SagebrushSlayer
Active member
The third year of applying for a tag in WY, I was on the successful side of the applicants. Point creep had decimated odds the previous two years on what I thought would be easy to draw Pronghorn tags. The fact that I promised my wife we would go hunting in WY for the past two seasons, she was hesitant to believe me when I told her 2017 was the year. Instead of only putting in for a tag that took a point less than what we had, I chose to go two points below what we had, just to make sure the odds were in our favor. Opening day was in September and wasn't something that would fit our schedules, so we decided to hunt the later part of the season. In what was supposed to be a family hunt with our girls for the weekend, it ended up being just a hunting date, which was just as nice.
After showing up late Friday afternoon, right as WY G&F was closing, we procured our HMA slips and headed to the unfamiliar sight of hunting camp at a motel. While my wife commented on the fact that it didn't feel like a hunting camp, she was more than happy not to be sleeping in a tent in the wind. Saturday morning expectations were high and we headed to our unit to start our first hunt of the season. It was a first for both of us to be chasing Antelope with a rifle, my second time hunting them. With expectations of 3 to 5 stalks needed per person to hopefully get a chance at a buck before it took off, we were prepared for a weekend of having fun. Within the first 30 minutes after the sunrise, we had spotted about 100 antelope in various different groups. With my wife up first to choose and shoot, she told me she wasn't going to be picky. After window shopping for another 30 minutes, we found a buck alone and feeding away from us about 1/2 mile away. The wife decided to stalk after the buck as it fed into a draw. Following behind her with a camera and spotting scope, I had the idea I might get to film her shooting her first Pronghorn. Well as luck would have it for her, the buck ended up bedding in the draw, instead of feeding out of it and standing in the wide open. We had just got to the point of starting to glass below and out in front of us, when the buck heard us and stood up at 70 yards. He trotted out to about 125 yards, stopped quartering away, while looking at us briefly. It only took a few seconds of her decision making to pull the trigger and put down her first Antelope. I headed back to the truck for the game cart and came back to meet her, before we went to check out her buck. She was thrilled and happy as we made the short walk to where it dropped. After some photos and admiration for the animal, we got it loaded up on the gamecart and headed back to the truck.
After getting the buck dressed out and in the cooler, we ate a snack and hydrated while glassing for more antelope out in front of us. Knowing that I was going to be picky with my animal, I told the wife we would head back into town after making a pass on the two track we were on. I had no intentions of shooting a buck also on day one unless it got me excited. So for the next hour, we creeped along and stopped to check out dozens of antelope. After seeing so many bucks following groups of does around in circles or taking off from the sight of us getting closer, we dropped into a creek bottom and figured we would be back to a paved road shortly. Not more then 1/2 mile of following the creek and we watch as a herd of antelope start walking up out of the creek. There were the same size of bucks bringing up the back of the herd, when after driving another 100 yards, two nicer bucks are still feeding around some brush. One of them finally lifts his head and he got me to sit up in my seat, put the spotting scope on him for further investigation. It only took about 3 seconds and my mind was made up, I wanted to go after him. At this point the bucks are slowly making the same path that the herd did a couple minutes before. Being only 500 yards away, I slowly get out and sure enough the bucks peg me and trot up on a bench after the herd. I grab my rifle and start making my way to the same draw they headed up. After a brief 1/2 mile of hiking, I get up on the flat and am moving slow with a good wind quartering to me. I sit down to glass and spot a herd of antelope moving around 800 yards away to my right. I'm not sure its the same group, because none of the bucks stood out above the rest. While glassing from right to left I spot more antelope closer, with a couple bucks just dropping into a fold in the Wyoming expanse. As I stand up, figuring those were the bucks I initially had seen from the truck, the entire herd of Antelope from the truck was only 250 yards away. I slowly dropped back down, careful not to sit on any cactus, while scooting up to the sagebrush that provided the cover for me to pick out which buck I had seen earlier. Well lucky for me, it only took a few minutes, but instead of one nice buck there were two! The herd was pretty clumped up, but still unaware I was there, were moving back and forth along a fence line. As they started filing to my right, I picked one the two big bucks that presented a broadside shot without any others around him. At the shot, I stood up, thinking I missed, partly because the Antelope became one big cluster after the shot. Upon standing, the entire herd stood there looking at me while I scoped out looking for both the bigger bucks. Only seeing one in the herd, I looked back at where I shot and couldn't believe the buck had dropped instantly. With no movement and the entire herd looking at me, I waited and enjoyed watching, as after a couple minutes they decided not to stick around any longer. Knowing that I would be happy with either of the two bigger bucks in the herd, I slowly made my way over to check out which of the two I shot. Based on my limited knowledge of Pronghorns and the lack of hunting experience I have with them, I was one happy hunter regardless of size. I walked back to the edge of the flat and motioned to my wife to bring the game cart from the truck. Again after a short hike, albeit about twice as far as hers was, we took pictures and loaded up the game cart for the trip back. I couldn't have guessed or even thought it was achievable, but both of us got our Antelope within the first 4 hours after sunrise and it only took one stalk each for us to fill our tags. With a couple future hunters in the next couple years, we hope to get back and hopefully do it again with the kids.
