Our 2012 Wyoming Antelope hunt was concluded in 3 separate trips. For the opening weekend, a good friend and a new friend representing the Army came with a pair of doe tags as an appetizer before our Colorado archery elk hunt. We will call them Sierra and India to protect the innocent. After the archery hunt, my USMC/Navy team showed up. We will call them Bravo and Lima. After the smoke cleared on these sessions, I still had a buck tag remaining and was able to sneak back across the border for a day trip.
Round 1: Team Army.
I had been telling Sierra and India that it was pretty much a sure thing
and we might need to find something else to do for the afternoon. I
think they doubted my guiding abilities but were catching on as we got
into the area well after sun up and they could see Antelope in about
every direction we looked. The unit we hunt is one of those with
limited access to public grounds, so we had to drive past a lot of
animals getting to the public sections I wanted to try. On our first
stop, we did just what I said we shouldn't do which is stop the truck
when we see some and get out and expect to successfully stalk them. The
problem with Antelope hunting is when you spot one, it has been
watching you since you left your home town. Their eyes cant be fooled.
After the excitement of our unsuccessful first attempt, we went to a
section that we had success at the previous year, one with a little
terrain that can be used to your benefit. On our walk in to the
section, we spotted a herd of antelope on the top of a bluff. They were
far enough away that they were not alarmed even though they could
easily see us. As we progress, that terrain allowed us to sneak closer
to the bluff out of their sight. Sierra, being the self designated hard
charger of the bunch declared he was taking the nearly 12lb #7 to the
top of the bluff while India and I would stay out of sight and progress
down a draw to see what was in the lower lands. We saw a second small
herd for a moment but they soon disappeared into a second draw.
Meanwhile Sierra was nearly to the top of the bluff. I watch as he
crested the bluff and instantly got back down and extended the bipod
legs on #7. It wasn't very long until we herd the shot and that
distinct sound that a lead core bullet makes when hitting something at
3000 ft/sec. Sierra soon reported in on the radios that he got his
doe. India and I herd the challenge and went after the second herd. We
gained some elevation and could see much of the area but couldn't find
them. I new the area well enough to know there were some draws coming
off the bluff where they could easily be out of our sight. It was about
this time that Sierra peeked of the other edge of the bluff and
reported that he could see the herd we were looking for. Knowing where
they were, India took off on a solo stalk while I waited in the middle.
I gained enough elevation on the slope up to the bluff that I could
just see the antelope and India sneaking up on them. I was at the
perfect elevation to be in the line of sight of when the antelope would
first see him as well and when he broke into that line of sight, the
antelope took off. India, being schooled in the ways of a Southern deer
hunter simply pulls #4 up to his shoulder and swings, taking a shot at a
doe running in the back of the herd. She was hit and peeled off of the
group and soon collapsed. There may have been some luck involved, but
it was a shot no seasoned antelope hunter would probably attempt let
alone succeed at. I noted a pretty nice buck remaining with the herd, but I was mid way between my two rifles and couldn't do much about it. Lets just call him Mr. Lucky...
It was just before noon at this point. Other than
getting them in the cooler back in the truck we would need something to
do for the rest of the day... grabbing our last non dehydrated meal for
a week, in Laramie seemed like a great idea. We phoned my amazing wife
from the bluff and convinced her to meet us in Laramie and take the
rifles and meat back to base camp prior to our archery hunt.
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| First antelope for Sierra and #7, on top of the bluff. |
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| India's first antelope, as well as the first of the North American variety for #4. |
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| Team Army. Two down before noon. |
Round 2: Team USMC/Navy
Bravo and Lima showed up on a Thursday night in Laramie for
the second round of Antelope. After discussing the plan over some drinks
at the raging Holiday Inn bar we retired for some shuteye before an early start
Friday. That early start involved grabbing McDonald's. Bravo was
worried about not getting to eat the rest of the day apparently and ordered 3
breakfast sandwiches… he hadn't been told about climbing the bluff yet.
