Wyoming antelope Area 24?

[ATH]

You choose good. Area 7 has a decent amount of public land. I hunted it about 5 years ago and choose it because of the amount of public land and hunter success. Turns out that year I went wasn't so good and I had to work the first 3 days of the season. By the time I got to hunt, you couldn't get close to them., at 1000yrds they'd be running. It took me 4 days but I got my 3. The closest shot was 300yds a lone buck that thought he was on private land, hehe. It was on one of those postage stamps surrounded by private. Spotted him on my way to the larger hunt area. The longest shot was 550yds and I had to low crawl to get that close.

Opening day is no troubles getting 100 yrd shots, if you have a bunch of tags you can probably tag out in 5 mins at first light. They are stupid that way. The herd will circle around sometimes, waiting for the one you shot to get up and come along. Anyhow good luck.

We ended up in Unit 6. Not a lot of public land but all 4 of us hunting together in one truck tagged out in 2 days. It was not that hard as long as you were willing to drive a lot of miles and get out of the truck and look for goats not visible from the road. The first I shot opening morning at 400 after it came through a downed fence choke point moving off private land we found scouting the day before. The second day of the season was cold and windy, so we spent the day walking and glassing coulees and lee sides out of the wind. The next 2 bucks were killed at 375 (bottom of a deep coulee) and 150 (lee side of hill), both out of sight of the road but within 200 yards of it. The fourth was in the bottom of a stream ravine but we saw him from the road, he was getting wise but stopped to look back from 375 and that was it. The pressure overall was not great, but the middle two goats we had several trucks of hunters around us but nobody was getting out and doing any legwork.

I'd go back again. The $200 minimum we heard talking to private landowners would have been a waste unless you got to scout in advance and put that in knowing there was a trophy sized buck there.

The only negative experience we had was private landowners hiring out guided hunts who seemed to think nobody should be hiking in 2.5 miles and shooting antelope on state/BLM land bordering theirs, complaining that we shot them before they walked onto their private land for their paying customers to shoot. They sent out 12 guys in 2 pickups to give my buddy a hard time a quarter mile into state land from their property line. We were kind of amazed that 12 guys had nothing better to do all morning but sit in pickups a half mile away and watch us.

There are not many roads; we saw and were checked by a warden each of the 4 days we were there. Plus a check station. Professional and helpful. We enjoyed out time sighting in with the gentlemen at the local shooting club as well.

 

[Birdhunter1]

The only negative experience we had was private landowners hiring out guided hunts who seemed to think nobody should be hiking in 2.5 miles and shooting antelope on state/BLM land bordering theirs, complaining that we shot them before they walked onto their private land for their paying customers to shoot

Happens here in Illinois too, people get all mad when you set up a deerstand on your property or state or USFS ground 150 yards from their property and hunt in it. I had the same kind of experience in Wyoming too, a rancher who was kind enough to let us hunt on his place in one area and told us in the other are we had tags for to make sure and stay 100% above board because around so and so's land he will call the game warden on us.

While we were quartering our Antelope the next day by mr so and so's land Mr. Game Warden came flying up claiming we were poaching, shooting from the road and trespassing. Luckily my buddy had not picked up his spent brass and it was laying right where we shot from and blood spatter where we shot our goats was evidence enough that we were 1/4 mile from any private land and well off the road.