Montana antelope
 

Anyone here have some experience applying for antelope rifle in Montana?

I am thinking about applying this year, with hopes of getting drawn in a year or two.

I hunted turkeys in Nebraska last year and caught the travelling bug.

Montana no Wyoming yes. Drive a little farther and do wyoming is my advice.

do you need a guide down there and how much is a tag for us Albertans

This x2

x3. Done Wyoming a couple times. Dove deep into Montana looking to do it there, decided to stick with what i know in Wyo and am sitting at a 6 for preference points now, and will continue to build and periodically go down and hunt an area that doesnt burn the pref points. Get Onyx and line up some land, its usually pretty decent for trespass fees, tougher part is finding land that isnt locked down by an outfitter, or expect to hunt small sections of BLM land that may or may not be loaded with guys depending when you go. Well worth the few $$ for access to private. Then save up pref points for a few years and draw a quality tag in an area with lots of BLM land.

Out of curiosity, what does it cost to build preference points in some of these draws?


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30 a point I believe, their website is pretty in depth check it out make an account etc. Easy, depending g on area there's lots of public land. Some is almost all private but lots is solid BLM land with a ton of goats. You could go guided to if you want they usually have alot of the good private land tied up.

$31 USD for antelope, $52 for elk....those are the 2 i have been building. Youth points are cheaper, want to say like $10 or something...been building for my kid since I legally could.

Word of caution though, dont forget to get them every year. Unlike here, if you dont buy them for 2 years in a row, all your points are gone and your back to zero.

A word of warning if you are going to start building points down south. Starting this coming season a bunch of the western states have increased non resident tag prices by quite a bit. Not sure about Antelope but i think i saw Wy is $800usd for elk now.

There is a big push in the western states right now to increase non res tag prices so I'm sure other states will follow Wy and CO soon.

Wyoming
 

Wyoming is pretty much the most expensive US state to build points now, and the higher priced elk tags are $2000 US now IF you draw. Elk preference points are $52 US, $15 application fee. Moose tags are just shy of $3000 now if you draw and points are $150 US.
And probably the worst thing, is last years annihilating winter in most of the best Antelope areas. 90% loss in some areas. And Wy was the state to hunt Antelope. Lots of tags cut this year for deer and Antelope.

It's still not a horrible expensive hunt all things considered. I heard they had a tough winter. For most it would be a once in a lifetime hunt and great experience.

If you go guided in Wyoming can you still just buy the tag through the outfitter without points, or are they on points now too. Miss the days when it was just an over the counter tag in Wyoming and Montana, guided or DIY.

Aren’t there some of the Rez’ that you can hunt on the Rez for next to nothing.

Not when I looked into it for Elk, cost just as much if not more to hunt on the Rez than off of it.
The Rez requires a local guide(from the tribe)
Was $5000USD to hunt elk, could hunt elk from a outfitter(rancher, that gets land owner tags, that they can sell, stay on their property) Cheaper or very close to the same price.
But Antelope might be cheaper. Elk certainly was not.

My nephew has shot a few antelope on some rez in Montana. I think it cost him about $150 for the tag. This was probably at least 5 years ago so maybe it has changed.

Everyone is on points. Biggest benefit of outfitters is they have access to locked up land in the areas you can draw with 0 pref points.

As has been mentioned, and made me think of this thread again, spoke to a contact in WY whom ive arranged trespass fee access with in the past (and a couple new ones he suggested that he is friends with in different 0 pref point areas) and across the board everyone I spoke to has said the herds were decimated. Comments like as "see as many antelope in a month now as i used to in an afternoon" type of thing. Would suggest to anyone thinking about to consider holding off for a few years if you truly want the best quality hunt. Or go and give er, you'll still get a goat im sure but it might be slim pickings. Long way to drive for a 65" buck lol.