Red Desert, Wyoming
 

I'm in the process of planning an archery antelope hunt for next year. I've been looking into the area just west of Rawlins. Seems to be a good amount of public access and with a point, a good chance to draw a tag. I've never been through this area, and am just seeing if anyone has any experiences or recommendationswith it. My goal is to find a waterhole, that my wife and I can set up on. Feel free to PM or email [[email protected]]me. Thanks

RE: Red Desert, Wyoming
 

1st thing I do is look at drawing odds, PP or not you want the best odds, 57 type one will still be hard to draw, but across the road in 53 you got better odds. how much time do you want to spend on it. Alot will depend on how much rain we get early and if we get rain when your hunting. one day you maybe on the only water for 20 miles and the next there water every where.( this is when a 4x4 w/chains can come in handy). You need to have a back up to the water hole thing. A decoy or a plan for staulking. I have no dought you'll have chances on P&Y bucks.
My son drives between Cheyenne and Pinedale 2 or 3 times a month so I can keep you posted on the conditions.
do some home work and pm me. almost all the areas will give you a good chance at one that will book.

RE: Red Desert, Wyoming
 

Joey, I rifle hunted just east of Rawlins a few years ago. There are lots of biglopes in all those red desert units. However, you know WY just went to preference points last year. If you did not get your point you will not be in the top draw pool, and thus have a zero % chance for 2007. Their system is now just like Colorado's. The good thing is you will just about know how many years you will need to wait when you see the 2006 draw stats.

If you want to hunt in 2006 you can still do it with a modest trespass fee in a predominantly private land unit. Just hafta do some diggen to locate the right ranch. When we drew we paid only $300to rifle hunt it. It was late season and we had the ENTIRE unit to ourselveswith big bucks everywhere. If you just want to archery huntI'd fish on a couple websites for a ranch referral.

RE: Red Desert, Wyoming
 

I've only hunted the outskirts of the Red Desert, and that was for deer. No specific water holes come to mind. But if I were you, I'd call the Rawlins G&F office. They can offer some great advice sometimes. If nothing else, it shouldn't be that hard to find a creek on a BLM map or drive around until you find a windmill to sit at (or climb up on if it is stable enough).

RE: Red Desert, Wyoming
 

Modest trespass fee $300! Do your home work hunt for free! I'll let my tag go unfilled before I pay 300 plus the land owner get $13 dollars from your tag.

RE: Red Desert, Wyoming
 

gotlost,

I don't know if you are a WY resident or not, and I don't know what your odds are, but for us nonresidents ANY red desert tag is a tough draw with about 1/8-1/12 odds. Plus, there are ZERO type 9 archery only tags in the red desert area. None! Therefore Joey would have to apply in with all the rifle hunters in order to draw a red desert tag (totally stupid management). The red desert is primarily public land. However, there are surrounding units that are 90%+ private, where the draw odds are MUCH better, 1/1-1/2. Unit 108, where I hunted,is a prime example. It's 99% private, all owned by one or two ranches.The only issue is getting access in there.

I hunt out west every year and always go self guided, almost always on public land. However, this was one exception. I wanted to take a WY antelope and didn't want to wait 4-10 years to draw. $300 beat the hell out of the cost of an outfitted hunt. Soon afterward the ranch we hunted switched to outfitted hunting so we did not return, but I am sure there are others in the area that will still do a trespass fee. There were tons of nice bucks on this land and we had zero competition. It was well worth the fee. The gas money to get there was more expensive.

The other fee one now needs to figure into this equasion is the new point fee WY instituted in 2006. Do the math. If Joey starts applying this year, he'd be in the 2nd draw pool. Everyone one point ahead of him would need to draw before he'd even have a mathematical CHANCE. Those points would cost him $30 per year. 10 years @ $30/year = $300 IF WY does not increase the fee (how often does that happen). Under that scenario Joey would not be hunting any time soon........10 years from now........for the same $300 fee! Compound the interest and it probably amounts to $600.

The new $30 point fee makes trespass fees much, much more financially appealing than previously. Joey shouldfind one now before themarket for them adjusts.That is inevitable.

Personally I'd rather pay my $300 to a rancher and go hunt this year rather than wait 10 years & pay $600 to a G&F that prostitutes our wilderness public land for outfitters only. But that's just me.

RE: Red Desert, Wyoming
 

I think gotlost was thinking on a larger scale. If drawing a non-resident tag for the Red Desert is not feasable, then finding a completely different area that has good drawing odds and access to large amounts of public land would be a better option. He was talking about more than just finding a different spot within the Red Desert region. That's how I interpret his post anyways.

RE: Red Desert, Wyoming
 

I don't know of any decent public land antelope units anywhere in the state of Wyoming that Joey will be able to draw with zero preference points. Do you?

He wants to bow hunt this year.

RE: Red Desert, Wyoming
 

Thanks for the info guys. My wife and I both will have 1 point going into the draw.

RE: Red Desert, Wyoming
 

I forget which unit numbers they are but if you look up around the Gillette, Wright, Douglas, newcastle area's northeast portion of Wyoming there is alot of public land up there as well. I am not sure on the drawing odds either but the Thunder Basin National Grasslands hold a ton of Antelope.