hunting (Sheridan, Big Horn: home, to buy, living in)

[havelocksparky]

I am currently living in Wisconsin and am looking at the prosects of moving to Wyoming. I love to hunt and was wondering if Wyoming had a good pheasant population?

[NVDave]

Around Sheridan and the east side of the Big Horn Mountains, there are quite a few pheasants. Getting access to hunt them can be problematic at times, but there's tons of birds.

[havelocksparky]

So I assume that there is not a lot of public hunting grounds in the area for pheasant hunting?

[ElkHunter]

55% of the state is state owned land or BLM. So there is lots of areas to hunt. The problem is, a lot of these area's are land locked by private land. If you can get permission to cross it, your fine. We also have a lot of walk in area's that you can hunt. Just have to hike a half or whole mile to start your hunt.

But it's not too hard to find someplace for pheasant hunting.

[havelocksparky]

Elkhunter,

Are there a afair number of pheasants in Wyoming?

[ElkHunter]

Yes, there are a lot of pheasants. Not Eastern South Dakota numbers, but enough to have a good hunting experience around here.

[havelocksparky]

Thank you!

[Dinowy]

Yep, I used to (until just this spring) live on a ranch right on the Big Horns, it depends on the year how good the bird populations are - we used to hunt pheasant, sharptail, and huns. Some years there would be really good bird populations and other years there was hardly anything (those years we wouldn't even hunt them). Game and Fish used to come out once in a while and release hens to try and draw some males in too. There are also some private bird farms around that raise and release their own birds.

[M3 Mitch]

I'm trying to think what kind of hunting might be better in Wisconsin than in Wyoming. I'm thinking, I'm thinking...full disclosure I have never been in Wisconsin, and have passed through Wyoming but never had a chance to hunt there. But I have hunted in Iowa and in Idaho, so I might sorta know what I am talking about by proxy.

So, just guessing, maybe waterfowl hunting is better in Wisconsin, but otherwise I think you will like hunting in Wyoming better, overall.

You may want to get set up for pronghorn and for elk, good excuse to buy yourself a rifle or two. Lord knows you could make a 30-06 or 308 work for both.

I think you will find the Wyoming scenery adds to the hunt. It did for me in Idaho.

Good luck with your move.

[ElkHunter]

Don't know much about waterfowl around here. I do know we get a long of honkers migrating. A friend of mine trains dogs and is a avid Duck hunter. But he's originally from North Dakota so he makes a trip every fall back home to hunt his ducks.

Not a lot of duck hunters that I know around here. Sorry I can't help you there.