It’s taken nearly a month, but I finally had a chance to write a not-so-brief report about our recent family hunt in Wyoming. If you’re not a reader, just skip to the pictures and enjoy! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Hunt Location: Wyoming
Hunt Date: October 6 – 10, 2008
Animals Hunted: Pronghorn Antelope and Mule Deer
Hunters: Myself, my wife Dana, and an old college buddy Duane
Observers/helpers: My two kids (5yo daughter and 3yo son) and Duane’s two kids (7yo daughter and 4yo son)
Firearms: T/C Contenders in .30-30 AI and 7-30 Waters, Sako L691 in 6.5X55, Ruger M77 Ultralight in .257 Roberts
Day 1:
The first day of hunting was fairly uneventful. We’d spent the last 2.5 days driving and visiting with friends in Cheyenne. On the drive over to our hunting location we did see a family of moose. They let us stop the truck, get out, and take a few pictures. The kids thought this was great fun.
We arrived well rested, and in my case, ready to hunt. After unloading at least enough of our stuff to find rifles and ammunition, Duane and I headed out for a look around. We spotted several small groups of antelope, but none with bucks that interested on the first day. We spent the afternoon glassing and planning for the rest of the week.
Day 2:
Since Duane had to work today, Dana and I were basically on our own. Duane’s wife also had several obligations in town, so Dana and I offered to watch their kids for the day. I hunted the morning alone, and managed to sneak close enough to a herd of about 25 antelope to try a shot at the herd buck with my Contender. Fortunately for him, I wasn’t up to the task and missed. Since that was a bust, I headed back to the house to check with the wife. We had brunch and decided that even with four kids in tow, hunting beat sitting around the house, so off we went. We loaded all four kids into the truck and headed out to a spot on the ranch that has been very productive in past years.
With four raucous kids along, we determined that drive and spot would be the game plan, with short walks to good vantage points if that didn’t turn anything up. I didn’t expect much action in the middle of the day, so you can imagine my surprise when Dana spotted some deer in the sagebrush on the adjacent state land. I determined through the binocular that they were several does and a small buck. Though not what I was looking for this early in the hunt, I let the kids (who were very excited about seeing game) talk me into making an attempt at him. I left the truck and commenced a short sneak to the nearby fence line. I settled in for a shot with my pistol and let one fly. I heard what sounded like a solid hit, but watched with dread as the deer bounded away – the small buck limping on an apparently wounded rear leg. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif By the time they reached the top of a small hill in the distance (about 800 yards away), they had settled down to a walk and the buck was no longer limping. Having lost a measure of confidence in my Contender (or at least my ability to shoot it accurately), I returned it to the truck and grabbed my trusty Sako. The kids were still very excited, believing I had hit the deer. I told Dana to hold tight with the kids while I worked my way over the hill to see if I could finish the buck off.
Hoping to close the distance quickly, we drove the truck up the fenceline as close to the hill as possible and I set off. I crossed the open sage and moved up the face of the hill as fast as I could, then eased over the crest and started glassing. First I picked up several does a couple hundred yards out. I was relieved that they hadn’t gone too far, but I couldn’t locate the buck. I backed out of sight and looped higher up the hill before sneaking to the top again. I spotted several more deer, and this time spied the small buck standing quietly, and seemingly unhurt, in the shade of scrubby little tree. He was about 250 yards away, so I got set up on the sticks for a shot. I observed him for some time through the scope, but could not tell where he had been hit the first time. His shoulder was clear though, and I knew I was obligated to finish what I had started. At the shot, he lunged forward and tried to dash off with the does, but quickly crashed into the sage. I kept him covered for a few minutes until I was sure he was down for good, then moved back toward the truck. When I got within yelling distance I told Dana to bring the kids up to the top of the hill. When they got there, they all wanted to keep going to see the deer. I was a little worried that it might be too far, but they all just had to go, so off we stumbled trough the sage, cacti, and rocks. We easily located the downed buck and the kids helped set him up for the trophy photos, though the sun was fierce and made for some unpleasant little squints.
They were also bound and determined to help field dress the little guy, and they did just that.
