Hanging onto Wyoming deer points.....???

Founder

Founder

Founder Since 1999
Messages
11,469
So, what's a dude to do? Hang onto points and wait out the tough 2016/17 winter affect or hunt anyway and live with it?


Summer scouting will be very interesting. I saw an average of 20 bucks per day of scouting in 2016. What will it be in 2017? Any guesses?

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Brian Latturner
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Ha ha I saw the Residents self regulate last year by killing every 22 inch 4 point they saw toward the end of season.
 
There are other units where a guy can burn his points. If i have the time to squeeze in an early October WY deer hunt, ill get rid of my points in some other unit/region. Ide rather hunt every other year in a unit that takes 1 point than build points for 5 or 6 years and miss out on the opportunities in the 1 point or no point units.

60% mortality of does is brutal.
 
Nothing wrong with a 22" four point. If they waited until "toward the end of season," there must have been some self regulation. Otherwise they would have killed a spike or two point the first day or so.
 
As a Wyoming resident I promise to self-regulate myself and only hunt three areas instead of four.

Ok?
 
I hunt G every year and self regulate. If its not 170 or better, I always tell myself I'll eat my tag. I've misjudged on a few that were under 170 when it came down to the last day or two, but they were still nice bucks. Thing I see every year are non-rezi's who burned however many points to get a G tag and then shoot the first dink buck they see towards the end of their hunt so they don't have to go home empty handed.

Regarding your question Founder, my outfitter is telling all his hunters to wait a year or two.
 
LAST EDITED ON Mar-28-17 AT 05:55PM (MST)[p]"Self Regulate" ... Laugh every time I read it. If only I were from Wyoming I would be able to "Self Regulate", but I ain't so I can only envy. ha ha

I do hope lots of people hold off a few years. Hope all outfitters tell their people to wait, wait 40 years, that way I'll be done hunting Wyoming and then they can all put their 50 points to work for the one non-res. tag in G.

Brian Latturner
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I say hunt. I will be trying to draw an Antelope tag this year. You never know what life will bring. I say hunt while you can and make some memories.
 
In the 2016 season, 600 Non-Residents took 342 deer in Region G. A 57% percent success rate.

In 2016, 5,868 Residents took 2,743 deer in region G. Now, some of the resident guys here claim that the amount of resident hunters may be inflated by 30% because individual hunters hunted more than one unit. So if that were the case, 30% less of published 5,868 is 4,107 resident hunters, taking 2,743 deer, a 66.8% rate of success.

66.8% resident harvest success vs. 57% non-resident harvest success. Looks like Non-residents are "self regulating" a bit better.

Ill be interested to see the stats from 2017. Not to argue whether which group is killing more deer, but just to see what this winter has done to that area. Sucks to hear about all the winter mortality. The G&F should always put wildlife first, always. And not the individual interests of hunters (whether they be Res or Non-res) who just care if "they got one".
 
Residents should be killing more deer than Non-Res every year. Thats why we live here and others complain about the hunting we are allowed as residents. Im sure those of you that complain about the residents here have no issues with your residency perks in your own state? And just cause non-res have a lower "success" sure as hell doesnt mean they are self-regulating. . Plenty sit on their 4 wheelers and dont hike, same as many residents as well, But there are those of us who spend every weekend living on the peaks scouting hard and putting all effort into finding a mature buck. I harvested a 180+ buck last year thanks to my scouting, that I have the ability to do because i live here. I saw bigger, and hundreds smaller. I will about guarantee the difference between amount of decent "mature" bucks I find will be drastically different from last season. This winter has been brutal on all winter ranges of both the Wyoming herd and Sublette herd. Time will tell, but ill still put in my effort to harvest a mature buck, and if not, im still a die hard elk hunter and will focus on that.
 
I think it depends on how many tags a guy has already drawn by mid-May and then decide if another tag is worth it or not.

Robb
 
I'm a non-resident who is going to "self-regulate" this year by jumping over to region F. My 16 year old son drew a 51-1 elk tag along the east border of Yellowstone. I'm gonna carry an extra gun for grizz protection so just as well have a deer tag in my pocket in case we bump into a big buck.
I will likely help the population over in F as I won't shoot anything under 180 and not very likely to find a buck of that caliber in that unit. Of course if I DIDN'T have a tag then we would for sure see a 200" buck!!!!

I have zero points so I guess I'm not out much other than the cost of the tag. Start building points again next year.
 
