Trespass fee

SierraFool · Jan 30, 2006

I know its early but does anyone have land or know someone with land in Wyoming where I can obtain a tag with good odds and pay a small trespass fee for antelope.
I want to take my 6 year old on her first hunt. Not looking for a trophy buck.

Thanks
[email protected]

alsatian · Jan 31, 2006

Unit 23 near Gillette is usually undersubscribed due to the large number of permits allowed. There are very, very many pronghorn available in this unit. I have made arrangements to hunt a 1230 acre ranch for a rate of $100/gun for two days: my son and I hunted for two days for a total of $200. The hunt was not physically challenging, and we both took pronghorn. YOu can get the same list of land owners willing to accept trespass fees as I obtained by calling the Buffalo office of the Wyoming Fish and Game Department and asking that they email the list to you. You should then call multiple people listed until you find a deal you like. There is considerable variation in the deals you will find. I didn't find many prices that were cheaper than the one I found. Not many trophy bucks in unit 23, but even a merely average pronghorn head looks very cool in my opinion. The meat is very tastey if you take care of it. Get the animal cool pronto. Some people gut the animal and stuff a couple of bags of ice in the body cavity immediately to start cooling the animal off. Some recommend skinning the animal promptly, because the pelt of the pronghorn is very efficient at retaining heat.

Good luck

SierraFool · Jan 31, 2006

Thanks I will check that out...How do you usually pay a trespass fee? prior to the hunt I assume but has anyone been takin by unscroupulous people?

RELH · Feb 2, 2006

Sierra fool;

Yes there is ranchers that will take you for your money, but they are few in number compared to the honest ones. Another thing you may want to check out is the age limit for big game hunting in wyoming, if I remember right, your child will have to be either 12-13 years old and will need to possess a Hunter's safety card before they can hunt.

RELH

SierraFool · Feb 2, 2006

Thanks for the reply, I know most state are between 11-13 for ages. I just want to get her feet wet with an easy,or fairly easy hunt. Got to pass on our heritage.

alsatian · Feb 3, 2006

LAST EDITED ON Feb-03-06 AT 09:16AM (MST)[p]I paid half my trespass fee after my permit was issued by Wyoming DF&G and half when I went to the land to do my hunt. I assume a land owner would almost never rip someone off. The money is not substantial enough to bother with such unscrupulous behavior, in my opinion. These are land owners who live there. They don't want to get a reputation as a low-life money grubber who doesn't hold to their word.

Phantom Hunter · Feb 3, 2006

Sierra,
Bring her to Texas. You can find a lot of package hunts here for Whitetails, hogs, javelina, turkeys. You can buy her a license when you buy yours. You can hunt in a blind over a corn flinger or by spot and stalk, whichever you prefer. Check with the Chambers of Commerce in Mason, Brady, San Angelo, Junction to get started. Good luck. My daughter took her first deer at age 10, bigger than any I've had a chance at too.

Phantom Hunter

RELH · Feb 3, 2006

Alsation;

You may assume that a ranch owner will not rip you off, but speaking from personal experience, I have had about three occasions where a ranch owner did attempt to rip me and my hunting partner off in wyoming. On two occasions it was a honest rancher who gave us a warning that prevented us from getting ripped off by the dishonest rancher. The third occasion we caught the rancher lying though his teeth about his "trophy antelope" and wanting 350.00 bucks a day per gun to hunt those "trophy" antelope. What he did not know we had scouted the outskirts of his ranch and did alot of glassing and saw nothing over 12-13 inches. We informed him of this and he finally admitted that 13 inches was the biggest antelope he had and that if we were not willing to pay the fees, "those boys from Michigan would pay it".
Just for your information so you can be more wary in the future. Do not consider this as bashing Wyoming ranchers, for everyone that is dishonest or greedy, there are ten good ones that will give you a fair shake if you meet him halfway.

RELH

alsatian · Feb 6, 2006

RELH:

I hear you. I'm not a trophy hunter and so don't pay too much attention to the assurances of "big racks" or "big antlers" casually thrown about. I certainly don't pay extra to hunt on such lands in hopes of bagging a "big rack" or "big antlers." Just not my thing. I suppose there are other variations on this them though -- like "oh, you'll be the only one out there hunting, you'll have a good, undisturbed hunt allowing you to deliberately stalk your prey!" -- and in fact you may find the landowner has leased the same land to a parcel of people and the antelope are frantically fleeing from one running shot to the next running shot. Even the presence of game may be open for question.

I agree that generally it is healthy to be skeptical and try to authenticate circumstances through an independent source.

sremim · Feb 7, 2006

How likely is it for any rancher to let you on his property without paying? I am thinking about getting a leftover tag close to Laramie that is checkerboard public/private. I was thinking about getting some names, knocking on doors, and perhaps ridding there lands of some prairie dogs. Anyone have experience with ranchers allowing more local people to hunt for free? Or do they all want something (money)?

Wiszard · Feb 10, 2006

Ive hunted trespass fee ranches before and the biggest problem Ive run across is not the rancher being dishonest- its the AMOUNT OF HUNTERS ON THE PROPERTY AT ONE TIME. Some ranchers will pile the hunters on a ranch because they are only charging $100 an animal. Ask questions and call the rancher a week or so prior to the hunt to find out how many other hunters will be out in the field with you. Have several options. Make reservations with several ranches but still let them know you are keeping your options open. You dont want to see another hunter when youre antelope hunting. Once theyre pushed chances are you wont get close enough to get a shot. They are tough enough to hunt without 10 other hunters chasing them. Safety is also a concern. Do your homework so you can havde the best hunt possible!!