I field dressed the deer and drug him back over the hill and to the truck. The kids were getting a little tired and cranky by this time, and we had to take care of the deer, so we headed back to the house. While the younger kids took a quick nap, I hung and skinned the deer in the barn.
With the deer skinned and cooling out, and kids and wife refreshed from their brief respite, we loaded back up and headed over to another section of nearby state land to look for antelope. Dana and I both had doe tags for this unit and hoped that a doe or two would be curious enough to let us get within rifle range with four curtain climbers. Again opting for the drive and spot method, we puttered up a little two-track into some sage covered hills, stopping frequently to glass open hillsides and small pockets of cover. We soon spotted four antelope does laying on an open hillside about a half-mile away. We formulated a plan to get closer using another small hill. We backed out of the line of sight and disembarked on what I thought would be a fun but futile stalk. We covered the first ¾ of the walk relatively quickly, as it was fairly level ground. When we got to the bottom of our “cover hill” though, we slowed down. We instructed Cora, Duane's seven year old, to hold the little ones back long enough for Dan and me to climb the hill, spot the antelope, and sneak into position for a shot. The theory was sound, but Dana and I had only gone about 100 yards when we heard the kids break loose and start heading our way. This prompted us to move faster so we could beat them to the top, which we did. I managed to spot the four does before the saw us, but by the time we maneuvered into a good shooting position and Dana got comfortable in her sticks, they had seen us and stood up. Dana settled down, located one in her scope, and took a hurried shot just as the kids broke over the top of the hill beside us. The kids came up, the antelope went down. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif Of course our kids started hollering “Mama, you got it, you got it” and jumping up and down. Meanwhile, I was trying to hastily move out in front of them to get a shot too, as the remaining three does had only run about 50 yards before stopping to look back. I got through the teeming throng of thigh-high rugrats, dropped into my sticks, and let one fly at the largest doe. She made a fifty-yard dash before piling up in the sagebrush. Now I was really pumped! I couldn’t believe we’d just pulled a double on antelope with four kids along for the stalk. What a rush! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
At this point there was no holding the kids back. They were already halfway to Dana’s antelope before I started off to locate mine in the heavy brush. On the way there, two more nice does stood up out of the brush at about 150 yards to taunt me about my lack of a second tag in this unit. Oh well. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif I spotted the doe I had shot and made sure she had expired, then walked over to Dana’s where everyone else was. We set Dana’s antelope up for pictures, only to find the camera batteries were dead. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to record this hunt on film, I had them wait while I jogged back to the truck for batteries. I returned and took these pictures:
Boys will be boys, right?
By this time it was cooling off and starting to get dark, so we decided that Dana and the kids would return to the truck and then the ranch (to hopefully get recovery help) while I took care of the two antelope. I finished field dressing the two does just as I heard the truck start up and drive off. I relaxed for a while as the sun set and night began to fall. Luckily, Duane had finished at work by this time and came to lend a hand getting the antelope off the hill. Here’s a quick snapshot of the two goats before we loaded them up.
We hung the two does next to the deer and Duane and I enjoyed a well-deserved (in my opinion) cold beer.
Day 3:
The day dawned cold and clear, so I set off again for the antelope buck I had missed the day before. Though I located him, he was not in a good position for a stalk, so I backed out and headed over to the unit in which Dana had a buck tag (and I had another doe tag). After some time spent glassing, I located a buck and doe bedded on a sunny hillside in a stalkable location. I hurried back to the house to get Dana. We made arrangements for the kids and set. We returned to the location from where I’d spotted the antelope and confirmed that they were still bedded on the hill, then looped around and above them to get the wind in our favor. We dropped into a small ravine that cut the face of the hill and would, if we were lucky, bring us to a small rock outcropping that I estimated was about 50-75 yards from the bedded goats. When we were nearly to the rock, a herd of 12 mule deer started coming up the same ravine we were going down. Of course the busted us and moved off another direction. Since they didn’t leave in a hurry, I hoped that the antelope hadn’t been alerted to our presence and were still sunning comfortably. They weren’t. In fact, there was no sign of them anywhere. Slightly discouraged, we decided to hike straight up and over the hill to get back to the truck. This proved to be a good thing, because the delay (did I mention Dana was just over 2 months pregnant at the time and not really in climbing condition?), eventually worked in our favor. We finally made it to the truck and started to return to the house to check on the kids. We’d made it across several small sections of the pasture when Dana spotted an antelope trotting across the open ground parallel to us, apparently coming from the same direction. Through the binocular I was able to see that he was the same buck I’d spotted earlier. He seemed to be on a mission (probably trailing his doe that had left out ahead of him) and wasn’t paying us much attention. We continued driving slowly in the same direction he was headed, hoping to find a good ambush site. Finally, the buck turned to his left, which would bring him in front of us. I killed the truck and we jumped out. There wasn’t much cover, so we just hunkered over and trotted forward until we were in range of his likely path. Dana got set up in the sticks while I kept tabs on the buck. We watched as he did exactly what I wanted – moved left directly in front of us. I was able to range him at 228 yards as he walked. When he stopped to catch a sniff of the wind after crossing under a fence, Dana was ready and dropped him with a well-placed neck shot from her .257.
