2021 WyoDoug's Antelope Hunt
- Thread starter WyoDoug
- Start date
publichunter1
Well-known member
Good luck big man! I hope you have a great hunt.
WyoDoug
Well-known member
Before I get going, it took me a while to get going for hunting due to various reasons that almost cancelled the hunt completely. One of those "Randy Newberg shop story" moment LOL.
1. I was hospitalized for a small bowel blockage a few weeks ago that nearly required surgery to fix. The costs of that not covered by insurance set us back trying to get it paid off before they send it to "aggressive collections" as they call it.
2. As I was getting ready the hitch on my camper started to separate from the frame so I had to leave the camper behind and instead commute each day of hunting to Chugwater, Wyoming where the guys were staying.
3. As I was driving home the left front rotor started grinding and I heard a clunk sound as something hit underneath the truck so I checked it when I got home. A pieace of the brake pad had broken off. The rotor on the left front was shot with a deep groove. I knew I was going to have to do the brakes pretty soon but they had enough surface on the pads and shoes for a few more months. The rear brakes and the front right are still in serviceable condition. First time I had just one side go bad.
4. I moved money from my savings that I had set aside for hunting to my joint checking account so I can use my debit card versus carrying cash. My wife noticed a balance in the account so she went and paid bills with it not knowing why I moved the money over. That would be on me for not telling her not to spend it so I had to apologize for getting upset.
Now for the hunt which was fun even though we didn't get anything yet.
@huntin' lunatic and his friend Mitch from Texas came out. They had antelope tags. @mrfrie and his son come up from Denver to help out. They drew deer tags. @ShakeDown, @ohsab, @Hunter777 and a few others didn't draw anything so they were thinking about coming up to help but for personal reasons didn't make it which is understandable. I hope to see them next year.
We started the hunt on Saturday, 9/25 with @mrfrie, his son and myself basically a scout day and terrain familiarization for the guys. We saw a bunch of antelope, mostly on private we had no permission to hunt on. I showed mrfrie and his son where they were most likely to find mulies. I attempted a stalk on a big buck that I estimate to be in the 14 inch tall range, nice mass with horns that kind of curled to the side. I got within 200 yards and spooked him out of there. With the cross wind the bullet drift would of been way too much so I never attempted that shot. I was locked and loaded but had to get close enough to get a chance at a kill shot. We drove from one spot to another, glassed for a while, drive some more to another spot, glass and then again. In all we saw a bunch of antelope but they were on private or out of range and unapproachable without bumping them out completely.
We went back into town for dinner and met up with @huntin' lunatic and his friend Mitch at the Stampeded in Chugwater. My experience there with the chicken fried steak was great. Well we found out they only do the banquet and a few menu items after 6 PM there. The banquet was underwhelming to say the least and the guys were not happy with the quality of their food. We did another scouting day to get the guys familiarized with the area and I showed them all the sections of land they can hunt on that I knew about. We saw a bunch of antelope but nothing near what I was used to in prior years. It was quite evident that the winter kill was significant this year.
We also experienced heavy pressure from orange hats (a lot with out of state plates) that had the antelope so spooked that they booked for safety immedately after seeing vehicles approaching anywhere close to them. The closest we could get was a quarter mile most of the time. I think everyone in that hunt area were pretty much chasing the same herds that ran from one field over a mile to where they thought they were safe. They know where that is. Us humanoid types do not.
Monday, 9/27 through Thursday 9/29 we did actual hunting and burned a ton of gas with some rather tough hunting compared to previous hunts I did. We did several stalks and kick up a few herds bbut never could get close enough for a shot plus we had crosswind most of the time which would of caused significant drift if we shot more than 100 yards.
While we were in the Chugwater Soda Fountain (which I recommend for lunch and breakfast, good feed and great malts, shakes and floats), one of the locals said that the antelope experienced desease from mites on top of the winter kills. I did some research and found a report that supports this:
oilcity.news
I think this had a significant impact on the antelope this year and will not be shocked of WGF reduces the license quotas further than they did this year.
Huntin' Lunatic and hsi friend Mitch had to head to Denver for a flight back to Texas so we ended the hunt early Wednesday around mid afternoon. I headed back home to replace the brakes on my truck and prepare to go back hopefully tomorrow to hunt antelope and help @mrfrie with his mule deer hunt. I myself have until October 14th to fill my Type I antelope tags and end of the year for my type 6 doe/fawn tags. I am not giving up and my hunting spots are around 60 miles from home so I will be commuting daily for the rest of the hunt.
From the guys, rest of you enjoy your own hunts:
1. I was hospitalized for a small bowel blockage a few weeks ago that nearly required surgery to fix. The costs of that not covered by insurance set us back trying to get it paid off before they send it to "aggressive collections" as they call it.
2. As I was getting ready the hitch on my camper started to separate from the frame so I had to leave the camper behind and instead commute each day of hunting to Chugwater, Wyoming where the guys were staying.
