Antelope unit 100

[huntjock]

Hi

My son and I drew this tag for 2021. This will be our second antelope hunt. I also bought the archery option.
I have a couple of days next week to do some scouting and was hopeful that I could get a few ideas of some roads to take - doesn't matter which side of the unit. I know I can't go into the private sections of the Bear River Divide until the archery opener (Sunday August 15th). I plan to archery hunt on the week of Monday the 16th and possible Monday the 23rd and Monday the 30th, if necessary. I don't mind parking and hiking a few miles, if it will put us closer to a decent area (i.e. a known watering hole)

Any intel is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Neil in Utah

 

[treedagain]

Hi

My son and I drew this tag for 2021. This will be our second antelope hunt. I also bought the archery option.
I have a couple of days next week to do some scouting and was hopeful that I could get a few ideas of some roads to take - doesn't matter which side of the unit. I know I can't go into the private sections of the Bear River Divide until the archery opener (Sunday August 15th). I plan to archery hunt on the week of Monday the 16th and possible Monday the 23rd and Monday the 30th, if necessary. I don't mind parking and hiking a few miles, if it will put us closer to a decent area (i.e. a known watering hole)

Any intel is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Neil in Utah

Most of the divide is open county roads. No stopping you from that.

I have found that the western part of the unit is lacking in #s. My best luck has been the north and east sides.

 

[highfastflyer]

Until the HMA is open you’re fairly restricted somewhat but the entire North end is BLM. To access it go to Bear Lake and continue along highway 30 to the Wyoming state line. Just inside the state line take the Crawford Mt. road to the right (south) then after 1/2 mile take the left road going SE leaving the Crawford Mt. road. This road will give you access to all the BLM lands on the North end. Find water and you should find some pronghorn. If you hunt the far eastern part of the area along the Kemmerer highway 189, realize all those Union Pacific lands have now sold and still show as accessible on OnX maps but the new owners Orion Mines have not publicly opened them as UPRR did in the past. Onx maps or equivalent is a must if you hunt over that way and even then OnX is not updated with the ownership change so take it with a grain of salt. You could try and contact Orion. Let us know if they allow public access. You will have a fun hunt. Good luck.

 

[huntjock]

Thanks for the info, guys. I really appreciate it!!
The biologist did mention that he doesn't/can't give permission to the RR lands, but that in his experience hunters have been accessing it without any issues. HOWEVER, he didn't say anything about a change of ownership. It would be interesting to know when that happened to give some context to the biologist's comments. I'm guessing that it was recent as OnX doesn't show the new ownership (yet). Regardless, I will try to find figure out how to contact Orion and whether we are able to get trespass permission or not.

@highfastflyer... I usually hit Sage Junction where 89 meets 30 coming from Evanston. Never been on Crawford Mtn rd but I just found it on the map. I guess I've driven right by it at least a hundred times

Thanks for the good directions and tips, guys. I am really looking forward to this hunt.

Neil

 

[highfastflyer]

Thanks for the info, guys. I really appreciate it!!
The biologist did mention that he doesn't/can't give permission to the RR lands, but that in his experience hunters have been accessing it without any issues. HOWEVER, he didn't say anything about a change of ownership. It would be interesting to know when that happened to give some context to the biologist's comments. I'm guessing that it was recent as OnX doesn't show the new ownership (yet). Regardless, I will try to find figure out how to contact Orion and whether we are able to get trespass permission or not.

@highfastflyer... I usually hit Sage Junction where 89 meets 30 coming from Evanston. Never been on Crawford Mtn rd but I just found it on the map. I guess I've driven right by it at least a hundred times

Thanks for the good directions and tips, guys. I am really looking forward to this hunt.

Neil

The sale of all those RR lands occurred last August so about 1 year ago. It was a mere 1.33 Billion dollar sale. The State put in a bid for the lands but could not compete sadly as there were large amounts of mineral rights associated with the sale and it got too political though the Governor did support it. Try and contact Orion first but normally those guys hide well and don’t return emails or calls but if you hear something be sure and post it. You’ll have a good hunt regardless as with the HMA open it’s 75% of that unit but get er done before Oct 1st when it gets overrun with General license deer hunters.

 

[mulecreek]

Try and contact Orion first but normally those guys hide well and don’t return emails or calls but if you hear something be sure and post it.

He'll call you back and answer your questions. Good landowners IMO

 

[highfastflyer]

He'll call you back and answer your questions. Good landowners IMO

So what’s the answer does Orion Mines allow public hunting like Occidental/UPRR did or will they soon lease to Outfitters? When you say they call you back who is he? I say this as it is such a translucent company with offices in Wall Street and some headquarters in Australia.

