bighorns north/south

[wisconsin_guy]

This year will b mine and my brothers 5th year to wyoming after mule deer. The last 2 years we've hunted region y, which is the plan again this year pending tags. We've always went to Burgess junction to hunt. Well this year brother seems to think we need to try the south horns, I'm not 100% convinced yet. Is there a noticeable difference between the north and south horns, such as terrain, deer numbers, size? I plan on backpacking in again this year so I feel number of people isn't a issue. Don't want anyone's honey hole, hot spot or stuff of that nature.

 

[kiddwinner]

how far south are you talking?

 

[wisconsin_guy]

South of hwy 16

 

[Againstthewind]

I think that there is less public land South of Buffalo, but there is still quite a bit. In general I think it is kindof similar to Burgess Junction as far as terrain along the Hazelton Road until you start going downhill, then it is more private land, less timber, and drier I think. North of HWY 16 you get into the Cloud Peak Wilderness and probably some of the roughest country in the Big Horns, but south is a little more tame. You start to get into the sagebrush and desert areas pretty quickly. There are still some canyons to wrangle around, but they have more of red color instead of the yellow. Anyway there are a lot of similarities to the Burgess Junction Area, but I would say less public ground overall and drier. Kindof general stuff you could get from a map, but that is all I know. As far as deer numbers, I see more deer around Kaycee and up towards the mountains than I do usually do up top at Burgess Junction, but they do tend to stick to the green irrigated fields sometimes. They might just have more places to hide in the timber.

 

[kiddwinner]

i agree 100% with against the wind

 

[shootbrownelk]

I have seen some huge mulies up by Burgess junction a couple of miles off the highway. The southern Bighorns offer less public land.
And access can be an issue. Carry a GPS with the land status chip. Good luck to you!

 

[11C50]

I have hunted south of 16 for more than a few years now and while we have had decent success we have never gotten anything spectacular. The herd there seems to have taken a hit, just like everywhere else. I would be hard pressed to leave an area I know well to move down there ,certain areas get pounded pretty hard, and access lower can be a real issue. That being said if you want some specifics shoot me a PM.

 

[wisconsin_guy]

That is one of my biggest reason for not wanting to switch areas. I want to be able to stay in a certain area and get to know it very well. To me it seems the better I know the area I hunt the more successful my hunts will b.

 

[Horsenhike]

Any other input?

Did you end up switching areas wisconsin-guy?

We are looking at the Rock Creek area, and the very south end of the National Forest.

 

[wisconsin_guy]

We ended up goin back to the north, got out 3 days b4 season opened and got some scouting in. Ended up doing well filled 4 of our 5 tags for deer, got the 1 antelope tag filled b4 deer season opened , and also 3 yotes

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