In looking over the leftover tags, I noted that there are a lot of tags remaining for units 16, 17, 20, 21,22, 23 (the area from roughly Sheridan to Gillette. While the public land is a in somewhat of a checkerboard pattern, it still seems there would be ample space to find an antelope. Am I missing something about these units? I am not looking for a trophy animal, just a place to go and stretch my legs and see a bunch of antelope. Thanks in advance for any info.

quote:

Originally posted by ttu:
In looking over the leftover tags, I noted that there are a lot of tags remaining for units 16, 17, 20, 21,22, 23 (the area from roughly Sheridan to Gillette.

I have not been there, don't know but am similarly interested...

I hunted on similar patchwork public lands in southern Wyoming about 12-13 years ago and one of the problems was that none of the boundaries are marked. It's your responsibility to know which is public and what is private land and you must have written permission to hunt the private part.

I was hunting with a manager from the IRS office in Cheyenne and a BLM enforcement officer out of Casper. We didn't seem to have any problems.

Those areas have more antleope than anywhere else in the state, but as you noticed access sucks. There are little bits of public land here and there, but you have to be careful. I honestly think it would take most of the fun out of the hunt, if you have to constantly be worried about being on public land. Also, since the public land here is so limited, it gets pounded by both residents and non-residents. That said, I'm convinced a person could come here and kill an antelope on public land. I'm not sure if the experience would be worth it though.

I have hunted similar patchwork areas in South Dakota when I lived there. It was somewhat of a pain to make sure that you new where you were at, but with GPS units and GIS software that I have access to, I could overlay public lands into a GPS unit so I would know pretty much where I am at all the time. That coupled with the surface maps and a compass should keep me on track.