Colorado Pronghorn 2018 - Hunting and Fishing Road trip with the (non-hunting) wife

[appmtnhntr]

Hey guys, the wife and I are embarking on an adventure tonight. NC to CO, loaded down and ready to roll. I posted up all the background in the Who Am I? section a couple days ago if you wanna know the whole story....

This all started when we had to scrap our 5-man September elk hunt two days before tags were bought. A pretty bad injury in the family sidelined part of the crew.
Having spent most of a year clearing my Sept. schedule, I wasn't about to give it up.

Knowing I needed to get away, the wife offered to tag along on the journey for a little R&R from both our hectic lives and go west.

Picked up two blackpowder antelope tags in SE Colorado, and we headed that way tonight around 12.

Before you ask why blackpowder instead of rifle?? I love musket hunting. Killed my first bull ever with a musket in September. Hard to get that out of your blood. The smell of the powder, the retraining your eyes to run those iron sights, the game that's only been pestered by archery hunters for a month or so... Love it...

Gonna spend the next 2 weeks Pronghorn hunting, calling coyotes, hiking after blue grouse, and trout fishing our way up through the mountains.

Camping along the way, we're gonna try and make it up to Rocky Mtn. Nat'l for the last 2-3 days of the trip, and turn the rig back east.
(hopefully full of Pronghorn meat, and maybe a cow elk if I can find an accommodating rancher! any help would be appreciated on that!!!!!)

It should be a pretty good adventure for us.
She's never been on an out of state hunt, and I've never gotten after Pronghorn.
Neither of us have ever been to the area where the tags are good, so I'm real excited for her to see how a hunt "plays out" with new ground, new species, and all the other things that come along with being in the wild west on your own for a couple days trying to figure out how to make it happen.

I will try and check in on here sporadically with pics and updates.

We off to the races tonight, and hopefully have a smooth drive ahead.

Really enjoying HuntTalk, and thanks in advance for any tips and info I might pry out of y'all along the way!

 

[vanish]

If you want, PM the units your tag is good for and I may be able to offer some help. I think muzzleloader season is my favorite for pronghorn. Good luck and have fun on your trip.

 

[Jorgy]

good luck, and remember when you enter RMNP the correct answer is "no, I don't have any firearms"

 

[Bigjay73]

Bring me 2 lbs of Neeses liver pudding, and I'll put you on some lopes. I'll be in SE Co as well this weekend.

 

[LCH]

Sounds like a great time! Good luck and be safe!

 

[Fitzwho]

I’m headed to th La Junta area on Thursday to do the same thing.

 

[fishing4sanity]

Sounds like an exciting 2 weeks coming up. I'm not familiar enough with CO to be of any help, but good luck!
Are both tags yours or is she hunting for the first time?

 

[appmtnhntr]

Well we’re at the exact halfway point. Been driving since 2:30 eastern this morning.
Just turned the reigns over to my copilot and gonna catch some sleep.

We gonna shack up in Ok somewhere tonight and hopefully be glassing by noon tomorrow.

Woooohooo

Haha. Btw, when I said I only cared about the meat, and needed to hunt out westthis fall, I meant it.

Both my antelope tags are does. One in the 85 area and another across the big road in 128.
Don’t care about horns. Our mission is to find the biggest trophy does I can find and see which ones let me get close enough to poke a half inch hole in their lungs!!

 

[Bigjay73]

128 can be a tough place to find public land. Good luck

 

[spinal tap]

Sounds like a great adventure. Best of luck!

 

[fallfreak]

Sounds like a great time to me.

 

[88man]

Have fun hope you both enjoy and have good luck.

 

[Bwana]

Sounds like a grand adventure, best of luck to the two of you!

 

[appmtnhntr]

Just hit mtn time. Stopping in Trinidad for some grub and a fishing license for my drivers ed instructor:hump:
Drive was great. Suby says we averaged 66mph. Took 24 hours of drive time.

No casualties from my hurried pack job on the jalopy.


Should be glassing by 230 and looking for a camp out of the wind with a little water somewhere close.

Gotta shoot the musket for good measure and get ready for tomorrow.

Gonna be pounding 128 area first hoping the pressure will be worse on Saturday, and we can fiddle over to 85 and get that done before heading up the mountain and trying to fish and kill as many grouse as the great state of Colorado will allow me to take home.

The wife loves the birds, and specifically packed peanut oil and some good ol NC House Autry hot chicken fry!

If anyone is gonna be around Walsenburg in the next few days, hit us up!!!

I’ve got the e-caller and .223 with me as well.
Coyotes and prairie dogs better watch out from us Southerners.

We have to hunt coyotes back home close quarters with shotguns and red dot 223s

Heck, I don’t think I’ve ever shot but 2 deer further than 200 yards!

Good luck to all you boys getting out there in the morning.
If you see a grey Outback that looks like the Beverly Hillbillies somewhere in Colorado for the next 8 days, stop and say hi!

 

[Elkhunter24]

Good luck!

 

[KY Sportsman]

 

[Reeltime]

I figured there would ge a great story here by now!?!?

