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Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Hunting

Wyoming is frequently called “the antelope capital of the world,” but with this year’s hunting tag results many hunters aren’t feeling it.

When the Wyoming Game and Fish Department announced draw results earlier this month, hunters’ social media forums started lighting up with comments like, “I struck out on antelope.”

For many resident hunters, the yearly ritual of entering the antelope draw once was essentially a formality. Hunters practically considered it a guarantee.  

That’s changed, and possibly for good, some seasoned Wyoming antelope hunters said.

Guy Eastman of Cody put in for a tag in Hunt Area 61, near Wamsutter, and didn’t draw.

Granted, that’s always been a tough tag to get because it’s in highly coveted hunting territory, said Eastman, who represents the third generation of the famous outdoor multimedia family.

"That’s the heart of Carbon County. That’s the number one county in the country for big antelope,” he said.

However, it is his fourth year in a row of striking out, which he views as unusual.

And it seems to be the same story across the hunting community, Eastman said.

“I don’t know anybody who drew a good antelope tag in my network of people,” he said. "I didn’t draw anything. Nor antelope, no deer, no elk. Not a darn thing.” 

Larry Hicks has hunted Wyoming antelope for decades. And as a state senator and conservationist, he’s been involved in wildlife policy issues.

This year, he applied for an antelope tag in Hunt Area 68, which he didn’t draw.

Area 68 is a highly desirable hunt area that runs from Jeffrey City to the north side of the Ferris Mountains.  

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Putting In For The Draw"}]

Wyoming offers both limited quota and general hunting tags for deer and elk. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Antelope tags are limited quota only."}]

General tags may be purchased over-the-counter at any time.

Hunters must apply and pay for limited quota tags in advance, usually in May. Those who don’t draw tags have their money refunded, minus an application fee.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Resident antelope tags cost $37."}]

Non-resident tags cost $326 for the regular non-resident draw and $1,200 for the special first-round non-resident draw.

When applying for tags, hunters list their first-, second- and third-choice hunt areas.

The draw system is set up so residents “don’t compete” directly with non-residents for tags because non-resident tag allocations percentages are pre-set, Hicks said.

The pricey special non-resident draw has much better odds than the regular non-resident draw, but there’s still no guarantee of getting a tag, he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Winterkill And Drought"}]

Many hunt areas in Fremont, Carbon, Sublette and Carbon counties are considered the best of the best, and were always difficult to draw tags, Hicks noted.

Even so, draw odds have dropped, mostly because herds in those areas are still recovering from devastating losses during the harsh winter of 2022-2023.

"We’re down tens of thousands of antelope, and a lot of those are in the premier areas across south-central Wyoming,” Hicks said.

And fewer antelope means Game and Fish will issue fewer tags.

“The drawing odds have gone to heck (in some hunt areas) because there are no tags,” Hicks said.

Some areas that might have had as many as 200 antelope tags a few years ago had only 25 resident tags this year, he said.

It could take up to eight years for antelope herds to recover from the devastating winterkill losses, “and we’re about three years in,” he said.

And current drought conditions could hamper the recovery, Hicks said.

“I worry about antelope fawn survival rates this summer in dry conditions,” he said. “If it gets too dry, the does will quit lactating in August, and the fawns will die.”

While numbers might be down in parts of Wyoming, the demand for tags isn’t.

Eastman noted that in years past, the number of first-choice applicants for Type 1 (any antelope) tags in Area 61 was about 500. This year, there were close to 600 applicants for 89 available Type 1 resident tags. And there were 183 second-choice and applicants and 106 third-choice applicants.

The situation was similar in other hunt areas, according to 

Hunt Area 53, in south Carbon County, had seven resident Type 1 Tags available. There were 169 first-choice applicants, 127 second-choice and 111 third-choice.  

Area 72, in central Natrona County, had a comparatively generous supply of 616 Type 1 resident tags, which were first-choice for 955 applicants, along with 364 for second-choice and 140 third-choice applicants.   

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Willing To Pay The Price"}]

Dax McCarty runs the Douglas-Based Wagonhound Outfitters. Most of his guided antelope hunts are in Area 30 near Douglas.

Herds in that part of Wyoming didn’t suffer as badly during the 2022-2023 winter.

“In the areas where we hunt, the population has stayed steady,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

His clients had good luck drawing tags this year, he said, even though the overall trend has been toward longer odds.

“The antelope draw has been getting a little bit tougher, but draws have been getting tougher for everything because of the increase in demand,” McCarty said.

The guided hunts he offers are mostly on private land and offer a good balance of abundant opportunity and high-quality trophy bucks, he said.

Non-resident clients can gain an edge in the draws by accumulating preference points.

He recommends that those with fewer preference points pay the extra money to put in for the special non-resident tag draw.

Because Wyoming has such a stellar reputation for antelope hunting, “they’re will to pay for that special draw,” McCarty said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"More Hunters Moving In"}]

Eastman said he expects the competition to increase for hunting tags across the board.

Because of his presence in hunting media, “I talk to a lot of hunters from all over the country,” he said. 