First, lets back up a few hours to my first solo attempt at filling one of my buck tags. I had climbed to the top of the above mentioned bluff with my spotting scope the previous afternoon to see if I could find the buck that I had eyed while team Army were getting their does. After a few scans with the binoculars, I found him bedded down. I was near the skyline and he had probably been watching me all along but he didn't seem too worried about me being there. I was able to snap a couple pictures of him through the spotting scope and get a better look at his hardware. I had decided that he was a better than average buck for the unit I was hunting and I would take him given the opportunity. At about the same time, he stood up, looked around, and then leisurely started walking off. I started packing and did a quick crawl off the crest of the bluff to where I could stand up out of his sight and make my move. My plan was to cross the top of the bluff and go down the side out of his sight and then use one of the draws to get close enough for an interception on the direction he was headed. It all worked beautifully and I was soon set up on the bipod waiting for him to come into view. When he did, he was right at 350 yard. I used my hold over point on the reticle and squeezed touched the trigger. The shot broke clean, yet he stood there looking at dust. He didn't stand for long and took off obviously untouched, right in my direction. He stopped again at about 300 yards and I sent another one. Dust again. He had had enough at this point and bolted, almost right for me. As I watched him running for me with 16x magnification, I was impressed with his headgear but ashamed of my shooting. He gave me another chance, broadside, at about 200 yards after he passed me but I hit dirt for the third time. After he went out of sight I started to check myself and the rifle assuming there was more of a problem than just horrible shooting. I soon found my windage knob off 7 MOA and knew exactly what happened. I missed him by 2 feet on the first shots. I had the rifle up on my shoulder while coming down off the bluff and the turret had been turned by my backpack. I was glad it wasn't just my shooting ability but more so that I hit dirt each time rather than wounding him and having to go through that. When I got back to the truck I set up a target and made sure that I was back on the right revolution of the windage knob's zero position.
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| Lets just call him Mr. Lucky. |
Our first spot the following morning with team USMC/Navy was back to my favorite spot. When we were standing at the bottom of the bluff, Lima
pointed out a couple does that had ran off the top and stopped at 100 yds to
check us out. I took a minute to explain to shoot first and point
later… Soon after the does ran off, three dogs came barreling down
the hill. These dogs along with my shootout with a buck the previous
night in the same location must have been too much for the section, as there
wasn’t another antelope on it. We checked every corner. We could
count dozens just off the BLM section in each direction.
We proceeded to check out some of the other isolated BLM
sections. The mileage added up in a hurry as some of them take a mile of
walking to get to where you want to see. Then a mile back. On one
occasion, I went back to get the truck for a pickup on the other side and sent
my rookies over the hill with $8k worth of rifles and optics and the trusty
GPS. They actually pulled off a stalk and got a shot at a doe. The
shot wasn’t successful and they learned how small a does head is even at close
range. They got too close and couldn’t get enough elevation on the gun
for clearance over the crest of the hill for a body shot, and the doe had them
pegged. I came around on the highway to witness the herd taking off at
Mach2 and knew they must have got a shot.
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| Team USMC/Navy going over the hill. |
After that, we took a look at some other sections and ended
up on an HMA property. HMA's in Wyoming are hunter management areas where you can get access to hunt private lands through the game and fish dept. We parked in the designated parking spot,
with several antelope in sight every direction we could look. We selected
a herd and decided to try them. Bravo was the designated shooter here
since he was the only one granted permission for the HMA. The HMA is flat
as a pancake and I couldn’t figure out how we were going to pull it off, so we
just started walking right toward them. We were over a thousand yards
starting off. At about mid way, one doe peeled away from the herd and
walked toward a water trough that happened to have a Mack truck parked next to
it. As she went behind the truck we closed some distance. Then she
popped out and ran like she saw us, and then turned and sneaked back up on the
water trough. This reminded me of the Impala in Africa and our host
telling a story on how they think there is a crocodile in every water
hole. I knew there was something there she was afraid of, but was also
thirsty. She had no clue we were in the area. Eventually she went
behind the truck again and we closed from 500 to about 350. We could then
see her legs coming out so we got down. She came walking out and was
coming closer. She stopped at around 315. I had my range chart and
told Bravo where to hold and he sent one. The first shot wasn’t good and
kicked up dust. She ran in a circle and stopped in about the same
spot. Bravo sent another one, which landed perfectly on her
shoulder. Bravo had killed his first big animal, and the second antelope
for my build #7 .264 Win Mag. The 140 SST from the .264 did a superb job
and we found very little damaged meat when we were skinning her despite going
through the larger bone in the exit side leg.
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| Bravo, getting his first big game animal and antelope #2 for rifle #7 |
After
getting her back to the truck, we decided to send Bravo and Lima in the other
direction to see if it could be done twice with Bravo’s second tag. We
hadn’t noticed some cowboys driving cattle right through the middle of the next
section. The antelope were acting like bombs were going off, sprinting
across the mile section in what seemed like seconds. The stalk was a
total failure.