3. As I was driving home the left front rotor started grinding and I heard a clunk sound as something hit underneath the truck so I checked it when I got home. A pieace of the brake pad had broken off. The rotor on the left front was shot with a deep groove. I knew I was going to have to do the brakes pretty soon but they had enough surface on the pads and shoes for a few more months. The rear brakes and the front right are still in serviceable condition. First time I had just one side go bad.
4. I moved money from my savings that I had set aside for hunting to my joint checking account so I can use my debit card versus carrying cash. My wife noticed a balance in the account so she went and paid bills with it not knowing why I moved the money over. That would be on me for not telling her not to spend it so I had to apologize for getting upset.
Now for the hunt which was fun even though we didn't get anything yet.
@huntin' lunatic and his friend Mitch from Texas came out. They had antelope tags. @mrfrie and his son come up from Denver to help out. They drew deer tags. @ShakeDown, @ohsab, @Hunter777 and a few others didn't draw anything so they were thinking about coming up to help but for personal reasons didn't make it which is understandable. I hope to see them next year.
We started the hunt on Saturday, 9/25 with @mrfrie, his son and myself basically a scout day and terrain familiarization for the guys. We saw a bunch of antelope, mostly on private we had no permission to hunt on. I showed mrfrie and his son where they were most likely to find mulies. I attempted a stalk on a big buck that I estimate to be in the 14 inch tall range, nice mass with horns that kind of curled to the side. I got within 200 yards and spooked him out of there. With the cross wind the bullet drift would of been way too much so I never attempted that shot. I was locked and loaded but had to get close enough to get a chance at a kill shot. We drove from one spot to another, glassed for a while, drive some more to another spot, glass and then again. In all we saw a bunch of antelope but they were on private or out of range and unapproachable without bumping them out completely.
We went back into town for dinner and met up with @huntin' lunatic and his friend Mitch at the Stampeded in Chugwater. My experience there with the chicken fried steak was great. Well we found out they only do the banquet and a few menu items after 6 PM there. The banquet was underwhelming to say the least and the guys were not happy with the quality of their food. We did another scouting day to get the guys familiarized with the area and I showed them all the sections of land they can hunt on that I knew about. We saw a bunch of antelope but nothing near what I was used to in prior years. It was quite evident that the winter kill was significant this year.
We also experienced heavy pressure from orange hats (a lot with out of state plates) that had the antelope so spooked that they booked for safety immedately after seeing vehicles approaching anywhere close to them. The closest we could get was a quarter mile most of the time. I think everyone in that hunt area were pretty much chasing the same herds that ran from one field over a mile to where they thought they were safe. They know where that is. Us humanoid types do not.
Monday, 9/27 through Thursday 9/29 we did actual hunting and burned a ton of gas with some rather tough hunting compared to previous hunts I did. We did several stalks and kick up a few herds bbut never could get close enough for a shot plus we had crosswind most of the time which would of caused significant drift if we shot more than 100 yards.
While we were in the Chugwater Soda Fountain (which I recommend for lunch and breakfast, good feed and great malts, shakes and floats), one of the locals said that the antelope experienced desease from mites on top of the winter kills. I did some research and found a report that supports this:
Disease outbreak confirmed among deer, pronghorn; could impact Wyoming hunting season
CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department said on Monday that it is tracking an outbreak of a disease that mainly impacts white-tailed deer and
oilcity.news
I think this had a significant impact on the antelope this year and will not be shocked of WGF reduces the license quotas further than they did this year.
Huntin' Lunatic and hsi friend Mitch had to head to Denver for a flight back to Texas so we ended the hunt early Wednesday around mid afternoon. I headed back home to replace the brakes on my truck and prepare to go back hopefully tomorrow to hunt antelope and help @mrfrie with his mule deer hunt. I myself have until October 14th to fill my Type I antelope tags and end of the year for my type 6 doe/fawn tags. I am not giving up and my hunting spots are around 60 miles from home so I will be commuting daily for the rest of the hunt.
From the guys, rest of you enjoy your own hunts:
Wallydeuce
Well-known member
It sounds like you've been snake bit this year. I hope the rest of your hunt (and life) gets better. Good luck!
WyoDoug
Well-known member
10/4 Update:
Just a bit of update and lessons learned that I hope others can use or come up with ideas on how things could of been done better. @huntin' lunatic and his friend came out from Texas and hunted with me and unfortunately we didn't have any luck at all so far. What antelope we saw were extremely spooky so much so that when the saw a vehicle on the road they booked for private property pretty fast where I had no permission to hunt. I do know I need to spend more time contacting private land lowners. We saw some, nothing near what I saw in prior years but some trophy grade bucks and several herds of does, some with buck in them.
Issues we faced with this hunt with antelope:
Just a bit of update and lessons learned that I hope others can use or come up with ideas on how things could of been done better. @huntin' lunatic and his friend came out from Texas and hunted with me and unfortunately we didn't have any luck at all so far. What antelope we saw were extremely spooky so much so that when the saw a vehicle on the road they booked for private property pretty fast where I had no permission to hunt. I do know I need to spend more time contacting private land lowners. We saw some, nothing near what I saw in prior years but some trophy grade bucks and several herds of does, some with buck in them.
