Unit 61 or 62 Antelope?

Scrillznac · Dec 12, 2023

Looking at these two units for Type 1 Antelope in 2024. Would love to hear any feedback from anyone who's hunted them in the past. Also how was the winter kill this past year in these units? I've tried calling a couple bios over the last few months and have yet to receive a call back. Feel free to DM me as well! Would love to get some advice on these units! Thanks!

jims · Dec 13, 2023

My guess is that you'll have to cover a lot more ground to find antelope. You'll have to cover even more country to find mature bucks that made it through the recent winters. Keep your fingers crossed there isn't another rough one!

Bookhead · Dec 13, 2023

Scrillznac said:
Looking at these two units for Type 1 Antelope in 2024. Would love to hear any feedback from anyone who's hunted them in the past. Also how was the winter kill this past year in these units? I've tried calling a couple bios over the last few months and have yet to receive a call back. Feel free to DM me as well! Would love to get some advice on these units! Thanks!

Winter kill was bad down in that area of the state. I'd go look around this summer and see what you think before you dump your points and if you like what you see hunt 2025. My personel opinion with that many points involved. With another mild winter 2025 should be better trophy quality with a higher age class of bucks

jims · Dec 13, 2023

I would agree with Bookhead to wait a year or 2...."if" there isn't another horrible winter. With a few decent winters in a row plus good moisture there would likely be more top bucks available in a few years.

Antelope numbers right now are about the worse they have ever been in that area. You may find a buck of a lifetime but it will likely take a lot of work finding the 1 or 2 that may be available. It takes a lot of time in decent years to find top scoring bucks.

If score really doesn't matter, I'd go for it. You likely won't have much company since tag #'s are so low. If you want the best chance on a top scoring buck it may be worth waiting a year or 2 or possibly pick a different unit that wasn't hammered so hard.

HornedToad · Dec 14, 2023

I scouted and hunted Unit 64 this past year, and drove through Unit 61 several times traveling back-and-forth from Rawlins. Saw very few antelope (like almost none) in the open, flat areas of 61.

i’m certainly no expert (as I expect a few of my fans here on MM will point out), but it appeared as though the pronghorn did better in the higher, broken areas of 64, where they may have had the leeward sides of hills and washes in which the snowpack was not so uniform, allowing them to locate feed. The same may have applied in 61.

If you’re NR, and depending upon how many points you have, you may be better able to sneak into 61 and 62 this upcoming year, rather than in a few years when the max-point holders could return to the draw in force.

Good luck.

HT

Scrillznac · Dec 14, 2023

Great advice from you guys so far! Much appreciated!!! I was wondering about how hard those areas were hit with winter kill. I agree with HornedToad about being able to sneak into some of the top units a little easier points wise. I was surpsrised how much the point creep went backwards in these two units this year. I'm currently sitting on 14 antelope and 15 deer points. I knocked out my Elk Points here in Oregon in 2021 so I'm ready to start doing the same in other states.

Score doesn't matter too much to me versus being able to see mature bucks and be somewhat selective on what I want to shoot. I've shot 2 antelope (1 rifle and 1 archery) that scored 78" and 75". Whether I break 80" or not I could care less. My rifle buck was tall and narrow and my archery buck was wider with some stickers for character. I'd probably shoot a goofy horned one over an 80"er. If I shoot one as big as either of these and have a fun enjoyable hunt then it's a win! Here are my two bucks.

2009 Rifle Buck

2014 Archery Buck

desperatehills · Dec 19, 2023

I had unit 24 elk this year. I met the Biologist in the field. He said winter kill was worse south of green mountain. I did not make it into unit 60, but 61 and 64 had less antelope than 106 and 68. If you want to hunt next year I would go with 68.

Scrillznac · Dec 19, 2023

desperatehills said:
I had unit 24 elk this year. I met the Biologist in the field. He said winter kill was worse south of green mountain. I did not make it into unit 60, but 61 and 64 had less antelope than 106 and 68. If you want to hunt next year I would go with 68.

Thank you for that! I'll do some research on those units! I appreciate it!

Scrillznac · Jan 5, 2024

Brother-In-Law has 4pts. We would average out to 9each. Sounds like we may just combine our points and go have fun on a 7-8pt unit.

jims · Jan 5, 2024

You may want to double-check how many pts it took to draw last year in 61 and 62. I can pretty much guarantee that nonres draw odds aren't going to improve in those units in the next few years.

With that said, it's hard to say what will happen to draw odds with the higher priced special draw beginning in 2024? There are so few tags issued to nonres that it doesn't take many nonres with the same idea to make units like 61, 62, or even 68 tougher to draw.

Antelope numbers in most of Wyo have been in a downward spiral so there likely won't be an increase in nonres tags in many (if any) units in 2024. The number of nonres hunters applying increases each year compared to how many tags are issued.

The biggest question to ask yourself is if it's worth waiting for antelope quantity and quality to improve in some of the prime units? Right now it may take a lot more time and effort to find the few top bucks that may or may not exist in units that are struggling. It's tough enough finding a B&C buck when conditions are great!

Scrillznac · Jan 6, 2024

jims said:
You may want to double-check how many pts it took to draw last year in 61 and 62. I can pretty much guarantee that nonres draw odds aren't going to improve in those units in the next few years.

With that said, it's hard to say what will happen to draw odds with the higher priced special draw beginning in 2024? There are so few tags issued to nonres that it doesn't take many nonres with the same idea to make units like 61, 62, or even 68 tougher to draw.

Antelope numbers in most of Wyo have been in a downward spiral so there likely won't be an increase in nonres tags in many (if any) units in 2024. The number of nonres hunters applying increases each year compared to how many tags are issued.

The biggest question to ask yourself is if it's worth waiting for antelope quantity and quality to improve in some of the prime units? Right now it may take a lot more time and effort to find the few top bucks that may or may not exist in units that are struggling. It's tough enough finding a B&C buck when conditions are great!

Good advice! Thank you!

Togwotee · Jan 6, 2024

As others have said wait. a lot of record book goats are 3 1/2 years old so it's not like deer and elk the quality can come back faster.

My wife has max points but there's no way I'm going to have her try for a few more years.