I drew an antelope tag in 112 and would like a few pointers. My 8 year old son will be tagging along to experience his first big game hunt, so the priority is seeing pretty country, an abundance of game, good camping spots, and basically having fun - we are leaving the measuring tape at home this time. I am not familiar with the unit aside from what I've seen on Google Earth, and I will not be able to scout before the season. I have read most of the related MM archives and they have been very helpful. Due to obligations at work, I have a two week window available any time after October 7th. I know this will overlap with elk and deer, and increase the likelihood of weather, but it's unavoidable. With this in mind, I would welcome any advice or ideas about road conditions at that time, and places to camp and hunt where we can stay out of the elk and deer hunters? way and still see antelope. And I assume that earlier is better for weather, or should I push the hunt back to the last two weeks of October? Many thanks.
antelope unit 112
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nontypical
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The eastern half of the unit would hold the most antelope. The western half would be more mountainous; more deer and elk; although you can find goats most anywhere in the unit.
Roads can get messy with rain, but this country dries out quickly. Some years there is bad weather; but most years it's okay until the latter part of the month. Earlier would be better to avoid the possibility of bad weather. You can camp anywhere on public land. There is some private, but not much. One of the landowners can be a real dickhead, so make sure you stay on public. There could be some migration later in the month.
Roads can get messy with rain, but this country dries out quickly. Some years there is bad weather; but most years it's okay until the latter part of the month. Earlier would be better to avoid the possibility of bad weather. You can camp anywhere on public land. There is some private, but not much. One of the landowners can be a real dickhead, so make sure you stay on public. There could be some migration later in the month.
Thank you both for your comments. I spoke with the biologist this week and he was helpful as well. I feel like I am getting pretty well squared away on this trip. One thing - can anyone suggest reasonable hotels and restaurants in the Evanston-Green River-Rock Springs corridor? And places to avoid. This will be a camping trip but it's good to have a couple places lined up just in case. Thanks again.
mtnrunner260
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Stay at the Hampton inn in Rock Springs if you need a place.
The west side, Clay Basin roads can getting bad in wet conditions
The west side, Clay Basin roads can getting bad in wet conditions
I meant to send a brief hunt report a long time ago, but one thing led to another and I never got to it. Here it is. I was in 112 from October 15th to 26th, and my 9 year old son joined me for the second week. The first week I spent a lot of time driving and getting familiar with the unit, spots to camp, etc. and during this time the rifle stayed in the case. When my son arrived we started hunting and for the first couple days glassed lots of animals. Then late one morning we glassed two decent bucks looking like they would bed down soon. We went around behind the ridge, came up the other side at about the spot I thought the biggest one was at. We crawled over the ridgetop, and quickly got setup. In a few moments the buck stood up at about 75 yards and gave a broadside shot, but I knew he wouldn't stay put for long. I quickly whispered to my son if this is the one, he said yes, and I squeezed off. The buck was down and that was that. My son was really excited and I let him go about 10 yards ahead as we walked up on the buck. At first he couldn't find him laying flat in the sage, and was a little bewildered! My son jumped right in and helped with skinning and boning. This was the first large animal he'd seen dead and I wasn?t sure how he would react, but he did fine.
The buck was a decent representative buck with 13 inch horns, and I haven't yet bothered to measure the prongs. We need to pull the skull out of the freezer and get to work on it soon. For the rest of the week he practiced shooting his bow and wristrocket, practiced stalks on other pronghorn, and enjoyed camp life in the pretty little drainage where I setup my wall tent. During my two weeks there I saw many hundreds of antelope from down in the low country to on top of Pine Mountain. There were lots of bucks the same size as I killed, although I saw a few larger ones during my first week that we never saw again. We saw two groups of elk while glassing from the shoulder of Pine Mountain, one group about 35 animals with several multi-branch bulls, and the other group was four cows with three calves. We saw about 40 deer, usually in groups of six or seven. There were five bucks: four forkhorns and a spike.
I want to thank all of you who took the time to respond to my original posts with your ideas and advice. The biologist out of Green River was also very helpful and encouraging. Also, the archived threads were really useful. Everyone?s comments helped make the hunt a huge success for my son and me, and I am very thankful to all of you for it. I think he is hooked! Now the 6 year old is claiming that this year it's his turn, so I'd better draw a tag somewhere!
The buck was a decent representative buck with 13 inch horns, and I haven't yet bothered to measure the prongs. We need to pull the skull out of the freezer and get to work on it soon. For the rest of the week he practiced shooting his bow and wristrocket, practiced stalks on other pronghorn, and enjoyed camp life in the pretty little drainage where I setup my wall tent. During my two weeks there I saw many hundreds of antelope from down in the low country to on top of Pine Mountain. There were lots of bucks the same size as I killed, although I saw a few larger ones during my first week that we never saw again. We saw two groups of elk while glassing from the shoulder of Pine Mountain, one group about 35 animals with several multi-branch bulls, and the other group was four cows with three calves. We saw about 40 deer, usually in groups of six or seven. There were five bucks: four forkhorns and a spike.
I want to thank all of you who took the time to respond to my original posts with your ideas and advice. The biologist out of Green River was also very helpful and encouraging. Also, the archived threads were really useful. Everyone?s comments helped make the hunt a huge success for my son and me, and I am very thankful to all of you for it. I think he is hooked! Now the 6 year old is claiming that this year it's his turn, so I'd better draw a tag somewhere!
happytohunt
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Well done on building strong memories with your son..Neither of you will ever regret this time...good luck on future family hunting adventures..hth
DoubleDropMuley
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Right on like to hear it , congrats and ?for the kid!!!
nontypical
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Glad you had a great hunt and made some great memories!
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