Getting out of the USMC & I want to hunt 'Lopes!!!

[A-5_Guy]

I fought my medboard for almost 3 years until they finally gave me my retirement...keep up the good fight

@JohnCushman,

Looked back through the thread and it looked like I was ignoring your posts. It wasn't intentional, sorry for that....

#1 Thank you for your sacrifice. I was lucky enough to make it back alive without too much damage to myself (my plane, that's another story!)
#2 I appreciate your encouragement concerning the MedBoard. The process is a bunch of BS that's geared toward the DoD's best interests. They tried to low ball me on the DoD percentage and go high on the VA. They didn't even consider my primary condition stemming from my failed back surgery. Totally rookie move!

Anyways, just wanted to let you know I appreciate your sacrifice.

And to keep the thread on topic: I bought some Kenetrek Mountain Extreme boots that I plan on using for the next couple decades...WOOOOOOT!

 

[JohnCushman]

S'all good, dude....I can call you dude now that I'm out

I've got the Kenetrek Bridger tall ones and love them. They've done everything I need them to do.

 

[A-5_Guy]

Well, I'm still in the 'Corps, but I just got back from WY and bagged a buck and a doe. It was a long haul from San Diego up to Unit 1 in WY, but I got it done in 6 days, 4 of which were driving. I camped on BLM and had an absolute blast. I also met some really cool people along the way (and some a$$holes that thought they owned BLM, haha)...

I'll try to get a quick story and pictures up tomorrow.

 

[fishing4sanity]

Congrats on the lopes! I've been on a few of those hunts that have more driving time than hunting and never regretted it once.

 

[406LIFE]

Well, if you want to draw a tag in MT, I'd be more than happy to take a fellow Marine out. PM if interested.

 

[Tufrthnails]

Congrats on bagging the lopes. Looking forward to pics and story.

 

[whiskeydog]

Well, if you want to draw a tag in MT, I'd be more than happy to take a fellow Marine out. PM if interested.

Same offer here! Got out of USMC as a Capt in '06...living in Billings now.

 

[5Speedjim]

Congratulations. Now that you cought the fever I guess your planning for next year

 

[A-5_Guy]

Congrats on the lopes! I've been on a few of those hunts that have more driving time than hunting and never regretted it once.

Well, if you want to draw a tag in MT, I'd be more than happy to take a fellow Marine out. PM if interested.

Same offer here! Got out of USMC as a Capt in '06...living in Billings now.

Gents, thanks for the kind words.

I left San Diego, CA on Weds morning around 0430L and true to California fashion I'm in a traffic jam at about 0515.



Pressing on, I made it all the way up to Evanston, WY on the first day. It was a very pleasant drive and I was already feeling the effects of being out of California: less anxiety, more happiness, better scenery...just that feeling you get when heading "out west." I picked up a few things at the Evanston Wally World and as planned I slept in the back of my truck, at the Flyin' J, which was actually pretty comfortable since I have a self-inflating "truck mat." Big shout out to Kamp Rite and their truck mats. I got up the next morning at about 0500 and made preparations to continue to my hunt area. While I was packing my truck I noticed a couple mule deer in the little grassy area about 10yds behind my truck. Haha! I knew at that point it was going to be a great trip.





I pressed on to Rawlins and caught a great WY sunrise that I just had to stop and get a picture of



More driving, and more driving...





Finally I got up to the main tract of BLM that I'd be focusing on and got camp set up around dark on Thursday night.




I spent all of Friday scouting all of the public land in the unit. I'd say I hit 90% of them, and nearly all had antelope of some quantity. I also saw more whitetail, mulies, turkey, badgers, bobcats, grouse, etc than I've ever seen before. It was amazing. So great to see the bounty of game on our public lands.







...more to follow in a bit.

 

[A-5_Guy]

...picking up where I left off:

During my scouting on Friday I found many groups of antelope that would suit my purpose. My goals on this trip were simple and few 1) get up to my area 2) find some 'lopes 3) at least harvest a doe. When I went to bed on Saturday night I felt confident I could complete my list.

I woke up Saturday morning to the sound of a truck pulling a trailer splashing through a rutted out portion of the road leading into BLM. This was at 0435. "Great I thought, this is going to be a zoo today." Well, it turns out that it was the old Marine (a local, in his late 70s at least) who was helping a friend of a friend from NC on his first antelope hunt that I had met the day before. We'd later have another "encounter"...haha.

