First Time WY Applicant, Father Son Strategy

[chsdaddy]

Let me thank everyone in advance, I know without tools like these it would be much more difficult and costly to put together DIY hunts, especially out of state. If anyone has any questions regarding NM I will return the favor.

My 65 year old dad and I are looking to try our hand in WY. The goal is to spend time with family and hunt. The hardest part about hunting with my dad is keeping him from shooting the 1st legal animal he sees, so trophy quality is second to seeing animals and having opportunities. I have guided hunts for 17 years so I'm not looking for anyone's honey hole just application strategy and access points. We are building points in CO and since NM is a total crap shoot we have decided to base our application strategy around hunting deer in WY.

We have 0 points and based on the MRS and other internet research it looks like the General Region Y hunt fits the bill for us. Deer numbers were affected by the hard winter last year, but not as bad as other parts of the state.

In my research it appears this region holds deer in the 10-12/square mile (2010) so I figure this coming season barring any ridiculous spring storms will probably be in the 8-10/square mile range. Is that a reasonable assumption?

All of the units in this region except 24 and 27 have decent amounts of public land, by my standards anyway? Is it fairly accessible?

I understand there is wilderness area in unit 28 that will be off limits to us. How is the rest of the Forest Service? Is it rugged? My dad is pretty stout but I don't want to kill him. Is the Forest Service tight timber where you have to dig them out or can you spot and stalk.

It appears that we can also draw with 0 points Antelope in units that overlap region Y deer units for the same time. How is Antelope unit 21? How is the deer hunting in the same area? Is it worth it to get the antelope tag and apply for the extra doe tags as well?

Thanks again!

 

[chsdaddy]

For some reason this post showed up more than a motnh after I submitted it. Oh well.

We applied for region Y and unit 21 antelope. I got the hunting gps land owner maps and software for google earth that shows all the untis for WY and what's blm, state, forest, private etc. It appears that in the antelope unti 21 (deer 163, 33 and 169) there are quite a few roads. My question is what is considered public? If it is a named road on google earth can I assume it's public and we can drive through the private land? I assume the county roads that are numbered we have through access on?

Last year the antelope hunt went through Oct 31st. Is it better to give up concurrent deer and antelope and wait for the initial volley to be over and come later in the antelope hunt and chase the deer in the forest toward the end of October or has the snow pushed them all onto private land?

I knew access would be tough and pressure high, just trying to figure out time off and coordination. Dad's gonna scout late summer. Any tips there.

Thanks

 

[chsdaddy]

Yeah I was trying to figure what public land was "locked" based on whether or not the roads accessing said public land were private or not. I assume if the county, state or other publicly funded agency cares (it has a name, signage, etc.) for the road "and" I can access public land without crossing private from that road, it's fair game. In my computer scouting of the area some of the roads have names or county #'s and some do not. Dad's gonna scout it this summer I am trying to make him some maps to check out.