Wyoming Unit 16

[siwulat]

Hi guys,

New member to Easton but it looks like everyone is willing to give any advice they may have. I will be going to Wyoming to hunt unit 16 in a few weeks. It will be my first trip out west and I am very excited for it! We are DIY on public land. Anybody hunted the public land in this unit? We are doe/fawn only, and there are no landowners listed on the WGF website for the unit at this time. Any advice?

 

[Againstthewind]

http://wgfd.wyo.gov/plpwhmprogram/uploads/huntingwalk/johnson/Johnson.pdf. I haven't hunted it, but I do see animals off to the North side of the Interstate pretty regularly. Well, good luck.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Not much advice to give on unit 16, other than there is very little public land that is legally accessible if you haven't done any research to find that out already! That's why there are still 300 buck and doe tags left in the unit. There are very few public roads in the unit that touch or go through any state or BLM, so be aware that you'll need to make sure where you can drive legally to avoid trespass tickets. The one WIHA noted in the above post is about as big an area that you'll be able to legally hunt unless you can gain access to private land and it's pretty late now to do that with the seasons getting close. That WIHA will probably be hit hard by all the other NRs that also got tags without gaining access to ranches in the unit, so if you are going the first part of the season be prepared to see a lot of orange. You may be able to get on some private property if you go later in the season with those doe permits, but if you're like the majority of NRs I'd bet you already have scheduled your hunt to be out there for the opener. Good luck!

 

[siwulat]

Thanks top gun. I knew that access was limited when I put in for the unit. I have the BLM map and have identified maybe 6 points where a public road touches public land. In addition to the WIHA noted above, there is another state piece of land off of 204. We are going to start along upper powder river road and branch out as needed. We are going to be arriving on 10/4, which is the first weekend of the season. We are leaving on the following Friday, so hopefully the orange will die down mid week. Nice to know there are some goats in the area though!

 

[Topgun 30-06]

I think you're talking about the Lower Powder River Road that's the east boundary of 16 and those spots where the road hits BLM will probably be your best bet in the entire unit. The water runs north on up into Montana out there and what is called the Upper is way south of unit 16.There are several spots that road hits BLM and you need to find each one with your GPS and landowner chip, which I hope you guys have, and then just start walking west as far as you think you can go and get back to your vehicle in one day. If you get out and cover some ground over there you'll probably be okay. I'd certainly hunt all those spots thoroughly before I'd go near that WIHA.

 

[siwulat]

That eastern boundary is exactly where I am talking about. I called the county and they were able to tell me that that road is public all the way to the Montana border. The plan is to do just like you said, walk west as far as we can. Although the road doesn't touch much BLM, it looks like you can open up some larger tracts if you are willing to walk.

On a side note, I see that you are from Allegan, MI. I grew up in Gobles, just south of you.

Thanks for your tips. If you have any more advice I'm all ears.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

It's definitely a small world! A guy on this site just sent me a PM the other day saying he grew up in Allegan and now lives in Otsego. He is going out in Region C on a deer/antelope combo hunt with some friends and wondered if I could help him with some maps. He was over here to the house for a couple hours this morning and it turns out that his Dad is the older brother of a girl that was in my girl's highschool class and his younger brother was in my boys class and in my boy's wedding! Even stranger is that I hunted with two different guys that I met on the net and one lived in Texas, the other in Idaho. I hunted in Texas in 2010 with the one guy and when I was getting ready for the antelope hunt in 2012 with the guy from Idaho it turned out that the two of them were best friends and go on hunts together very few years. I wonder what the odd of that are. I should probably play the lottery, LOL!

 

[Musket Man]

TG, I can vouch for it being the Upper Powder River Road. lol. There are a few places you can access BLM from it but from my experience most of the antelope are along the river on private land. There are some decent chunks of BLM if you are willing to walk 4-5 miles to get to them. If you dont already have it be sure to get a gps and map chip so you can find the public land. None of it is marked and you will be lost without it.

