Have you dreamed of the possibility of drawing a coveted antelope tag in Arizona? Have you known someone to put in for said tag year after year, and never draw that tag? In Arizona as a resident, if you just now are starting the points game and put in for a antelope tag, your chances of drawing a tag are less than 1/10th of 1%! After twenty years of applying, in some units your odds may have crept up to a whopping 5% chance of drawing a tag! Don’t know about you, but there is a better chance of the good Lord calling me home than me drawing an antelope tag in this state!
Before I moved here two years ago, I lived in Colorado for twenty years, where there are a fair number of antelope. However, most of the antelope are located in the far eastern part of the state on mostly private land with difficult access. Years ago, I saw a hunting show on TV, and the host encouraged everyone to go on an antelope hunt in Wyoming at least once in their life. Antelope hunting is the quintessential spot and stalk western hunt because of the breathtaking, vast, wide open spaces that the fastest land animal in North America roams. This hunt appealed to me, as I was getting back into big game hunting after a long sabbatical to raise my children. When my oldest daughter finally reached high school and started playing varsity soccer, she dropped club soccer, which freed up our time in the fall. For the past fourteen years, I had been a stay at home mom raising my girls and going to soccer games every weekend of the year except for about ten weekends a year!
The first step was to learn about how to get a tag. We already had hunter safety out of the way. But the draw system was new to me. I read lots on line and asked lots of questions. After doing my research, we applied, and a short time later, my daughter and I were in possession of our first four antelope doe tags- two for each of us!
We watched videos and read as much as we could to learn about hunting before the season. We weren’t able to pre scout, and showed up after dark to camp out on BLM land. I even asked on a forum, “What is BLM land and how will I know when I am there in the dark?” Well, we did find it, and opening morning we were up and looking for antelope. Shortly after beginning our hunt, we found a group of antelope and blew our first stalk. We blew quite a few stalks, actually, but finally succeeded and filled all our tags! Just myself and my little 14 yr old daughter! We had never butchered big game, and had only watched YouTube videos. When we came home with two large coolers full of meat, my husband was stunned. I was busy for the next few days processing all the meat by myself for the first time as well.
So how might one do this hunt, you ask? And what might it cost? First, you have to decide whether you want to put in for pronghorn bucks or does. For our purposes, we are going to do pronghorn does as those tags are easier to draw and are the most affordable tag out there. Second, the cost. The non resident fee for a reduced price antelope doe tag is $34. The application fee is $15 and the conservation stamp if you draw a tag is $12.50. You can put in for two doe tags for a total amount of $95.50. $34+34+15+12.50=$95.50. The full price antelope buck tag is $326, in case you want to know. If you don’t want to apply this year, you can put in for a preference point only for $31.
After deciding you want to hunt for a doe, and you don’t have any preference points and have never been to WY, you can research two ways. The WYGFD puts all their information up on their website and it is fairly accessible. Or you can use a paid subscription service like goHunt to determine your best options. What you want to look for is units for antelope does that have a 100% draw odds, or really high draw odds. If you and your spouse/friend put in together, you can put in for a “party” hunt, where if one of you draws it is guaranteed the other draws as well. Alternatively, you can put in for one unit, and if unsuccessful, get your money back minus the application fee.
Here is a current list of all units that have a 100% draw odds for antelope does:
002, 003, 004, 010, 015, 016, 017, 020, 022, 024, 025, 026, 029, 031, 032, 053, 062, 065, 071, 072, 076, 077, 082, 098, 102, 109, 111, 114.
Now, just because the odds are 100% doesn’t mean it will be easy access! Here is where you have to dig deeper. There are several “types” of doe hunts: type 6, 7 or 8. The type 6 is a general doe hunt, and the type 7 and 8 hunts have special restrictions like within ½ mile of irrigated land, or south of a highway, or private land only or some such restriction. I usually avoid the type 7 or 8 hunts.