Back to the truck, and to the section by the reservoir we
went. This resulted in about the 6th mile hiked for the day
with not much but a glimpse of antelope leaving the section for private land,
and a rush back to the truck in hopes of catching them crossing the next
square. No luck there either. We were pretty much done for the day
but had to do another couple miles of hiking to my favorite spot again to
convince ourselves. That was a big day that wore us out. Thai food
time! Our choice of staying in town as opposed to eating Mt House was
starting to look like a grand plan.
The next morning we decided to let my favorite spot rest and
hit some of the other ones before the weekend hunters trample them over. Our
first stop was the reservoir. Pulling up to the reservoir, we saw some
down drinking on what looked to be the edge of the public land. It was
hard to tell and there was a road that would take us much closer so we decided
to drive it. About half way down the road, Lima spots a single one well
on public land out the left window from the back seat. With all my antelope hunting
wisdom, I smoothly just drive right by to the end of the levee where we could
pull off and get out of sight. With a quick walk back to the levee and a
crawl up to the crest, we were in sight with a perfect prone rest. The
problem was the antelope looked 500 yards away. I lasered her and was
surprised to see a 325 pop up in the range finder. Knowing that can’t be
right I took an average of about a dozen more readings. It was
right. There wasn’t much chance of getting closer without being seen so I
coached Lima through a shot. Then a second shot which connected with that
distinct sound report. Watching through the binoculars I could tell there
was a lot of damage as she ran off. I sent the guys in the direction she
was running as she went out of sight under the eroded high water line of the
reservoir. She was never seen by any of us again, and we searched and
searched. While they were searching I had driven the truck over the levee
and down the path all the fisherman had made. We decided to send them
back to the spot we shot from and I would go down to the water where they could
hopefully put me in the spot she was shot at to start tracking. As I walked back by the
truck to grab the rangefinder to help get me in the right spot, I see her
laying dead right next to where I parked. At this point I realized why
she was so hard to find and why she looked so far away. She was on the
little side, and that’s why the tags say doe/fawn on them. Being by
herself, we had no sense of scale on her and being rookies (me included)
couldn’t put all the signs together. I don’t really feel bad though
because the day prior we had seen a couple fresh kill sites nearby which I am
guessing included her mother. Inspecting her, Lima had actually hit
her both times. There was what looked like a knife wound on the bottom of
her neck where the bullet just barely broke the skin. Lima’s second shot
was right where it needed to be and exited mid body on the other side since she
was slightly quartering. The 180 Accubond from build #4 .300 WM was under
matched in this case…
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| Lima's first antelope, #2 for rifle #4. | |
After filling Lima's one and only tag, we decided to start
looking for a buck for me and would get Bravo another doe if the opportunity
came. We were running out of public sections and decided my favorite spot
had rested enough… As we were driving up on the highway we saw a herd on
the edge of the public land where we usually parked while walking to the favorite
section. Noting their location as we drove by a second time, we came up
with the plan to drive through the first section and park out of sight then try
walking closer. We made it to our goal location which was the perfect
high ground about 400 yards from the edge of the public land and the herd
didn’t seem to know we were there. There was a herd buck that was very
occupied with a smaller buck that was eying some of his 15-20 does. He
would chase this other buck off and then come back to his does. This happened
many times and was fun to watch, except that we were wanting to shoot him
instead of watch him and the rock pile we were pinned down on wasn’t too
comfortable. As the bucks were doing their thing, the herd kept feeding
closer to us and we realized that the next time the buck came back to round
them back up he would both be in range and well within the public land
boundaries. As he did this, he stopped perfectly broadside and as I was
about to pull the trigger he felt the urge for one more ½ mile jaunt over to
say something to buck number 2. The wait continued… When he
came back, he repeated his usual rounding up of the outer does and when he
stopped this time the 140 SST from the .264 was en route. It connected
with a solid whack and the buck dropped in his tracks. I immediately went
back to coaching mode and grabbed the rangefinder and chart for the second
rifle. I picked out a doe that was away from the others and got Bravo on
her. The first shot hit dirt again in true USMC/Navy team fashion ;) but
the herd hardly responded. The second shot dropped her in her tracks as
well. The herd then actually ran right for us and stopped at 100
yards. I very easily could have used my doe tag but decided having two on
the ground would keep us plenty busy for a bit. Bravo went back for the
truck while Lima and I did some picture taking from our not so grassy knoll,
and then met him at my buck. While we were doing this, we could see Buck
#2 leisurely walking in the direction the herd went. I was pretty
sure I could see a smile on his face even from ½ mile. I then understood
why these little bucks get such a herd of does in this hard to hunt, limited
access unit.