 

[Againstthewind]

It is the Upper Powder River Road that goes through Arvada. I am not sure why it called that because you are right TG, the Middle and North Forks of the Powder river come together about Kaycee which would logically be the Upper Powder River, but it must have been some Montana guys that named the road I guess. I also agree with MM that most of the animals I have seen are on the private alongside the road which also follows the creek and nothing is marked other than a bunch of no trespassing signs. I usually assume private in areas like that just to be safe, so that is why I tend to stick to the WIHA and things well marked like that. Topgun is right though, its probably not a good area with the orange army. The hard part about this year is there is that all the ponds are full and the grass is tall everywhere so you can't narrow down your hunt to around water holes. That might be a really good thing if you can find some BLM to walk out into. The animals might still be hanging out in those areas that usually dry up by that time of year. There is a lot of oil and gas activity in that area as well, so just because its BLM doesn't mean no one is out there. That first opening weekend the antelope will take off as soon as a truck slows down, so you have to do the commando roll out of the moving truck to be sneeky. Well, I guess it doesn't help much if I just agree with everybody.

 

[siwulat]

Yep we've got both the hard copy map and GPS chips, so hopefully we don't have to worry about that. I will take a look again to see if there are any chunks of BLM that touch the river, although I don't think there are. I am continuing to check the WGF for landowner names, but nothing has changed in a few weeks. Do you guys know if that is updated up to and into the season?

 

[Cobbhunts]

Yep we've got both the hard copy map and GPS chips, so hopefully we don't have to worry about that. I will take a look again to see if there are any chunks of BLM that touch the river, although I don't think there are. I am continuing to check the WGF for landowner names, but nothing has changed in a few weeks. Do you guys know if that is updated up to and into the season?

It probably won't get updated any further this year. Have you called and asked for a landowner list for the area? They may have one, and your odds for getting on private for doe/fawn would be decent I would think. Call the regional office that the unit is in and ask for a landowner list. Good luck!!!

 

[siwulat]

I have not called, but I will on Monday. I guess I figured that all the names they had they would post on the website.

 

[Musket Man]

There is very little blm along the river and what blm is along the road probably wont have antelope on it. There are 2 or 3 places where the Powder River road crosses blm and my best advise would be to hike in a few miles from them. I think you will find antelope if you get in far enough to areas most hunters arent willing to walk to.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

This is really weird because the CD ROM I purchased from the G&F shows the name is the Lower Powder River Road from well south of I-90 going all the way up towards Montana along the river that is the eastern boundary of unit 16. The Delorme Topo CD ROM I rarely use and that I just put on the screen shows the road as the Upper like you guys are saying. Anyway, we are talking about the same road, so just find the small spots of accessible BLM the road hits and then walk your butt off going west like we have talked about. The further you go the more likely you are to fill your tags.

 

[siwulat]

Sounds like a plan. I will be sure to post an update after the trip.

 

[Musket Man]

I cant believe F&G would do that to you Topgun. HAHA!

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Not their fault as I just bought it from them. They didn't make the map program and I wonder how the mistake was made. I do know that the deer herd way south of there in their management plan is referred to as the Upper Powder River herd right in a book I bought from the G&F years ago. A lot of people probably don't know it, but the Powder River and the BigHorn River that is west of the mountains over by Worland are two of the only rivers in the country that flow north and both go up into Montana.

 

[Musket Man]

Interesting! I never paid attention to which way the river was flowing there. I really like the country around there. Wish I still had the ranch there to hunt, but I guess I miss the owner alot more then the ranch itself.

 

[Againstthewind]

I was surprised when I read that about the Big Horn and Powder Rivers being some of the rare ones that run north. The Belle Fourche and North Platte also run North before they take their turns to the East, so I figured that was fairly normal. Learn stuff all the time.

http://wyominglife..com/2012/09/18/water-travels-uphill-in-the-wind-river-canyon/

We should go squirrel hunting MM, I always seem to chase them when I follow your posts, lol. Well, good stuff TG.

 

[Musket Man]

We should go squirrel hunting MM, I always seem to chase them when I follow your posts, lol.

I got brass on the way for my 204 Ruger