The Hunting Beast

Just thought to post this as an informational thing.

WY has a Task Force that is working on making things better for WY residents. They already implemented a 90/10 tag allocation for moose, sheep, goats.

They are working on doing the 90/10 thing for Elk, Deer, Antelope within the next couple of years - earliest will be 2024. The following is referring to elk, deer, antelope.

NR tags will be reduced, 50% of NR tags are proposed to be sold thru outfitters as "special tags" which cost 2x regular tags. A portion of the remaining NR tags will be given to NR land owners that qualify, then the leftover remaining tags will be available for NR draw. Some folks have said 3% of the tags will be available for NR draw in some areas. Used to be 20%. The NR fees are supposed to be raised to continue to finance the F&G efforts but with a lot less tags to spread the cost out between.

The Task Force and the politicians involved reportedly do not care about the NR hunters.

This is all about providing more opportunity to the residents because WY has been inundated with NR over the last 5-10 or so years. The Res hunters been complaining about NR DIY hunters. Some say You Tube hunters have created this mess.

I'm not complaining - just putting this out for anyone who is interested, so you can research yourself. The Task Force is an active thing, so, these numbers may vary as the present solutions to "the hunting problem" in WY.

Montana changed a bunch of regs this year with similar outcomes. If you don't have money, western hunting continues to get farther out of reach.

I always thought the law that required non-residents to hire a guide to be able to hunt in WY Wilderness areas was stupid. I viewed it as a cash troll probably brought about by guides lobbying.

I walked away with a couple points on the table a few years ago, not going back.

I'm hoping to draw an antelope tag there this year. Not a sure thing for even a doe/fawn tag which is crazy compared to 5 years ago. Heck, 5 years ago I could have drawn an elk tag in most units with 0 or 1 pref points. The youtubers definitely had an impact, I think covid syncing up with all the YouTube content made things even worse. I don't blame the residents one bit. They should worry about their residents before the non-residents.

Trout wrote:I'm hoping to draw an antelope tag there this year. Not a sure thing for even a doe/fawn tag which is crazy compared to 5 years ago. Heck, 5 years ago I could have drawn an elk tag in most units with 0 or 1 pref points. The youtubers definitely had an impact, I think covid syncing up with all the YouTube content made things even worse. I don't blame the residents one bit. They should worry about their residents before the non-residents.

We went to WY antelope hunting with 0 points in 2017. It is a 2 point unit now. I was chasing a 2 pt hunt that had low pressure and it is up to 4 points now - I have 3. LOL! Gonna go with an outfitter and move on with my life after that. Not DIY but it will be low pressure private land so it will be nice hunting antelope without orange visible in most directions.

Hope you can get a permit.

I've hunted Wyoming antelope a couple times and it's a blast. It's a nice change of hunting styles compared to treestand hunting here in Michigan. I really hope they don't cut tags to 10% NR. Between the drought & disease causing population fluctuations and increased popularity of hunting out of state point creep is getting bad enough as is.

The wilderness area guide requirement is a bummer for me too as I like the satisfaction of researching an area and doing my own scouting. With a guide it takes that out of the equation and the successes and failures are shared. That's not a jab at those that hunt with guides as I have too when required, but just a personal preference of mine.

-Dan

Check your emails, boys, draw results are out. I drew an any antelope tag, gonna try to get it done with a bow and maybe one of them funny decoys.

Trout wrote:Check your emails, boys, draw results are out. I drew an any antelope tag, gonna try to get it done with a bow and maybe one of them funny decoys.

yea. Hammer em, Trout.

My wife and I both drew any antelope tags this year, Should be a fun 20 year anniversary hunt.

Congratulations!!! Have a great hunt and let us know how you do.

Congrats guys! Have a blast out there!

-Dan

My dad and I drew deer tags, and I got lucky with an antelope tag as well. Going out for a combo hunt in early October. Can't wait. Good luck to everyone! With the way things are going, we'll be lucky to have 5% of tags go to non-resident DIY hunters in a couple years. Happy I was able to use my points before everything turns upside down.

The deer portion that mule deer or that including whitetails to? Cause one of these years i wanna go after whitetails diy in wyoming.

upwind predator wrote:The deer portion that mule deer or that including whitetails to? Cause one of these years i wanna go after whitetails diy in wyoming.

Generally speaking, a mule deer buck tag is also good for a whitetail buck. There are also much easier to draw tags that are whitetail-only.