I spent the remainder of the day failing to get close enough for a shot at an antelope buck with my pistol.
Day 4:
The day broke cold and blustery, and I spent the morning unsuccessfully looking for a good antelope buck. By midday, Duane had finished up most of his work and had time sneak away with me for a while. He also had a buck tag, so we set off in search of antelope again. It seemed the gusty winds had most of the goats looking for cover, so we set off on a hike through likely country (brushy little draws on the lee side of hills). We spotted and spooked a few antelope, but nothing real interesting. After hunting this way for a while, we spotted a decent looking buck on the move quite a ways out. We dropped into a low spot to see what he would do. I was pleasantly surprised when he veered our way and closed the distance at a trot. He finally spotted us kneeling in the sage and slammed on the brakes at about 80 yards. By this time I had determined he was a shooter (at least for me with a pistol) and was ready for the shot. When he stopped, I dropped him with a 125 grain Ballistic Tip from my .30-30 AI. Yes, the blood on his back is the exit wound from a frontal chest shot with hind legs lower than his forelegs.
After pictures, I headed off towards the nearest road with the antelope in tow while Duane returned to fetch the truck. We got the buck taken care of and spent the rest of the day looking for his buck and a doe for me, but got skunked.
Day 5:
Once again it was cold and windy this morning. Duane and I were off at first light looking for antelope. This would be my last hunting day, so I was feeling the pressure a little. Duane had until the end of the month, so he was in no rush. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif We spent all morning driving, hiking, and glassing into all the little pockets of cover we could find; all to no avail. All the antelope had seemingly vanished. Feeling a little discouraged (and hungry) we started to head back for lunch at about 12:30. We planned our route to that we could glass into a few more leeward ravines on the same hillside that Dana and I had been unsuccessful (more or less) on a couple days before. As luck would have it, Duane spotted a lone antelope buck tucked into one of these pockets of cover. The game was on! We crossed a large open field before easing up the hill between him and us. After crawling up the steep hill and working in behind a large pile of rocks, we found ourselves 120 yards from the now-bedded buck. Duane snuggled into the rocks and got a solid rest with his 7-30 Waters Contender while I watched through the binocular. At the shot, the buck stumbled from his bed, only to stop a short ways away with his head hanging low. Though solidly hit, he didn’t appear to be ready to give it up just yet, so Duane sent another shot his way, putting him down for good.
As we kneeled there congratulating ourselves, five does boiled out of the draw almost underfoot between us and the dead buck. We were caught totally off guard – there didn’t seem to be enough cover to hide a jackrabbit, let alone five antelope. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif While they trotted off towards the top of the hill, I fumbled around and got my Contender ready for action. They were nearly out of sight when the last doe stopped for a last look back from the hilltop. I was locked into a solid rock rest by this time, and the 154 yard shot was no problem for the little .30-30 Ackley. Though she ran over the hill and out of sight, I was sure the shot was good and she was down. We checked out Duane’s buck first, then climbed the hill to find my doe just a few yards out of sight. To say we were tickled would be an understatement! What a way to wrap up an already fun hunt – a double on antelope with pistols!