Since there was at least 1 hunting party coming in early, I figured I'd go ahead and get myself ready and break camp. After taking care of all that business I hopped in my truck at about 0600, warmed up, and sipped my coffee. In my mind I found it funny how I was evaluating my options much the same way that I analyzed things in the cockpit as a MV-22 pilot. "What are the pros and cons of each area?" "What had I seen the day before?" "What if I get stuck way back in an area?" (keep in mind I was a hunting party of 1). After my risk vs reward debate I decided I'd head into the large tract of BLM where I'd seen plenty of does the day before. My goal was to bag a doe the first day, as I didn't want to use my buck tag on the first one I saw.

By sunrise I was about 40 minutes into a "knock the fillings out of your teeth" ride back into the BLM. I stopped short of a rise in a hill and decided to hoof it to the top carefully with my spotter in tow to see what might be on the other side. I stayed below the "military crest" of the hill (if you want to call it that) and found a spot where I could peek over.

There were two antelope about 600yds away. Even at 40x in my Leopold spotter due to the low light I couldn't tell if they were bucks or does. I kind of had a suspicion that they were young bucks by their mannerisms. After a few seconds I figured I'd go ahead and put a stalk on them. Even if they turned out to be dinks, I'd still get some practice on stalking. I went through my mental checklist, observed the terrain, likely avenues of approach and escape, and decided on a path. I worked my way slowly toward their general location taking care to keep a look out on other ridges as well. After about 30 minutes, I was in a position to set up and observe them. Turns out they were just some young bucks, but they kept looking at something.

I sat and watched them and the surrounding area for about 30 minutes. By this time, the sun was fully up and my spotting scope was working at full capacity. I finally found what they were looking at. It was a solid buck about another 600yds away bedded down below the crest of a ridge.

Well crap, I'd told myself I wasn't going to shoot a buck the first day; but, I kept hearing @Bigfin in my head saying, "don't pass up on the first day, that which you would shoot on the last." So, that settled that: the stalk was on.

In much the same way I stalked my way toward the buck. I got about 400yds away with a solid vantage point and shooting position. I waffled back and forth for about 10 minutes as 350 was the limit I set at the range the week before, mostly due to the fact I have a 3.5-10x40 VX-III. Even though I was ringing steel out to 600yds, consistently, I wasn't comfortable and stuck to my rule. Ringing steel and making an ethical shot are two completely different things.

So, as I surveyed the land and looked for a way to close the remaining distance I kept watching through my scope occasionally. Well, after about 5 minutes, right before I was going to make my move, the bedded buck appeared to just fall over--it was like he was struck by lightening, or blown over by the wind. For about 2-3 seconds I was dumbfounded. Then I heard the report of a shot. Ah dang, someone else was watching that buck too!!!

I glassed a ridge and sure enough the old Marine and the guy he was showing around were there waving at me as we looked at each other through our binoculars.

Well, that's public land hunting! I wasn't upset at all and was glad for the gent from NC. I made my way over to them and talked for a bit. They'd been watching me all morning, including the stalk on the young bucks. They'd been watching the bigger buck since sunrise and I felt certain they had the "right of way" on that one. It was the nice buck I'd seen the day before, had some nice ivory tips, and generally was just a good specimen. Here it is below:


By this time it was about 0930 or so and I was regrouping and rethinking my plan.

More to follow....

 

[whiskeydog]

...

 

[A-5_Guy]

(I know this is long, but bare with me)

So after watching my new friend from NC waylay that buck, I decided to press out onto a piece of BLM that, by first glance, appeared to have a locked gate. Well, it turns out that there's a local that likes to put chains on the gate with screw lock carabiners a la these



Whether this was malicious intent to discourage hunters from accessing public land I'm not exactly sure. I'd like to thing that it was the fact that he was grazing 3 bull bison on a portion of that land. Nonetheless, I proceeded onto the BLM tract and started getting my bearings.

After about an hour of driving, checking draws, finding the end of the two-track (runs into private if you're not watching out) I finally found a solitary doe bedded down about 1000yds from where I could stop on the two-track. Luckily there was a terrain feature, a finger, running generally N-S that had quite a bit of what looked like cedar on it that I used to my advantage to quickly close the distance. Using the terrain I got within 234yds. I'm not into numerology or anything, but I'm always looking for patterns in nature and I found this distance, 234, to be aggreable (maybe it's from a life of flying or my geological studies in my former life).

I spent 20 minutes or so observing her as I want to learn as much as I can about their natural ways when not spooked, etc. Finally, I figured I'd seen all I needed to see and I flagged her with my orange hat to get her to stand, which she finally did...

