Antelope area 73

WillHunt · Jun 17, 2021

Hunting antelope in 73 this year. First time hunting this area. Heard from some that numbers are looking bad there and others say I'll be ok. What do y'all think? Any feedback welcome.

desperatehills · Jun 17, 2021

I hunted it a few years back. I do not live close by so I can not give you current conditions but there are a lot of antelope in that unit. Even on a down year you will be looking at a lot of goats. It has a lot of tags also. I would not hunt opening weekend. With a 6 week season the first week of October would be a great time to show up.

schoolhousegrizz · Jun 17, 2021

Plenty of goats last year!

maddog58 · Jun 17, 2021

Hunted it last year and lots of goats, but lots of 12” goats. I ended up with a 79”+ one but scouted for 3 days. Get away from everybody and glass and you can find a good one

Hammnit · Jun 17, 2021

I would second what everyone here has said. I've hunted it twice and once was supposed to be on a bad year (drought). It was still covered in lopes everywhere we went. As stated, not a lot of 14"+ bucks, but a super fun area.

madmoose · Jun 18, 2021

Your going to have a blast.

WillHunt · Jun 21, 2021

Thanks for your feedback, folks. Current plan is to make it a September 21-25 hunt. Miss the opener but get out of dodge before the weather gets too squirrely maybe. I think most of the BLM is in the northern part of the area; is that where you'd concentrate your efforts?

highfastflyer · Jun 21, 2021

WillHunt said:
Thanks for your feedback, folks. Current plan is to make it a September 21-25 hunt. Miss the opener but get out of dodge before the weather gets too squirrely maybe. I think most of the BLM is in the northern part of the area; is that where you'd concentrate your efforts?

Antelope are all throughout most of the area. The NW corner is higher up in elevation and contains less antelope. Don’t overlook the Walk in areas and Hunter management areas as there many great ones to hunt. Be sure and have OnX maps or something similar. You will have a fun hunt and good idea missing the Opening crowds.

Bookhead · Jun 21, 2021

Heards are definately thinner around casper then they have been in the past. The big snow storm we had in early spring killed a bunch of goats

shootem · Jun 21, 2021

Hunted the unit for deer last year, antelope were everywhere. Saw 3-400 a day, look in some of the hard to reach areas and you’ll find the bigger bucks. Wish I could say the same for deer, but it was fun seeing all the antelope.

WillHunt · Jun 22, 2021

Thanks for all the good info! Quick question regarding lodging. I currently have a reservation at the Red Butte Ranch, near Bessemer Bend, west of Casper. I don't think this is the ideal location for accessing 73 as it's the wrong side of town, but I like the place and they had space. Wondering if any of you know of an option north of town that makes more sense?

desperatehills · Jun 22, 2021

We stayed right in Casper. One year at the super eight and the next year at the new best western. Your location is not perfect but it is not a deal breaker either. Pat's meats in Mills does a good job of processing if you want to bring home packaged meat

maddog58 · Jun 22, 2021

I don’t like driving through town, so I would stay on the northern end. Don’t overlook the area that seem like deer country. Also NE of area can be a sleeper

whitwell_56 · Jun 22, 2021

desperatehills said:
We stayed right in Casper. One year at the super eight and the next year at the new best western. Your location is not perfect but it is not a deal breaker either. Pat's meats in Mills does a good job of processing if you want to bring home packaged meat

I'll second Pat's Meats

Sierra · Jun 27, 2021

Unfortunately, they have been hammering that unit with increased tags for the past several years. Add in the winter kill and the population is much lower than five years ago. With that said, I’m sure you will see enough to kill one.

WillHunt · Jun 29, 2021

Sierra said:
Unfortunately, they have been hammering that unit with increased tags for the past several years. Add in the winter kill and the population is much lower than five years ago. With that said, I’m sure you will see enough to kill one.

Yeah, I've heard the bad news about the herd in that area recently. The good news, I guess, is that the quota is 25% lower this year, so maybe fewer hunters will help our chances. Also, my understanding was that the adults in the population are doing ok, but last year's fawn crop suffered due to drought, resulting in the quota reduction. Regardless, we're going, so we'll see what happens. Any lodging intel for north of Casper appreciated.