He’s found that increasingly, hunters are moving to Wyoming to gain resident status.

A person must live in Wyoming for a full calendar year to qualify for resident hunting tags.

On paper, Wyoming’s population growth seems small, but Eastman noted a high percentage of newcomers coming primarily because of the hunting and angling.

“More people have the opportunity to work remotely. And if they’re sick of putting in for the non-resident tag draws, they think, ‘If I’m going to work remote, I’m going to move to Wyoming and hunt as a resident',” he said.

“The holes that’s left in Wyoming’s population by people who die or move out is being filled by people who come here to recreate, hunt and fish,” Eastman said.

Even so, Wyoming will remain one of the best states for hunters, he added.

“It’s not all doom and gloom. There’s still good hunting in Wyoming,” he said.

“The good thing is, Wyoming has enough public and enough rough country” to keep hunters from crowding out each other, he said.

Pronghorn 6 26 26

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>With Antelope Numbers Still Down, This Year’s Tag Draw Dismal For Many Hunters | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming hunters who didn’t draw antelope tags this year aren't alone. “I don’t know anybody who drew a good antelope tag,” said prominent outdoorsman Guy Eastman. They blame the winter of 2022-2023, which devastated antelope populations.

With Antelope Numbers Still Down, This Year’s Tag Draw Dismal For Many Hunters

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Legislature

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office on Friday released body camera video 

of the Dec. 28 DUI arrest of state Rep. Bill Allemand in response to a Cowboy State Daily request.

Cowboy State Daily had viewed about 18 minutes of the body camera video in Buffalo Circuit Court at a March 

 hearing, but Friday’s release spans roughly one hour over the course of Allemand’s 

 and jail booking in Buffalo just after midday Dec. 28. 

It omits a recitation of Allemand's driver's license number, the Johnson County Sheriff's Office said in an email. 

The video shows Allemand, a Republican representative from Midwest, Wyoming, arguing with Johnson County Sheriff’s Deputy Caleb Campbell.

Allemand voices disagreement about whether Campbell had grounds for the initial traffic stop. Allemand develops a more adversarial stance toward the deputy throughout his arrest, ultimately calling him an “asshole” and saying he’s not a good person.  

“I don’t know why you would say that,” says Campbell. “I thought I was pretty respectful.”

Allemand offers to pay for the deputy’s gas at a fuel stop on the way to jail. He informs the deputy he’s a legislator.

Once in jail, Allemand emphasizes that he has an “Honor Wyoming” 

 — a reference to the Honor Wyoming political group that has 

[{"type":"text","text":"He also jokes with the booking deputies."}]

While getting his booking photo taken, Allemand muses, “Wow! This is going to be on Cowboy State Daily. You can sell these pictures to Cowboy State Daily, probably for a million dollars.”

The booking deputy jokes, “K, well, we’ll try. I’ll split it with you.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“I don’t want none of it,” Allemand answers."}]

Booking photos from Johnson County and across the state are free 

[{"type":"text","text":"Why So Colorful?"}]

Allemand’s attorney Mike Vang told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday phone interview that Allemand was likely growing frustrated with the deputy because he thought he was

Buffalo Circuit Court Magistrate Jeremy Kisling 

 that Campbell had enough evidence for the initial traffic stop and to continue the traffic stop.

The Johnson County Attorney’s Office can use several minutes worth of evidence from the stop, which include Allemand 

failing his field sobriety tests, swaying, stumbling, and slurring his speech.

But prosecutors can’t use as direct evidence the potentially incriminating things Allemand said during a 12-minute stretch where he was detained in handcuffs, but hadn’t been read his Miranda rights, Kisling ruled.

Campbell had stopped Allemand on claims that after stopping at a stop sign just off Interstate 25, Allemand lurched forward, nearly hit another vehicle, then stopped abruptly.

This, coupled with the evidence that Allemand was the subject of a drunk driving report by another driver on the Interstate near Buffalo, made for enough evidence to justify Campbell’s stop, Kisling ruled.

[{"type":"text","text":"Vang said he still believes Kisling got the evidence question wrong."}]

“Here’s the big deal,” said Vang. “The cop never claimed he saw any type of a traffic violation except for Mr. Allemand allegedly running a stop sign.”

Vang said the dash camera recording “clearly shows Mr. Allemand never makes any driving infraction. He comes to a complete stop like he’s supposed to, just as he’s turning off the interstate.”

The dash camera video of the contested stop, played at the March hearing, is grainy and inconclusive.

As a car approaches from the left, said Vang, “it was obscured from his view.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand stopped to avoid hitting it."}]

“That deputy lacks the skills to properly do a DUI investigation,” said Vang.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a late-day Friday request for a response to that.

Allemand is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 16. That’s a month after the heated Republican 

 he’s now waging against Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer, set for Aug. 18.

Elected in 2022, Allemand is in his second term in the state House of Representatives. He's also a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, a group of populist-leaning House Republicans. 