Some may have seen my other posts about developing a hand load for my 25-06 Remington specifically for this trip. You can read more about that here:

http://onyourownadventures.com/hunttalk/showthread.php?271018-25-06-and-RL22

Already in a sitting position, I fell back onto a lifetime of learned shooting skills from various mentors. I found my natural point of aim, made sure I had bone on bone contact, and felt solid as a rock. I slowly moved the safety into the "fire" position, inhaled deeply, slowly exhaled watching my crosshairs fall to my intended point of aim all the while slowly squeezing the trigger. Finally, I felt the sear release and expected the sharp report of a 115gr Berger VLD-hunting propelled by 53.5gr of RL-22. That was not the case. Only a resounding CLICK.

Son-of-a-beesting!!!! I've recently discovered I'd been seating my primers too deep and I guess I didn't catch this one in my "quality control." So, thinking quickly I raised the bolt lever to @#)(# the firing pin and sighted back in---this time a bit more rushed. This time, however, I was met with success. The Ruger M77 bucked and milliseconds later I heard the impact of the Berger bullet.

American Pronghorn doe down!

I racked the empty casing out and made sure to put it in my pocket for safe keeping.



After notching my carcass coupon I set about taking a few pictures. Next I quickly got to work using the gutless method to get the meat cooled. I had about a 1/2 mile pack out back to the truck.

For someone with as many back problems as me my Mystery Ranch Marshall pack performed flawlessly and I didn't feel even the slightest bit leary about wrenching my back.

Stay tuned, it gets better I promise...big lessons were learned

 

[vanish]

Subscribed

 

[A-5_Guy]

Alright guys, sorry this has been such a long read...

After harvesting my doe, I was pretty much tapped out due to the long drive, a less than full night of sleep, packing out meat, etc. As such, I was content to head back to town to check in with the wifey and reload on some ice. Before I left home I struck a deal with my wife that we'd communicate on an at least a 24hr schedule. I told her it would be like SERE school---she'd be like the satellite and you gotta communicate when the satellite comes around every 24 hours, haha. Anyways, it was time to call and check in so I did. I drove the 45mins back to where I was camping, set up camp, gathered wood, and settled in for the night. I slept like a baby that night, but the dang Canada geese were migrating all night and I kept having dreams I was goose hunting. I guess there are worse things to dream about.

Sunday morning found me up at about 0500 again, breaking down camp, warming up a meal, and making coffee. I decided I'd stick to the same tract of BLM that I'd hunted the day before since I was seeing a lot of 'lopes and I didn't have any kind of goals as far as "inches" for a buck. I set out around 0600 and waffled a bit on where I wanted to walk into. The day prior, I'd asked a certain landowner for permission to trespass across about 300yds of their land, but she told me that her son-in-law "handled all the hunting." We talked for about an hour about life, family, and this and that-- I really enjoyed that. Turns out her SIL was a pilot and I think it was he that did some "low passes" over my camp around dusk on Sat night in his SuperCub. I never did get to catch up with him, but maybe next year.

Anyways, I'd seen two VERY nice bucks Saturday afternoon just bedded down, watching the wind blow on BLM, but it was landlocked and I couldn't get to them unless I hiked about 4 miles one way. I decided not to push it, being I have a trick back and I never know when it's going to let me down it seems. So, I continued driving along some two tracks and found the same 2 small bucks I'd stalked the day prior. I eventually saw what was making them so skittish, if you want to say that, and found a more dominant buck working a herd of about 10 does off in the distance. His location was nearly the same area the larger buck had been shot by the guy from NC the day prior.

Again, I watched them for an hour or so as there was no pressure and no hunters that I could see. He put on quit a show everytime the two smaller bucks would get close. He'd paw at the ground, squat, pee, rub his neck glands on sage brush, etc. I really enjoyed watching these beautiful animals interact in their native environs. After awhile, I figured I'd put a stalk on the group of does and take another since I still had 2 doe tags left. I was indifferent about taking the buck at this point.

I drove to a spot, reorganized my Mystery Ranch pack, and set out. I played the "bounce antelope from ridge to ridge, circle downwind, bounce them back the other way, etc" game all morning until about 1100. All the while there was the single buck, and by this time 6 does and 3 fawns. I lost one somewhere along the way. I think this would later come back to bite me in the a$$.

Around 1100 they made the critical error of heading dead upwind and over a ridge. I dropped everything and hauled the mail in their direction. I closed the distance in about 20 minutes and when I peered over the ridge they were anywhere from 200-300yds distant. The buck was at 224yds. I looked at him through my binoculars and he seemed a good "first buck." Again, I was up there alone, I have a pregnant wife, and two boys back home...so I wasn't going to be very picky and if I could finish early and head back I would. Well, I decided that this was "the" buck. He stopped at about 265yds. Same song, second verse I told myself. I'd been watching him all morning so I didn't feel like I needed to drag it out any more this time. I racked a live round in the chamber, assumed the sitting position, and fired. He was dead right there. The group of does took off and made a wide circle going as far away as 400yds and as close as 125yds. Finally, they stopped at about 325yds so I figured I'd take a doe.