 

[FLMIKE]

Bump. Yea, I've been waiting on updates also

 

[appmtnhntr]

View attachment 87312

 

[appmtnhntr]

Highs, lows, and a lot of fun...

Well.....

#1: Best hunting trip I've ever been on. Friday as we were pulling off the last section of BLM, wifey looks over at me and asks when the next pronghorn trip is, and where are we going... Midweek, she said this was 10X better than Yellowstone cause there's less people, more country, and I don't have an itchy trigger finger the whole time. And it's cheaper to boot!

#2: I'm addicted to antelope hunting. More to follow on that...

#3: Fiber optic open sights might be perfect in the East, but mine are now covered in Sharpie...

Stats:
~Round trip from my driveway to my driveway: 4,883 miles. ~1,650 of that was in my valid units.
~Averages: 22.2 mpg, total fuel was 220 gallons, and 50 mph average speed for the whole trip
~Number of fights, pissyness, or bickering during all those miles? Zero! No clue how we pulled that off!

~OnX said I did 48 miles of walking, stalking, crawling, shimmying, (insert action verb here), glassing, and "slippin" as we call it in the south. Something like 109,000 steps. Wife was right there in tow for most of it.

~Saw somewhere way north of 1,000 goats...
Of that, maybe 350 were on public land.
Of that, maybe 200 were on public land with access or no STL restrictions...
Of that, 75 were bucks, and prolly 125 does...

I put on 12 "real" stalks throughout the week, resulting in good opportunities at 4 does...
I had another 10 or so encounters throughout the week that were a lot faster paced, but no close shots or running/bunched up does...

The only things that died on the trip were:
2 tweety birds that didn't judge the Suby's speed correctly.
3 tarantulas crossing the road at inopportune times
and some number of generations of a particular prairie dog colony

_______
Recap:

Day we arrived:
Glassed up sections of BLM on the way in. Found goats, but the only place to camp was way up the drainage.
We went ahead and pitched camp in the dark.


----
1st Day:
Got up and ready. Clouds rolled in
We roll down the ridge, get on 3 little mulies, and don't turn up any goats.
Rain starts to POUR, wife forgot her rainshell, I gave her mine, we were a mile from camp. yeah...

So... soaked, we get back to camp, and just take a nap for a few hours till the rain stopped.
Wake up, and an elk hunter was up calling in the canyons and turned us on to another spot across the valley.
We locked up our very wet camp and headed the 35 miles around...

Got there, the rain cleared, and we turned up 5 does on the BLM.
I cut a big 3/4 mile look around them to get in some junipers, and made it to 175 before a buck came in running from over the horizon and moved them out to 300.
I was stuck, so I just watched till dark.

So, at that point it was dark, we were wet, and we had a 35 mile ride back to our very wet camp...

Now, I love my wife, and she's a trooper, but I knew the trip was going to make a very distinctive turn if I didn't get a solid roof over our heads so we could concentrate on hunting!
We called and found a room about 30 miles away. She helps me break down the wet camp, HAPPILY, and we go offload all the gear....

----
2nd day:

Plan was to get up early and be up in the bushes near the water tank from the night before...
Fast forward...to 7am... OVERSLEPT and still have an hour drive.

We roll that way, get up on the BLM, slip over the hill and she hollers "There they are!"
A good buck and 4 does were just crossing the top of a hill in one of the only areas I found that had big evergreens for cover.

I get ready, swing about half mile around, stalk up behind the junipers, and crawl up to 100 yards of what turned into a buck and 7 does bedded.
Picked the biggest closest one at 90 yards, kavoom. Nothing. They don't move... I shot high... (this was the first fight I had with my fiber sights)

They take off, and I watch for almost a mile as the entire herd bounded healthfully across the valley. Didn't touch her.
I was a little dejected, but thought, "Man, 2nd day, already getting into them like this. This is gonna be a breeze!"

Right after I missed the doe, of course, another buck saw the commotion of the original herd beating feet across the prairie, and walks up to 40 yards. Super. I'm holding doe tags. (big shout out to Colorado's leftover website)

Left that place to settle down and spent the rest of the day scouting country.

----
Day 3:
I've got their number now... Got snuggled up in the bushes by the water tank about 1.5 miles from the road and waited for sunrise. Left wifey in the car for a nap.

Daylight comes, no goats. anywhere. I could see 2 miles in every direction. Nothing.
Then at 9am, a little dinker buck walks up to 15 yards and grunts at me. Then circles around to get my wind, then walks up to 20 yards again... Yay. Doe tags.

Walk about 2 miles out a long spur of BLM and see dust on the horizon... pull up the glass... big buck... running my way.
Stood there on top of the hill in plain view and that buck ran straight to me and finally stopped at 50 yards.... Yay. doe tags.

Dejected, we left that COUNTY, and headed toward the Comanche natl grassland.

Turned up two solo does up there. I got to 240 and ran out of cactus. They were calm, and I had them in a valley. Let it fly off the bipod, and hit about 4" high. Windage was dead on.

