Our weekend scouting trip… More crappy news…

[elks96]

Well we took a break from scouting sheep to look over the lopes and deer situations around Baggs. It was absolutely miserable. Way worse than I first thought. In total we drove over 400 miles. From Lander, to Rawlins, Wamsetter south, etc. mostly lope units 57 and 53 but we also counted what we saw from the high way from lander to Rawlins…

Friday Night Lander to Rawlins(left lander at 6ish arrived Rawlins at dusk)

Antelope:
134 Doe
31 Buck
23 Babies total

Mule deer:
4 doe
0 bucks
0 Babies

Saturday: Unit 57 (well over 100 miles travelled on the dirt, hours of glassing)

Antelope:
Doe: 43
Bucks: 23
Babies: 7

Mule Deer
Doe: 7
Bucks: 4 (all 2-3 year olds)
Babies: 4 (2 doe with twins)
Feral Invasive Horses: 294
No cattle/no sheep

Sunday Drove from Powder Mountain, to Baggs via Cottonwood, then Baggs to Wildhorse, to wild cow, to Rendle rim to McCarty Canyon

Antelope:
Doe: 22
Bucks 8
Babies: 2

Deer:
Doe: 22
Bucks: 0
Babies: 8

Feral invasive horses: 112

Also a very concerning note…. We only saw like 12 sage grouse and the only ones were way high up in 58… None in all the lower sage that is the core habitat.

We also got to see the awesome progress of electricity and the destruction and fragmentation of habitat via a massive power line cutting through some remote wild lands…

I feel sorry for anyone expecting more than a nice walk with their rifle this fall.

For reference I have hunted antelope bucks in 57 and 58 several times in the last few years. A typical day in either unit I could glass 110-130 buck antelope east. So when one day you see 8 and another 23 it tells you that the numbers are way lower than they claimed. I was all over grind I know well and the numbers are 4 times worse than the were after 07/08.

This is sad, this new road for the power line was in a spot where we used to hike in for a coyote stand. The roads are new and cut all the way across the country. We are talking miles. They could have followed the highways, could have followed pipeline right of ways, but they literally just picked a direction and went.

This valley was untouched and very limited hard road access, now it has a road huge water culverts, etc.

And other roads… new roads from one horizon to the next…

Then of course the horses….

And if you look the range despite all the moisture is not in the best shape. Better than it has but the horses are just damn hard….

This next image absolutely makes my blood boil. Jackasses on ATVs keep cutting the HMA fence. This fence has been fixed and signed a few times over the years. But people keep cutting it and driving through. It is hard enough fixing the horse fence with out idiots cutting out entire sections and pulling up post. All so they can drive a ridge 60 yards across a ridge instead of a 1/2 mile around. This is definitely not a legal

road. The end result is 100s of feral horses on ranges outside the hma and not being properly counted or managed…

On the flip side sunset were nice, the view from bed of the preside meteor shower was awesome. The deer numbers and lope numbers were crap and they should have made
Significantly deeper tag cuts…

 

[Servehim]

Bummer Elks96, I'm headed to scout deer in 89 this week. Praying the severe winter kill wasn't as bad north of Rawlings. I had done my homework to hunt deer in 100 but shifted north after all the reports of the winter kill in the bottom 1/3 of Wyoming. I'll post what I see after this scouting trip.

 

[elks96]

Bummer Elks96, I'm headed to scout deer in 89 this week. Praying the severe winter kill wasn't as bad north of Rawlings. I had done my homework to hunt deer in 100 but shifted north after all the reports of the winter kill in the bottom 1/3 of Wyoming. I'll post what I see after this scouting trip.

We have a sheep tag overlapping 89. It is a little better but not by much.

100 is a he’s tag with minimal success in a normal year. Very few deer and miles and miles between them. This year the area that held deer in the past are pretty empty. We went the entire distance of powder run and not one single deer or lope at all…

 

[PleaseDear]

Well, damn the luck.


Very sad report.



Robb

 

[junior]

I guess it's to late for G&f to make deeper cuts? Pretty sure some guys are still going to hunt what's left.

