How to start hunting the west?

I’ve been wanting to get out west for a hunt for years. I’m finally starting to try putting things together to make that possible. The question is, where does one start? I was thinking of trying something like a South Dakota antelope hunt to start but even that is a bit overwhelming trying to figure out the different public access points and where to start. Any suggestions?

Would suggest wyoming.Tons of public hunting. For antelope try around Gillette(antelope capitol of the world). For mule deer Casper area. If planning on hunting by foot it’s nice to hunt public not open to atv or truck. Contact local wildlife officers to get any info you are looking for. Most can point you in general area for the type of hunting your looking to do. Good luck

Roosevelt national grasslands in North Dakota. Muley hunting. Lots of old oil rig roads to drive and park and hunt. A few camp grounds with water. You have to apply, so your probably too late for this year. But I would highly recommend scouting where ever you go, before you go to hunt. You can waste a lot of hunting time figuring out roads and spots. Get on butes in the morning and evening and glass for movement

Elk? Muley? Pronghorn? Bear? Lion? Wolf? Bow? Rifle? Prefer mountains? Plains? Need a little more info to help with your question!

Either way gohunt.com and onxmaps.com are going to be pretty key. Also searching through DNR websites to figure out which non-resident tags you can get, most will be OTC by now id imagine. Probably depends on the state!

Eventually I’d like to do an elk hunt in Montana or Wyoming. I’d probably start with a Pronghorn hunt though. Either weapon is good with me. The biggest thing I am struggling with right now is all of the different types of land. Taking South Dakota for example, there is BLM, refugee, tribal, school forest, ect. How does one figure out what can be hunted? The SD DNR website in my opinion is confusing. It shows the different land types but is a little vague on what land is huxtable. Then trying to figure out what unit is where also isn’t the easiest. It’s just all a totally new thing for me.

Yes, that stuff is very confusing and it has tripped me up a bit as well. I’ve never hunted anywhere besides my backyard so this is all new to me too. I’m trying to plan a Elk hunting trip out west somewhere next fall and have just gotten into the research portion. Haven’t even considered checking out SD laws because I know they do not allow out of staters to hunt Elk. I am quite sure you are able to hunt BLM land, just not tribal though. I’ve got a buddy hunting deer out in SD for the first time this fall. DM me any specific questions you aren’t sure of and I can ask him for you!

BassinBill wrote:

Eventually I’d like to do an elk hunt in Montana or Wyoming. I’d probably start with a Pronghorn hunt though. Either weapon is good with me. The biggest thing I am struggling with right now is all of the different types of land. Taking South Dakota for example, there is BLM, refugee, tribal, school forest, ect. How does one figure out what can be hunted? The SD DNR website in my opinion is confusing. It shows the different land types but is a little vague on what land is huxtable. Then trying to figure out what unit is where also isn’t the easiest. It’s just all a totally new thing for me.

Spend a little time looking at the SD public lands atlas online and use the map legend, along with the big game regulations and it will start to fall into place. For the most part, public land is public land here in SD. Any questions, feel free to ask, I can help you out. The new “hunt planner” map that SD GFP recently published on the website is really nice to look at a species & determine previous years applicant numbers and draw percentages, it can help you start to determine how many preference points you might need to pull a tag for a specific zone/county.

Here are a couple of write ups I did about just starting out hunting out west.

http://cornbeltoutdoors.blogspot.com/2017/01/january-19-western-big-game-hunting.html

http://cornbeltoutdoors.blogspot.com/2017/01/january-26-western-big-game-hunting.html

http://cornbeltoutdoors.blogspot.com/2017/02/february-2-western-big-game-hunting.html

Thank you all for the advice so far. It’s certainly overwhelming for me who has never really hunted anything public and what is public here in WI always has a fence around it with a big sign saying it is public land. Throw on top of that the farthest west I have been is Waseca, Mn. I’m sure I’ll be bugging some of you a lot more with questions. Right now I’m thinking of trying to get an archery pronghorn tag for SD for this fall. If nothing else just to give me an excuse to get out that way and see first hand what it’s like out that way.

I’ll just offer that hunting out west will likely involve a ton of walking/climbing even. Make darned sure you’re in shape for those rigors and I do mean in shape. If you smoke, stop now. Start with 2-3 walks wearing an empty back pack. Slowly add weight to the back pack working up to where you can walk those three miles easily with 40 pounds, 60 if you’ll be packing meat out.

Find boots that are comfortable for you in the weight and thermal needs you anticipate. Get two pairs and wear one pair one day while walking, the other pair the next day. Break the boots in this way and your feet will thank you.

Make sure you get a physical before you leave. Cardiac health is must and only a doc can make that determination. Still, falls, joint injuries, and muscle related injuries by far out number the heart related stuff and if you are physically doing this stuff now to be ready the chances of the more common issues aren’t going to be near so common.

And regardless of where you go, take a camera with a card able to let you take a thousand high definition shots and be sure to use it liberally. Nothing screws up a nice hunt in the west like not having a picture outlay to share with the family and friends, so do not depend on a phone of any kind for the pictures.

I think you should take a week and just drive as far west as, say Sheridan, Wyoming and take in the sights for a couple days north and west of there….the Big Horn Mountains. I have hunted those a few times. You’ll go right thru South Dakota to get there on I90 so you’ll be able to see what any hunting there may entail too. If you do this drive, I’d bet dollars to donuts that you’ll be off that fence in a heartbeat.

Good luck and have a great time when this all comes together.

The onx hunt maps are a very good tool to have when hunting out west,I hunt the north dakota badlands and little missouri national grasslands,the different lands are color coded,so once you have determined what lands are huntable and thier color,at a glance you will know.
Also would recommend a dedicated handheld gps,because you don’t always have cell reception.
I would also start with a Wyoming goat hunt.

This might be a dumb question but are snake boots kind of a must in Rattlesnake country, or are regular hunting boots fine?