Headed toward the hotel and caught a buck and single doe crossing the grassland right at dark. Got out and slipped over the hill about 200 yards, and one doe turned into 9.
Again, fiber optic sights and staring into the setting sun, I had a doe clear at 140, and shot right over her back! Again!


------
Days 4,5,7, 11,16,19, etc.

You get the point. Pounding the BLM, STL's, Forest, SWA's, everything.
Had a 2mile stalk on day four that ended in a shot that fell about an inch low at 180 yards...

------
Day 7:
I was getting pretty dejected at this point. We hit a lot of the normal spots and didn't turn up a thing, and found about 2,000 acres on OnX that we'd somehow missed the first part of the week. We decided to check that new country that afternoon.

We pull in, and I'm getting stuff out of the car when a buck and 10 does blow out of the junipers at 40 yards and top the hill...
She and I beat feet to the only tree on the hill and watch them at 250 for almost an hour. The buck was having a hard time corralling the does, and he'd run them 200 yards away, and 250 yards back. Over and over and over again.


I left her at the tree and started crawling through the cactus toward the next tree to get right around 150 for a shot before dark...
I got about 75 yards closer and the buck pushes the whole group directly to me.

Here they come. Wind is good. I've got cover behind a little shrub, bipod is up, lets do this...

Well the whole circus descended into chaos about 75 yards in front of me. It was an hour before dark, the sun was about 8 degrees on the horizon, and I had 10 antelope running around kicking up dust and grunting and all kinda craziness... Of course, all of this unfolded while I was looking directly west. I had the hammer back one time at 60 yards on a doe, but she had a fawn right behind her and I had to hold off... They kept on making laps down the hill and we waited till dark...

------
Day 8:
Last morning. Packed up the car. Got a late start. We eased up to the hill that will be forever known as the "honey hole". Little section of BLM where we had action all week. We went up there probably 8 times, and there were goats there every time.

No one had been up there yet, so I got out at the property line and started walking up the dead end road.
Picked up a single doe (only single I saw all week) coming up the draw.
Got across the ridge. got down on a point of trees, and was expecting her to pass by at 125. Money. I blacked out my sights with a sharpie on Wednesday, and was ringing a gallon paint can at 200 yards off the bipod.

Picked her up, got steady on the sticks, and waited for her to make it up a fenceline to me.

Enter Mr. Coyote on the knob... She picked him up, got a little weird but was still calm... only she was calm at 218, not 125.

I took every effort to get steady, calm, pick up the front post, and squeeze through the shot.

I got up off the gun to see a puff of white dirt about 15 feet behind her... high, again, by about an inch...

That was it. That was the last morning.

I walked up to the car smiling, and she knew I'd missed the last chance.

We made it about 10 minutes up the road before she asked me if I was bummed about not killing a goat.
Told her it was the most fun hunting I've ever done and I hope she goes with me every year.

------
So, that pretty much sums it up. Didn't bring back an antelope, but I learned a TON, I had a great time with my wife, and we can't wait to go again...

And, I won't go back to Colorado for Pronghorn with anything other than a musket till I kill one. Albeit with a hooded front and an adjustable rear...

They got me this time, but they ain't gonna get me again... I've got three points. Hoping I can pick up some good units.







P.S. Even though we didn't get an antelope, I still found some fresh meat...

Ran home from work last night. Wife had a work thing till 9.
It's archery deer season here. First NC hunt this year.
Threw all my crap in Suby and headed 40 minutes down the road to some public land that's only open 3 days a week.

Looking for a doe deer. Forgot my ranger and binos at home, of course...
Got there. Still hunting on the ground and picked up 2 does, but they were too far (just not sure how far. Something like 60)

Getting close to dark, and the bacon train rolls off the hill. I'd been keeping tabs on the pigs in there for a while but the wind has to be very specific for the thermals to help you. They are in a spot where 80% of the wind directions will wrap around to the place they lay.

Well, it's 20 minutes before dark, and about 15 hogs ranging from 50# up to 200# are all around me in a cane briar patch.
I've got a crossbow, and my .40 pistol (which has spilled enough hog blood to know what to do)

Got on the biggest one, but it was so close I could only see hair
They busted a bit, but didn't get the wind, and eased out to 40ish yards
Took a shot on a smaller one, and missed low shooting uphill.
They never busted, just eased over the knob.

Cut around them about a 100 yards and cornered them in an open holler where I killed a few woodcock this winter.
Slipped to the edge and there was the whole sounder at 15 yards.

Saw a smaller one step into the lane and I slid the bolt behind it's last rib. Down right there.
Ran down there with the ProTech to quiet the squealing so the bigger sows didn't come back in there after me.

It was dark by this point, and the sounder was only 30 yards up the hill. Still didn't get my wind.
Checked where I was on OnX, and drug that heifer out of there.

Ended up being a good eating size, about 70#. It was exactly 1.71 miles back to the car where I retrieved copious amounts of bug dope, a thermacell refill, a cold SunDrop, and my processing knives. Nice quick hunt.