My Wyoming antelope 2020 trip

[Bob33]

I’m a fortunate guy. I was thankful to have an opportunity to make another trip to Wyoming this year to hunt antelope. I consider the hunting an excuse to go to Wyoming, and also a chance to fill our freezer with the best wild game meat in the opinion of my family.

For the last several years I’ve been hunting in the northern part of the state. The two units I hunt in are largely private so it’s been relatively easy to get surplus doe/fawn licenses. Since I’m primarily a meat hunter and not particularly a trophy hunter that works out well. The last few years I’ve met landowners who have allowed me to hunt their property which has made things a little easier. One invited me to hunt for a buck this year so that was an added bonus.

Thanks to COVID my son was able to make the trip with me. His college was completely remote so he could do his homework via the internet in the evenings from Wyoming.

It was a tough year for antelope where I was. In one of the two units that I have access to private land in, there were almost no antelope on the landowner's property when we were there. I checked multiple times throughout the week and only saw a few animals one time. According to the landowner he had antelope a few weeks earlier. I did see some antelope in the unit on other nearby properties but it appears that area’s population is down this year. I’ll do some research on that before next year.

In the first unit I had a buck antelope license and an antlerless deer license. My son had two doe/fawn antelope licenses, and an antlerless deer license for a total of five animals between us. We were able to fill those licenses. The landowner also took us prairie dog shooting one afternoon where my son shot up three boxes of HMR17. The landowner also had a clay target thrower so we burned up some shotgun shells shooting them for target practice. He has a creek and wants us to fish next year so that’s something new we can look forward to.

We spent the rest of the week looking for antelope in the other unit on huntable land for some friends who were also hunting there but found very few to pass information along on.

Although we didn’t see as many antelope as hoped, by the important measures it was a successful trip. I got to spend a week with my son. We drove through Yellowstone on the way and got to see religious elk in Gardiner, the Lamar Valley, some bison and the Beartooth Highway which closed for the season a few hours after we drove it. We strengthened our relationship with two landowners. We filled our large cooler with outstanding meat and saw a lot of beautiful scenery. We made it there safely and home again.

I am a fortunate guy.

Here are a few photos from the trip.

[Brushbuster]

Great experience glad your son could join you. Very cool pics. Hope you get to go again soon. 

[opdinkslayer]

Nice buck bob & a great trip! Nothing like spending time in Wyoming!

[ellensburgpo]

I always look forward to your report from Wyoming. Good stuff.

[Axle]

Awesome pictures for sure!!!!! 

[hunting4sanity]

Congrats to you and your son on a great hunting trip and the quality time together. Thanks for sharing those awesome photos.

[Karl Blanchard]

Thank you for sharing Bob! Fantastic trip!

[Dan-o]

Great report.

BEAUTIFUL pictures.

[Pathfinder101]

Wow.  That was like a Bugle Magazine photo essay!  Fantastic.  Congrats on your goats.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Thanks for sharing once again Bob.  Now I'm homesick!

[redi]

Looks like it was a great trip thank you for sharing the pictures

[CaNINE]

A LeDoux tune ran through my mind looking at your pics. 

[link]

Great photos. Gotta love Wyoming!

[downtownbrown0610]

Absolutely amazing pictures. Thank you for sharing!

[DIron]

Thanks was an awesome story. What a trip. Thank you for sharing.