maddog58 · Jun 29, 2021

I stayed at the La Quinta Inn on F street. The Fort Saloon and Eatery is right next door and has good food. Pretty convenient not to run around town. I would stay there again

highfastflyer · Jun 29, 2021

You can’t visit Casper without seeing the famed Northern Dreams Dance Club. Your quest to find the heart and soul of Middle America will be complete, the place is pure Americana. This place is so bad it is awesome - went there with a few other hunters and laughed so hard I was afraid they were gonna throw us out. It is in the middle of nowhere and even had its own exit- there is nothing else around this place - literally nothing. No other structures its like out of a movie - a weird B scale movie! The 3 dancers were nice - one was a bartender who doubled as a dancer and keeps her tennis shoes on. It’s about 10 miles North off Ormsby rd. Exit on West side of I-25. It will liven up those days when too windy to hunt.

shootem · Jun 29, 2021

There is definitely no shortage of antelope in that unit. They are all over, you won’t have any problems finding a buck that’s for sure.

treedagain · Jun 29, 2021

highfastflyer said:
You can’t visit Casper without seeing the famed Northern Dreams Dance Club. Your quest to find the heart and soul of Middle America will be complete, the place is pure Americana. This place is so bad it is awesome - went there with a few other hunters and laughed so hard I was afraid they were gonna throw us out. It is in the middle of nowhere and even had its own exit- there is nothing else around this place - literally nothing. No other structures its like out of a movie - a weird B scale movie! The 3 dancers were nice - one was a bartender who doubled as a dancer and keeps her tennis shoes on. It’s about 10 miles North off Ormsby rd. Exit on West side of I-25. It will liven up those days when too windy to hunt.

Been there/done that. Pretty entertaining to say the least.

WillHunt · Sep 7, 2021

Two weeks out from my trip to 73 for lopes. What's the smoke like out there? I know it's been dry. Any thoughts on this area that haven't been shared yet? I'm starting to get exited although keeping expectations modest.

WestDesert · Sep 7, 2021

I will be hunting there next week for the first four days of the hunt. I will give you a report when I return.

shootem · Sep 7, 2021

WillHunt said:
Two weeks out from my trip to 73 for lopes. What's the smoke like out there? I know it's been dry. Any thoughts on this area that haven't been shared yet? I'm starting to get exited although keeping expectations modest.

Jealous!! That unit has got a lot of antelope in it. Hunted deer in the unit last year, couldn’t throw a rock in the air without hitting an antelope. Be patient and look over lots of bucks before pulling the trigger. You could literally kill a buck in the first 2 minutes of your hunt.

BigPig · Sep 7, 2021

shootem said:
Jealous!! That unit has got a lot of antelope in it. Hunted deer in the unit last year, couldn’t throw a rock in the air without hitting an antelope. Be patient and look over lots of bucks before pulling the trigger. You could literally kill a buck in the first 2 minutes of your hunt.

What was the deer report?

shootem · Sep 7, 2021

BigPig said:
What was the deer report?

Poor! Others who also had the deer tag can verify as well.

Teepee · Sep 7, 2021

Historically, I've seen lots of smaller (12 ") bucks in 73 on multiple hunts. I mostly hunted the northern part of the unit, since I was coming down from the north. With our drought this summer, I would head for some higher elevation, i.e., western part of the unit. Had a friend shoot a 78 at the base of the mtns. a couple yrs back, which seems to be on the high end for that unit.

wytex · Sep 8, 2021

It's smoky bad here in Laramie. Hoping to get some relief soon.
Don't know if it's thick enough to affect glassing but it does affect breathing.
Inhaler and allergy meds are getting some overtime this year.

maddog58 · Sep 9, 2021

Pats meats processed both of my antelope last year and did a great job

WillHunt · Sep 10, 2021

Thanks for the input, folks. We'll only have 3 full days to fill 3 tags so hoping for good weather. So far the forecast looks good.

Joe2Kool · Sep 18, 2021

Getting close now! Post some pics!

WillHunt · Sep 27, 2021

Quick report back. Thanks for all who provided advice.

Hunt proved to be more of a challenge than expected, but a great hunt nonetheless. Antelope were harder to find in many places than I expected. At times drove for an hour+ without seeing an antelope...at least it was pretty country.

Other unexpected obstacle was my dad taking a kidney stone with him on the trip...made for a couple of late morning starts and one day missed altogether by him due to being stuck in bed. At least he made the trip, as that was in doubt right up to the morning of our departing flight.

Anyway, we adjusted our expectations accordingly and managed to fill all three tags just in the nick of time. All shots 268-300 yards. No monster antelope but mine seems to have good prongs and mass and I'm pretty pleased with him.

My brother and I with my dad and his lope:

Brother with his:

Me with mine:

OutdoorWriter · Sep 27, 2021

Nice triple header! ?

Sierra · Sep 27, 2021

Congrats. Yours looks like a great one for the current conditions in that unit. Sad to see what they have done to Unit 73. Way too many tags for way too many years.