Antelope help

[haftard]

So im wanting to do an antelope hunt. But i dont know where to go, or what to put in for. I would like to do it with a muzzleloader. If you know of muzzleloader hunts with high odds or a otc tag i would love to know about it. Public land or good access is a must

[LDennis24]

Guys I know always go to Wyoming

[87Ford]

May want to consider buying a Wyoming antelope preference point.  I believe you have till Nov 2nd to buy a point only.

[Stein]

I wouldn't suggest ML for your first antelope hunt, but have at it if that is your thing.  WY, MT, pick a unit and go for it, plenty of research info available for free on their websites or GoHunt.  I don't know of an otc antelope tag, so you are looking at 2021 at the earliest.

What research have you done so far?  You might have trouble getting feedback if you don't at least have a state and some areas picked out.

[haftard]

Well ive bought a point for wyoming. I looked,into oregon but the 200 bucks just to put in every year is kinda killer. Havent looked into montana that much.

[Bigshooter]

Go with WY.

[ibuyre]

Go with Wy. I have yet to shoot a buck. Was drawn for a Mt buck tag and hunted that, had a shot on a nice goat, but it was a long shot (500ish yards), and the grass was showing the wind was going 3 different ways along the bullet path, so didn't take the shot. What I did was bought random reduced price doe tags all over Wy and have watched goats and shot 4 does in Wy. It's cheap fun, freezer filling education about goats. Mt was a harder hunt than Wy. lol I had a dandy buck goat at like 20 feet that I spent about 20 min with but had a doe tag.... In Wy. Get on x maps or something like that. Watch where you are... Wy is goofy, you can be trespassing and be on a rd that most maps show as a county rd. BUT that one ranch won't have a easement for the rd.... So you can dive the rd up to that ranch from both directions, but you can't drive the county rd though that ranch... and there's no signs telling you that.... Crazy easy to get in trouble for trespassing. Plus it doesn't help when the ranchers accuse you of trespass and try to run you off when you are on BLM. Or when you see "no trespassing" signs on BLM land.  A lot of ranchers lease to guides or are guides and they view BLM that they graze on as there land, in addition to there actual land.  Know exactly who's land you are on. Call the local game warden and talk to them, they are super helpful.

[theleo]

If your just in it for chasing goats Wyoming is the state to go to. Oregon isn't worth it from the non resident perspective and the closest thing Idaho has to OTC tags are some unlimited draw archery tags. Like others have stated, I wouldn't take a muzzleloader if it's your first time going after them. My last one was only about a 90 yard shot, but I've chased them before and have at least some real world experience on how they differ from deer and elk. Limit yourself to 300 yards or less with a rifle and I think you'll get more of challenge than you're expecting. They're different critters. Watch them enough and you'll see what I mean.

[dvolmer]

I hunt unit 99 in Wyoming and it has decent antelope.  There are some Hunt Management Areas (HMA) that have good access for antelope (if you ever get drawn let me know and I can help you out).  There is also some good walk in areas that are open to the public.  The interesting part of unit 99 is that they have a special hunt/season for muzzleloaders.  They have there own permit quota and the season starts a little bit longer and earlier so you get a first crack at them.  Worth looking into. (Took 3 points in the normal draw last year and 2 points in the special draw to get a tag.)  Hunt number 99-0 is the muzzleloader hunt.

[Pathfinder101]

Agree with Wyoming.  If you want to hunt without spending a lot of years building points, that's where I'd go. 
HOWEVER... read my thread on PathfinderJR and Little Pathfinger's Antelope hunt last week.  We drew that unit with no points, but when we got there there were absolutely NO goats on public land.  That's the general rule in Wyoming... If it's easy to draw... there won't be enough public land to have a good hunt.  We got really lucky and got on some private property.  My suggestion is to build points for a few years until you can draw a unit that has a high percentage of public land.  We drove and hiked around in Unit 17 for 18 hours and did not see a buck antelope on huntable land.  Period.

[Stein]

For me, deer and elk hunting are all about finding the target.  Antelope hunting is all about finding something where you can legally shoot it, so that's consistent with most people doing public land hunting, especially lower point hunts.  Unless you are in a truly horrible unit, there will be plenty of targets all around.

So, you have a few options to get a tag.  Option 1 is throw some money at it, either the special application in WY, a guide or a landowner fee.  Some states have landowner tags too.  This is the easiest way of course.

Option 2 is to consider doe hunts, easier to draw and many times the opportunity to harvest one as there are a bunch of them around and they are all pretty much the same and you can't really be picky.