In hindsight, when it's 75 degrees, 1 pronghorn at a time is plenty, but like they say hindsight is 20/20...

Well, I picked out a doe in my binos, it was the one furthest to the left with her head down. I got in the sitting position again, got a good rest, but then remembered I didn't rack the empty out. So, I broke my concentration, racked a live round in, and sighted back in on the feeding animal with its head down.

This is where the big life lesson comes into play.

I fired, the animal dropped.

Great I thought, time to get to work.

So I walked up on my buck, validated my tag and notched my coupon. I snapped a quick pick of it as it lay before moving on to tag the next animal.



From there it was about another 100yds to my "doe." Yeah, ya'll can see where this is going...

As I walked up on the animal, the hair on the back of my neck started standing up. As I drew closer, I saw what I thought was something on the head. "Please, Lord, let that be a sage brush bush behind the head, please!"

Well, I won't drag it out or get dramatic.

I shot a small buck whose horns were about 1/2 the length of his ears. This is where a life of solid upbringing, lessons learned in school, church, the 'Corps, etc prepared me to do the right thing.

Immediately I knew I'd screwed up BIG. Not a small deal here, big deal! My mind raced and I felt sick to my stomach. I actually looked behind me, as if I was checking to see if someone had seen my transgression. I'm not trying to be dramatic here, as I have a diagnosed anxiety disorder stemming from who knows what, but I started having a full on anxiety attack. I couldn't believe what was happening. How did I do this? Dammit!

Do I just get the hell out of there?

Do I call it in and potentially lose everything?

I'd put a lot in A LOT of work to make this trip happen. Not just monetarily, but I was burning 10 days of leave, etc. All of these emotions occurred in less that 30 seconds. I shook my head, took a deep breath, and knew what I had to do..."I gotta get to somewhere with cell phone service and report myself," I said to myself. I didn't know what to do with the small buck, so I quickly skinned and quartered my buck and got it on ice. I was so mad at myself I didn't get a picture of me with my legal buck. I felt like I didn't deserve it. I was almost ashamed of it, like it was a symbol of how I'd failed to verify my target before pulling the trigger. A complete rookie mistake. "I'm better than that!" At least that's what I told myself. The animal roughly 100yds away begged to differ.

Here's where I learned another lesson. Even when you screw up, the Game Wardens generally don't want to see meat go to waste. I didn't know that, I didn't even want to touch the small buck because in my mind it was a dang crime scene.

So, I hauled my way back to town and had over an hour to think about my mistake. I eventually got in touch with the game warden and we agreed on a place to meet, but he wanted me to go back and get the meat. I made my way all the way back to the downed buck, skinned it out, quartered, and packed it back to my truck and got it on ice.

I made my way back out to the county road at about the same time the warden was rolling up. Here's another lesson. He already knew I'd screwed up, I knew I'd screwed up. I didn't make excuses, I told him what I did. He said he appreciated my honesty and that I was an exception to most of what he sees. He checked my licenses, obviously everything else checked out, and did his due diligence with regard to all other things under his purview.

After talking for awhile he made his decisions on what to do with me and the game. He cited me with a warning for wrongful take, took a doe tag from me, and made sure I knew what I'd done wrong We went over some ways to avoid these types of mistakes in the future. I'm not going to lie, even with a warning, I didn't feel any better about what I'd done. He was professional and courteous and for that I'm very thankful; but, by that point my "fun meter was pegged."

I decided that even though I still had a doe tag left and plenty of time, I was done hunting. I made my way to Gillette, WY for the night. As I drove back I thought about all the lessons I'd learned, not just the one involving the GW. I found it very ironic, and oddly soothing, that there was a heck of a thunderstorm in Gillette when I rolled in. It washed my truck clean. I couldn't help but notice the irony--just like the rain was washing away the grime of the world, doing the ethical and right thing with respect to illegal take allowed me to lay down my regrets and anxieties of the day. I'd sleep good that night...

I made it back to SoCal in 2 days of driving and I already miss WY.

Thanks for following along, I hope maybe someone learned something from my mistake.

 

[Slam]

A-5 thanks for your service.

Enjoyed your story - it is well written.

Character is shown not in good times but when things are not going well or a situation dictates a decision that is not the easiest path to choose. I applaud your choice.

This well known quote is appropriate:

“A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience, rather than by a mob of onlookers. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact.” -Aldo Leopold