[{"type":"text","text":"From The Beginning Now"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The body camera video projects the view from Campbell’s torso forward."}]

It shows the deputy approaching Allemand in the parking lot of a gas station in Buffalo, Miller’s Travel Center. 

As Campbell approaches Allemand's truck in the video, the lawmaker appears to be sitting in the driver’s seat of a blue pickup looking at a cellphone.

Vang told Cowboy State Daily the lawmaker stopped there to get fuel, not avoid law enforcement.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell raps on the window and says “howdy.\"  "}]

Allemand talks to him, asks what he did wrong, and after a brief exchange, leans over his passenger seat to retrieve documents for the deputy. 

In the video, the lawmaker is dressed in a casual blue T-shirt, his hair somewhat ruffled. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell asks Allemand why his speech sounds the way it does."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“I dunno,” answers Allemand, handing the deputy a document. "}]

At legislative meetings and elsewhere Allemand speaks loudly, somewhat slowly and with a unique cadence. That pattern also surfaces in the video, though Allemand’s speech sounds less articulate than usual in the 

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell would later report that Allemand's speech was “slurred.” "}]

In the video, the deputy orders Allemand to exit the vehicle, and Allemand does. 

[{"type":"text","text":"“K, am I being arrested?” asks Allemand. "}]

“You’re being detained right now,” Campbell answers. The deputy explains that there’s a firearm in the truck, which he says Allemand “did not disclose.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand says he has a conceal carry permit for it. "}]

Though Kisling disagreed with Campbell questioning Allemand in confinement without first giving his Miranda rights, the magistrate ruled last week that it was fair of Campbell to detain Allemand because of the gun.

 merited that detainment, Kisling ruled.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Reason I Stopped You"}]

Campbell later tells Allemand that he watched Allemand stop at an intersection, start to pull into traffic, and “almost hit a car.” Campbell also notes that Allemand was reportedly the subject of a report every drunk driving incident, or REDDI report.

The caller had reported man in his 60s with white hair driving a blue pickup all over the interstate, from rumble strip to rumble strip, court documents say.

“You did stop at the stop sign, but the way you stopped was improper,” says Campbell in the video.

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand voices disagreement and confusion. At one point he chuckles."}]

“You went past the stop sign,” explains Campbell. “But you stopped — but only because there was a vehicle in front of you that you were going to hit. So that gives me reasonable suspicion to stop you.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand says, “I don’t understand that. If I stop — “"}]

Campbell interrupts and says these events give him reasonable suspicion for the stop, as does the REDDI report.

[{"type":"text","text":"This Won’t Be In The Case In Chief"}]

While detaining Allemand, Campbell asked a series of questions that Kisling found, in his order last week, could lead to Allemand incriminating himself.

Because Allemand was confined and hadn’t been read his Miranda rights at that juncture, the Johnson County Attorney’s Office won’t be able to use the following exchange in its direct evidence pool at trial.

But because Campbell didn’t coerce, trick, or deceive Allemand into giving the answers he gave, the prosecutor may still “impeach” or fact check Allemand if he says something that contradicts these statements in court.

Law enforcement officers are supposed to read a person his Miranda rights before asking incriminating questions, if the person is confined to such an extent that a reasonable person in his shoes wouldn’t feel free to leave.

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell asks, “Did you drink anything today?”"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“Yes,” answers Allemand. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell asks how much. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“Probably two beers,” says Allemand in the video. "}]

“That’s everybody’s answer,” parries Campbell while handcuffing Allemand. 

[{"type":"text","text":"“So what did I do illegal?” Allemand asks in the video. "}]

He was driving erratically, he was reported as a drunk driver and he stopped just short of hitting a vehicle, answers Campbell, adding, “if that makes sense.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“No, it don’t,” says Allemand, who leans on his truck. "}]

After more back-and-forth, Allemand challenges Campbell’s assertion about the intersection.

“So I did stop at the stop sign, but it was an improper stop. Is that what you’re telling me?” he asks. “I don’t understand that.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell calls for another deputy to come to the scene. "}]

Allemand says there’s a firearm on his hip, feels his hip and says, “Oh, OK, I put it off.”

Campbell opined from the witness stand in March that Allemand was indicating he had lost track of his gun. 

[{"type":"text","text":"‘I Had Two Beers'"}]

In the video, Campbell’s backup deputy arrives. Campbell pats Allemand down for weapons. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand, standing outside in his T-shirt and pants, asks for a coat. "}]

Campbell circles to the passenger side of the pickup, opens the door, moves aside a cowboy hat and retrieves the pistol. 

Campbell manipulates the gun and tries to talk to someone on his radio. He references static interfering with his message, and says he can go back to his vehicle to use the radio. 

He does go back to his vehicle to communicate Allemand’s date of birth and particulars about the gun, then returns to Allemand. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand is still handcuffed at this juncture. "}]

The Johnson County Sheriff's Office on Friday released body camera video of state Rep. Bill Allemand's December DUI arrest. Allemand grew more adversarial toward the deputy throughout his arrest, ultimately calling him an "asshole." 

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