Wyoming continues to cut antelope licenses

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) - Winter is still rearing its ugly head.

Wyoming Game & Fish is making additional cuts to antelope licenses for several hunt areas located in Carbon, Lincoln, Sublette and Teton counties. This after cuts were already made to antelope licenses during the season-setting process to approximately half of what quotas were in 2022.

Quotas in the following antelope hunt areas have been reduced: 53, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91 and 101. Affected hunt areas are indicated in green on the map below.

Wyoming makes additional cuts to antelope licenses. Affected hunt areas are indicated in green.(Wyoming Game & Fish)

In addition to the brutal winter and record-setting snowpack hitting populations hard, Game & Fish also said that a pneumonia outbreak plagued the Sublette Pronghorn herd. With the recent snowmelt, wildlife managers have been able to spend more time on the landscape and observed a significant increase in antelope mortalities.

“The observations and updated collar data now indicate approximately 75% of the collared adult doe population in the Sublette Pronghorn Herd have died due to Mycoplasma bovis induced pneumonia and winter severity,” this according to a press release from Game & Fish.

In another herd, those that weren’t killed during the winter and migrated elsewhere, are yet to return.

“Quotas in the Baggs Pronghorn Herd, Hunt Area 53, have been reduced due to many pronghorn moving out of the area this winter and having yet to return, some having died due to severe winter conditions and others likely still migrating back to their summer ranges,” the release added.

The license application period for antelope closes at 12 a.m. on May 31. Applicants can modify or withdraw their application at any time before the deadline. Tentative draw results for antelope will be available June 15.

The full list of updated license quotas is available on the Game and Fish website.