Help with First trip to Wyoming

[marcusvdk]

I have read a few different places that unit 7 was a good unit. Just wondering if anyone has any information on this unit that they would be willing to share. I am looking to find a good unit with a good amount of antelope don't have to be amazing trophy area, but has lots of easy accessible public land. Heard the draw was really good here and looked like it had good chance of doe tag. Just wondering what people know about it. Never been out west and looking to go with me and my dad and brother. Being from Michigan this is great opportunity for us and want to have a good chance at some antelope. Will take any good suggestions on other units as well.

Thanks
Marcusvdk

 

[NDHunter]

I'm not an expert but I think that 7 is kind of mediocre. Not real great animals and not an abundance if public land. Look at 27. Has a ton of public land and tons of goats. Not huge ones but a lot of them. You will need 1 preference point to draw or else go with the special tag with 0 points.

 

[marcusvdk]

Wow yeah that unit looks really good Pretty much all thunder national grass lands, Thank for the information every little bit helps want to make it a fun trip for my family.

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

Hi Marcusvdk. I'm just guessing, but maybe the unit 7 you have heard about is for elk hunting. It is no secret that Unit 7 is a very good unit for bowhunting for elk. Each species in Wyoming has its own unit number so for example, Unit 7 for antelope is not the same as Unit 7 for elk.

I have done a ton of research on Wyoming antelope and have hunted Wyoming half a dozen times for antelope and have never heard Unit 7 come up for antelope. Unit 7 is in the NE corner of the state, and the NE corner is not generally the best antelope hunting in Wyoming. With that said, even mediocre antelope hunting by Wyoming standards is still quite good. The key is finding public access if you are going unguided. If you are going with a guide, look at past pics and they can probably produce bucks like that in the future. The success for antelope in Wyoming is excellent.

For the best antelope hunting in Wyoming you want to be in the NW corner of the state (only a few select units there), central part of the state, or south central part of the state.

 

[marcusvdk]

The other forum i was looking at said unit 7 for antelope, but they were talking not being big trophy, but had a lot of good public access. That is my main concern is the public access I did look at unit 27 as the other post and that has a ton of public access. I am going unguided. I was also looking for units that have very favorable draw with low preference points. I have heard that the NW is the best location but has really hard draws and need lots of points. After my first or second time hunting antelope and gaining some knowledge on hunting them i will try for a trophy area. Thank you so much for the info (Umpqua Hunter) That is really helpful in getting me areas to look at fro units with public access.

 

[GMX]

Wyoming antelope area 7 has some walk in areas. I have hunted in the past

 

[marcusvdk]

good amount of antelope GMX?

 

[EBOLAVIRS]

Find an area around Rawlins with lots of public land, you can't go wrong. It really is hard to have a bad antelope hunt in Wyoming.

 

[GMX]

That is so true EBOLAVIRS

 

[squirrelduster]

We hunted unit 7 last year. They had a huge winter kill the previous winter so the population in seriously down. I wouldn't recommend 7 as a place to go. Not your typical antelope country, lots more hills and cuts. The public land we looked over had very few antelope, we hunted private land and there were not many more on the private land. South of unit 7 had lots more antelope than in unit 7.
There are many units better than 7.
Almost forgot but Thunder Basin National Grasslands is not all public. Lots of private in there, I would bet more private than public. Also get the list of hunter access areas from the Wyoming fish and game, it's online, we hunted some of that property and it was not on any other maps.

 

[mconway951]

Call the WY GandF they are some of the most helpful people i have ever talked to. Pick a couple zones and call and ask to speak to the game biologist or the CO for those units they can help you with animal population winter kills from year before. Public access and more the one i talked to even told me about walk in area that didnt get put on the map cause they got permission to late and it was great we found antelope ther with no problems although we didnt hunt unit 7 we did hunt leftover tags in another unit so we could save our preference points fo a good hunt in a few years.
Here is a pic of our bucks not huge but we were just after buck of anykind.