Issues we faced with this hunt with antelope:
- Pressure - we saw more hunters on the roads than I had ever seen in the area we were hunting. Hunting antelope under heavy hunting pressure is one of the more difficult tasks you might face hunting. I am hoping they all go home when I go back out this coming weekend to try and fill my any antelope tag.
- Depredation - many of the herds were being chased or atleast stalked by coyotes. A few herds including one that I put a stalk on a trophy buck had a coyote close by that was harrassing the herd or appearing to watch or stalk the herd.
- EHD - while not confirmed in the area, locals say antelope here are experiencing incidents of this desease.
- Heavy winter kill - biologist say winter kill was across all species and pretty heavy. I could see the difference once I was out there.
- Drought - when I went out there last month and a few weeks ago to do some scouting, the area appeared with a lot of weed flowers and green forbes that antelope love to feed on and I saw herds close to the road feeding on them not really afraid of vehicles on the road. During the hunt though, the water holes I found a month ago were bone dry. There were however streams and creeks in the area that appeared to have plenty of water yet running lower than normal. Crops we looked at (dryland corn, hops, sunflower) were looking pretty miserable and no where close to the height they should be for a good harvest.
- CWD - @mrfrie talked to the biologist who was driving around and the biologist says we were in the area with third highest concentration of CWD positive incidents in the state with around 30% of the deer population being infected with it.
- Drought - while deer get much of the water they need from vegetation they eat, it was extremely dry while we were actually hunting. We saw a quite a few does and had some in easy shooting range, just no license for does. mrfrie's tag tag was for antelered mulies or any whitetail. The does we got in range to were mulies.
- EHD - the deer are probably infected witht his too. Note that not all antelope or deer will die after contracting EHD. Some will develop an immunity.
- Pressure - the field we scoped yesterday before we called it quits for a few days had two local vehicles in the parking area. We heard a shot but didn't see anything ourself dead or alive.
Doug, to be totally honest, I think the biggest issue you are facing is the area you select when you submit your antelope application in the spring. There's really no excuse for a resident to not draw an area where you can fill your tag in a matter of hours if you are just after any antelope. Now, if you have a special connection with this area, I get it, but antelope hunting should be a pretty easy undertaking for a resident hunter each year.
WyoDoug
Well-known member
Normally it is. I generally scout the first two days and go for what I want on the 3rd and get my antelope on the 3rd or 4th days. With my type 1 tag I go after a nice buck the first week. The second week which will be this weekend is any antelope. I have been hunting this area about 10 years so yeah I kinda have a connection to it. However, this year I have seen way far fewer animals than what I am used to so I am going to do some heavy thinking when I start planning next years antelope hunt.
If I would have put in for area 38, where I hunted with a blind on FE Warren with my bow, I would have filled my Type 1 tag, but I am on the other side of the highway now.
Duck-Slayer
Well-known member
Good luck
Matt
Matt
WyoDoug
Well-known member
10/6 Update: No pictures, but I went back out on 10/6, Wednesday and got a buck. Not a trophy but at this point I was after the meat. It was cold and rain that was forecasted definitely happened and I was so cold and wet that I started dragging it to the truck. A game warden just happened to drive by and helped me and checked the tag and that. I was so cold and wet I had to get in the truck and change clothes and warm up. I took the goat home and skinned it and let it bleed out. Not a fun experience.
Then when I got home, I got a flat. Not just a simple flat. One of those tire separation flats that happen on older tires over 6 years old. The lucky thing is it happened just a few blocks from home. Truck has the original tires that were on it when I bought it and had good tread but they recommend replacing tires after 6 years old anyways. I was still cold and wet so I slowly drove it the remaining two blocks home and parked the damn thing until it was dry enough to work on it. One way to get new tires LOL.
I butchered the goat the following weekend. It was so cold and wet doubt if any images I would of took would of come out. I was shaking bad and luckily I had a duffle bag of clean clothes that I always take when I go out hunting even for day hunts. Been cold and wet more than once.
Then when I got home, I got a flat. Not just a simple flat. One of those tire separation flats that happen on older tires over 6 years old. The lucky thing is it happened just a few blocks from home. Truck has the original tires that were on it when I bought it and had good tread but they recommend replacing tires after 6 years old anyways. I was still cold and wet so I slowly drove it the remaining two blocks home and parked the damn thing until it was dry enough to work on it. One way to get new tires LOL.
I butchered the goat the following weekend. It was so cold and wet doubt if any images I would of took would of come out. I was shaking bad and luckily I had a duffle bag of clean clothes that I always take when I go out hunting even for day hunts. Been cold and wet more than once.
Pahoundsman
Well-known member
Congratulations on your buck,now go fill your doe tags.
Cheesehead
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2017
- Messages
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Congrats Doug! Way to hang in there
Crossbowguy
Well-known member
Congrats sir!
WapitiBob
Well-known member
You need to go to rock springs and get your luck changed. jeezus h
congrats on the pronghorn
congrats on the pronghorn