 

[yoteduster]

I guess it's to late for G&f to make deeper cuts? Pretty sure some guys are still going to hunt what's left.

You can bet on it for alot of them..if they have a tag in their pocket they're going to kill whatever they can find...SAD

 

[JakeSwensen]

Very sad report, thanks for sharing your experience. Does this mean, you are not going to hunt deer or antelope down there this year?

 

[maxpower]

Sad stuff. Drives me nuts to find feral horses roaming where they please and degrading the range.
Idiots opening gates and bushwhacking new roads don't help either.

 

[goforbroke]

Great post. Kinda sad. I experienced the same. Helped a buddy on his property near Wamsutter. I have seen hundreds of antelope in the past. This time - 1. I was floored. Only one antelope. On the bright side, the feed looked great and lots of water. Wild horses doing great.

 

[Zeke]

That's tough to hear a report like that!

Way different than what we saw when we were hunting pronghorn there a couple+ short years ago.

So sad that game populations have been decimated.

When can we get a horse tag? That would be fun.

Zeke

 

[Mallardsx2]

You can bet on it for alot of them..if they have a tag in their pocket they're going to kill whatever they can find...SAD

Thats not the hunter's fault. The hunters' are not biologists.

That is the fault and directly on the shoulders of the greedy G&F. They should have closed the season this year. Instead, they issued the tags that they did.

Not saying that its right. I am just saying that the blame should not be placed on the hunters' shoulders as it is not the hunters' job to be deciding if the population has huntable numbers.

I truly hate seeing the population take a nosedive like this and I wish G&F had shut the season down for a year or two to let it recover.

 

[elks96]

Very sad report, thanks for sharing your experience. Does this mean, you are not going to hunt deer or antelope down there this year?

I have been debating this all year. Simply put, we never know how many seasons we have left in us. We don’t know what tomorrow brings, etc. With all that being said, I have decided that I will hunt as hard if not harder than a normal year. The only way I am shooting is if it one of the biggest animals of my life… I am 99.99% positive that I will not find a lope buck but I am going to hunt. Mule deer looks really bleak.

for my son since he is 13 he is the primary focus. He is looking for a good buck only he already said he is not shooting a buck that is not mature… 4 years or older… My wife is only interested her best mule deer. I have a feeling that we will end up with 1 lope from a unit further north. A Sheep Ewe, one good buck (maybe 2 if we somehow find 2 really good bucks). And hopefully a couple elk…

Our first focus is a sheep… Of that is not filled than nothing else is getting hunted of the sheep tag is open. I also really want to monitor and see how pressure looks with the shorter seasons, etc. so at the very least I will be there to see how the season length, the pressure etc. I am afraid that lack of animals is going to make a bunch of people desperate and do things they normally wuld not do…

 

[elks96]

You can bet on it for alot of them..if they have a tag in their pocket they're going to kill whatever they can find...SAD

Yeah I struggle with this… you have a tag, go hunt it have a great time, make some memories. We have talked all summer about what our family will do. We discussed sitting the season out, we discussed just focusing on elk. In the end we have decided that this is the best year to truly get greedy for the best trophies only. To hunt harder than normal and only shoot monsters.

I worried that lack of game is going to create a zoo of illegal activity as people get desperate.

We are just hunting hard and expecting no success…

 

[Slick8]

That's sad news.

I have a question as a late arrival to the western hunting party. WHY are feral horses allowed to roam free or even be protected?

 

[LIK2HNT]

Thanks for the report. To bad things are as bad as they are. What ever you decide have fun and keep us posted. Not much in the way of game is improving nowadays. Might as well make the best of it when you can. I personally don’t thing wait 5 years for things to rebound (if all the stars align) is worth it. Who knows, 10 to 15 years from now we might be talking about how this year was the last decent year in some places.

 

[maxpower]

That's sad news.

I have a question as a late arrival to the western hunting party. WHY are feral horses allowed to roam free or even be protected?

