Book cliffs south cisco antelope?

S

swbuckmaster

Long Time Member
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My wife drew the tag and im wondering what type of hunt to expect? Is there a lot of private land issues? This will be her first hunt ever. I also plan on taking my girls along as well and make it a family deal. I really dont care if she shoots the first goat she sees.

Any info is welcome Ive only hunted doe antelope once on Deseret cwmu and it was fun.

Any suggestions? You can Pm me if you like!


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Most of the Cisco unit is public land. Private really shouldn't be a problem. Expect to see a fair number of pronghorns in the 13-14 inch range. Decent goats but nothing huge. There are bigger ones in there and a mid to high 70's pronghorn is doable with a little luck. Expect to see a few elk down in the sagebrush as well. Kind of unexpected but cool. Pronghorn hunting is a great hunt for a newby. Very forgiving with tons of animals to look over. If she misses her first shot, no biggie...the next opportunity is close. Good luck to her and we hope to see photos in the fall.

Mike
 
Just what I wanted to hear "no private land issues."

Is it possible to stay in Vernal at a holiday inn and commute everyday to the antelope? I dont have to pay to stay in holiday inns "points" because I live in them all year long with work. So tat would be the the cheep option

OR should I pull out the 30 foot utard toy hauler with the Polaris ranger?

With the cost of fuel id almost rather stay in the holiday inn and commute every day.


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Here's what you do,,,
Stay in Colorado, There's a Holiday inn I believe in Fruita,
only 19 miles from the Utah/Colorado border,,,I-70.

Hunt the Harley Dome ext 227,,,last exit in Utah..
Or, come in from Mac,,exit 11 in Colorado, head to the Utah
boarder on dirt road 194.....There's a killer water hole
1 mile on the Utah side on that road,,,
Just past that is road 214 that gos back to Harley Dome..
No need to look any were else....



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Ya you could stay in Vernal and commute up through the Bookcliffs each day and down Hay Canyon and by the time you got there, it would be time to turn around and head back:)

If it were me I would in Green River or Mack Colorado as it's about 10 times closer.

There are some decent bucks in that area and she should have a great hunt.

In 1993 I applied for an archery tag in that area. They gave 4 tags and had 7 people apply. I was one of three that did not draw. Because I was unsuccessful drawing that tag, I ended up drawing a Rocky Sheep tag that happened to have the worst odds of any tag in the state that year. Sometimes it's lucky to be unlucky.

Best wishes to your wife Scott on her hunt.

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Have a good one. BB
 
Yeah...Vernal would be the place to stay in the Bonanza unit but not Cisco. Green River is the closest place to stay in a hotel on the Utah side. Not sure which hotels are there, but there are several.
 
Stay in a hotel? You've got to be kidding me. Is this the same SWB that backpacks with lamas onto the front every year? Take a tent tough guy! You'll be done before they can charge your credit card. And no, I wouldn't suggest staying in Vernal. You might as well stay in Price. Good luck. I'm sure you will do well.


It's always an adventure!!!
 
Scott those photos were taken in Wyoming last fall on our antelope hunt up there. I haven't been to the Cisco unit in years, so I can't say what you could expect to see, but I would speculate that their are a few goats like those around on that unit, and a few even larger. There will however be a lot more that are smaller. But with some getting around and some patience, your wife should get a good one.

Here are a couple different photos of the larger of those two bucks.

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Have a good one. BB
 
those are really cool photos. Ya Id love to see her shoot one like that however she is not as dedicated as Lindsay and I are at hunting. In fact her exact words she gave me after she got her blue card were. "Put me in for a hunt you dont have to get up early" and "a hunt you dont have to hike all over the place." Lol so I put her in for antelope and antelope island bison.

Ill see how this summer goes with scouting and see how the hunt goes to see if we push the envelope a bit and get a better then average goat. He he


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Guys, let's be careful with giving advice on this unit these days. Sometimes things change very quickly in herd numbers. All advice given here was indeed accurate at one time......but only prior to last year.

