Antelope Unit 63

Daybreak · Jul 17, 2011

Looking for any information on hunting Wyoming Antelope Unit 63. My son and I drew tags this year. It's his first antelope hunt so hoping to get some good info on the unit to make sure it's a great experience for him. Would appreciate any info about best time to go, best areas to focus on, good places to camp with a camper trailer, etc.

grosventrehunter · Jul 17, 2011

PM sent

oregonmuley · Jul 18, 2011

Its a good unit - you should have a great hunt. For additional info you might give Greg Hiatt a call, he is the bio in the Lander office in charge of this unit. Good guy that knows the unit well and can maybe offer some info.

Daybreak · Jul 18, 2011

Good advice. Appreciate it. I spoke to a fish and game employee before I put in for the tag but it wasn't Greg Hiatt.

sageadvice · Jul 19, 2011

I can't see how you can miss having a great hunt in 63. Plenty of lopes and easy access to lots of good country.

If you are not really able to scout a bunch before the season to nail down a particular dandy on opening day, i'd recommend that you hunt the last week of the season. A lot fewer hunters and the lopes bunch up in big groups by then and they really calm down making it much easier to look at lots of bucks and pick out a good one!

Keep your guns cased for the first day anyway as lots to look at, should be a fun hunt for you guys.

Joey

bikermac70 · Jul 20, 2011

You should be able to shoot at least a ten inch goat in this unit.

TOPGUN · Jul 20, 2011

I would take Joey's advice, and yep, you should be able to take at least a 10 incher with no problem, LOL!!!

sageadvice · Jul 20, 2011

My 2009 63 buck was only 13" but he had serious mass, 7+" bases and 7" prongs. He taped out above 80". I would have passed that buck up too but the deer season was starting and after 5-6 days of glassing buck lopes, it was time to take a buck and he was one of the heavier that we saw.

Joey

TOPGUN · Jul 20, 2011

That's a heck of a score for a 13 incher. That goes to show that those 8 mass measurements really count!

Daybreak · Jul 20, 2011

Two different hunting magazines rated it a good unit. Sounds like they weren't lying. Since I know BikerMac I can say this in response to his post, don't be a hater if we come home with a better goat than your Nevada lope you're after this fall.

bikermac70 · Jul 21, 2011

That made me laugh. Sage has made a very important statement. Look for mass and prongs not height. I have made the mistake of getting caught up on the height and shooting 15" to 16" goats that only score decent rather than very good.

HiMtnHntr · Jul 21, 2011

Well, if the Eastman's and Huntin Fool rated it as good, it must be good! . . . Seriously, throw a dart at central wyoming and your in good shape . . . It all comes down to hunting pressure, your eyeballs, and some luck . . . I've seen a 13", 80"er hit the dirt as well, and my hunch is that a lot of guys would let those walk . . . Get a good front AND side view. If you can see mass from the front and that horn base appears twice the eye width from the side, you've got a buck with good mass . . .

marburg · Jul 22, 2011

If they rate it good, it won't be good for long....

MaineFlatlander · Jul 23, 2011

Here is a buck my brother shot last year on opening day. Probably mid 70s

Here is a buck my other brother shot. A bit longer but lacking mass.

Here is the one I took. A compromise between mass and lenght. We are not trophy hunters but love the chance to get together and hunt. Good luck to you.

TOPGUN · Jul 23, 2011

None of those three are anything to be ashamed of and may score a little better than you think. If you could put all their best attributes together you would break 80"

WITUfan · Jul 23, 2011

Nice! It looks like you guys had a great trip. My Dad and I are headed to Unit 63 this fall and I sure hope we run across a couple like those in the pictures.

muleywarrior · Jul 23, 2011

Me and three buddies have hunted 63 four of the last five season and taken a couple of book goats out there. The best one being 84 5/8" net, it is a mediocre unit but if you hunt hard and stay off the trigger you can find that book goat. Will be hunting it again this year and I have been out on the unit on 10 different occasion and I have to say I thought the growth would be better this year. The benefit of hunting that unit is the ease of drawing, add to that 150 more tags this year! Better find that good goat this year as it is a thing of the past with 600 tags this year. Ohhh well gotta love the tag increases.

sageadvice · Jul 23, 2011

I'm disappointed to hear of the 150 tag increase this year. Though we hunted the unit pretty hard and covered a lot of it, we hunted it late and saw no net B&C type bucks. We did however see a lot of buck of the caliber of the three shown above and several that we judged to be a little better buck than those.

IMO, the best part of that unit was the number of buck antelope to pick from. Maybe the unit can support 150 more tags but it sure ain't going to help it to continue to be the good-decent unit that it has been.

Joey

sealer · Aug 7, 2011

I've seen pics of Joey's 63 buck and the mass is sick. Great goat.

However, with the 150 tag increase this year and I applied NR Special and didn't draw. I don't understand why.

You will enjoy 63. It's a great hunt but you'll need to stay off the trigger as someone else had said.

I've said it more than once, I love the people in WY. Some of the most friendly people you'll ever meet. You will truly enjoy this hunt.

Good luck.

TOPGUN · Aug 7, 2011

"However, with the 150 tag increase this year and I applied NR Special and didn't draw. I don't understand why."

If you were in the Special PP draw, everyone who had a fraction of a PP got a license. The regular special draw with no PP had 11 tags with 75 1st choice applicants. If you were in the latter draw, there's your answer!

WITUfan · Aug 8, 2011

I am really excited about my upcoming hunt. I am down to figuring out what all we need to bring and getting gear together. I also need to decide which rifle to bring and do a little more shooting. Getting ready is part of the fun. It is hard to believe we will be headed that way in just a little more than a month.

I will try to stay off the trigger for a day or two and look some over, but I'm afraid lots of them are going to look good to me. All of them are going to look good to my Dad!

DidIDraw · Aug 8, 2011

Unit 63 is a great place to hunt. We hunted there in 2009 and we'll be back this year. Lots of public land to camp and hunt. Lots and lots of antelope. Great advice given earlier about staying off the trigger for a day or two - you'll see lots of bucks. Animals were spread all over the unit although we saw a good concentration of animals near the reservoir and along the east side of the small mountain range that runs north-south near the highway.

Last time we hunted we were there the last weekend of Sept and the antelope were rutting hard. We saw 400+ animals in 2 1/2 days of hunting. My boys had a great time. We practically had the place to ourselves Thur-Fri then saw quite a few other hunters on Sat.

Hope you guys have a great time.

Daybreak · Aug 8, 2011

Looking forward to it after all the great information and advice we got from folks on this forum.

WITUfan · Aug 12, 2011

I'm looking forward to the trip there as well. It is just a month away now!

I have been looking at maps. Does anyone have any advice on good camping areas? I guess my biggest concern is finding a place to get out of the wind.

Thanks.