1971 Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act, a ridiculous piece of legislation based on pseudoscience and emotion. It protects them, and makes it a federal crime to kill/harm/harass them.
The BLM is tasked with managing them to appropriate management levels (AML's) in designated herd management areas (HMA's).
Their numbers have grown way past the AML's.
They have very vocal proponents who, not surprisingly, advocate for them using emotion and pseudoscience. These same people complain the BLM is removing too many, and harass the BLM by filming them while conducting gathers and wasting time/money with frivolous lawsuits.
Others know they're feral and invasive and want the BLM to remove all of them.

 

[elks96]

Thanks for the report. To bad things are as bad as they are. What ever you decide have fun and keep us posted. Not much in the way of game is improving nowadays. Might as well make the best of it when you can. I personally don’t thing wait 5 years for things to rebound (if all the stars align) is worth it. Who knows, 10 to 15 years from now we might be talking about how this year was the last decent year in some places.

Yeah. I don’t know what the future has… All I know is I have a tag right now to hunt and I might as well hunt hard.

 

[Ridn9high]

That’s horrible! Was going to try to finally draw 57 this year after seeing what I did a few years ago. After watching the winter, I didn’t even want try to hunt there this year and just bought another point. Might be a long time before I see that country again

 

[Pucci]

Thanks for that. I’m a big fan of the Baggs area. Sad to see. Had my points for 57 Antelope but I’ll wait even longer. Not sure what the future holds for the area or even myself. I do have friends hunting in Baggs only because their pop maybe has one last hunt to go on so I understand that situation. Like to see what the final numbers will be at Snake River Processing.

 

[elkassassin]

Hey elks?

you Sure You Wasn't In DRATville With Them Kinda Horse Counts?

 

[elks96]

Hey elks?

you Sure You Wasn't In DRATville With Them Kinda Horse Counts?

I wish. Sadly between the Adobe Town herds and the sand wash basin there are horses all over…

 

[rmanwill]

Well we took a break from scouting sheep to look over the lopes and deer situations around Baggs. It was absolutely miserable. Way worse than I first thought. In total we drove over 400 miles. From Lander, to Rawlins, Wamsetter south, etc. mostly lope units 57 and 53 but we also counted what we saw from the high way from lander to Rawlins…

Friday Night Lander to Rawlins(left lander at 6ish arrived Rawlins at dusk)

Antelope:
134 Doe
31 Buck
23 Babies total

Mule deer:
4 doe
0 bucks
0 Babies

Saturday: Unit 57 (well over 100 miles travelled on the dirt, hours of glassing)

Antelope:
Doe: 43
Bucks: 23
Babies: 7

Mule Deer
Doe: 7
Bucks: 4 (all 2-3 year olds)
Babies: 4 (2 doe with twins)
Feral Invasive Horses: 294
No cattle/no sheep

Sunday Drove from Powder Mountain, to Baggs via Cottonwood, then Baggs to Wildhorse, to wild cow, to Rendle rim to McCarty Canyon

Antelope:
Doe: 22
Bucks 8
Babies: 2

Deer:
Doe: 22
Bucks: 0
Babies: 8

Feral invasive horses: 112

Also a very concerning note…. We only saw like 12 sage grouse and the only ones were way high up in 58… None in all the lower sage that is the core habitat.

We also got to see the awesome progress of electricity and the destruction and fragmentation of habitat via a massive power line cutting through some remote wild lands…

I feel sorry for anyone expecting more than a nice walk with their rifle this fall.

For reference I have hunted antelope bucks in 57 and 58 several times in the last few years. A typical day in either unit I could glass 110-130 buck antelope east. So when one day you see 8 and another 23 it tells you that the numbers are way lower than they claimed. I was all over grind I know well and the numbers are 4 times worse than the were after 07/08.

This is sad, this new road for the power line was in a spot where we used to hike in for a coyote stand. The roads are new and cut all the way across the country. We are talking miles. They could have followed the highways, could have followed pipeline right of ways, but they literally just picked a direction and went.

This valley was untouched and very limited hard road access, now it has a road huge water culverts, etc.

View attachment 117694

And other roads… new roads from one horizon to the next…

View attachment 117687

Then of course the horses….
View attachment 117689

And if you look the range despite all the moisture is not in the best shape. Better than it has but the horses are just damn hard….

