A long time coming. Wifes WY antelope

[Rackmastr]

Just on our drive back from Wyoming and wanted to share some pics of our hunt. Through the years this site as well as a few others like MM and Rokslide have been great at connecting with guys and being able to ask some questions while planning a hunt.

Wife ended up burning 15 points this year so we put together a plan to avoid opening day and head down on the 28th. We got to Rock Springs late and the forecast had rain it it the following day so we decided to cover as many miles before the rain as possible.

We looked at over 50-60 bucks on that first day, including a couple pretty good bucks and one that caused us to spend some time watching to see if he was big enough. Likely if it wasn't day 1 or was a couple days in, he would have been in trouble......

 

[rwc101]

That first one is just cool.

 

[Rackmastr]

Explored a lot of cool ground that first day!

 

[Rackmastr]

That first one is just cool.

Saw him in the first 30 mins. Really unique buck!!

 

[RyGuy]

Great pictures and those are some nice bucks too

 

[Rackmastr]

We ran into one hunter that first day, and saw 2 camps in the unit. I stopped to chat with the one hunter and he wasn't out looking for antelope so we got to talking about the unit a bit. He gave us a few good tips on places to check which was great!

He also showed me a few pics of a really heavy buck that he'd spotted in the summer and seen a few times. It was a really cool heavy short buck that looked old as heck. Lots of character. He gave us a tip on where he'd seen him. To be honest, at 9 days into the season I figured it was a dead end, but still thought it was really cool of him to share. We had driven close to that area earlier but hadn't spent much time there on our way into the unit.

We spent the rest of the day coveting miles and made it back to town at supper time as the rain started.

 

[Rackmastr]

It rained quite a bit through the night, so we slept in on day 2. I know what the roads can get like and we had 5 full days planned to hunt so weren't in a rush to get out.

We tooled down a new road for about 10-15 miles and didn't turn up any antelope. A new spot that we wanted to check out that morning. I finally turned around and figured we'd go back to the same road we started on day 1 and hike a few ridges to do some glassing.

As we were driving past the spit where the hunter had told us he'd seen that buck, I figured we might as well do some looking to see if we can turn something up. I had extremely low hope in finding him to be honest.

I turned down a road we hadn't driven the day before and 400 yards down the road we saw a herd. Throwing the binos up, i was pretty sure it was the same buck from the pictures. Spotting scope confirmed it immediately....it was him.

 

[Rackmastr]

We watch thus buck at 240 yards from the truck, and actually contemplate him a bit, due to his look and height. I ask my wife what she thinks on day 2 at 11 am and she considers him as we snap pics.

We run a few numbers to try and get an idea of how this short stumpy buck would score. I guess him at 12.5-13 long but have never judged mass as heavy as his so wasn't sure where to start. I figured 7.5 bases weren't unreasonable. I added all my numbers at it was 46 per side. I honestly felt like I did something wrong haha.

Kim makes the call and says she wants to shoot him, so we start to get organized since we were still sitting in the truck.

She gets set up on the bipod and Seconds before she shoots, he dodges under a ridge and takes off chasing 3 distant does. We move closer to the herd of does he leaves and sit tight. I'm confident (more like hoping) that he will come back to his does.

 

[Rackmastr]

It takes about 20-25 minutes, and the buck at one point heads over a ridge at 1000 yards to chase off a smaller buck. He then slowly starts his slow march back to his herd.

At 200 yards, a sage bush is blocking him and he hasn't been broadside while walking back. He beds down and we wait again....

After another 5 or 10 minutes one of his does stands and starts to walk away. He stands to follow. He cleared the bush and my wife sent a 120gr BT through him. A 30 yard sprint and he piled up.

Walking up on this buck was amazing. The mass is unbelievable. I'm truly in shock that he lived in such a well traveled spot and lived 9 days into the season. I'm also blown away by the generosity of someone giving us a tip on him. What an amazing guy and truly made our hunt special. It was nice to meet up later at the hotel and share the story with him

 

[Hunter4Life78]

That first one is just cool.

I agree he is wicked cool. Love the uniqueness. I've gotta hunt goats one of these years. Drew a permit when I was in highschool and we couldn't make the trip. Just need to do it.

 

[klampson]

Congrats to the both of you! That thing has insane mass! Would love to know it’s measurement?

 

[Rackmastr]

13 1/8 length
7 3/8 and 7 2/8 bases
7 6/8 and 7 2/8 2nd
4 6/8 and 5 5/8 3rd
3 1/8" 4th

Prongs 4 7/8 and 5 2/8

Gross 82.5

 

[BEvans]

This buck is what dreams are made of. Congrats

 

[rtraverdavis]

That is a really cool buck. Congratulations to your wife!

 

[BearFoot]

Awesome!

 

[Scott85]

Congrats!!

 

[Hunting Wife]

Very nice buck. Congrats to your wife!

 

[Salmonchaser]

Very very nice, congratulations and well done.

 

[TheTone]

Dang! Congrats to your wife on a really cool buck

 

[RyGuy]

That’s an awesome buck, congrats!
I bet at first glance most people wouldn’t see how truly big he is, because his mass makes the horns look shorter