Red Desert?

Current picture from 5 miles west of Rawlins. Too bad there aren't many animals left to eat all that green growth.
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I was out on the sweetwater and Oregon trail potion today near Oregon Buttes and continental peak. Very green and wet. I saw a decent amount of antelope including some fawns. Was a lot better than I was expecting. Not saying this is anything but a very casual observation but I was encouraged.
 
ralphie said:
I was out on the sweetwater and Oregon trail potion today near Oregon Buttes and continental peak. Very green and wet. I saw a decent amount of antelope including some fawns. Was a lot better than I was expecting. Not saying this is anything but a very casual observation but I was encouraged.
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I'm hearing the further North you go from the I-80 corridor, the better. Basically a line from Farson to Bairoil to the North gets exponentially better as far as survival. Haven't seen it in person though.
 
ralphie said:
I was out on the sweetwater and Oregon trail potion today near Oregon Buttes and continental peak. Very green and wet. I saw a decent amount of antelope including some fawns. Was a lot better than I was expecting. Not saying this is anything but a very casual observation but I was encouraged.
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I have a pronghorn tag this year for that area. Thanks for the report.
 
DaveD said:
I'm hearing the further North you go from the I-80 corridor, the better. Basically a line from Farson to Bairoil to the North gets exponentially better as far as survival. Haven't seen it in person though.
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I have been out a lot and I would adjust that line to go from Bairoil to Moneta, then the Highway to Riverton then Farson. But yes it is bad
 
Are you saying that in that box, pronghorn survival was better north of the Farson-to-Bairoil line than south?

Thanks for the on-the-ground reports!
 
HornedToad said:
Are you saying that in that box, pronghorn survival was better north of the Farson-to-Bairoil line than south?

Thanks for the on-the-ground reports!
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Yes it is little better north but nkt
Much. There is a pretty big difference north of Monetta to Riverton line. East of Moneta is better into Casper but the area of Jeffery city was hammered, as was the units north of Jeffery and over south of Riverton etc
 
Just drove through it yesterday coming from Montana to Denver lots of green saw like six pronghorns when I should have seen hundreds and hundreds saw a few more maybe like 30 on 80 eastbound they shouldn't let anyone shoot anything. it is blank out there breaks my heart Wyoming Pronghorns have been a huge part of my hunting journey. I feel sorry for the kids counting the days unit they can hunt
 
maddog58 said:
My son hunted around Jeffrey City last year. How do the antelope look ?
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I saw very few. I was up high most of the time, but even driving on the highways I was taken back how few goats I saw.
Where did your son hunt? I hunted goats out there last year too.
 
maxpower said:
I saw very few. I was up high most of the time, but even driving on the highways I was taken back how few goats I saw.
Where did your son hunt? I hunted goats out there last year too.
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He hunted unit 106. Sweetwater Station to Jeffrey City south of the highway. Missed a really good one and ended up with a 77” goat
 
Was over near Saratoga yesterday west of elk mountain at work and saw fair numbers of fawns, mostly twins. The ones I saw looked really good, but the total number of pronghorn statewide is pathetic.

Everyplace I've worked this year across Wyoming has depressed numbers, it's sad. IMO, right now there shouldn't be any doe/fawn tags being issued and deeper cuts to buck tags.
 
BuzzH said:
Was over near Saratoga yesterday west of elk mountain at work and saw fair numbers of fawns, mostly twins. The ones I saw looked really good, but the total number of pronghorn statewide is pathetic.

Everyplace I've worked this year across Wyoming has depressed numbers, it's sad. IMO, right now there shouldn't be any doe/fawn tags being issued and deeper cuts to buck tags.
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I think that's part of the problem with antelope tags it's still an any antelope tag not a buck tag like it should be
 
Bookhead said:
I think that's part of the problem with antelope tags it's still an any antelope tag not a buck tag like it should be
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Do you know how many pronghorn does are killed on the any tags? I can't imagine it's very many, but with the horrible numbers right now even killing just a few is probably not a good idea.

I agree they should be buck only tags.
 
BuzzH said:
Do you know how many pronghorn does are killed on the any tags? I can't imagine it's very many, but with the horrible numbers right now even killing just a few is probably not a good idea.

I agree they should be buck only tags.
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I haven't looked at all the areas but I noticed the ones around here the lower the over all harvest success is the more does get killed seems like.
 
On my way to Montana I went nothing up 25 and didn't see ANYTHING until almost Douglas..this is not just a bad year this is a wildlife emergency they should shut it down at least for a year or two Yeah I know they want the license money the feds seem this throw billions around like candy on really dumb things I think they could pony up
 
In the area from highway 789 at baggs, north to creston junction, west to table rock, south to the Colorado border, and east back to Baggs, I’ve seen three fawn antelope in the last month. And probably only fifty antelope in total. No big bucks at all. It’s dismal. Have not been north of the interstate at all, but it’s probably more of the same.
 
We bummed around between Creston Jct and Rawlins last week for an hour or two. Saw a handful of fawns and several bucks. Maybe not as many as the past, but there were goats around.
 
BuzzH said:
Do you know how many pronghorn does are killed on the any tags? I can't imagine it's very many, but with the horrible numbers right now even killing just a few is probably not a good idea.

I agree they should be buck only tags.
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With doe harvest on type 1 tags reaching as high as 10% or more in some areas, it should definitely be a "buck only" tag. The numbers of pronghorn I see now not only require severe tag cuts, but a whole new management plan.
 
jm77 said:
With doe harvest on type 1 tags reaching as high as 10% or more in some areas, it should definitely be a "buck only" tag. The numbers of pronghorn I see now not only require severe tag cuts, but a whole new management plan.
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Ageed
 
Maybe we can get G&F to treat the antelope like mule deer. Get the herd down to about 1/3 of objective. (Might have already accomplished this.) Then have a general season followed by a late season hunt to ensure we kill all the mature bucks. Couple that with a three month doe season and you have the recipe for success. The critters can never rebound and you can keep selling way too many licenses, plus you never have to get out of your office to even count the herd numbers.