This next image absolutely makes my blood boil. Jackasses on ATVs keep cutting the HMA fence. This fence has been fixed and signed a few times over the years. But people keep cutting it and driving through. It is hard enough fixing the horse fence with out idiots cutting out entire sections and pulling up post. All so they can drive a ridge 60 yards across a ridge instead of a 1/2 mile around. This is definitely not a legal View attachment 117690View attachment 117693road. The end result is 100s of feral horses on ranges outside the hma and not being properly counted or managed…

On the flip side sunset were nice, the view from bed of the preside meteor shower was awesome. The deer numbers and lope numbers were crap and they should have made
Significantly deeper tag cuts…View attachment 117691View attachment 117692

View attachment 117685

View attachment 117686

View attachment 117688

Thanks for taking us along and for the report. Glad I sat out of deer and antelope this year. Hope things change for the better.

 

[Skidmore]

I drew that 57 unit back in 2018 , bucks galore ! Hundred of them .

 

[Skidmore]

Hundreds everyday.

 

[ss13]

Thanks for the update, though terrible news. Do any of you know how the deer and antelope did towards the Saratoga, Encampment, up toward Bridger peak?

 

[elks96]

Thanks for the update, though terrible news. Do any of you know how the deer and antelope did towards the Saratoga, Encampment, up toward Bridger peak?

they did better but not good… I have only heard negative reports. But I still think it was pretty hard on that side as well. Look at tag numbers for this year Bs last. That will give you an idea…

 

[elks96]

Hundreds everyday.

Yeah. I would typically glass 120 bucks a day. Wouldn’t even bother counting doe/fawns. And honestly if it was not an obvious buck it was not counted. To go from 120 bucks to 12 is insane…

 

[Stillwater165]

Haven’t been everywhere but I’ve done some lookin in areas of the state other than my usual ……. not good ! Everything I’ve heard from others reports is also not good ! One more hard round of old man winter and I’m pretty sure there won’t be anything left. It’s a shame the people that need to understand it……don’t care.

 

[Wiszard]

I am guessing the lack of game is due to winter kill?

 

[elks96]

I am guessing the lack of game is due to winter kill?

Yes. It was horrible here. This winter on my way to work I watched a group of antelope disappear. There were like 70 lopes and 12 babies. The babies went first then more and more. Out of the group there were 14 left when they finally caught a melt and could get out of the spot. 50+ had died. It is eeally
Sad. The same area in 07/08 got hammered but this last winter was like 4 times more winter kill than 07/08.

 

[Bookhead]

Well I see one problem. You're taking pictures of your camp when you should be glassing on 100 degree days you have about 20 minutes of good movement on either end of the day

 

[maxpower]

Well I see one problem. You're taking pictures of your camp when you should be glassing on 100 degree days you have about 20 minutes of good movement on either end of the day

You're probably right, all is well with Wyoming's deer and antelope herds. Nothing to see here.....

 

[LIK2HNT]

That’s a pretty bare essentials camp. Hope the mosquitoes were not out. When I was young that was fine. As I get older I want a tent to keep the bugs and critters out. And a nice sleeping pad.

 

[Bookhead]

You're probably right, all is well with Wyoming's deer and antelope herds. Nothing to see here.....

Yea that's exactly what I said.

 

[elks96]

Well I see one problem. You're taking pictures of your camp when you should be glassing on 100 degree days you have about 20 minutes of good movement on either end of the day

Yeah because I would camp in a spot where I could not glass... That camp was not sitting on a ridge where I could glass about 9 square miles of ground. I literally was sitting in my chair using my spotting scope all the while trying to get the boy moving. Trust me there is more glassing from that one spot than 2 guys can cover in an hour...

 

[elks96]

That’s a pretty bare essentials camp. Hope the mosquitoes were not out. When I was young that was fine. As I get older I want a tent to keep the bugs and critters out. And a nice sleeping pad.

We were camped on a big ridge that almost always has a solid breeze. I used to just sleep on ground, for years just a bag, canvas tarp, then one day woke up to a 4' bull snake on my bag. Decided I will start sleeping off the ground. Just incase I also pack a therma cell for mosquitos. I love that camp for my weekend trips. I will share pics of our sheep camp from this weekend.