Wyoming Antelope Guide
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 1
Wyoming Antelope Guide
My dad and I have been hunting whitetail and turkey for a while in Pennsylvania, but we want to do an Antelope hunt before I turn 18 in the fall. He wants to hire a guide, but I feel as if that’d be a waste of money when the success rate is so high and we already have a great foundation of hunting experience. Please let me know if you think we should hire one or not! Thank you.
#2
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 123
I have hunted antelope quite a few tines and never used a guide/outfitter and have been successful every time. It does take some homework and good gps onX to make life easier. That said the advantage of the outfitter hunt is not having to search and find places to hunt, a place to stay and figuring out you dinning options. Only you and your dad can decide what is best for both of you. Either way it will be a fun hunt so go have a good time.
#3
A great deal of pronghorn hunting success is having access to land. I assume that you do not have any preference points so that puts you is a little bit of a spot. Units that can be drawn easily with no points are usually substantially private land, and the public land available in these units gets very crowded. Most of the good private land either is being used by the owners who guide hunts or has been leased by outfitters. The units with access to good public land are hard to draw unless you have accumulated preference points.
Even if you go for the Special draw ( higher priced) it is hard to get into an uncrowded unit with zero preference points. If you want to join the crowds it is still possible to draw licenses in easy-draw units and be successful but it surely will not be like the TV hunts where there is unspooked game and no other orange hats in sight.
If your father wants to use a guide to give you access to private land I would suggest that you smile and thank him.
Even if you go for the Special draw ( higher priced) it is hard to get into an uncrowded unit with zero preference points. If you want to join the crowds it is still possible to draw licenses in easy-draw units and be successful but it surely will not be like the TV hunts where there is unspooked game and no other orange hats in sight.
If your father wants to use a guide to give you access to private land I would suggest that you smile and thank him.
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,358
Don't underestimate the effect of hunting pressure, on public land, lots, on private land, not nearly as much. A guide can get you on private, unpressured land. For example, I've used a guide in WY twice for my wife and I. Two trips, 6 antelope between us (got doe tag the second trip, love the meat). We hunted a 50,000 acre private ranch. You could drive within 50-100 yards of a group of antelope and as long as the truck didn't stop or you get out, they stayed put and just watched. There is one ranch road that goes into a public section, we went over there twice to check it. The second the truck became visible, POOF every antelope in sight was off and running.
It's all in what you want from the hunt. Antelope is probably the most doable DIY hunt. With a guide, you get more of a "vacation hunt" than a hard hunt. They supply food, bed and access to land, as well as someone who knows how to hunt them. Hunting antelope in the WIDE OPEN plains is very different than deer hunting in PA (or NH where I"m from). It's all spot/stalk and learning what you can get away with from different ranges as you close the distance to shooting range is fun, but if you are going to get frustrated with blown stalks, consider a guide.
It's all in what you want from the hunt. Antelope is probably the most doable DIY hunt. With a guide, you get more of a "vacation hunt" than a hard hunt. They supply food, bed and access to land, as well as someone who knows how to hunt them. Hunting antelope in the WIDE OPEN plains is very different than deer hunting in PA (or NH where I"m from). It's all spot/stalk and learning what you can get away with from different ranges as you close the distance to shooting range is fun, but if you are going to get frustrated with blown stalks, consider a guide.
#5
#6
Spike
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 87
Drummer, don't do either guided or DIY. Find a ranch that will allow you to pay them a trespass fee and then you otherwise do everything else on your own. My honey hole costs my group very little and we have a few thousand acres all to ourselves and there are tons of pronghorns. I've only bow hunted for them and have had no problems being successful every time. Most places will let you shoot a buck and a few doe if you want. I'd stack every cooler full that I owned if they didn't taste so nasty. I've hunted many critters and places all over the country and this is the only animal that we cannot get to taste worth eating at all. Access is everything and to me, it's well worth a small fee to have valuable private property versus playing the public pressure and property boundaries games.
#7
I've hunted antelope most years since the mid '70s in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, and all DIY on public land or Montana Block Management land. Antelope meat is good if you properly take care and process it. My girlfriend and I like both the steaks and burger that I make from it.
I think that antelope are one of the easiest animals to hunt, especially if you're not afraid to walk. Most rifle hunting is spot and stalk, but many bow hunters are successful every year hunting from blinds near water.
One year when my son was younger, he and I (in our orange pumpkin vests) and my Golden Retriever were sitting in the sagebrush near a barb wire fence. We watched a half dozen antelope on our side of the fence, come from over 1/4 mile away and they fed by us close enough that we could hear them chewing. I wanted a bigger buck so we just sat still and let them go by us.
I think that antelope are one of the easiest animals to hunt, especially if you're not afraid to walk. Most rifle hunting is spot and stalk, but many bow hunters are successful every year hunting from blinds near water.
One year when my son was younger, he and I (in our orange pumpkin vests) and my Golden Retriever were sitting in the sagebrush near a barb wire fence. We watched a half dozen antelope on our side of the fence, come from over 1/4 mile away and they fed by us close enough that we could hear them chewing. I wanted a bigger buck so we just sat still and let them go by us.
#8
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 9,227
I have hunted speed goats in CO, WY and MT. I have never failed to fill a tag and have never hired a guide. An awful lot of really good pronghorn habitat is on public land and if you can use a spotting scope or binos and aren't afraid to walk a couple of miles then filling some tags is within the scope of just about everybody. Probably my favorite place to go after them is around Farson, WY. Tags are pretty easy to get, especially for does, and almost the entire area is BLM land. You can camp and hunt to your heart's content and other than opening weekend won't see many other hunters.
#9
Ben I've been on a coupe WY antelope hunts both guided and had a blast and both me an my friend were successful with me just missing a book buck by 1". Also being from PA I want to give you a fair warning - You shots can approach 300 yards unless you have good terrain to get closer. And too, you need to learn to dope the wind. That open country can easily blow your bullet off its intended mark at those longer ranges.Not like shooting a deer in wooded areas.
#10
Ben I've been on a coupe WY antelope hunts both guided and had a blast and both me an my friend were successful with me just missing a book buck by 1". Also being from PA I want to give you a fair warning - You shots can approach 300 yards unless you have good terrain to get closer. And too, you need to learn to dope the wind. That open country can easily blow your bullet off its intended mark at those longer ranges.Not like shooting a deer in wooded areas.