WYO Antelope

[AT Hiker]

Just been busy living it up out here. Spent yesterday taking care of the meat, got the skull in water hoping maceration starts taking place before I fly out so I can get those sheaths off and in borax.

Little back story. Got here last week and went into the unit. Immediately I could tell numbers were way down. Which we all knew but to see it first hand gives you a different take. Also, what bucks I found just didn't look super impressive. Especially having the genetics to produce world class bucks.

One thing for certain, the views from this desert area are superb.

I knew this year wasn't "the year" but I needed to burn these points. Why? Because we (family) were planning to make a move to WY sometime in the near future. Having a dozen points as a resident does you no good, it's all random draw for them. At the time of application season my September was wide open…so after a lengthy talk with the biologist I was in. Figured I'd spend a solid week picking out "the buck". Things changed a bit and my September became full, really full.

After a couple days of scouting I quickly realized I found 90% of the critters. Couple of them were pretty good but nothing stood out. Honestly I've killed bigger ones on 2nd choice units with limited public land. Not because I'm a good antelope hunter, but because I was persistent and shot the first one I could find on public…ie lucky.
But this unit was anything like I've hunted before. A metric crap ton of accessible public land. Here is a view of a glassing point I found. Probably 5 miles to those buttes in the top left corner and only one two track between me and them. Unbelievable, plus it had elk and antelope in it.

 

[AT Hiker]

One of my scouting days I stumbled upon this guy at 77 yards. I could have attempted to make it happen with the bow but I felt like I needed more time to survey it all.

The road to get on this side of the unit is rough. I'm in my wife's Lezbaru outback and it's tougher than most rigs. Maybe a side by side would be better but she would also kill me if something bad happened to it.
Check this wash out in the road. Plenty of these made the go, slow. Unfortunately they were calling for thunderstorms coming off the mountain for the evening of the opener.

 

[Joe2Kool]

Speed hunt goat hunts are fun Good luck and post some more pics!!

 

[AT Hiker]

It was hot down low, I was by myself and felt like I had scouted every antelope possible. I was stir crazy and to be honest, wasn't completely in the mood. Those mountains in the distance were calling my name. So I headed up high, strap the 10mm, spray and fly rod on and went after some trout. Leaving those Praire ghost a day to relax before I went in with a rifle.

A couple brookies and a cutthroat died on the mountain that day. 8 miles into the high country I was determined to bring dinner back.

 

[AT Hiker]

You may or may not like beer, nor may you like Marzan styles but you gotta love a micro brew that recognizes fall is the best time of year and provides the best hunting and fishing there is.

 

[megalomaniac]

You may or may not like beer, nor may you like Marzan styles but you gotta love a micro brew that recognizes fall is the best time of year and provides the best hunting and fishing there is.
View attachment 194937

After drinking Moose Drool last year per your prior recommendations, I'll be looking for that Marzan my next trip!

 

[AT Hiker]

After drinking Moose Drool last year per your prior recommendations, I'll be looking for that Marzan my next trip!

Speaking of the devil….

 

[megalomaniac]

Speaking of the devil….
View attachment 194939

That $hit is GOOD!

 

[AT Hiker]

I pulled into my unit at shooting light. The biggest buck I'd seen was attempting to cross the highway into my unit. Unfortunately, me and the cattle guard stopped him. Maybe fortunately for him because the unit across the road still has another week before it opened.

I drive about two miles into the unit and spot another buck. This one was big too. Probably 78", def shooter. He was right off the road though, like 300 yards. It would have been a chip shot n stalk, something just didn't seem right. I glassed him for a few minutes, thinking to myself "I'm not here for this". The spot I wanted to kill one in was on the edge of a roadless area, technically a wilderness study area and as a non resident I was allowed to go in and hunt. Something about a legit spot n stalk antelope hunt just turned me on.
So, I made my way down the iffy road and onto an even more iffy two track. Put my pack on, weighted down with a heavy tripod, 20-60-85 hd vortex and my rifle then hiked up to a butte that overlooked thousands of acres that in times past, held thousands of antelope.

 

[AT Hiker]

It was mid morning, NPR on the drive in warned me about the storm coming off the Rockies into the flats. It had already increased the humidity a tad and dark clouds formed around the buttes. You can pee on these bentonite and clay roads and get stuck.

In the distance I had spotted a herd of antelope, about 8 doe and at least one buck.
I kept glassing. Found a herd of elk, with a nice bull in it. Then down in a draw I found another lone bull. Amazing, I've seen just as many bull elk as id seen buck antelope.