I hunted it on a conservation permit last fall after taking a large B & C goat there in 1999. I lived in GJ for many years, and used to prowl around there a lot thru 2005. Suffice it to say I have as much time in there as anybody. My hunt last fall was a disaster, the worst antelope hunt I've ever been on. See my other thread/posts under this antelope forum where I talk about greatly reduced numbers in 2010.......and the greatly reduced number of tags for this fall. This is the unit I was referencing. Can you say.....winterkill 09/10? I was actually disgusted and didn't even go out the last day after hunting 6 days looking for a keeper. Note where I applied and drew this year with my precious 6 NR points.

There are only a fraction of the goats here that there were a decade ago. There used to be plenty.......with a lot of heavy 14"+ bucks to choose from. Several record book entries over the years. On one afternoon in 2005 I saw 2 bucks over 80"........but no more. They are gone, along with the does and fawns. Most herd bucks were 1 and 2 year olds.

swbuck......stay at the Balanced Rock Motel at the main Fruita interchange with lots of food and gas nearby. The rooms are very affordable, extremely clean, and air-conditioned. It was 92 degrees most days on my hunt last year.......not camping weather. Your wife will shoot a buck......but it may take several days and will prolly be a young one. Lots of country.....only a few goats. I saw the highest numbers last fall on Danish Flat, along Bitter Creek near the CO line, and NW side of Windy Mesa Rd a mile south of Death Valley.

Below are some photos from my 2010 hunt. Check out the nice bull (as mentioned earlier in this thread) that was 10 miles from the hills.


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About three years ago I saw a nice road-killed bull elk in that area right off of I-70. He was also a long ways from the mountains.
 
I see where UDWR issued a total of 30 draw tags in 2010 and has reduced it to 19 for this year. Evidently, they have noticed the same population spiral as I did.
 
I must have punched in the wrong hunt number when I looked up the boundary mapps. The map I had showed the unit was closer to vernal. So no I wont be doing that commute lol. What an idiot! So it does look like I will be seeing some new country after all.

So I'm thinking about going out this weekend or next weekend and looking around to get to know the trails and have a few more questions for the guys that know antelope more then I.

Will the antelope be grown out big enough to have a general idea what they will look like this fall?

Will the antelope migrate like deer do and be miles away when the hunt rolls around!



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"South Cisco" is on the South side of I-70 from Green River East to the Colorado state line, south to the Colorado river to the confluence with the Green then north to I-70.

I had this tag the First year it was a unit in 2008. I travled this unit extensively from an off-raod bike and found that while there is plenty habitat to support them (including plenty of alfalfa fields along the Colorado) Most, if not all, of the Pronghorns on this unit will be found within 3/4 mile Of I-70 and state road 191.

Where the Thompson wash cross' SR-191 held the best bucks. Shoot the first 13 incher ya see and be happy with him, it won't get any better.

Have fun and good luck.
Yak

For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.

Thomas Jefferson
 
Thats the Book Cliffs-Bitter Creek unit. She has a South Cisco tag.

Yak.

For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.

Thomas Jefferson
 
They will be pretty much grown out by the beginning of June so you'll have an excellent idea what the unit holds before the hunt starts.
Yak.


For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.

Thomas Jefferson
 
The wife and kids will be happy with anything with horns. I however always push the limits. So my oldest daughter and i will do most of the scouting. We will try and find one of the top goats but i have my doubts on getting it or any other goat on the ground. My wife has never shot a centerfire rifle and has never shot an animal. So if it happens i hope everything turns out allright. Meaning i have herd of wives crying when they shoot something. I just hope it dosent go like that. She was the one that went all on her own and got her blue card so she could hunt and all but i do have my doubts when she has the opertunity to pull the trigger she might just say she cant do it.

If it does happen I wont care if it is 11 inches as long as she has fun..

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The name of the unit is Book Cliffs, South (Cisco). This is only north of I-70. What the heck are you talking about??
 
swbuckmaster, tell her if she had the gawl to eat some of that deep fried "bass" she can do anything. If nothing else, it might get her mad enough rethinking that thought she could get itchy on the trigger when you tell her to put your face on that pronghorn. Good luck to you and your girls!!
 
hey man save your gas money! My wife had the tag last year we spent 6 days down there and covered everything from the border to greenriver twice we seen probley around 40 goats no $hit.
we found a dandy 13" and tried to kill him for about 6 hours
"half prego wife and 90 deg" didnt go to well. I would really go down before the hunt because i drew the tag when i was 14 and there was so many goats it was unreal! I was so happy she got the tag until we got there then i was in deep depression for weeks. I really am surprized i drew my elk tag because the letter i sent to the D.W.R. should have put me behind bars!
 
