Wyoming Adventure

[Big Browns]

In 2013 I remember watching a TV show about Antelope hunting in Wyoming.  I vividly remember wanting to go Antelope hunting really badly, but didn’t know how or when I could afford that type of out of state hunt.  After a little research I discovered I could buy preference points without having to buy an out of state license.  That’s when I recognized I could afford to start accumulating points until I could afford to go out of state and draw a good tag.

Fast forward to the spring of 2018 when I finally decided to cash in my 5 points for what Eastman’s calls a “Blue Chip” Unit.  Upon receiving the notification I had drawn the tag I immediately called a friend (Cliffton)in Utah to assist me with the hunt.  We had talked about hunting together in Wyoming for years.  This would finally be the year we could hunt together. 

For this hunt I was planning on taking my bow, my Ruger Precision and Custom long range Savage Striker pistol.  I had spent numerous trips to the range with all three and was very prepared to take whatever type of shot that presented itself. 

Approximately 3 weeks prior to leaving for my hunt I was having lunch with my boss.  While at lunch I reminded him I would be leaving for vacation in 3 weeks.  After further discussion we realized one of my key staff members would be gone at the same time.  With another key staff member already out on Military leave we both could not be gone at the same time.  Knowing my hunt would not be end for several more weeks I decided to cancel the original week of vacation and extend it two weeks later.  This extension would cause me to spend additional driving time.  The extension would also cut a few days off of my hunting.  Upon arriving in Wyoming I would only have 3 days to hunt before having to return home.

I would now leave for a family vacation to San Diego & Disney Land on Friday October 28^th.  We spent 5 amazing days in California with the family!  The only issue now is we would be driving home on Tuesday October 2^nd.  The minute we arrived home I had to immediately leave for Wyoming!  We left Disney Land at 7am.  We arrived in Phoenix at 2pm and I left for Wyoming within 15 minutes.  I knew I wouldn’t make it to Wyoming, but I wanted to make it as far as possible.  The plan was to meet Clifton in Salt Lake City the next day and leave for Wyoming ASAP!  After a long day of driving I made it to Beaver Utah by 1 am.

After a short 5 hour nap I continued my drive to my Clifton’s house.  Upon arrival at his house Clifton informed me we would not be able to leave until he and his wife finished laying sod in their front yard.  He told me to take a nap inside his house and we would leave as soon as he was finished.  Of course I couldn’t let him work without my help so after a few hours of laying sod for the first time we were finally on the last leg to Wyoming.

We arrived to Wyoming around 9pm that night.  We had a fantastic steak and then an even better night’s rest.  With excitement in the air it was difficult to get to sleep, but with 2 days of driving behind me I settled in for a short, but well needed rest.

The next day was a beautiful sunny, blue sky Wyoming morning.  We had a quick breakfast, filled up the truck and headed into the vast Wyoming prairie to start the hunt.  If you have never been to Wyoming I can assure you that filling a buck and 2 doe tags was not going to be a problem.  The real challenge would be to find a quality buck that was worthy of waiting 5 years.  My buddy had hunted this unit on several different occasions so we had a good idea where to go and what size goat we would peruse.

Within 30 seconds of leaving town we started seeing Bucks in my unit.  That started the very long day of looking over 200 plus bucks.  I know some of you might feel 200 is an exaggeration, but let me assure you, it’s not!  We actually counted!  I’ve never seen so many Antelope bucks in my life!  It was crazy!  The day ended with us seeing several great bucks, but nothing worth ending my hunt so soon. 

I stated earlier that I had planned on taking my bow on this hunt.  Unfortunately with having to leave my house so soon after arriving home from Disney Land I forgot my bow.  This turned out to be a HUGE mistake.  Throughout this hunt we saw numerous Pope & Young Bucks either right next to the road or within a short easy stock.  If I could do anything over on this hunt I would have brought my bow and shot my buck and both does with my bow.

The second day started much the same as the first day.  We immediately started seeing bucks.  On this day we looked at the opposite side of the unit to hopefully find a great buck.  After looking over  100 bucks by noon we still hadn’t seen anything worth taking.  We did see several great Muley Bucks lounging in private alfalfa fields.  I’ve never seen such huge bucks with zero fear of humans.  It was incredible to see.

