Roughing it or hotel/cabin/lodge

jgriffin82 · Jan 31, 2015

Afternoon folks. I plan on putting in for 34 deer and 73 antelope this year. Should be a guaranteed draw with my point totals. I'll figure out the hunting, but in the meantime, do you guys have suggestions on places to stay or where to set up a decent camp? I plan to focus on antelope a few days before the deer opener. My main concern is being closer to deer country than antelope. Thank you.

Jim

TOPGUN · Jan 31, 2015

Unless you hunt down in the se part of that area where you can go into Casper to a motel you'll want to take everything with you to camp out where you're hunting. The area is really remote, especially the western half, even though it looks close to the big city. You'll want to be prepared for wet weather with at least one set and preferably chains for all four tires. Also, take plenty of extra gas, water, food, and other essentials (special meds, etc.)for a few extra days just in case weather hits and you have to stay put longer than you have planned. Good luck and I hope you get a couple good animals on your trip.

dz · Jan 31, 2015

I have never hunted your unit, but driving through going to 21 I have seen good animals both deer and Antelope. I like the country to the North end and we always stay in a wall tent on the 33 road. For me it just adds to the experience. Plus it saves a ton on fuel running back and forth.

Good luck
DZ

jgriffin82 · Jan 31, 2015

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm leaning towards the wall tent. It looks like most of the land near Casper is private, so i think we'll set up camp closer to the south end of the big horns and drive to antelope country for a couple of days. Are the best access points to the unit from the northern border?

Jim

junior · Jan 31, 2015

If we are within 2 hrs of hunting from a motel room, then that's what we do. A lot of people commute that far for work.

TOPGUN · Feb 1, 2015

>If we are within 2 hrs
>of hunting from a motel
>room, then that's what we
>do. A lot of people
>commute that far for work.
>

Driving in that back country doesn't get you very far in two hours though compared to being out on a highway going to/from work! I've always been one with the thought that camping out is a big part of the overall experience of a hunt and I like to just go out the door of the camper or tent and start hunting.

junior · Feb 1, 2015

TG I agree if in the back country.

On our last combo hunt(lope/deer) we found that we were seeing more deer in the afternoon. So we (2 adults/2 kids)would sleep in till 8, have a good breakfast, load the coolers with ice, pack lunch and head out around 9am. We would drive through most of the antelope unit everyday on the way to our deer area. On average we would get 2 good spot and stalks on antelope before arriving around 3 for deer. Out of 16 tags, we filled all but a few, and would of filled them if it wasn't for a full freezer!

This was without a doubt, the most fun, we ever had on a hunt.

jgriffin82 · Feb 1, 2015

I'm not too keen on commuting. I do that for work, and we're also driving the 16+ hours to get back there. We're definitely leaning towards camping in the north western part of the unit at one of the BLM campgrounds. We'll probably make that decision based on the availability of drinking water. This way, I feel we'll be in the thick of deer country and close enough to the antelope. I'm going to pull the trigger on a wall tent sometime this week. Personally, I feel the camping aspect makes the hunt that much more enjoyable. Who needs to shower!? We can do that when we get home! I appreciate the helpful hints guys.

Jim

kilowatt · Feb 1, 2015

LAST EDITED ON Feb-01-15 AT 03:28PM (MST)[p]JG82....I have hunted these same units back in 2009 with our deer/lope buck tags.There are very FEW BLM Campgrounds out there BUT there are places to camp. Also remember this if it RAINS those roads in that whole area are really messy and without proper chains etc YOU WILL get stuck or slide off the dirt roads.
The time we were there there was ONLY one person/s camped out and that was in the north west part of 34/73 and NO GAME there hanging.
The west side there were a lot of signs posted PATROLLED as it was least by an Outfitter. We got our Antelope but my friend got his down about central part of unit above HWY 20/26 on the northside and close to Natrona and 2 days later I got one way up in the n/e part of unit about 10 miles west of Hwy 25/87. Mine was the bigger of the two. We never seen any Muley bucks that worth shooting, most likely were all on PRIVATE ranches around that northern part of unit below the Redrock 33 miles road.

My friend slide off the dirt road into a ditch off the shoulder of really messy road. But after ripping up the ditch he finally got out, pity the person who slided in later as there was alot of vehicle tracks and pieces of wood etc there to wench him out.
We were hunting with a late season tags which were in NOVEMBER 2009 and it was snowing when we first got there the day before out season opened. It took about 4 days before the weather changed to some sunshine and that is when I got my Lope.

WE stayed in Casper at a Super 8 motel and were out there and hunting within an hour or less where we parked the truck.

Brian
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