Whet out scouting and a lot of the advice is absolutely correct. The unit is probly on a down cycle. I only saw 1 buck that would probly b a shooter. The rest of the bucks were only about 1 or 2 years old. It is sad but this is the first time I would ever consider turning in a tag. I don't know much about antelopes but the ones i see in wyoming are about 10 * larger than the ones I saw on this unit. Then to top it off I think they're getting poached. I found a dead doe that was probably shot I don't know what else could have killed it. It hadn't been fed on by coyotes and was only about a day old. The rest of the antelope were on a full out run about a mile from my truck. I've never seen the antelope so skittish.
Anyway I posted a video on my daughters hunt challenge of a few of the bucks I scouted up. All in all I probly saw abouta 50 antelopes 15 of them being bucks. Decisions decisions. I keep telling myself maybe it will get better during the rut and I will see more goats to look over. Am I correct in this thinking that the antelope will be out more during the rut. My experiences they seem to be out all year round during the day.
 
LAST EDITED ON Jul-28-11 AT 09:32AM (MST)[p]here is the scouting video link with music enjoy!
http://www.monsterhuntclips.com/video/1534/2011-scouting

here is a video link to the doe. Do you think it was poached?
http://www.monsterhuntclips.com/video/1535/poached
Like I said pretty much every antelope I saw was on a dead run. They started to run at distances they looked like ants in my bino's. Is this normal behavior for this time of year? Im my short antelope experiences this is not normal. But Im comparing these to the ones I see at the flaming gorge.


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"Almost what we're looking for"???? Come on man! I know youve landed some PIGS but that deer needs an arrow asap and we need pics! Put him down man!

"You skin grizz?"
 
Please don't take this the wrong way but to me he is actually just a touch above average. He might gross in the low 180's.

Im not even going to target that buck.
 
sw--

Low 190s with the trash. Hes got great beams and hes deep all around. Heavy too.

I cant wait to see what you're holding out for!

"You skin grizz?"
 
Was hard hunt trying to find a nice buck and even the antelope. Saw small bucks and not as many antelope as I had hoped too maybe four dozen total. My son and wife had tags this year and it was for both their first big game hunt.

Second day we were able to sneak into middle of a big flat that held the best buck we saw. After a couple of hours the herd half mile away got up when some other hunters try to stock in on them. The herd did just as I thought and came towards the middle of the flat where we were behind a sage brush set up.

They walked by at 120 yards with the buck being number 13 out of the 14. My son held right on him and dropped him in his tracks. Boy were we excited. He is 13 inches and has good cutters. Will make a great first trophey mount.
 
Ranger 1 why don't you post a photo of that bad boy. Sounds like you got 1 of the good ones. In all my scouting I didn't find anything very big. Didn't really matter cuz we weren't trophy hunting. My work wouldn't give me the time off and it's definitely not the type of economy where you can tell them where to go. So I was forced to turn the tag back in. All in all it I think it still works out for the best. It wasnt the unit I wanted to draw anyways. It was my mistake Putting down the wrong hunt numbers. Next year my wife should be able to draw the unit she wanted to hunt and we will be hunting with my friends family in a unit I'm familiar with.

Guys thanks for all your help anyways I appreciate it.
 
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See if this work for a picture. This one is just of the head and cape.

I was extremely proud of him.
 
OK, for the last weekend. My wife decided she would like to go back and see if she could get a buck and we found a nice one this morning. He is 12 1/2 inches with 1 inch broomed off on both horns and on one cutter. My green score is 74 1/2 gross maybe bigger than my son's gross but not net score. Nice and heavy to the end. It was her first big game animal. So we were two for two. Wow!
 
Here are a couple of pic.

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Yes a happy husband- 21 years of marriage and now an antelope hunting partner.
 

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