Wyoming: Unit 16 or 22?

[hoosierdude]

This is my first post here after a lot of lurking on the forums. My buddy and I are planning a trip to Wyoming for the second week of October (hopefully after some of the orange army has left) to hunt pronghorn, our first western hunt. We plan to hike in a couple miles and set up camp on BLM. We?ve done all the online research we can concerning draw odds, units, public land options, etc. GPS with OnX will be with us, and we?ve thoroughly researched trespassing laws. Since we have zero PP, we?ve been looking at 100% draw odds units with sizeable tracts of BLM. We realize these sections have 100% draw because of the lack of public access, but a trespass fee is beyond our budget. What are small parcels of land to those out west seem huge to a couple Hoosier boys! That being said, a NE section of BLM in unit 22 and the BLM in the SE corner of unit 16 look appealing.
My questions to you, dear Eastman members:
1. Do these two areas hold pronghorn? We don?t care about big bucks, we?d be thrilled with a couple does. I?m not asking for GPS coordinates or specific locations, I just want to know if well see pronghorn in these areas. They seem from the maps to be fairly broken, but studying topos can tell you only so much.
2. Can we expect a lot of fellow hunters during the second week of firearms, during the week? Again, we plan to hike in a couple miles.
3. How hard is it to find drinking water? Well have means of purification.
Thank you for reading, and we greatly appreciate any info you?d be willing to give.
Warmest regards,
Owen

 

[WapitiBob]

The walkin/blm area in sw 16 had 4 doe antelope when I was there. The landowner that lives at the end of the county road, drove that road every 30 minutes looking for trespassers. He had the best luck, bagging a father/son duo.
Every access point off the river road in the se corner will have multiple camps. Some guys can get a bit cranky.

 

[NDHunter]

Those are both terrible units for the most part. Even though it looks like there is a lot of public land, it is surprising how few access points there are. They might only have a couple access points with hundreds of guys looking at the same thing. As with most of those easy to draw units, you will need to get a couple miles from the road to get a buck. That country is fairly broken and will have some antelope but not tons of them.
I'm sure you will see some hunters the 2nd week but it might not be too terrible. The public land will have been hit hard though for a week and so the animals will probably be quite a ways in. As for water purification, I don't know but I'd say it's pretty scarce. It isn't worth messing around with that though. Just carry it in your pack.

If you'd be happy with some does, I would seriously consider just applying for doe tags in a unit with more public land. If I had a tag in 16 or 22, I'd probably shoot the very first buck I saw and so a guy might as well just have a doe tag. You can apply for 2 doe tags. Type 6 that is.

For those units, click on this link. http://www.johnsoncountywyoming.org/departments/gis/
Then click on the "Johnson County Mapserver" link. That will bring up a map with the county roads. Cross reference with the maps from the WY Game and Fish for unit boundaries. https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Hunting/Hunt-Planner/Antelope/Antelope-Map

That oughta help u out a bit.

 

[Work2hunt]

I hunted 22 a couple years ago. Most people that hunt the public land, road hunted. We filled our 4 tags by getting OFF the road. If you are willing to hike in then you should be fine. None of the bucks I saw on public were huge but you could find a couple. PM me if you have questions.

 

[JFox]

The general vibe I have gotten regarding many of these lower % public land units is that, if you're willing to put leg work in, you will be much more likely to have success. I had a pair of buddies hunt 16 last year and both filled tags, albeit they did put in some miles on foot (they were exclusively public land hunting). I agree with ND hunter in that if you're looking for doe opportunity, I would strongly consider applying for type 6 (reduced cost doe only) in a unit that has more access.

Best of luck!

 

[Hilltop]

I'll 2nd the idea of type 6 tags. Research areas that require 1-2 points to draw a buck tag. Apply for doe tags there and hunt this fall (if you draw) and then save a couple points for your buck hunt in 2 years. You will know the area much better and increase your chances of a nicer buck when you draw. You be much happier in the end and you will save money this year on tags as the doe permits are much cheaper.

 

[Prerylyon]

I know someone who applied for 16-6 lope tags. [emoji6]