transplant,
thanks for the write up; 125 is an interesting unit; have hunted it 7 times since the mid 90's; have seen many changes in the unit over that time; last time there was 2011; the hunting pressure in the unit has definitely changed over time and not for the better; tag numbers have been consistent so that is not the problem; the unit has over 1 million acres BLM in it, in addition to the private ground; so 100 tags on that amount of area is very small, but, unfortunately, with the advent of technology and the rise of mags like Huntin' Fool, the hunting pressure has gotten very concentrated in that unit; in the 90's and early 2000's it was a unit who was hunted by mostly locals as that was really all that applied for the hunt; they all had their special areas they liked to hunt so the pressure was spread out better; as you found out, it is a low deer density unit; but, it has always been that way; over time, we have not seen the number of deer necessarily decrease, but, the buck quality and buck to doe ratio have steadily gotten worse; when we first started hunting there it was not uncommon to see 4 or 5 bucks out of every 10 deer you saw; and, those were mostly all 3.5 yr old to 5.5 yr old bucks; we used to ask ourselves were all the 1.5 and 2.5 yr old deer were! the first year one of the guys in our group shot a buck that the biologist estimated to be 7.5 yrs old
since the mid 2000's I don't know how many people we have run into out there that seems to be exasperated with the hunting, seeing very few deer, and no real mature bucks; every one of them has said: "well Huntin Fool ranked it as one of the better units to shoot a 180 buck in, but I haven't seen anything like that"; and most people simply can't take the low deer densities.
most of that unit is badland type terrain (except gooseberry) which makes for poor habitat; but there are pockets in there that do have good habitat; unfortunately, now with the internet and the hunting mags you have everybody and their dog concentrated in these small areas; and, the most frustrating is that people set up these elaborate camps, right in the middle of the best habitat areas! when we first started going, you would never see anybody camped up by squaw teats as the locals and the others who hunted the unit knew this was a prime area; last time we were there, there was 7 major camps right up by the teats; that area used to be a major deer corridor/holder; but we have seen that completely change with everybody camping up there now.
last time in 2011, we watched a 170 class buck that was 2 miles from any road, pressed right up onto the edge of the badlands; we saw him 4 times, including the last day, and he NEVER got with any does; he stayed solitary the whole time;
the unit does hold some slugger bucks, but, they are few and far between now; and, the hunting pressure is now all concentrated into the best habitat areas, and the buck quality has decreased, and the quality bucks left seem to have changed their behavior;
used to be one of the best kept secrets in wyoming, but, not anymore unfortunately; I don't think it will ever get back to what it was just because of the type of habitat that is there, and the hunter makeup now; the shift from the locals to the Huntin Fool crowd with there massive 5th wheel trailers, 4 wheel drive ATV's, all camped up in the middle of the best habitat areas seems to have changed it forever
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