Option 3 would be getting REALLY good at reading maps and REALLY good about knowing exactly where you are at.  If you hunt tiny parcels or right on the border your odds sometimes can go up dramatically, but you have to be 100% sure of what you are doing.  Those places will be easier to draw.  There are also tags with heavy restrictions like only hunting within 1/2 mile of irrigated land.  Those are a real crapshoot in my mind, I've showed up to brown dirt that was green crops in Google Earth which is a bummer to say the least. 

Option 4, either tag along or find a great friend with tons of points you can party apply with.  I actually like hunting other people's tags even better than when I have the tag, all the fun and none of the stress.

Option 5, win the lottery, apply for every opportunity in every state you can and focus on those that have at least some type of random tag available (apply in a state that has a random allocation and then in units with tons of tags instead of the unit with only 2 tags as it likely won't have any random allocation).

Option 6 - check tribal opportunities (kind of like option 1).  I haven't done this but I think there are some tribes that run hunts you don't need a state tag for.

There are probably other ideas, but either pull out your wallet, be prepared to hunt a place that might not have any goats, or be patient and wait 3-5 years or more.

[ibuyre]

For me, deer and elk hunting are all about finding the target.  Antelope hunting is all about finding something where you can legally shoot it, so that's consistent with most people doing public land hunting, especially lower point hunts.  Unless you are in a truly horrible unit, there will be plenty of targets all around.

So, you have a few options to get a tag.  Option 1 is throw some money at it, either the special application in WY, a guide or a landowner fee.  Some states have landowner tags too.  This is the easiest way of course.

Option 2 is to consider doe hunts, easier to draw and many times the opportunity to harvest one as there are a bunch of them around and they are all pretty much the same and you can't really be picky.

Option 3 would be getting REALLY good at reading maps and REALLY good about knowing exactly where you are at.  If you hunt tiny parcels or right on the border your odds sometimes can go up dramatically, but you have to be 100% sure of what you are doing.  Those places will be easier to draw.  There are also tags with heavy restrictions like only hunting within 1/2 mile of irrigated land.  Those are a real crapshoot in my mind, I've showed up to brown dirt that was green crops in Google Earth which is a bummer to say the least. 

Option 4, either tag along or find a great friend with tons of points you can party apply with.  I actually like hunting other people's tags even better than when I have the tag, all the fun and none of the stress.

Option 5, win the lottery, apply for every opportunity in every state you can and focus on those that have at least some type of random tag available (apply in a state that has a random allocation and then in units with tons of tags instead of the unit with only 2 tags as it likely won't have any random allocation).

Option 6 - check tribal opportunities (kind of like option 1).  I haven't done this but I think there are some tribes that run hunts you don't need a state tag for.

There are probably other ideas, but either pull out your wallet, be prepared to hunt a place that might not have any goats, or be patient and wait 3-5 years or more.

I would second all of that. Great post. And I will add, more to the knowing exactly where you are and little parcels. All 4 of the goats I shot where on super small chunks of public land. We are talking 3-5 ac pieces. So small most people didn't even look at them. But I would go check those tiny spots out and low and behold goats... BUT have know exactly where you are, and where the goats are, and hit them in a way that they can't run or they would be off the property and you can't recover them without getting permission that you most likely won't be able to get. That was something I found frustrating. Tons of people told me up front, "don't even ask, about recovering a animal, can't do it". It has something to do with the leases that the guide services use, and the reason I will NEVER use one of said guides. Makes me really against any money going to anyone that doesn't want animals recovered.

Be warned though some of the guides are total jerks, I had a couple try to run me off public land. He was telling me I was trespassing and threatening me. I stood my ground and proved I was on public and had the number of the game warden and was "let's call him" (have the name and number of the game warden in your pocket, I needed it 2 times). At that point the tune changed to, if a animal runs off this land, I have everything around this place under lease and I will charge you if you attempt to recover anything. Hence I like to see people do it there self and not pay jerks.

[opdinkslayer]

The biggest questions to ask yourself with an antelope hunt is what caliber of goat am I looking for & how long do I want to wait to hunt? Killing an antelope is not hard but being in an area to have a chance to kill a big one is a bit more challenging.

[rainshadow1]

Tagging... looking into it for next season myself...

[haftard]

Well i dont wanna shoot a little buck that aint bigger then his ears. I want there to be plenty of public land to accualt get out and look for the right goat. Honestly i would like to go every 2 to 3 years.