There are few places in the world more exciting and challenging to hunt than the Western United States. From the high, snowy peaks of the northern Rockies to the low deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, the American West is home to a wide variety of game in many different habitats.
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If you’re an experienced Western hunter, you’re probably familiar with the idea of preference points, controlled hunts, and limited draws.But if you’re new to hunting the West, these concepts might seem overwhelming. Whether you want a record-book ram or to fill the freezer with antelope steaks, you’ll have to do your homework.
We’ve done our part to help you get started. After contacting state wildlife agencies, studying draw odds, consulting biologists, and speaking with hunters and guides from the Olympic Peninsula to the Mexican border, we’ve come up with eight hunts that will put you on the game you may have only dreamed of.
1) Wyoming Antelope
Wyoming is the runaway winner for the largest number of antelope, so it will always be a favorite destination for pronghorn hunters. Antelope hunts in the Cowboy State are ideal do-it-yourself adventures. The weather is usually pleasant, and you won’t be trekking into remote mountains or quartering and hauling out really big game like elk and moose. Good glass is the order of the day for a pronghorn hunt, and the farther you get from the main roads, the more you increase your odds of success.
The plains in the east-central and northeastern portions of the state are prime antelope hunting areas. There are lots of pronghorns and some good places to hunt them. The problem is that most of those places are privately owned, and getting permission to hunt can be difficult. There are small pockets of public land, but these are heavily hunted. If you can draw a tag in a central or southwestern unit, you’re more likely to find plenty of public ground to hunt, but those are the hardest tags to draw.
Some of the best units for numbers and trophy quality are 57, 60, and 61 in the south-central part of the state. Draws odds are slim, but there are lots of antelope in these areas and plenty of public land. Lack of rain will likely prevent this from being a record year, says Jeff Obrecht of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (307-777-4600; wgfd.wyo.gov).
“Some areas had good snows in April, but most of the state is dry.”
If you aren’t worried about trophy quality, Obrecht suggests applying for a doe/fawn tag, which is $40 for a non-resident. Leftover “any-antelope” tags went on sale July 10, and unsold doe/fawn tags became available for purchase on July 17.
GO POSH: If you’d rather not spend your nights on the dusty prairie or in a questionable motel, grab a bunk at the 15,000-acre Brush Creek Ranch (brushcreekranch.com) in Saratoga. In addition to pronghorns, the ranch holds deer, elk, bears, and moose. Bring your shotgun for pheasants and chukar, or cast to wild browns and rainbows on 10 miles of private access to Brush Creek and the North Platte and Encampment rivers.
Trophy Potential (2 out of 5): There are a lot of antelope in Wyoming, but it’s tough to find a book head on public land. If you want to find the next world record, look to Arizona’s Unit 5B and hunt the Anderson Mesa area. This area is home to giant pronghorns and numbers are on the rise, meaning better draw odds.
What It Costs: $272 (non-resident antelope tag) +$14 (drawing application fee) = $286
Exertion Level: As Western hunts go, spot-and-stalk antelope hunts are pretty easy. The difficulty and the trophy potential both increase the farther off the beaten path you go in search of undisturbed bucks.
2) Utah Mountain Goats
The odds of getting a goat tag anywhere are slim, but if you want to focus your efforts in one place, the Wasatch Mountains of Utah are an excellent choice. These high, rugged peaks are home to lots of goats, and some of them are really big. You’ll need to plan on accumul
Source: https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/hunting/2013/08/where-hunt-guide-8-best-big-game-hunts-west/
