Wyo Antelope off year?

jims · Sep 28, 2014

I just returned from a fairly "premier" Wyo antelope unit/hunt in South-Central Wyo. You may not believe me but I conservatively looked over somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 to 700 different bucks. I originally thought with the good moisture Wyo had last fall and this spring plus fairly mild winters the past few years that horn growth would be at a premium. On average most bucks had decent mass but seemed to lack in length. Almost all bucks were in the 11 to 14" range. Although I was hunting a unit that historically has great B&C potential I didn't see 1 buck that came close to getting me too terribly excited. I also drove through a couple of the best Wyo antelope units in Wyo and didn't see 1 buck that got my attention.

I'm curious if anyone else noticed this in Wyo this year? On the bright side I saw lots of dink to mediocre bucks that ought to be ready to go in future years. Good luck to those still out there searching for their dream bucks! I'm sure there are few out there but you may need to do a lot more searching this year!

carnicero · Sep 28, 2014

After several days of scouting/hunting in another "premier" Wyoming unit, I am in the same boat- no WOW factor bucks so far. Back at it again this next weekend and hopefully a buck will show himself that should be representative of this unit.

Blank · Sep 29, 2014

Yep, lots of speedgoats but most I'm seeing are in the 10-12" range. I think part of the problem is the unit I'm in is huge and there's lots of tags. I think that there are nice bucks there, but they are harvesting the large portion of 2-3 year olds before they get the age on them to get big. I passed over 75 this weekend and ended up shooting the best I saw (14+ with my muzzleloader). Didn't see any rifle quality bucks at all, and wanted to start hunting all the other tags I have.

pymulies · Sep 29, 2014

Seems like that is the norm around S C Wy. If anyone ever tells you they saw a 17" inch buck in this part of the state, I would be a bit skeptical. Yeah there might be a few, but not many.
I would say that 14" is pretty common in the mid 50 units. 60 units do get taller IMO.

py

BowHuntr · Sep 30, 2014

LAST EDITED ON Sep-30-14 AT 03:06PM (MST)[p]We hunted a unit that takes quite a few points to draw (NR) in SW Wyoming this year. My dad had the tag. I had the same tag in 2012.

We had a very tough time finding an 80" goat this year. Went on 2 different scouting trips, and know the unit pretty well. We talked to a couple CO's during the hunt. They stated that they only had 1" of moisture from Jan 1st until August, then they got slammed with rain during August/September.

Horn growth seemed pretty dismal. Short prongs, and tough to find anything overly massive. In 2012 we found a few really nice goats in the unit. Seems the lack of moisture during peak horn growth took its toll.

marburg · Sep 30, 2014

We hunted a historically good unit, looked over hundreds and did not see anything remarkable...still a fun trip though, we had a great time.

HiMtnHntr · Oct 5, 2014

I'm afraid I have to agree with the above reports. I have a tag in a decent central WY area and did not see anything I wanted to hang my tag on. Moving on to deer soon so this will likely be the first season in over a decade without an antelope buck taken . . .

Green_Back · Oct 7, 2014

I'm going to have to chime in and agree to this report above too. I just came back from a 6 day trip in unit 62... just north of Rawlins up to the Ferris mountain range. Glassed over 100s of bucks, population seemed to be doing just fine, but i never found that "book" goat. I'm not an antelope expert by no means but must goats were 12-14" in my area, decent 6"ish mass but with short cutters... piles and piles of 70-75" goats.

There was a massive kill off in this area a 2-3yrs back and you could almost tell by all the alpha bucks, they were all the same size.

I put my tag around on 77" that just barely hit 15" and was happy.

TommyNY4 · Oct 7, 2014

I just got back from 4 days in area 23 and saw tons that were 13"+

HiMtnHntr · Oct 8, 2014

Always going to be stud killed here and there. Greenback I'd say you did quite well for 62. That's a great buck!

nfh · Oct 8, 2014

LAST EDITED ON Oct-08-14 AT 09:25PM (MST)[p]The area I hunt I seen way more big solid bucks. To where as I usually see tons of dinks.. By big bucks in this unit I mean more 70-82 inch bucks... Im not saying hundreds of them but I seen a good handful....But as a resident and working in the unit everyday in the oilfield its like scouting 10 hours a day.

But also I have noticed less antelope, maybe due to a billion doe tags given out??? any many other reasons

eelgrass · Oct 9, 2014

I'm hardly an expert on Wyoming trends but we didn't see anything spectacular in 67 this year. Lots and lots of nice chunky 12-13" bucks. Maybe 3 or 4 that went 15" but they were thinner too.

Eel

Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.

Zeke · Oct 9, 2014

I'll chime in, although I probably know the least about the history of trophy antelope in Wyoming. I do know that the BIG ones are few and far between regardless of the place or time.

My brother and I spent 8 wonderful days, over 2 trips, to bow and rifle hunt a premium unit which takes max points for a NR. We saw hundreds and hundreds of different bucks and we covered as much ground as we could. We did this so when the rifle hunt came we would know what the top tier buck look like. We could have bow hunted from our blinds but we were having too much fun seeing pronghorn and racking up the buck talley.

Between us we saw over 500 different bucks and each drove almost 350 miles on the quads.

I shot the best buck I saw and I'm very pleased with the trophy, however, I assumed we would have seen more 80's than we did.

I don't know if it was an "off year" or not since I cannot draw on historic trips of my own.

Here's the best buck I saw (there was another that was certainly in his class)

Zeke · Oct 9, 2014

oops, here it is.

Zeke

eelgrass · Oct 9, 2014

Zeke, that's a super buck. I'd be interested in the score?

8 days in a prime unit makes you an expert in my eyes.

Eel

Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.

Zeke · Oct 9, 2014

Eel,

I've scored him a few times just to make sure I was doing things right. He grosses over B&C minimum (80") but it looks like he might fall just short of their magic line.... but I couldn't care less. I'm happy with the critter for sure and since I couldn't find the new world record (LOL), he's good enough for me. Thanks for the interest.

I have a pretty good feel for what we saw, and didn't see, but I have no basis or history in the unit to say it was an off-year or not. My experience echos what other experienced during their hunts this year. That's why I posted.

Zeke