I am planning a 2010 Wyoming pronghorn hunt. I hunted before in unit 23 with my son in 2004 and had a successful hunt. My son took a 12" buck and I took a doe. In 2010, my niece's husband and I plan to hunt a similarly undersubscribed unit (I am strongly considering unit #7 right now). Our goals are very modest. My niece's husband would like to take a buck -- horns of 12" would satisfy him. I'm liable to put in for a doe permit: I'm a meat hunter not a horn hunter. The pronghorn season in unit #7 traditionally lasts two weeks. Our plan would be to start our hunt in the second week to avoid bumping into other hunters -- just a better experience when you are out there hunting on your own, I think, than when there are lots of other people gadding about on the same hunting grounds.

I have identified a contiguous block of publically huntable land (national grasslands, state lands, and/or Bankhead-Jones lands) in unit #7 that looks to me like it would offer good hunting -- at least good enough for our very modest hunting objectives. It looks like this block of land is close to state highway 450 and that there is a public road (indicated as a continuous red line on the BLM map, including a name for the road) providing access to this block of public land.

My question is are there any "gotchas" that I'm not aware of? It looks like I ought to easily be able to get into this public land. Suppose I'm wrong, it also looks like there are a number of other blocks of public land in unit #7 that I can access from public roads. Is it pretty much a piece of cake to get into these blocks of public land that the BLM maps show or is it difficult to get into these public land blocks?

Any thoughts or insights you may have to offer about the situation of accessing the public lands shown on these maps (the main map I'm looking at for Unit #7 is the "Newcastle" BLM map) would be appreciated. We are probably going to stay in a hotel in a nearby town, for example maybe in Newcastle, and just drive out to the hunting ground.

Don't always trust the map. Alot of Thunder Basin looks like it crosses the road but I have seen hunters get caught tresspassing when they thought they were legal. Ask the area landowners where the access to BLM or public land is. Usually they are helpful and you know you are safe. Area 7 would be a good area to try your hunt.

ddj

C'mon over to areas 87, 88, 89, 90... almost totaly public land, thousands of goats, nobody hunts 'em here.. the antelope don't even know the season is open.. I took my two doe/fawns in Aug with the crossbow, and popped a nice 14" buck with the pistol a couple of weeks later while elk hunting.. (see post in handgun hunting under my name). My son and his buddy both killed P&Y bucks with their bows.. spot and stalk.. Les

I have a friend/employer that just got back from the PineDale area and the group he was with, 4 hunters total, all took goats on Public Land, two of them were over 14" and one of the two green scores 80 or so.

Unless you are specifically after trophy animals, you should be able to get what you are after on Public Land.

The only time I hunted wyoming, all the Land owner wanted for a trespass fee was the Land owner Voucher tag from my license.

quote:

Originally posted by Les Staley:
C'mon over to areas 87, 88, 89, 90... almost totaly public land, thousands of goats, nobody hunts 'em here.. the antelope don't even know the season is open..

Ssshhh....! I talked to a local a year ago, said he put in for a resident tag four years in a row and didn't get one.
Plus you have to be careful with your maps, as the gas drillers have changed a lot of the roads in Area 90.

Les Staley: I appreciate the heads up on the quality in 87, 88, 89, and 90, but I'm a non-resident and these units are substantially oversubscribed for non-residents. Unit 87 had 7 NR permits in 2009; 44 NRs applied in unit 87 as their first choice. Similar high ratios of NR oversubscription pertain to the other units you mentioned. Again, I'm not a horn hunter and in fact I'll probably put in for a doe permit for myself. Doe meat eats pretty good, probably better on average than buck meat. Since I'm not going to mount the head, why pay extra for the any sex permit? My partner is going after a buck, but he isn't going to have the head mounted either and says he is OK with very modest horns -- I specifically indicated he shouldn't expect more than 12" horns in the units I was considering (23, 24, 7, etc.). I want to put in for a unit which is UNDERsubscribed where I'm pretty much guaranteed to draw successfully.

quote:

Originally posted by loki:
Les Staley: I appreciate the heads up on the quality in 87, 88, 89, and 90, but I'm a non-resident and these units are substantially oversubscribed for non-residents.

You get three choices for areas, on the application. It can't hurt to put one or two of the nice ones up front, you might get lucky. Then you put one of the undersubscribed ones as your second or third choice. There are reduced-price doe/fawn tags on another application, which might increase your chances at getting something. I am also just as happy with a nice doe as I am with horns.

loki: Two "gotchas" that I would keep in mind. One is that the BLM maps can be dated and I am told that land transfers do occur - thus, what may show on the BLM map as public land may no longer be public. It was recommended to me to stop at the nearest BLM office to confirm land ownership before going out.

Secondly, I ran into a situation where a rancher who apparently had grazing rights on some public land flatly told me I couldn't access the land to hunt - even though he didn't own the land, he apparently felt having grazing rights meant ownership, in his mind. I ended up hunting on one of the many Hunter Management Areas the Wyoming offers:

http://gf.state.wy.us/plpwhmpr...rManagementHome.aspx

If I make it back out there (which I hope I do), I would probably look into paying a trespass fee to hunt on private land - while driving along the northern border of Thunder Basin National Grasslands, the difference in antelope quanities and quality was striking between the public and private land herds that were separated by the road.

Yes the oil/gas drilling has changed the roads here is Sublette County.. Now there are roads (HUNDREDS OF MILES OF 'EM, ALL HUNTABLE) where there were never roads before.boundrys have not changed, rivers on one side, and mountains on the other.. even I can figure 'em out... your best camo here is a white hardhat.. goats never even look up when a pick-up (specialy white ones) stop..step off the road right-of-way and release your arrow.. there are ususaly leftover doe-fawn permits to be had.. depends on what you want to do, fight with some low-brow rancher, or just do a little killin'.. Les