Nearing the end of the day we located a monster shooter buck in a valley without roads.  This buck was definitely over 80 inches and was Amazing!  The problem is the buck was on a nearby reservation.  The buck was close to public land so we decided to come back to him in the morning to hopefully find him on public.  With about 30 minutes left of shooting light we located another great buck.  This buck had really tall horns, but was weak on the prongs.  He was also on public land and was only 300 yards off the road.  We spent a few minutes carefully looking over this buck with the spotting scope, but had a very hard time judging him.  The real problem with this buck is we kept thinking about the monster buck from 30 minutes earlier.  If we hadn’t seen the monster buck we would have 100% shot this buck.  We decided to pass and started driving back to the hotel.  Of course we were both uneasy with our decision and began seriously second guessing our decision.  This ultimately led me to turn around and attempt to harvest this buck.  We arrived a few minutes to late and just in time to watch the buck walk onto private land.  This turned out to be the only mistake I had made on this trip.  With only 1 more day to hunt I should have shot this buck!

The drive back to the hotel that night had a strange somber feeling to it.  With only the following day left to hunt we were both a little uneasy about what we would find the next day.  Harvesting a buck in this unit or any unit in Wyoming is not hard.  What we were finding out is harvesting a Boone and Crocket style Buck was becoming almost impossible!  While eating an amazing Prime Rib steak I recognized that I had made a huge mistake and should have shot the tall buck!  Unfortunately I let “score” get in the way of “fun”.  We ended the night with a solid plan to go after the Reservation buck first thing in the morning and then go after the tall buck if that didn’t work.

At first light we were both staring at the Reservation buck.  He was chasing does about 200 yards on the wrong side of the fence.  We felt he might cross onto public, but with only 10 hours left to hunt we decided to find the tall buck.  About 30 minutes later we located the tall buck, but he was still on private land, but was slowly making his way to public land. 

We decided to look into some other area’s for an hour and come back to see if he had made his way onto public land.  We drove away and found numerous more bucks.  As it had been the previous 2 days all the bucks were nice, but not worth tagging.  It was now noon and my heart was beginning to feel that all too familiar feeling of Dred and regret!  We returned an hour later to find the tall buck.  Thankfully we found him quickly and on public land.  The problem was he was steadily walking towards private land.  We quickly attempted to get close, but as it was the previous night he made it onto private land before we could make a move.  At this time I was heartbroken!  With only 6 hours left to hunt I knew my chances of getting this buck or any nice buck was seriously slim!

We decided to look at some completely different country for the next few hours.  This ended up being another huge mistake, because this was the only country we didn’t see any antelope in.  It was beautiful country, just void of any living creatures.  We returned to are of the tall buck at 2pm.  Surprisingly we located him bedded about 100 yards onto public land.  We quickly made plans and began our stalk.  The stalk was going perfectly, until a doe popped up in the general area the buck was bedded.  The doe ran off, but we never saw the buck go with her.  We continued and got within 100 yards of the last location of the bedded buck.  Unfortunately after a few minutes we realized the buck was gone.  We never saw him leave and we could only surmise he was bedded close to the doe and she took him with her. 

It was now 3:30 on my last day to hunt.  My buddy could easily tell I was beyond stressed out!  I couldn’t believe I had come to Wyoming and would not get a quality buck!  I knew I could kill a smaller buck just about anywhere in the unit, but that’s not what I wanted.  I wanted a mature buck!  At this time I had already made up my mind that I was not going to shoot any buck just to fill a tag.  If it wasn’t mature and had the look I wanted I wasn’t going to tag out.

Shortly after this realization I suddenly remembered the two bucks in the valley without any roads.  The area was only a few minutes away so we decided to try and locate them.  Within a few minutes we were fortunate to locate the bucks within 100 yards of where we found them a few days earlier.  The bucks were only 650 yards away.  I could have easily taken a shot with my Ruger Precision 6.5 creedmoor, but I decided I wanted to end the day and hunt with a challenge.  Therefore I decided to take my long range pistol on the stalk.  I was very comfortable taking a shot at 400 yards. 

