility. Especially once the freezer had four antelope and ice in it. It was heavy to lift on and off that carrier to access the bed of the truck. The trailer would have given us a lot more room, got some weight off the truck, and really wouldn’t have hindered us any. Next time, I’ll pull the trailer and have the freezer and camping stuff on that.

Where we were (and from what I’ve read) you don’t need to shoot the first one you see. I did however. And I don’t regret it one bit. I liked the look of the buck, I liked the scenery, and I liked the shot. Slightly quartering away at almost 270 yards. I was steady resting off my back pack, and shooting across a little ravine to the other edge. My dad passed on several smaller bucks and eventually took a really nice one. I’m not a professional scorer by any means but it taped a little over 80” and is high 70s at the very least. It just depends on what you are looking for. If you have the luxury of time, I wouldn’t hesitate to pass bucks. You can always come back and try to find them again if you need to.

Pack water. You won’t find many creeks or puddles like you do back east. So have some 5 gallon jugs ready for cleaning your hands, tools, meat if need be, etc. Also have plenty to drink. It’s dry out there. You may not notice that you are sweating, but you are.

It can be as simple or as hard as you want it to be. Like I said, we could have tagged out from the road Sunday afternoon. But we wanted to do it from our feet mostly. I think it made for a better hunt than just driving around, stepping off the road, and shooting one.

Have a plan and backup plan for where you are staying. Weather can be crazy and can change quickly. Tuesday was near 70 and sunny and when we pulled out Weds mornings the snow was just starting and it was 16 deg. You have to pack and plan for that .

Practice shooting- probably farther than you usually do. Our shot ranges were (If I remember correctly) 176, 243, 267 and 330 yards. Compared to our usual shots at whitetail in thick woods, these were long shots. Don’t go out there unprepared. Also practice realistic field positions. You can punch paper all day off a rest at the bench or even prone off a bipod. But when you lay down in that sage brush you can’t see a thing. My shot was on the edge of a ravine off my back pack, so I had a clear view in front of me. But anywhere else I would have been blind due to the grass. Sitting, kneeling, or even standing (off shooting sticks if you have them) are pretty realistic positions.

If you can see an antelope. It probably knows you are there. It might not care, but it knows. When we were following the large group of them, they would run a ways and turn around and watch us. Use the land to get in closer. Take advantage of drainages, ravines, rolling hills, whatever you can find. They didn’t seem too interested in getting away- but just keeping an eye on us. As we got closer, they’d get farther but were always watching. Eventually we were able to get around beside them and come in from above them on a high ridge. They still knew we were up there and were starting to move away but Dad was able to get set up and make a good shot.

What to do on your trip: Since I had no idea what to expect, we planned for a full week of hunting. And then filled four tags on the first day. This is pretty common I think for allot of peoples hunts.

If you’re on the eastern side of Wyoming, the state itself is pretty “boring” when it comes to tourist-y things. Devil’s Tower is worth seeing for sure and it’s in the north east corner of the state. The Black Hills in South Dakota has everything a tourist could want. Custer State Park Wildlife Loop is worth your time. So is Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Bear Country USA, The Badlands, and Wall Drug. All of the little towns around the black hills have things to see. From famous graves, gunfight reenactments, shopping, restaurants, whatever interests you. Plus you’ll see allot of game. Allot of these places will have off season hours though by the time antelope season rolls around. You can also drop south a few hours and be in Rocky Mountain National Park- another area with allot of stuff to look at.

The western side of the state has the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and lots of neat little towns as well. Just keep an eye on the weather as it gets later into the fall.

That’s what I have to add. If I think of more, I’ll add it to another post later. Hope it’s helpful to somebody.

-Jake

This is an awesome post with lots of good info Jake!! Antelope in Wyoming is on my bucket list and this helps a lot. It sounds like you guys had a great trip with lots of good memories. Kudos!! :biggrin:

Jake, you said you used 3 points to draw, some areas will not work like that, where I Moved to no points to draw and people are everywhere first week. I bowhunted before gun season and routinely had 2-3 stalk attempts, all initially found from the truck, now, 3 weeks into the month and my wife and I just saw our first huntable/public land antelope from the truck last weekend! They are there, and we have taken 2 so far, but both have been over a mile from the truck.