>Residents should be killing more deer
>than Non-Res every year. Thats
>why we live here and
>others complain about the hunting
>we are allowed as residents.
>Im sure those of you
>that complain about the residents
>here have no issues with
>your residency perks in your
>own state? And just cause
>non-res have a lower "success"
>sure as hell doesnt mean
>they are self-regulating. . Plenty
>sit on their 4 wheelers
>and dont hike, same as
>many residents as well, But
>there are those of us
>who spend every weekend living
>on the peaks scouting hard
>and putting all effort into
>finding a mature buck. I
>harvested a 180+ buck last
>year thanks to my scouting,
>that I have the ability
>to do because i live
>here. I saw bigger, and
>hundreds smaller. I will about
>guarantee the difference between amount
>of decent "mature" bucks I
>find will be drastically different
>from last season. This winter
>has been brutal on all
>winter ranges of both the
>Wyoming herd and Sublette herd.
>Time will tell, but ill
>still put in my effort
>to harvest a mature buck,
>and if not, im still
>a die hard elk hunter
>and will focus on that.
>

^X2!! Well said. I'm a newbie on this forum. Been hangin' out for a while now. Lots of good information & interesting opinions. And MANY passionate mule deer hunters here!! I live in Wyoming's Region H and hunt both G&H. Only thing guaranteed with mule deer hunting is that you'll end up with sore legs, tired feet, a lot of sweat drenched base layers, and some beautiful scenery seen.

So, getting back to Founder's thread... Yeah, this winter has sucked and a lot of it is still around especially on the northern winter ranges of Sublette County. We had some great looking 2, 3, 4+ year old bucks last year going into December. DAMN, it was FINALLY looking good again. My advice to someone wanting to burn their points in G or H would be too do it in the next 3 years. Those 4 1/2+ year old bucks are never easy to find. Not going to get any easier the next 3 years and in years 2020-21 with the losses from this winter and possibly next due to health conditions of does right now, I wouldn't be waiting 4-5 years to put in if I was a non-resident. Get your tag now then you can be banking points when the we know there is going to be 1 or 2 generations missing. Good Luck!
 
>How many of those "residents just
>moved here from Utardia?


Where is Utardia? Is that a farming community in Wyoming? Not familiar with it.
 
Statistics show nonresidents consistently have better success than residents in almost all years. Reasons are many for this: They hunt more seriously than many residents; they want to fill their tags due to the money being spent for a hunt they don't get to do every year; many hire outfitters, which increases their chances of success; etc. Statistics are what they are, and they are usually based on data that may or may not be reliable based on various other factors.

Go hunt! You never know where life might take you....
I will be hunting G this year, but I've been self-regulating for years...

I'm thinking the majority of the 2-5 year old bucks survived. Those deer are in the prime of life!
 
20 bucks per day last year, minus all the spike/2-points gone this year, minus 75% of big bucks gone so far this year = 3 bucks per day of scouting this. All of them on the small side.

Nothing to see here. Might as well stay home.
 
Dang! So if I hunt a full week I'll see about 21 bucks (3 per day)??? At least a few would be 22" wide or better. Much better than the general units in Idaho I've hunted. I'm sold, WY here I come!

>20 bucks per day last year,
>minus all the spike/2-points gone
>this year, minus 75% of
>big bucks gone so far
>this year = 3 bucks
>per day of scouting this.
> All of them on
>the small side.
>
>Nothing to see here. Might
>as well stay home.
 
As a NR who has never deer hunted in WY and has no deer points, how crowded are those units?

If WY residents can hunt regions G and H every year, why would anyone hunt any other region? Especially if it's reasonable to kill a 170" on a general tag about every other year or so?
 
LAST EDITED ON Apr-05-17 AT 04:56PM (MST)[p]Guessing only a small percentage of hunters come out of G with a 170 or better class buck. As I see it, you have a reasonable chance of shooting a 170 class buck if you have horses, or know the country well, or spend a lot of time hunting/scouting. Otherwise you might be one of the many who've spent too much time reading posts on internet hunting sites...
 
>Otherwise you might be
>one of the many who
>has spent too much time
>reading posts on internet hunting
>sites...

Yeah basically!
 
The reason more residents don't hunt those areas is because it's rugged country. There are not roads everywhere and no roads where most of the bucks live. One must put forth a lot of effort to hunt that country. PLUS, it's a good area, but there still aren't big bucks everywhere. It ain't easy up there.

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
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