After showing up late Friday afternoon, right as WY G&F was closing, we procured our HMA slips and headed to the unfamiliar sight of hunting camp at a motel. While my wife commented on the fact that it didn't feel like a hunting camp, she was more than happy not to be sleeping in a tent in the wind. Saturday morning expectations were high and we headed to our unit to start our first hunt of the season. It was a first for both of us to be chasing Antelope with a rifle, my second time hunting them. With expectations of 3 to 5 stalks needed per person to hopefully get a chance at a buck before it took off, we were prepared for a weekend of having fun. Within the first 30 minutes after the sunrise, we had spotted about 100 antelope in various different groups. With my wife up first to choose and shoot, she told me she wasn't going to be picky. After window shopping for another 30 minutes, we found a buck alone and feeding away from us about 1/2 mile away. The wife decided to stalk after the buck as it fed into a draw. Following behind her with a camera and spotting scope, I had the idea I might get to film her shooting her first Pronghorn. Well as luck would have it for her, the buck ended up bedding in the draw, instead of feeding out of it and standing in the wide open. We had just got to the point of starting to glass below and out in front of us, when the buck heard us and stood up at 70 yards. He trotted out to about 125 yards, stopped quartering away, while looking at us briefly. It only took a few seconds of her decision making to pull the trigger and put down her first Antelope. I headed back to the truck for the game cart and came back to meet her, before we went to check out her buck. She was thrilled and happy as we made the short walk to where it dropped. After some photos and admiration for the animal, we got it loaded up on the gamecart and headed back to the truck.
After getting the buck dressed out and in the cooler, we ate a snack and hydrated while glassing for more antelope out in front of us. Knowing that I was going to be picky with my animal, I told the wife we would head back into town after making a pass on the two track we were on. I had no intentions of shooting a buck also on day one unless it got me excited. So for the next hour, we creeped along and stopped to check out dozens of antelope. After seeing so many bucks following groups of does around in circles or taking off from the sight of us getting closer, we dropped into a creek bottom and figured we would be back to a paved road shortly. Not more then 1/2 mile of following the creek and we watch as a herd of antelope start walking up out of the creek. There were the same size of bucks bringing up the back of the herd, when after driving another 100 yards, two nicer bucks are still feeding around some brush. One of them finally lifts his head and he got me to sit up in my seat, put the spotting scope on him for further investigation. It only took about 3 seconds and my mind was made up, I wanted to go after him. At this point the bucks are slowly making the same path that the herd did a couple minutes before. Being only 500 yards away, I slowly get out and sure enough the bucks peg me and trot up on a bench after the herd. I grab my rifle and start making my way to the same draw they headed up. After a brief 1/2 mile of hiking, I get up on the flat and am moving slow with a good wind quartering to me. I sit down to glass and spot a herd of antelope moving around 800 yards away to my right. I'm not sure its the same group, because none of the bucks stood out above the rest. While glassing from right to left I spot more antelope closer, with a couple bucks just dropping into a fold in the Wyoming expanse. As I stand up, figuring those were the bucks I initially had seen from the truck, the entire herd of Antelope from the truck was only 250 yards away. I slowly dropped back down, careful not to sit on any cactus, while scooting up to the sagebrush that provided the cover for me to pick out which buck I had seen earlier. Well lucky for me, it only took a few minutes, but instead of one nice buck there were two! The herd was pretty clumped up, but still unaware I was there, were moving back and forth along a fence line. As they started filing to my right, I picked one the two big bucks that presented a broadside shot without any others around him. At the shot, I stood up, thinking I missed, partly because the Antelope became one big cluster after the shot. Upon standing, the entire herd stood there looking at me while I scoped out looking for both the bigger bucks. Only seeing one in the herd, I looked back at where I shot and couldn't believe the buck had dropped instantly. With no movement and the entire herd looking at me, I waited and enjoyed watching, as after a couple minutes they decided not to stick around any longer. Knowing that I would be happy with either of the two bigger bucks in the herd, I slowly made my way over to check out which of the two I shot. Based on my limited knowledge of Pronghorns and the lack of hunting experience I have with them, I was one happy hunter regardless of size. I walked back to the edge of the flat and motioned to my wife to bring the game cart from the truck. Again after a short hike, albeit about twice as far as hers was, we took pictures and loaded up the game cart for the trip back. I couldn't have guessed or even thought it was achievable, but both of us got our Antelope within the first 4 hours after sunrise and it only took one stalk each for us to fill our tags. With a couple future hunters in the next couple years, we hope to get back and hopefully do it again with the kids.
