Great article Brady. You’ve proven yourself to be a great mule deer hunter, so this is credible advice. A couple of suggestions for Rick and others who can buy chains ahead of time would be Some Products that are universal for, such as Tracgrabber or Zipgrip
Josh, this is a great article. I can relate to almost every point that you made. I can remember starting hunting with my dad at 14, and I couldn’t sit for more than 30 minutes, whereas he’d sit and watch a canyon for hours. I have 3 daughters, and if any of them start hunting, I hope to try to teach them these lessons, with a lot of grace sprinkled in (because I too, needed a lot of grace. Lol). In the meantime, I teach hunter’s safety and try to convey these truths to those that come through my class. Well done Josh.
I just returned today from my 2019 hunt in unit 15. I was successful in taking a decent buck 45 minutes into opening morning. I drew this tag on the surplus drawing.
First off, There is a reason that there are surplus tags in this unit. There is very little public land, and most of it is landlocked. I flew out 3 weeks before season to scout and I knocked on doors and called land owners to see if they would let me go through their land to access public, I didn’t get any that said yes. Much of the accessible public land is in more mule deer country and holds little to no antelope. I also talked to the biologist for the area. He was kind of rude and kept saying “that’s why we have an asterisk next to the unit, because there is little accessible public land”. I realized that, but was just trying to do my homework ahead of time.
The accessible public land that does hold antelope is mainly on one dirt road, and there were A LOT of hunters on that road. I saw license plates from nearly every state in the west, and numerous Midwest states. I was fortunate that I scouted 3 weeks prior to season and got there 2 days early to pre-scout. If I hadn’t, I don’t know if I would have tagged out. I’m confident that I would have out-hiked most guys and likely gotten something, but I don’t know for sure.
If you’re willing to hike, your chances will be better to tag out. However, I did meet some guys from Ohio who did go out hiking and didn’t get anything. They were so discouraged with the unit and the amount of hunters, that they went home after hunting only 1 day...empty handed. Don’t get me wrong, if they had stayed, they may have tagged out, but this unit is not the one that you want to go to if you think you are just going to pick out which buck you want to shoot. In my opinion, based on my limited experience in the unit, this is a unit that if you are hunting accessible public land, you shoot the first buck that you see.
Bottom line, I won’t hunt unit 15 again. I was thankful to tag out, and loved spending more time in my favorite state in the US, but based on my other experience hunting pronghorn in Wyoming, it just wasn’t the experience that I was looking for. Mainly it was due to the lack of accessible public and the high amount of hunters.
Nate, I’ll be out there as well for the antelope opener. I just flew out here this weekend and scouted it for the first time. From what I could tell, there were a lot of public areas that hold little, to no, antelope. I did find a few antelope on some public ground, but not very many. I also talked to some land owners about crossing their land to get to public, but, no dice. It should be an interesting hunt. Good luck in a few weeks!
4 years ago
Three Ways to Get Better More Efficient Sleep While HuntingGreat suggestion. I usually bring a bit of liquid NyQuil in a small bottle and take a half dose before hitting the sack, it definitely helps.
6 years ago
Hunt where the deer are, not where you think they areGreat article Brady. You’ve proven yourself to be a great mule deer hunter, so this is credible advice. A couple of suggestions for Rick and others who can buy chains ahead of time would be Some
Products that are universal for, such as Tracgrabber or Zipgrip
6 years ago
What every young hunter should knowJosh, this is a great article. I can relate to almost every point that you made. I can remember starting hunting with my dad at 14, and I couldn’t sit for more than 30 minutes, whereas he’d sit and watch a canyon for hours. I have 3 daughters, and if any of them start hunting, I hope to try to teach them these lessons, with a lot of grace sprinkled in (because I too, needed a lot of grace. Lol). In the meantime, I teach hunter’s safety and try to convey these truths to those that come through my class. Well done Josh.
6 years ago
Wyoming Antelope Unit 15I just returned today from my 2019 hunt in unit 15. I was successful in taking a decent buck 45 minutes into opening morning. I drew this tag on the surplus drawing.
First off, There is a reason that there are surplus tags in this unit. There is very little public land, and most of it is landlocked. I flew out 3 weeks before season to scout and I knocked on doors and called land owners to see if they would let me go through their land to access public, I didn’t get any that said yes. Much of the accessible public land is in more mule deer country and holds little to no antelope. I also talked to the biologist for the area. He was kind of rude and kept saying “that’s why we have an asterisk next to the unit, because there is little accessible public land”. I realized that, but was just trying to do my homework ahead of time.
The accessible public land that does hold antelope is mainly on one dirt road, and there were A LOT of hunters on that road. I saw license plates from nearly every state in the west, and numerous Midwest states. I was fortunate that I scouted 3 weeks prior to season and got there 2 days early to pre-scout. If I hadn’t, I don’t know if I would have tagged out. I’m confident that I would have out-hiked most guys and likely gotten something, but I don’t know for sure.
If you’re willing to hike, your chances will be better to tag out. However, I did meet some guys from Ohio who did go out hiking and didn’t get anything. They were so discouraged with the unit and the amount of hunters, that they went home after hunting only 1 day...empty handed. Don’t get me wrong, if they had stayed, they may have tagged out, but this unit is not the one that you want to go to if you think you are just going to pick out which buck you want to shoot. In my opinion, based on my limited experience in the unit, this is a unit that if you are hunting accessible public land, you shoot the first buck that you see.
Bottom line, I won’t hunt unit 15 again. I was thankful to tag out, and loved spending more time in my favorite state in the US, but based on my other experience hunting pronghorn in Wyoming, it just wasn’t the experience that I was looking for. Mainly it was due to the lack of accessible public and the high amount of hunters.
6 years ago
Wyoming Antelope Unit 15Nate, I’ll be out there as well for the antelope opener. I just flew out here this weekend and scouted it for the first time. From what I could tell, there were a lot of public areas that hold little, to no, antelope. I did find a few antelope on some public ground, but not very many. I also talked to some land owners about crossing their land to get to public, but, no dice. It should be an interesting hunt. Good luck in a few weeks!