Thankfully the terrain had enough small draws that enabled us to stay out of view for most of the hunt.  We had a plan to get to a particular hill that would hopefully get us within 300 yards.  Well, our plan worked a little too well.  Upon popping our heads up out of the draw I immediately located the bucks and they immediately located me.  That’s because were where within 150 yards.  We spent the next 30 seconds attempting to the video camera working and getting me set up for the shot.  This proved very difficult to do quietly and ultimately didn’t work.  The bucks slightly spooked and ran out to 230 yards.  At this time my Clifton told me to forget about the video and shoot when I was ready.  I had a pretty solid rest, but not great.  I took the shot as soon as the buck stopped.

Once I recovered from the initial recoil of the gun I was able to see dirt fly about 3 feet in front of the buck.  Clifton immediately said those dreaded words “You Missed”.  I was not shocked, because my rest was not really solid.  I was hugely dissatisfied with myself and wished I hadn’t taken the shot.  The rest of the Antelope ran out to 300 yards and looked back at us for about 30 seconds.  I could have taken another shot, but without seeing the second buck in the group I wanted to make sure I missed before attempting another shot.

We gathered out gear and hiked up to the area the buck was standing.  While hiking up I was filled with emotions.  I was sad, mad and disappointed in myself!  I was shocked I had just missed my last opportunity at a buck an hour before dark on my last day to hunt!  While walking up I tried to keep it together, but with only an hour left to hunt I knew the hunt was over!  I walked 5 more steps and I caught a glimpse of something white in the grass ahead of me.  That’s when all my sadness and disappointment turned to hopefulness and excitement.  Another 5 steps and I could see those beautiful black horns lying on the ground.  To say I was excited and elated would be a huge understatement!  I had just filled my tag with a really nice Antelope Buck with a pistol.  The feeling was Awesome!

After taking about 100 pictures we cut up the buck and began the mile hike back to the truck.  We headed back to town for dinner and ice and began the long drive back to Salt Lake City.  The rest of the trip ended much like the beginning of the trip.  A lot of driving!  We arrived in Salt Lake about 11pm that night.  I continued my drive for another few hours until I reached Beaver again.  I awoke the next day to rain and snow.  The rain and snow continued throughout the rest of my drive home.  At one point I was in a mini blizzard just north of Kanab.  The rain continued all the way through phoenix. 

This trip taught me one very important lesson.  There is nothing wrong with working hard to find a huge animal, but the search for a monster did take away a little of the fun.  Ultimately I made a few mistakes on this hunt, but the knowledge and lessons learned were invaluable!

Thank you very much to all those who assisted me on this adventure!!!!

[wildwoody]

Awesome buddy, was wondering how you did. Sweet buck

[Goldfinger78]

Nice story.  Lessons learned for sure.  Don't let the stress of getting a book animal get in the way of the fun and adventure.  Congratulations on getting your tag filled with a very nice buck!!!

[Yoshi]

Thanks for sharing!!... Super Awesome!!!

[muledeerarea33?]

That’s the cleanest truck bed I’ve ever seen! Wyoming is special for antelope although I lived there for school I never hunted them. At the range we’d get called to stop shooting until heards left. I saw more huge antelope dead on the road than I do rabbits and skunks in az. Congrats on an eventful hunt.

[azpredator@work]

Awesome experience - I love Wyoming! Thanks for the story...

[lancetkenyon]

I got almost hourly updates during this hunt....and decided to go buy my own preference points for a future WY antelope hunt!

[Zeke-BE]

Wow what a story!!  Congrats Adam!

[rossislider]

Congrats buddy, I enjoyed the updates on the trip. 

[CouesPursuit]

Very cool man. Good job keeping after what you wanted!!

[pwrguy]

Good job Adam.  You seem to have some great adventures.

[Big or Bust]

Great job brother.....

 

 

Now get some sleep....grin...

[stanley]

AWESOME!!!

Thanks for sharing with the site!

[Flatlander]

Well that doesn’t look like it sucked. Thanks for sharing!

[awatson]

Sweet! Just the drive to Wyoming would be more fun than the whole Disneyland trip...for me