Those bucks could spread disease you know, so we definitely need late seasons so keep buck numbers low to nonexistent. :(
 
ICMDEER said:
Maybe we can get G&F to treat the antelope like mule deer. Get the herd down to about 1/3 of objective. (Might have already accomplished this.) Then have a general season followed by a late season hunt to ensure we kill all the mature bucks. Couple that with a three month doe season and you have the recipe for success. The critters can never rebound and you can keep selling way too many licenses, plus you never have to get out of your office to even count the herd numbers.

Those bucks could spread disease you know, so we definitely need late seasons so keep buck numbers low to nonexistent. :(
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What sucks, is this is a fair assessment of current day Wyoming.
 
I know you guys are well intentioned, but it would be great to get some current updates on range and herd conditions in the Red Desert, and not the usual grithching on WY G&F. Just sayin’….
 
HornedToad said:
I know you guys are well intentioned, but it would be great to get some current updates on range and herd conditions in the Red Desert, and not the usual grithching on WY G&F. Just sayin’…
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Valid point. Sorry if we fell short on you. There were quite a few observations earlier in the post string. I'm a little keyed up because of the proposal for late season mule deer seasons and the meeting next week.

I won't be through that country again for a week or two. Last time I was, I saw some antelope but I was just cruising in I-80. Rarely see much from the interstate.
 
HornedToad said:
I know you guys are well intentioned, but it would be great to get some current updates on range and herd conditions in the Red Desert, and not the usual grithching on WY G&F. Just sayin’….
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Would you like that current update and herd conditions region wide or by species and area? Possibly break it down by large drainages too? Yeah, I guess not...
 
Here's a report just drove from Kemmerer to I-80 saw 5 pronghorn 2 bucks 3 does not a single fawn. I was the passenger and watched close for the entire drive. Drove from Kemmerer to Farson, saw maybe 25 pronghorn. From Farson to Lander maybe saw 100, about 15 of those fawns. Also drove up the Hams fork from Kemmerer to the Forest boundary, quite a few pronghorn and most of the does had twin fawns. Probably the best doe/fawn ratios I've seen in Wyoming this year.

Statewide pronghorn and deer are in the chit. Range conditions across Wyoming are the best I've seen since I moved here in 2000.
 
Work took me on a big drive Monday North of the interstate on bar x road to hay reservoir. Then back to the interstate and down Patrick Draw, and over to Bitter Creek. In the twenty years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen water in Hay Reservoir. It’s completely full now. Saw one Antelope north of the the interstate. And surprisingly quite a few in the Patrick Draw area. The must have experienced some conditions in that little area that allowed them to survive. Some pics of Hay Reservoir

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IMG_3094.jpeg
 
I drove from Kemmerer to Casper today, I saw a total of 8 antelope from Kemmerer to Farson and they were all in a pivot right by town. Saw 15-20 from Farson to Casper. Drive was during the hottest part of the day (12-5).
This is all anecdotal, but figured some might want to know.
 
maxpower said:
I drove from Kemmerer to Casper today, I saw a total of 8 antelope from Kemmerer to Farson and they were all in a pivot right by town. Saw 15-20 from Farson to Casper. Drive was during the hottest part of the day (12-5).
This is all anecdotal, but figured some might want to know.
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Yes it is very bad around here… Numbers all the way from Farson all around in every direction. We drove Douglas to Muddy, Jeffery to lander and saw like 20 lope
Total…
 
Evanstan to kemmerer to fontanelle to green river lakes.......5 days....maybe 30 lopes total.......I was shocked...had to focus on the fishing to avoid depression:)
 
ralphie said:
I was out on the sweetwater and Oregon trail potion today near Oregon Buttes and continental peak. Very green and wet. I saw a decent amount of antelope including some fawns. Was a lot better than I was expecting. Not saying this is anything but a very casual observation but I was encouraged.
Click to expand...
Just spent a few days out here again. Quite a few antelope. Saw a couple herds of 30+ animals. Smaller groups were common. I saw quite a few fawns including twins. I’m not pretending this is a scientific study, but antelope of most age classes were there and not hard to find.
 
ralphie said:
Just spent a few days out here again. Quite a few antelope. Saw a couple herds of 30+ animals. Smaller groups were common. I saw quite a few fawns including twins. I’m not pretending this is a scientific study, but antelope of most age classes were there and not hard to find.
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HAHA. That area is easily down 70% compared to last year. Yes there are animals around but nothing like there were just 12 months ago.
 
I’m not going to argue about total numbers compared to last year. The point is at least in the three units Ive spent a decent amount of time in. (And I’m not talking about driving the highways). There is reason for hope. Fawns, bucks, does, all over the place and lots of feed. Given half a chance those units will come back.
 
ralphie said:
Fawns, bucks, does, all over the place and lots of feed. Given half a chance those units will come back.
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In all honesty, this is something I haven't seen in any central Wyoming area this year and not just from the highway(not talking about feed either). In many areas, irrigated fields, that normally hold dozens, if not a hundred or so pronghorn, are void of animals. IMO this is a true indicator of herd condition.

There's always hope, but as long as G&F denies what has happened to antelope, pretty much statewide, the days of old will never be again for pronghorn.

And all my observations have been pre-opening day, so many I have seen will be harvested.
 

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