Glad you had fun and success, I love antelope hunting!

Valuable information copied from Mr. Jake in another thread:

Q. "Does anyone know if I can buy points for kids? Can I begin piling antelope points for my young kids to use when they turn 12 or 13??"

A. "Some further reading on the Wyoming site and I finally found the answer we both expected.

. Youth can apply for preference points when they are 11 years old at the time of submitting a preference point only application and must be at least 12 years old by December 31 of that year.

So the most a youth can build up would be one point before being eligible to hunt."

This winter may be tough on some of the pronghorn areas. The snow is piling up in some places but hopefully it will be manageable for the game. There is sometimes a silver lining and in this case it is the moisture from the eventual snow melt that should make the sage grow. Keep an eye on the winter weather before choosing a unit for your hunt.

Learning a lot from living here now, this is a BIG state. True some areas of WY are getting slammed this winter, some aren't. I live in Buffalo (Antelope areas 102 and 16), we had zero snow until a week ago, now we have over a foot. That is in the antelope areas, if you head up to the bighorns (no antelope really) they have multiple feet. So the melt should help water the sage as it drains out of the mountains.

Locally we are seeing LOTS of antelope, now that they are grouped up on the snow, we either see none or a TON together.

This area, assuming winter actually ends soon, should be ok, others not so much. So check your target area, not just WY

What is the logic behind the requirement of youth to be at least 12 to hunt? I would hope that in these days of "get more people into hunting" that they would lower the age limit. I would love to get my boy into it but he's only 7.

Why assume there's logic? ;)

States control the hunting regulations, some states set an age some don't. WY obviously decided that 12 is the age it takes to be mature/old/big enough to hunt. Same "logic" as drinking age, voting age, driving age.

Lander Region winter weather report:

https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Regional-Office...s-for-wildlife

Green River Region Winter Conditions Summary 2020The 2019-20 winter has seen variable conditions throughout the Green River Region through early January. Conditions were harshest in Lincoln and Uinta counties, beginning as early as the third week of October 2019. The central portion of the region, including the Farson, Rock Springs and Green River areas, has experienced less harsh conditions, but continues to receive periodic snowfall and has had periods of extreme cold. The eastern portion of the region near Baggs has a little above average snow depths, but temperatures have been generally mild when compared to areas to the west.

As mentioned above, late November and most of the month of December had harsh conditions, with extreme cold and significant snowfall in the western and west central portions of the region. Pronghorn were especially affected and there were numerous incidents involving pronghorn moving to avoid weather and highway mortalities. Snows drifted and froze into zones that precluded the use by ungulates in many areas considered winter range. Six Variable Messaging Signs were deployed in an effort to limit losses. A few areas in this zone remained slightly more open, which helped moderate winter-related losses. Since the last few days of December and early January, conditions have generally moderated throughout most of the region and wildlife appear to be reaping the benefit of that moderation. Shrubs are now exposed in much of the areas considered crucial winter habitats and the overall outlook has dramatically improved. We can expect some higher than normal winter losses due to the conditions to-date, but remaining animals look to be in relatively good condition.

Overall, to-date, big game damage has been relatively "typical" in the Green River Region. The early snows brought elk down from the high country and onto private lands earlier than normal, but late elk seasons have limited most concerns. Typical areas of elk damage include Cokeville, Evanston, Farson, and the Bridger Valley. Damage concerns may increase as winter progresses and seasons close.

I know antelope in many parts of Montana have rebounded from the horrific winter of 2010-11 across many areas of Montana. I see pretty decent numbers here in NE Montana once again, I can't say that they have rebounded completely, but numbers are up. The application deadline here in Montana is June 1 for antelope for both residents and non residents. I do know, there is ample opportunity for bow hunters, with leftover bow tags usually available.

Shhhhh!!!!!

I have heard from reliable sources that pronghorns in Montana are as big as bison and often have horns that score higher than bull elk. I think everyone should apply to hunt in Montana and not bother to apply in my favorite units in Wyoming!

Other states I would encourage guys to apply in are Colorado, New Mexico, Maine, South Carolina, and Ohio.

Seriously, I have heard very good things about Montana.

Montana, is, as Montanan's say....."The last, best place".