We spent the rest of that day and all of the next cutting meat and getting ready to leave. Oh yeah, we were already talking about next year! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Hunt Location: Wyoming
Hunt Date: October 6 – 10, 2008
Animals Hunted: Pronghorn Antelope and Mule Deer
Hunters: Myself, my wife Dana, and an old college buddy Duane
Observers/helpers: My two kids (5yo daughter and 3yo son) and Duane’s two kids (7yo daughter and 4yo son)
Firearms: T/C Contenders in .30-30 AI and 7-30 Waters, Sako L691 in 6.5X55, Ruger M77 Ultralight in .257 Roberts
Day 1:
The first day of hunting was fairly uneventful. We’d spent the last 2.5 days driving and visiting with friends in Cheyenne. On the drive over to our hunting location we did see a family of moose. They let us stop the truck, get out, and take a few pictures. The kids thought this was great fun.
We arrived well rested, and in my case, ready to hunt. After unloading at least enough of our stuff to find rifles and ammunition, Duane and I headed out for a look around. We spotted several small groups of antelope, but none with bucks that interested on the first day. We spent the afternoon glassing and planning for the rest of the week.
Day 2:
Since Duane had to work today, Dana and I were basically on our own. Duane’s wife also had several obligations in town, so Dana and I offered to watch their kids for the day. I hunted the morning alone, and managed to sneak close enough to a herd of about 25 antelope to try a shot at the herd buck with my Contender. Fortunately for him, I wasn’t up to the task and missed. Since that was a bust, I headed back to the house to check with the wife. We had brunch and decided that even with four kids in tow, hunting beat sitting around the house, so off we went. We loaded all four kids into the truck and headed out to a spot on the ranch that has been very productive in past years.
With four raucous kids along, we determined that drive and spot would be the game plan, with short walks to good vantage points if that didn’t turn anything up. I didn’t expect much action in the middle of the day, so you can imagine my surprise when Dana spotted some deer in the sagebrush on the adjacent state land. I determined through the binocular that they were several does and a small buck. Though not what I was looking for this early in the hunt, I let the kids (who were very excited about seeing game) talk me into making an attempt at him. I left the truck and commenced a short sneak to the nearby fence line. I settled in for a shot with my pistol and let one fly. I heard what sounded like a solid hit, but watched with dread as the deer bounded away – the small buck limping on an apparently wounded rear leg. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif By the time they reached the top of a small hill in the distance (about 800 yards away), they had settled down to a walk and the buck was no longer limping. Having lost a measure of confidence in my Contender (or at least my ability to shoot it accurately), I returned it to the truck and grabbed my trusty Sako. The kids were still very excited, believing I had hit the deer. I told Dana to hold tight with the kids while I worked my way over the hill to see if I could finish the buck off.
Hoping to close the distance quickly, we drove the truck up the fenceline as close to the hill as possible and I set off. I crossed the open sage and moved up the face of the hill as fast as I could, then eased over the crest and started glassing. First I picked up several does a couple hundred yards out. I was relieved that they hadn’t gone too far, but I couldn’t locate the buck. I backed out of sight and looped higher up the hill before sneaking to the top again. I spotted several more deer, and this time spied the small buck standing quietly, and seemingly unhurt, in the shade of scrubby little tree. He was about 250 yards away, so I got set up on the sticks for a shot. I observed him for some time through the scope, but could not tell where he had been hit the first time. His shoulder was clear though, and I knew I was obligated to finish what I had started. At the shot, he lunged forward and tried to dash off with the does, but quickly crashed into the sage. I kept him covered for a few minutes until I was sure he was down for good, then moved back toward the truck. When I got within yelling distance I told Dana to bring the kids up to the top of the hill. When they got there, they all wanted to keep going to see the deer. I was a little worried that it might be too far, but they all just had to go, so off we stumbled trough the sage, cacti, and rocks. We easily located the downed buck and the kids helped set him up for the trophy photos, though the sun was fierce and made for some unpleasant little squints.
They were also bound and determined to help field dress the little guy, and they did just that.
I field dressed the deer and drug him back over the hill and to the truck. The kids were getting a little tired and cranky by this time, and we had to take care of the deer, so we headed back to the house. While the younger kids took a quick nap, I hung and skinned the deer in the barn.