The two bucks id seen had separated from the other antelope. Probably a couple miles out, I watched as they would challenge each other then back down. One was really nice, prob a mid 70s and pronged up high above his ears and mass that carried all the way out. The other one was average but the fact they kept working back n forth at each other provided a chance to put on a legit stalk and got me excited. When I mean legit, I had to drive a couple miles around the draw to a landmark I was able to ID. Best I could figure on my map was if I parked behind the knob id seen, I'd have about a 3/4 of a mile walk through the wide open till I hit the draw, then id be below them and should be able to get within 500 yards of where they seemed to stick around.
I'm obviously horrible at judging distances. As the saying goes "better be tough if you're gonna be dumb".

I'm always on the look for sheds. Obviously elk n deer sheds are the norm. This was the first antelope sheath I've stumbled upon. Needle in a haystack for sure.

I had to be stealthy on this stalk. Antelope can see for miles, scent doesn't seem to worry them much. However, I had mature elk to contend with. If I blew them out I'd surely blow the antelope out too.
Then I had wild horses. How these invasive prairie rats survived the worse winter ever is beyond me. It also pains me to say this but dang it, this was a beautiful moment when I walked up on them…

 

[AT Hiker]

The stalk proved to be long, hot and a complete blast.
Just about every antelope I've ever hunted/killed was based upon maybe a 1/2 hour of actual hunting. Most of the other time was trying to find public land with antelope on it.
This time was different. I had thousand and thousands of acres to myself and a handful of antelope with nothing but weather, elk and wild horses to mess me up. Simply epic. I was alone, in the wilderness stalking antelope. Only worry in my mind was a Praire rattlesnake and washed out roads. It was game on!
Here is a screen shot of my stalk. Seriously, what idiot goes through this for an antelope. Especially when said idiot could shoot a dozen of them right off the road (legally speaking).

 

[AT Hiker]

To the point…
I finally found the bucks. The big one immediately grabbed my attention, I dropped my spotter n pack and was in kill mode. I didn't see the other one but this one was good, really good.
He seen me about the time I dropped my pack. Prob 500 yards out. I'm not proficient at that distance plus it was rolling prairie, I'd be shooting through hills of sage anyways. So I booked it hard down a draw, he probably seen my orange hat but it's all I could do…other than wait and my patience was over anyways.
I seen a high point and made my way. He had three options, to my left, right or ahead. I figured he was to my right, going away from the deep coulees and elk. I was wrong, he ended up being to my left.
I popped up about the time he did. 200ish yards out, i take the safety off and squeeze. He takes off running, making a huge moon shape dash then crashes. Perfect ending to an epic stalk!

Full of emotions I walk back and grab my pack. Look at my track on my phone and realize I've got a long pack out with this loper and gear. The sun is up high and the heat is setting in.

I'll be honest. I'm not sure I shot the antelope I was after. I don't really care either way as I passed up the opportunity to kill a possible Bonner right off the road in the first 1/2 hour of season. To each his own and that morning "my own" was something different. I just didn't know it yet.

This antelope hunt definitely ranks as #2. Only second to the one where my wife and daughter tagged along on almost 10 years ago.
If you ignore my family being with me on that trip, this is by far the best antelope "hunt" I've ever had the chance to be on. Probably glassed over 75 bucks. Most of which could have been killed with little to no effort. Which I'm not necessarily opposed to. Heck, with millions of acres of public land and little to no hunting pressure, it's expected to be "easy". Most people are just a little more picky. But me, I wasn't passing up the antelope hunt of a lifetime for a buck of a lifetime.

I might be the only sunburned, dehydrated hunter in this unit who packed out an antelope over 1.5 miles out of a wilderness area.

 

[megalomaniac]

Gosh, I LOVE antelope hunting! Thanks for taking us along and congrats on on a great hunt and buck! One of the few hunts that the average Joe can do DIY public all by yourself.

Hope you got to enjoy a glass of Moose Drool with backstraps tonight!

 

[TX300mag]

Great documentation of an epic hunt! Wow is all I can say. Thanks for sharing.

 

[double browtine]

Thanks for sharing your hunt and adventures with us TC! Congrats on a wonderful and successful hunt! Looks like it was a great time!

 

[Coltens]

Great story thanks for sharing! This is on my bucket list for the next few years.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Good chit! I didn't want to ruin the suspense, but early, when you called it a prairie lobster, I was thinking "the only lobster in the pic I saw was the sunburnt guy holding it".

I fully expect you to have a few of those marzens in the cooler next year. I'll need to give them a sample.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Congratulations. Great story and hunt, thanks for sharing.

 

[hunter0925]

Congrats man! I can't wait to be out there in a few weeks.

 

[Maude]

Great story and documentation. I like to journal my hunts but you've taken it to another level. Thanks for sharing and congratulations!