Deer, pronghorn combo hunt

[muzzhunter]

LAST EDITED ON Mar-01-14 AT 03:22PM (MST)[p]A couple of my buddies want to hunt lopes this year and I'm planning on applying in a different unit (I have max points they have none). I'd like to go with them and possibly hunt deer, so I'm looking for an area we can do both. Was looking into the Northeastern area of the state, like deer b or c and lope 21, 23, 26,27 or 29. I imagine we should be able to find goats, but I'm wondering what the chances of finding deer are? I wouldn't be looking for anything huge, just a nice 3x or 4x. Any advise would help as we haven't been to that part of the state yet.
Thanks,

Dave

 

[TOPGUN]

That side of the state in the areas you mentioned for pronghorn aren't much for deer unless you can get on a ranch. In fact, all of Region B that covers most of the goat units you mentioned is now bucks only and one unit is a 3 point or better restriction on one side. That should pretty well tell you to look somewhere else for a decent deer hunt. Pronghorns can be had in any of those units if they can draw a tag because 23 is about the only unit where you don't even need to enter the draw and can buy 2 leftover buck tags or 4 doe tags all the way through the season itself. The other units would probably reqwuire entering the draw and hoping things stay decent to get a tag without hoping for leftovers.

 

[muzzhunter]

Thanks TG, would we be able to have a decent hunt on public and walk in areas in 23 or would we need to find some private? The plan was that the ones who wanted to hunt bucks would apply in the special if necessary. Do they usually have leftover doe tags in any of those units?

 

[TOPGUN]

>Thanks TG, would we be able
>to have a decent hunt
>on public and walk in
>areas in 23 or would
>we need to find some
>private? The plan was that
>the ones who wanted to
>hunt bucks would apply in
>the special if necessary. Do
>they usually have leftover doe
>tags in any of those
>units?


***It depends on what you call a decent hunt. If they won't be happy without seeing a ton of animals and all taking a good sized buck, I would say that they would be disappointed. However, if they want to have a good time and get their feet wet, see enough animals to fill a tag or two without paying a rancher a big access fee, they should be happy. The ground up in that nw part of unit 23 is not your typical flat-type antelope country for the most part. It requires that a person be in shape and get out on foot to do a lot of walking and glassing to find the animals that are there and won't be seen and/or shot from a road. 23 will have tags for bucks and does through the whole season and no draw is necessary. Just buy them online when they go on sale in July on the G&F website. As far as the other units you mentioned are concerned, just go onto the G&F website and highlight "HUNTING" near the top and then click on "Draw Odds" when everything pops up. That will bring up all the units for all the animals with antelope right at the top. The first line is for the Random Draw for bucks that everyone is in after the other draws are completed. There is also a line further down for the NR draws for does. Go down through those two lists and see which units had more tags than the applicants for that unit. That will then be the number of tags, if any, that were left after all the applicants were satisfied and were offered as leftovers in July. You can also look at the other Special Draws for bucks listed below that Random Draw line to see what the odds were for getting a buck tag in each unit by paying the higher price if that's the route they want to take. I have no idea what the access fees are that ranches are charging to kill a buck, but I know a lot of them will let you shoot does after the first week of the season for free. A list of ranchers should be available by contacting the Gillette G&F Office.

 

[muzzhunter]

Thanks again TG, I'll be doing some more research.

 

[junior]

We did diy combo hunt, its not easy to do, and I for one will never do it again. Although we filled all but a couple tags, the stress took the fun out of it for me. I suggest getting buck and doe antelope tags, and just hunting one species.
When we went out, we pulled a small trailer with freezer, generator, and quad. We plugged the freezer in at the motel, and would off load our quartered meat each night. We would skin and quarter each animal off the back of our trucks receiver hanger. The generator was initially for the freezer, but ended up being only used for the saw saw.(a must have} We used 100 qt coolers for meat during the day.
If you don't do your own processing, plan on $150 per animal!