 

[huntjock]

He'll call you back and answer your questions. Good landowners IMO

I looked all over, including the Lincoln County land ownership site. , emailed "City Hall" in Kemmerer... As others have said, the transaction was so recent that things don't show anything "Orion" - still "Union Pacific Land and Res Co"

The Orion site shows various offices (NY, Australia, something in Colorado), but I really could not figure out who "He" is. Again, any info would be very helpful. Tomorrow I will try to contact the Game Warden in that area and see if he knows anything. I'll also see if I can find anything while I'm scouting around later this week.

I may just end up sticking to the BLM/public/walk in areas and call it good.

 

[huntjock]

Kemmerer City Hall responded and referred me to Lincoln County Land Records, which I had already verified had not been updated to reflect the change in ownership.

No response (yet) from

1. Chris Baird, Game Warden for the Kemmerer area

2. Andy Countryman, Public Access Coordinator for the Kemmerer/Green River area

3. Sweetwater Royalties/John DeCooman (Orion)

Leadership Team Members — Sweetwater Royalties

www.sweetwaterroyalties.com

[email protected]
Sweetwater Royalties
141 Union Boulevard, Suite 310
Lakewood, CO 80228

https://www.linkedin.com/in/w-john-johnny-decooman-jr-159a866/

Oh well, as I said before, I'll just stick to the BLM/public/walk in areas and call it good.

Happy hunting!

 

[huntjock]

Just received a response from Sweetwater and wanted to share with others here who may be interested. I was not able to find any HMA lands offered by Sweetwater/Orion, fyi.

Hi Neil,

I received your request below and wanted to provide a response.

Entering onto private lands owned by Sweetwater or any of its silo entities for the sole purpose of accessing adjacent public lands is permitted under certain strict conditions. Those conditions involve utilizing pre-existing access points and established roads, as well as causing no further surface disturbance outside of the boundaries of such pre-existing access points and established roads while passing through. Using such private lands for anything other than the foregoing without prior written consent is trespassing.

If you are interested, a large portion of lands have been committed to Hunter Management Areas. Please refer to the WY Game and Fish website for the specific lands. Here is a direct link to their website: Wyoming Game and Fish Department - Public Access.

I hope this information is helpful. Should you have further questions, please reach out any time.

Best,

Trevor Walker, CPL | Senior Landman

 

[highfastflyer]

Just received a response from Sweetwater and wanted to share with others here who may be interested. I was not able to find any HMA lands offered by Sweetwater/Orion, fyi.

Hi Neil,

I received your request below and wanted to provide a response.

Entering onto private lands owned by Sweetwater or any of its silo entities for the sole purpose of accessing adjacent public lands is permitted under certain strict conditions. Those conditions involve utilizing pre-existing access points and established roads, as well as causing no further surface disturbance outside of the boundaries of such pre-existing access points and established roads while passing through. Using such private lands for anything other than the foregoing without prior written consent is trespassing.

If you are interested, a large portion of lands have been committed to Hunter Management Areas. Please refer to the WY Game and Fish website for the specific lands. Here is a direct link to their website: Wyoming Game and Fish Department - Public Access.

I hope this information is helpful. Should you have further questions, please reach out any time.

Best,

Trevor Walker, CPL | Senior Landman

In other words, they are not granting access. It won’t help you this year but you could forward this email to the Access Yes coordinator who might be able to negotiate an HMA on all those lands in Uinta County for future years.
Typically, what was allowed in the past was most lands owned by Occidental which were west of the Continental Divide allowed hunting and most lands East of there which is between Wamsutter and Rawlins did not. The leasee of the grazing usually decided that and most of those ranches East of the continental divide also leased out the hunting. It won’t help you this year as these things take a long time to negotiate between the Access Yes Coordinator and Orion but it would be good to try and contact the Green River office of Game and Fish to work on that for 2022. Thanks for posting.

 

[jm77]

Just received a response from Sweetwater and wanted to share with others here who may be interested. I was not able to find any HMA lands offered by Sweetwater/Orion, fyi.

Hi Neil,

I received your request below and wanted to provide a response.

Entering onto private lands owned by Sweetwater or any of its silo entities for the sole purpose of accessing adjacent public lands is permitted under certain strict conditions. Those conditions involve utilizing pre-existing access points and established roads, as well as causing no further surface disturbance outside of the boundaries of such pre-existing access points and established roads while passing through. Using such private lands for anything other than the foregoing without prior written consent is trespassing.

If you are interested, a large portion of lands have been committed to Hunter Management Areas. Please refer to the WY Game and Fish website for the specific lands. Here is a direct link to their website: Wyoming Game and Fish Department - Public Access.

I hope this information is helpful. Should you have further questions, please reach out any time.

Best,

Trevor Walker, CPL | Senior Landman

Sounds like you can access public lands with no issue, which is very helpful no doubt.

I would also not let up on trying to contact Andy Countryman about the HMA that is mentioned. Many times those come in at the last minute.