Wyoming has a wonderful Hunt Planner, and they list the “walk in areas” and Wildlife Management Areas for each unit in the Hunt Planner map. I will say that if you find a unit with high draw odds, and the only walk in land that is available is a handful of 600 acre parcels, you will have a very hard time. A section of land is not really adequate to hold any antelope. Look for walk in areas that are at least 1200 acres or more. If you can find several walk in areas around 2000 acres, you will have a much easier time. Also, the biologists are pretty good about talking to you, and may even know of some ranchers or farmers who would let you hunt on their land for a small fee or for free, especially if you are doe hunting after buck season is over. I included links below.
One exception to note for out of state hunters: just because a road is labeled on a map, or on OnX hunt maps, does not mean it is a public road. When you look at OnX maps, you will see lots of public land (National Forest, BLM, and State Trust land). However, hundreds of thousands of those acres are “landlocked” and unavailable to the public because the roads are private. To research the status of a road, you need to go to the county of the unit you are interested in and get a list of the county roads from the Roads and Bridges department. There is also a resource which shows which State Trust lands are land locked. I will list that link as well. Wyoming laws are not friendly to hunters, and you cannot “corner cross,” which is stepping across the corner of one parcel of public land to another opposite parcel of public land is trespassing. Also, private land does not have to be posted or fenced. If it is private, no hunting is allowed unless you have written permission from the land owner. Stepping on private land or driving on private roads will get you a trespassing ticket. That said, there is still much public land available for hunting!
If you are on the fence about hunting this year, you can put in for a preference point which will help you down the road should you decide to hunt in 2020. Being unsuccessful on drawing a reduced price doe hunt does not earn you preference points. Only unsuccessful regular price buck hunts draws earn preference points.
When you decide what unit you want, you can put in for two doe tags in that unit. After the initial draw, if there are leftover tags, you can put in for two more doe tags if you are really eager to fill the freezer with antelope. I have done this in years past, but it is getting much harder to do with the popularity of antelope hunting in Wyoming. If you really want to get some meat for the freezer, there are many ranchers/farmers who will give you permission to harvest several whitetail does for free or for a small fee. These hunts are not much hunts, but more like slaughters. However, if you have never hunted and just want to kill a deer, or just need meat for the freezer, it is an option. I did this last year with two other ladies and we killed six whitetail does in the space of 18 hours. We were overwhelmed with deer processing and will never do it again. I had my trailer with a deep freeze and my vacuum packer, and we processed all our deer before moving onto our antelope hunt! Another consideration, when you do that, carcass disposal becomes problematic. The landowner may or may not allow you to leave the carcass as it lays, and you may have to find a landfill that takes deer carcasses and transport your carcass and pay to dispose of it.
If you play your cards perfectly and have the time, you could conceivably draw a deer buck tag, two deer doe tags, a antelope buck tag and two doe tags, and pick up two more deer doe tags, and two more antelope doe tags all in the same season. Spend a week or two in Wyoming and fill your freezer. Also, no license is required for jack rabbits, so have at it.
If you have specific questions, I can point you in the right direction. If we get enough gals interested in doing this, perhaps we can caravan to Wyoming one year and go on a grand adventu Good luck, and may the odds always be in your favor!
Deadline to apply is May 31, 2019! Preference points deadline is October 31.
Wyoming Antelope Hunt Planner: https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Hunt-Planner/Antelope-Hunting
Wyoming Public Access: https://wgfd.wyo.gov/public-access
Wyoming Draw Odds: https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Drawing-Odds
Wyoming State Trust Lands: http://gis.statelands.wyo.gov/GIS/OSLIGIS/StateLandAccess/
Wyoming Wildlife Biologists: https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Law-Enforcement/Field-Personnel-Contact-Info/biologist-contact-info
Hunt Planning and strategies: https://www.gohunt.com/
Hunt Maps: https://www.onxmaps.com/