With the deer skinned and cooling out, and kids and wife refreshed from their brief respite, we loaded back up and headed over to another section of nearby state land to look for antelope. Dana and I both had doe tags for this unit and hoped that a doe or two would be curious enough to let us get within rifle range with four curtain climbers. Again opting for the drive and spot method, we puttered up a little two-track into some sage covered hills, stopping frequently to glass open hillsides and small pockets of cover. We soon spotted four antelope does laying on an open hillside about a half-mile away. We formulated a plan to get closer using another small hill. We backed out of the line of sight and disembarked on what I thought would be a fun but futile stalk. We covered the first ¾ of the walk relatively quickly, as it was fairly level ground. When we got to the bottom of our “cover hill” though, we slowed down. We instructed Cora, Duane's seven year old, to hold the little ones back long enough for Dan and me to climb the hill, spot the antelope, and sneak into position for a shot. The theory was sound, but Dana and I had only gone about 100 yards when we heard the kids break loose and start heading our way. This prompted us to move faster so we could beat them to the top, which we did. I managed to spot the four does before the saw us, but by the time we maneuvered into a good shooting position and Dana got comfortable in her sticks, they had seen us and stood up. Dana settled down, located one in her scope, and took a hurried shot just as the kids broke over the top of the hill beside us. The kids came up, the antelope went down. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif Of course our kids started hollering “Mama, you got it, you got it” and jumping up and down. Meanwhile, I was trying to hastily move out in front of them to get a shot too, as the remaining three does had only run about 50 yards before stopping to look back. I got through the teeming throng of thigh-high rugrats, dropped into my sticks, and let one fly at the largest doe. She made a fifty-yard dash before piling up in the sagebrush. Now I was really pumped! I couldn’t believe we’d just pulled a double on antelope with four kids along for the stalk. What a rush! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
At this point there was no holding the kids back. They were already halfway to Dana’s antelope before I started off to locate mine in the heavy brush. On the way there, two more nice does stood up out of the brush at about 150 yards to taunt me about my lack of a second tag in this unit. Oh well. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif I spotted the doe I had shot and made sure she had expired, then walked over to Dana’s where everyone else was. We set Dana’s antelope up for pictures, only to find the camera batteries were dead. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to record this hunt on film, I had them wait while I jogged back to the truck for batteries. I returned and took these pictures:
Boys will be boys, right?
By this time it was cooling off and starting to get dark, so we decided that Dana and the kids would return to the truck and then the ranch (to hopefully get recovery help) while I took care of the two antelope. I finished field dressing the two does just as I heard the truck start up and drive off. I relaxed for a while as the sun set and night began to fall. Luckily, Duane had finished at work by this time and came to lend a hand getting the antelope off the hill. Here’s a quick snapshot of the two goats before we loaded them up.
We hung the two does next to the deer and Duane and I enjoyed a well-deserved (in my opinion) cold beer.
Day 3:
The day dawned cold and clear, so I set off again for the antelope buck I had missed the day before. Though I located him, he was not in a good position for a stalk, so I backed out and headed over to the unit in which Dana had a buck tag (and I had another doe tag). After some time spent glassing, I located a buck and doe bedded on a sunny hillside in a stalkable location. I hurried back to the house to get Dana. We made arrangements for the kids and set. We returned to the location from where I’d spotted the antelope and confirmed that they were still bedded on the hill, then looped around and above them to get the wind in our favor. We dropped into a small ravine that cut the face of the hill and would, if we were lucky, bring us to a small rock outcropping that I estimated was about 50-75 yards from the bedded goats. When we were nearly to the rock, a herd of 12 mule deer started coming up the same ravine we were going down. Of course the busted us and moved off another direction. Since they didn’t leave in a hurry, I hoped that the antelope hadn’t been alerted to our presence and were still sunning comfortably. They weren’t. In fact, there was no sign of them anywhere. Slightly discouraged, we decided to hike straight up and over the hill to get back to the truck. This proved to be a good thing, because the delay (did I mention Dana was just over 2 months pregnant at the time and not really in climbing condition?), eventually worked in our favor. We finally made it to the truck and started to return to the house to check on the kids. We’d made it across several small sections of the pasture when Dana spotted an antelope trotting across the open ground parallel to us, apparently coming from the same direction. Through the binocular I was able to see that he was the same buck I’d spotted earlier. He seemed to be on a mission (probably trailing his doe that had left out ahead of him) and wasn’t paying us much attention. We continued driving slowly in the same direction he was headed, hoping to find a good ambush site. Finally, the buck turned to his left, which would bring him in front of us. I killed the truck and we jumped out. There wasn’t much cover, so we just hunkered over and trotted forward until we were in range of his likely path. Dana got set up in the sticks while I kept tabs on the buck. We watched as he did exactly what I wanted – moved left directly in front of us. I was able to range him at 228 yards as he walked. When he stopped to catch a sniff of the wind after crossing under a fence, Dana was ready and dropped him with a well-placed neck shot from her .257.
