EF2’s 2020 Fall Hunt

[mdeerjunkie]

Tomorrow starts off the last 3 days of antelope hunting. I’m still kicking myself for my missed shot. I’m also tired of the ridiculous amount of pressure, crowding, and competition. There are enough animals for everyone to tag out, and you’re also on top of one another in the process. I knew this going in. Part of me wants to throw in the towel.

The other part of me is determined and stubborn. If I can pull this off I doubt I’ll regret it. I have several options to make a play on bucks. The closest thing to a sure deal is hiking in 5 miles one way to shoot a dink. Yes that’s kind of ridiculous but I also think I’ll appreciate the effort.

Go do it!

 

[Pucky Freak]

Go do it!

Haha...I think that might be my last day Hail Mary. After some additional thought I’ve got a couple other schemes I want to try first.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Made the 5-hr drive back from elk camp and pulled into my 4th BLM dispersed campsite about 10:45PM. I’m getting better at selecting these based on OnX, as my first ones pretty much sucked. After cooking supper and pitching my tent I’m deliriously tired and pass out about midnight.

 

[Pucky Freak]

I wake up and the sun is already out. My plan today is to cut off the nice buck from post 71&73 on his way to water. It takes a long while to walk to where I want to be, and when I’m just about there a doe pops up on her way to the creek. She is very wary and eyes everywhere. The only sign of the buck is 2 magpies and a new gut pile

 

[Pucky Freak]

There are 2 more high points where I can hike to and glass the rest of the basin. The first yields nothing, except a woodpecker getting its breakfast from a pinion.

At the second one I see 5 antelope at .8 miles. I want to glass the rest of the area, and also put the binos on the tripod to get a better look at the 5 and see if there are any bucks. However, I see 2 pumpkin heads on the bluff behind me with their binos out! I’ve about had it with people blowing past me to make approaches on animals on this hunt, so I make a very quick stalk plan and take off. Approach A hides me in a fold and then turns to use a finger ridge to hide the final distance. Approach B is along a dry run, but is directly upwind of them. I choose A. A doe is bedded on the end of the second finger ridge, and no matter how I use the landscape, I can’t get to the 1st finger ridge out of her sight. I backtrack all the way back and take B. The doe is finally off the top of the finger ridge. I ease over the top of the first ridge and there they are, 10 of them! 8 does/fawns and 2 bucks. A range, tripod set up, and this time SQUEEZE the trigger and he drops in his tracks, frontal heart shot at 199.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Fire drill to get the meat out from 3 miles in on a hot day. Quick pic, then quarter up and head out. 1.5 miles away I hang the meat up in a shady tree in a windy place. Head back to the truck for a break, food, and at least 3L of water. Heading back in now to finish the pack out and put the meat on ice.

The buck is everything I hoped and dreamed of and then some. He’s got gnarly spurs growths and tons of character like wicked twisty branches. I posted a grin n grin in the Let’s See ‘Em thread, and I’ll put another closeup of his horns and teeth once I clean the head up good.

 

[CUElk]

Congrats. Nice job

 

[mdeerjunkie]

Congrats! Awesome!

 

[Pucky Freak]

Thank you, Wyoming!

 

[Dave N]

Cool! Thanks for taking us along!

 

[Pucky Freak]

Looks like 3 1/2 year old buck based on full set of incisors plus mild pits in the 1st molar (4th tooth from the front).

 

[ashersdad]

Awesome! Way to stick it out and get it done. Congratulations!

 

[Pucky Freak]

2nd antelope processed and ready for the freezer. Skull is nice and dry. Sheaths will take a few days yet with Borax, and then will get glued on along with a few teeth that fell out.


Tomorrow I’m planning to hang a couple ladder stands on public, and I’ll bring along my shotgun in case I find a tom on turkey opener.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Got my 2 stands hung, then posted up at a 3rd spot, field corner transition area. A doe and 2 fawns came out and hung around at 25 yards for a half hour before being run off by a forky. Of course I didn’t buy an archery doe tag for this area like I did last year. I waited until dark just in case Big Hank showed up, but instead a squirrel came to scold me and she became supper.

 

[Pucky Freak]

“Daddy, I want to go on an adventure. You take me fishing? Please?”

 

[Pucky Freak]

Thursday: scouting on private. I set up on a good glassing spot near the crest of a hill to try and see where the does are bedding and then moving to feed at night. After sunset the deer family group appeared and followed the same pattern as last year (passed within 10 yards of my blind I wasn’t in). The buck fawn from last year was absent, but the doe had twins and her doe fawn from last year had a fawn of her own now. They fed towards me and came to 20 yards face on before winding my downhill thermal. They then circled wide around me to the picked cornfield, 43 yards broadside less than 10 mins before shooting light ended. I drew back and then let down. Between the distance and the darkness it was a marginal shot opportunity. I waited until they walked a ways further, then quietly left myself.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Glassed one of my favorite public spots tonight. Started by gridding the whole area from 3 different vantage points. All I could turn up was a forky skull that someone had hung in a tree.


A half hour before sunset the drainage came alive with about 15 deer. 12 does and fawns, a forky, a decent buck, and an old white-faced buck with no antlers. At first I thought this last deer was a doe, but after watching his behavior that seemed implausible. This deer approached the decent buck and they both bristled up. Then they met head to head and the younger deer flung the older one to the ground with one heave of his swollen neck.

I got to watch the decent buck for an hour. He sniffed where some does had bedded, worked a scrape, and made several rubs.


In the morning I can either sit in his bed and shoot him when he shows up, or else get a good glassing spot, watch him bed, and then sneak in on him using the wind to hide my sound and movement.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Opted to get in early and post on the buck bed. I blew at least one deer out on the way in, which sounded like doe from the alarm snort. Saw nothing at daybreak- it was not very cold last night and I think the deer were back to their beds early. SSW wind ended up gusting WSW making a large scent cone which didn’t help either.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Finished the euro mount today and ordered a hanger bracket

 

[Pahoundsman]

Finished the euro mount today and ordered a hanger bracket
View attachment 158207

Nicely done