Unit 53 Goats -Baggs - What happened?

[james_wvu]

We hunted 53 just east of Baggs in 2006 and there were antelope running everywhere despite the zillion new roads and rigs. My dad drew a buck tag this year and the place seems like a wasteland. In a 5 hours of driving around the unit, we saw 4 bucks and 2 does. That's it!!! I heard about "some" winter kill but geez. WY issued 200 buck tags this year for this unit. Anybody know anything?

 

[clifhunter]

i have hunted areas like this one year the goats are every wear and the next year you have to hunt all day to see a good buck........................good luck to your dad................

 

[jims]

I haven't been in that unit lately but from what I've heard from the locals the units south of I80 in that corridor got hammered this winter by deep snow. One guy mentioned it was the worse winter he has seen for years. I have a feeling both the deer and antelope in that area got pounded by winterkill? On a bright note, there ought to be good horn growth on any mature bucks that made it through the winter.

 

[SouthernWyo]

The areas around Baggs experienced extremely high winter kill this year, both antelope and deer. Antelope tags were cut in half (or more) in most areas around Rawlins/Baggs.

These are the usual results from a normal Wyoming winter, which we haven't experienced in quite some time...