I spent the remainder of the day failing to get close enough for a shot at an antelope buck with my pistol.
Day 4:
The day broke cold and blustery, and I spent the morning unsuccessfully looking for a good antelope buck. By midday, Duane had finished up most of his work and had time sneak away with me for a while. He also had a buck tag, so we set off in search of antelope again. It seemed the gusty winds had most of the goats looking for cover, so we set off on a hike through likely country (brushy little draws on the lee side of hills). We spotted and spooked a few antelope, but nothing real interesting. After hunting this way for a while, we spotted a decent looking buck on the move quite a ways out. We dropped into a low spot to see what he would do. I was pleasantly surprised when he veered our way and closed the distance at a trot. He finally spotted us kneeling in the sage and slammed on the brakes at about 80 yards. By this time I had determined he was a shooter (at least for me with a pistol) and was ready for the shot. When he stopped, I dropped him with a 125 grain Ballistic Tip from my .30-30 AI. Yes, the blood on his back is the exit wound from a frontal chest shot with hind legs lower than his forelegs.
After pictures, I headed off towards the nearest road with the antelope in tow while Duane returned to fetch the truck. We got the buck taken care of and spent the rest of the day looking for his buck and a doe for me, but got skunked.
Day 5:
Once again it was cold and windy this morning. Duane and I were off at first light looking for antelope. This would be my last hunting day, so I was feeling the pressure a little. Duane had until the end of the month, so he was in no rush. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif We spent all morning driving, hiking, and glassing into all the little pockets of cover we could find; all to no avail. All the antelope had seemingly vanished. Feeling a little discouraged (and hungry) we started to head back for lunch at about 12:30. We planned our route to that we could glass into a few more leeward ravines on the same hillside that Dana and I had been unsuccessful (more or less) on a couple days before. As luck would have it, Duane spotted a lone antelope buck tucked into one of these pockets of cover. The game was on! We crossed a large open field before easing up the hill between him and us. After crawling up the steep hill and working in behind a large pile of rocks, we found ourselves 120 yards from the now-bedded buck. Duane snuggled into the rocks and got a solid rest with his 7-30 Waters Contender while I watched through the binocular. At the shot, the buck stumbled from his bed, only to stop a short ways away with his head hanging low. Though solidly hit, he didn’t appear to be ready to give it up just yet, so Duane sent another shot his way, putting him down for good.
As we kneeled there congratulating ourselves, five does boiled out of the draw almost underfoot between us and the dead buck. We were caught totally off guard – there didn’t seem to be enough cover to hide a jackrabbit, let alone five antelope. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif While they trotted off towards the top of the hill, I fumbled around and got my Contender ready for action. They were nearly out of sight when the last doe stopped for a last look back from the hilltop. I was locked into a solid rock rest by this time, and the 154 yard shot was no problem for the little .30-30 Ackley. Though she ran over the hill and out of sight, I was sure the shot was good and she was down. We checked out Duane’s buck first, then climbed the hill to find my doe just a few yards out of sight. To say we were tickled would be an understatement! What a way to wrap up an already fun hunt – a double on antelope with pistols!
We spent the rest of that day and all of the next cutting meat and getting ready to leave. Oh yeah, we were already talking about next year! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