On a few other sites the popular response to any new pronghorn hunter question is to tell them that they will be seeing hundreds of bucks each day and that their hunt will be over in an hour if they are not picky on which buck to shoot. Folks are often told that they will have their choice from many bucks and if they are not careful they will "only" shoot a 13" buck that "only" scores in the low 70's. That is always possible, but on public land in the easily drawn units it is not usually the case. Most guys do see many bucks while driving the major highways, and many bucks on private land. However, early season on public land in an easily drawn unit is normally a completely different situation.

Do not let wild expectations ruin your hunt. It is not always that easy, and being successful may be a little tougher than you were lead to believe by a keyboard expert. If you put in the effort you will probably be successful, but it may take some time and it may not be a huge buck. In most of the easily drawn units finding a large undisturbed buck is in reality a fairly rare event.

The units that are more difficult to draw are a much higher quality experience for most hunters. In those units a hunter should have a reasonable chance to see many bucks on accessible land and being a bit picky can be fun. Just do not expect that to usually be the case in the units with difficult access to hunting land and many other folks hunting the same spot.

My experience last year in WY, granted I didn't do much homework, was in an easy to draw unit, where there's limited public land (hey we had just moved here and I found a few large blocks - what's the worst that could happen!)

Here's what I experienced, take it or leave it, but it is shaping where we apply and plan to hunt this fall:

- Yes, all summer you can walk/drive and see pronghorn in easy access spots on public land, from the truck or short walk.
- Archery opens (I tried spot and stalk, or as my wife called it "pronghorn scaring", so you can guess the end result): I had multiple stalks, usually started from the truck, each day (exception was a walkin area, but even there, short walk = stalk).
- Day before gun season (last day of archery): trucks start showing, helping to blow stalks, tents start showing etc.
- Opening day of rifle, we went up, gave up at 10 when EVERYWHERE we went, truck or walk we saw orange. Saw one small group of pronghorn, running at about mach-3
- Next day, no pronghorn, lots of hunters.- we gave up
- End of week 1 we went out again. Still trucks/tents, we found a single pronghorn doe 1.5 miles from the nearest access point. doe #1 in freezer
- Week 2 I went elk hunting, people had thinned out, but pronghorn no where to be found (except all the private land we drove past)
- Week 3, all the people have been gone for a week. Found a group of 5 about 1 mile from truck. Doe #2 in freezer
- Beginning of week 4, find a single buck on private (we had doe tags), same day, wife takes her first on public land, actually saw it from the truck, stalked in and she took it. 1/2 mile pack to truck
- Last day (end of week 4), wow, they are back! Find a large group right next to the road, two stalks, later, wife takes second doe. all tagged out.

We are adjusting this year to try to get private land access or change zones to more public land. The one we picked, the "type 1 - any pronghorn" tag was only good 10/1-10/15. Changing areas this year to more public, plus earlier/longer seasons.

Yes, it can be "drive around til you find the one you want", but as Big Uncle said, in an easy to draw, limited public land area with pressure, that's rare. Especially at the beginning of the season when the weather is nice (wife shot her last one when it was 9 degrees out)

Regardless of all that, I LOVE pronghorn hunting! I don't think we hunted a single day without at least seeing some.

We had a large winter kill in So Wyoming this year.

June 1st. is the deadline for applications.

As I was getting the rifles ready for the coming hunting seasons I was reviewing some of my notes from past years. My average shot over the years has been very close to 200 yards. I have shot more pronghorns at distances of 100 yards or less than I have at distances exceeding 300 yards. I do not think that most guys really need to have a long range rifle (as seen on TV) if they are willing to walk a bit. Surely there are occasions where it is simply not possible to get close but taking a long poke has been fairly rare in my experience.

We had one long shot in our group that went- about 330 yards.. But in my limited experience a pronghorn hunter should be prepared for a 300 yard shot. Any modern rifle is capable of this. All it takes is some practice.

We were in some really open country. Stuff eastern hunters can't even imagine. So having the option to shoot a couple hundred yards was a good thing. I believe mine was 267 yards. Another one right about the same. And then a fourth around 175 yards.

Could I have gotten closer? Not on the buck I took. He was alert and about to head on out of the county. On other ones, yes.

-jake