I bought a preference point recently. Told my wife we're going. Dragging the family with me. Told my dad I want him to go but he says he's not interested.

I want to find a ranch to hunt that has decent lodging (I'm fine paying more for the lodging than I pay for the hunt trespass fee). I realize you locals hunt public ground every year and kill an 80" buck every time you go. I want to do that one day, but I'd far and away rather pay a rancher a few hundred bucks for the ability to get up on day one of my hunt and not have another hunter pop up between me and the goats I'd been scouting. That's probably not a big deal when you live there. But it is, to me.

I have seen a few internet sites for WY ranches that offer trespass hunts and 'dude ranch' type stuff for the family. Last year my dad and I actually killed our cow elk on a similar ranch (the ranch leases their hunting out to an outfitter so the majority of their dudes never know hunting happens on the ranch). I have considered hunting there again - the guide is excellent and they have tons of animals, but no lodging onsite and an Airbnb in town just wasn't the hunting camp experience I wanted.

Anyway, I want to get started now identifying a few quality places to consider. I don't think I need a guide. Just a place with a decent bunkhouse, maybe some dude-ranch type stuff for the family, maybe access to calling coyotes after the hunt, or trout fishing, or bird hunting (with a full understanding I'd pay for such extras, quite possibly more than the antelope costs). And, of course, they need to have a bunch of goats. They don't even have to be huge. I'd be content to kill a decent representative goat. I'd be VERY happy to find a place where a second doe tag can be purchased as at the end of the day I am very much a meat hunter.

Any suggestions?

Hey @Skg_Mre_Lght- mind if I also message you about outfitters? I also just bought my first point, and I'm putting together some of my guys for an upcoming hunt. We haven't even really thought this far ahead yet, so this is a super timely thread.

WY's HMA program can get you on some good private land.

Stopped to.talk to rancher and his wife, and to thank them.
Got a standing open invite, OUTSIDE of HMA process.

Did you ever find any good spots for you hunt?  End up with a dude-ranch type thing?

I've been looking in to this myself but finding any of my local group of friends that's interested in a non-guided hunt has been a pain.

Can we be best friends?

The outfitter option seems like the "Easy Button" to a lot of the guys around me.

So far as I have been able to learn, Public Land has a pretty high success rate, and supposedly a lot of the Private LandOwner's often allow access if asked nicely?

I have friends that went 5 for 5 last year on public land. It can be done!

I also put in for Antelope and Mule Deer tags for this year, but I'm going solo.

I have my doubts about taking my whole family (wife, kids, dad) tagging along with me on a public land hunt. Especially when you factor in that we either hunt out of a minivan or hunt on foot. Not saying I wouldn't enjoy that, not saying at some point my wife and kids might too, once we build up some points.

I just think the pace and experience would be better on private land where we somewhat had it to ourselves for a couple days.

Can a guy draw a good tag in WY on one preference point?  My friends that go always shay you need 3 or 4 for where they hunt but I have no idea what unit they hunt.

So, with one point, I sort of need to focus on units where I can actually draw a tag.

I suppose that means the eastern part of the state. Pick a unit with high odds for drawing a tag, then start making phone calls to people who are registered with the state to allow hunter access (whether free walk-in or fee access). I don't mind walking in - if that's what it took to get away from crowds, I'd be happy to do it.

That's a distinct possibility.

So, someone walk me through this....say I'm hunting in Colorado.

As I understand it, if I want a tag for unit 1, and it's easy to draw, but I *really* want a tag for uit 2, and it's hard, I put in for unit 2 as my first choice and unit 1 as my second choice. I won't draw unit 2, so I don't get my first choice, so I get a preference point for next year.

Is that how WY works?

I think I want to focus on easier-to-draw units but also want to build PPs for later. Man, this stuff gets complicated.

There's a lot of blogs and how-to's out there that will get you started.
https://www.onxmaps.com/hunt/blog/how-to-navigate-big-game-draw-applications-like-a-pro

I have probablys pent 40 hours over the last several weeks learning how to navigate CO and WY drawings.

In short: we may not get to hunt antelope at all this year. And that's fine. I'm going to start building both WY and CO points for antelope, deer, and elk. Dad wants to shoot an elk this year. So I'm working through booking a CO elk hunt this year (private land), planning a small game hunting trip with the wife and kids on top of that, and laying out a long-term plan to build and use preference points for the kids and myself.

It has been a long time since I went on a speed goat hunt, but my only regret was not bringing my AR for the huuuuuuge prairie dog town across the road from the ranch house.  

I am hunting red stag in Scotland this fall for less than I could book a elk hunt.

I was shocked at how western hunts are going up in price and people seem to be booking more and more.

We have shelved our plans until next year. Dad now says he wants a higher-end guided hunt. Nothing I could find for this year really fit the bill. Plenty of migratory hunts, but I want to go mid-October. My kids want to deer hunt, so October 29 through, say, Thanksgiving, I need to be close to home, for them. So this year was either a 1st season elk or nothing. It's looking like nothing, but a big camping trip, for us.

I have considered scheduling several days to camp in a certain place in unit 211 and am toying with applying for a 1st season cow tag there. I could luck up and find a cow or small herd where I want to camp (a place I've been before) and maybe get some meat that way, and, honestly, I'd be thrilled with that. But I have to fit that in with what the rest of the family wants.

@Skg_Mre_Lght

Is this an open offer? I assume it’s too late for the 2023 season?

I’m
Betting everything is up in the air for 2023 due to the winter kill last year.

We are talking about either antelope or cow elk for my oldest next year.

I have an opportunity to harvest a cow elk via an otc cow tag in UT next year. It won’t be hunting but it will be humane meat in the freezer.

Dad and I have a bull hunt in southern CO next month. I am very excited about it, to put it mildly.

We have put a lot of elk in the freezer on damage tags. Tastes as good as or better than elk from the high country. Pear fed elk is mmmm good!

OK cool, thanks!