Wyo Unit 96 Antelope help

cedarhacker · Jan 23, 2008

I'm thinking about trying for unit 96 this year. I don't know anything about it except what I can find in the Wyo regs. The north half of the unit looks to be almost all public with good access. The south half looks to be checkerboarded. Has anyone hunted here or know anything about the hunting here?

I think stats show about 270 tags and one third of the tag holders hunt opening week. It looks like a big unit but with the south half being checkerboarded, I'm wondering if this puts most of the hunting pressure in the north half. Is there any chance that access can be had in the south half, by asking permission, paying a tresspass fee or?

I tried to find info on the herd status, size, B/D ratio etc. but haven't found it yet. Are there alot of antelope here and how is the buck quality?

Any info would be appreciated and you can PM me if you like. Thanks, CH.

HNTBIGBULLS · Jan 24, 2008

I have hunted unit 96 twice,
in 02 and in 04. There are
alot of goats, but they are
some of the spookiest goats I
have ever hunted, It is hard
to get close to them with out
them spooking a mile away.

The checkerboard on the south
end is pretty open, I have
never had a problem.

I don't think 96 has as big
of bucks as some of the other
sweetwater county units, tuff
to find a 80 incher.

3bigelkid · Jan 24, 2008

CH,
My brother and I drew last year. So far your reaserch has been very good. Don't worry about the checkerboard stuff in the south. We did not hunt the opening week. We hunted in late Sept. I was very tough to find a decent goat in this unit. If you are happy with a 13" tall 70" goat this is your unit. On a whole the prong/cutter length was not very good on 99% of the bucks we looked at. WE spent two long days and looked over 89 different bucks to shoot the two that we did. This was our first hunt in Wyoming. Our next will be in a different unit. If you draw PM me and I will give you more detailed information along with the locations of the best areas. The response above was very valid. The goats are very, very, very spooky. Practice out to long ranges.

cedarhacker · Jan 24, 2008

Thanks for the info guys. I really appreciate it. I'm not looking for a trophy hunt but more for a place I can go to hopefully about every three or four years. I'd at least like to find a place that has some 14 inchers and maybe the occasional bigger one. I'm not sure unit 96 can do that from what you guys are telling me. Maybe I need to keep researching.

coues52 · Jan 25, 2008

Pm sent ~Danny

Chesterwyo · Jan 25, 2008

I live in that area and concur with everything said above. Those goats are very spooky I'm not sure why.

eelgrass · Jan 26, 2008

I hunted 96 last year. I agree with everyone else. I hunted the first week of October during and right after a rain/snow storm. When the rain quit antelope popped up everywhere! Good access in the northern half. They seemed pretty tame at that time. The roads were pretty snotty though.

I love antelope hunting anywhere and this is the best eating one I've ever had!

Thanks again to Chesterwyo for all his help!

Eel

clausepeak · Jan 28, 2008

I also live in this area and the goats are the spookiest i've seen,in area 96 and 92.Find a dust cloud and there will be antelope.My brother and son had 92 tags last year and connected on a couple of mid to high 70" goats.Seemed to have better luck later in the season.The kid got a kick out if trying to catch the dust devils,NOT MY BAG THOUGH.Good luck on your draws and good hunting

cedarhacker · Jan 28, 2008

Thanks for the replies and the PM's guys. They've all been very helpful.
I'm curious about how to hunt in the southern half of unit 96. Since it is checkerboarded, can you only hunt the squares you can drive across or is it generally accepted that it's ok to hunt anywhere. I'm not advocating tresspassing but I know that sometimes some areas have a locally accepted practice of "hunting where you want."