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| The not so grassy knoll. The buck was shot down near the windmill and the doe was to the left a ways. |
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| Reenacting the shot. |
Getting our first good look at him ( he had been spending
more time far away than with the herd and the spotting scope stayed in the
truck this time) we found him to be just an average buck for the unit. I’ve
yet to see a true big one up there so they all start looking big. I was
certainly happy with him though and he was certainly a tough herd buck from the
pile of girlfriends he had, but there was also some ground shrinkage going
on. I was also a little disappointed with my shot placement as the bullet
went right through the spine at the tenderloins. I’m not sure
what to blame there, as the duct tape holding the windage turret in place had
done its job. Bravo’s shot went right through the spine too. I guess
maybe we did it on purpose since we were pretty close to the edge of BLM
property and didn't want them to wonder onto public land. If anybody is still counting,
#4 and #7 had each just killed their 3
rd antelope. Getting them into
the cooler, we realized how nice it is being able to drive the truck with
camper right to them. Running water has its virtues, as well as not
needing the back pack. When the tasks were complete, we decided to eat
our sandwiches on the way back to town to get out of the hotel rooms and get
more ice on the meat. Our new plan was to stay in Fort Collins that night
to get them closer to Denver for Sunday when they would be back to work
instructing cross country flights back to Mississippi. I think they even
did the responsible thing and checked on their students when we got back to a
cell signal.
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| My first buck for the season, antelope #3 for build #7. Rifle #4 on the left. |
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| Bravo's second doe relocated for the picture, antelope #3 for rifle #4. |
We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for my second
buck but had no luck. We did find a couple more sections of public land
we could get to through so it wasn’t a total loss.
Round 3: Solo day trip for my second Buck
After getting the USMC/Navy team on their way with packaged meat, I rested my legs for the rest of the day and talked myself into a day trip the following day. When I got up to the area in the morning, my plan was to hit up the reservoir section as I knew there were a couple bucks that liked to be around there in the mornings. As I pulled off the road and onto the BLM section, I stopped to glass the square mile section. Sure enough, I see the white butt of a buck going cross country at a walking pace. About the same time, I see another truck driving right through the section. I drove further and parked to get a look at it from another angle and see if I could see where the buck went if the truck spooked him. As I was looking for the buck, the truck pulled up and "Red" from Oklahoma got out. We had quite a conversation about antelope hunting and I told him he had to have driven right passed the buck but he never saw it. We wished each other luck and went separate directions. I went to an adjacent public section thinking I might spot the buck crossing it but never saw him. I did find a bunch of does bedded down, which would have been a simple thing with that doe tag in my pocket. I was after a buck though and decided to keep hunting. So to my favorite spot I went. :)
It wasn't too long once I got onto the section that I slowly crested the ridge above one of the draws and saw a herd up feeding. I got back down and was pretty sure they never saw me. I went down the back side of the ridge and made my move toward them with the ridge between us. When I felt like I would be close, I crawled over the ridge, using the rifle up on its bipod as my fourth limb. As I crested the ridge, I saw the tops of their heads. I was close. Maybe too close, at about 100 yards. I stayed low and may have been busted as a few of the does started moving. The direction they chose was going to have them crossing the ridge below me and soon I would be in plain sight. I chose a spot and got into position for a shot but they never came. It wasn't long before I figured out they were playing me and would be headed in the opposite direction. I made my way back up to the crest of the ridge and sure enough, they were single filing it out of town, but at a walk. The buck was in the back and all I could see from my spot was heads. I had to crawl higher before I would be able to take a nice body shot. There was a short distance when they went lower, out of sight, and I was able to quickly make my move. When they reappeared I was ready and put one of the 140 SST's right where it needed to go. The buck soon fell and I had pulled off my combo. I looked up at the does standing at about 200 yards and was tempted to shoot one and then realized I was by myself, over a mile from the truck and didn't need to pack two out of there. My next thought was that my doe tag would just be a donation to the game and fish dept. and I would let her live and have another fawn next year. I guess that is why the published success rates for these units is always around 98%. When I got to the buck, I confirmed his identity as Mr. Lucky which was the third time I had caught him in the same location.
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| A little closer look at Mr. Lucky. Antelope #4 for Rifle #7. |
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| This background should look familiar by now. |
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| A great ending to our 2012 antelope season. |
Keywords: SR#4, SR#7
