Day 3 Scouting Report

September 11, 2025

I hit the road again this morning to check out various BLM parcels and a very large Wildlife Management Area (WMA) both south of Saratoga where I'd been looking previously but further north.

The WMA looked very good for antelope but was too high in elevation much like the one I looked at yesterday.  Didn't see any "speed goats" as the locals call them.  There are two NFS campgrounds however, about 15 miles in right on the banks of the North Platte River that are in a very pretty setting:

unfortunately, even with the river at such a low level both campgrounds were still half full on a Thursday in September.  The sites are very small and packed close together.  Probably created to satisfy high demand from anglers.  

Navigating all of the Public vs. Private land regulations borders (yeah that's a pun) on the absurd.  Signage reminds anglers that on privately owned lands the river flows through their feet may not touch the bottom...  Say what?  It's a tortuous way of saying you can't wade, you can only be in a boat.  Oh brother.

Check out this helpful streamside map:

There are also signs along the banks that have red squares for Private land and Blue for Public.  Ugh!

  Anyway, I didn't see many antelope today but I think I've been to about 80% of the possible sites.  So, tomorrow I'm going to check out some of the alpine lakes in the Snowy Range.  Then on Saturday I'm off to Colorado to L,L&B!