Upton Antelope Post-Hunt (Post #11)

[TN_Rifle_Junkie]

PRIVATE RESPONSES PLEASE.

I have done my research and I plan on shooting for the stars this year. Low possibility of drawing this other premier unit, but you never know.

South Upton will be my second choice and is (almost) guaranteed for hunting for both my wife and I. I have hunted elk in Colorado with heavy hunting pressure, and we are fit enough for a prolonged sit or stalk. We are planning for the full hunting period in case of inclimate weather or low antelope numbers. our plan is to camp on BLM with hotels/motels every three days or so for a hot shower and a nice bed to sleep.

I have E-scouted the unit over and over again, noting lots of the watering holes, two tracks, and what appears to be hunting blinds in the unit. This unit appears like rough country, slow driving, and I have a good 4x4 for actually getting offroad for scouting. We do not mind hiking long and hard into the middle of the areas to get away from other hunters. I know that antelope hunting is a vehicular spot and stalk game with some last minute on-foot stalking across the sage/brush to close the distance for a shot.

Are the roads within the southwestern part "grasslands" accessible by vehicle or is it walk in only? Are the walk in area even worth attempting after opening day? Does anyone have a ranch/connection to some private in this unit generally (alternate hunting locations)?

I noted a lot of walk in areas are the eastern side, but I generally assume this will be heavily hunted by most people with a tag in this unit. I am looking for private messages of anyone who may have hunted this unit before so I can bounce my notes off them if I am looking in the right areas historically for our hunt.

PRIVATE RESPONSES PLEASE.

 

[Muskeez]

South Upton?? WY ?? = Unit # ?

 

[TN_Rifle_Junkie]

Fixed thread title to prevent info spread.

 

[NEWHunter]

Guaranteed identifying the unit this clearly will take your second choice odds down.

 

[NoWiser]

If you really want to go, I’d reconsider applying for it as a 2nd choice. If you do draw it and do your homework you certainly won’t need all season. More likely a few hours on opening morning.

 

[Muskeez]

Edited, OP surely read it by now, no sense leaving it there for all the internet surfers to look thru. Best wishes.

 

[zpooch]

Just make sure to tell everyone what unit so they can apply for it as well

 

[BlakeA]

Hmm....Interesting. Definitely following! Our group of 8 have been looking for a unit just like you describe. We just don't do any e-scouting or research really because we don't have time with life ya know. Glad I showed up today!

 

[Schism]

Some people...

 

[TN_Rifle_Junkie]

I appreciate the private messages and encouragement.

 

[TN_Rifle_Junkie]

So, as the winter doldrums roll in I figured I would update this thread with my findings:

There are a lot of roads in this unit/area. There is a lot of walk-in square mileage in this unit. It is hot and dry (80 degrees) during the day and cold (sub-freezing) at night. There is very little flowing water other than rancher tanks. If you spike camp, be prepared to be serenaded by coyotes. We had several "visitors" in camp over the week that we were there, once my wife spooked a pack while going out at 3 am for a restroom break.

Based on several discussions with a lot of locals, there was a really bad winter kill last year, but the tag numbers were not changed accordingly. The buck to doe ratio was about 1:12 with only three pieces of private that had "a lot" (100's) of antelope. One was an alfalfa farm with adjacent walk in area, one is a private outfitter hunting location, and the last was a farmer tucked away in a far away valley in the unit. We had one medium buck that we decided to take several hundred yards into a walk-in area. We were gracious to the rancher and went out of our way to find him near the road to personally deliver the landowner coupon.

After the guttin' and gillin' of this buck, we searched across the unit for a few more days, tracking the herds on private and hoping one would make a mistake and move back to public. This tactic proved fruitless so we went full western and decided to use onX Offroad to drive over a ridge line deep into a rather large chunk of BLM. My wife spotted a herd miles away so we crept over rock and prairie to try and close the distance before starting the spot and stalk portion of our hunt. We chased this herd (5 bucks, 30 does) for many hours over the ridge line on foot and right up to a fence line to private. As luck would have it, they turned directly towards us and sprinted around us to recross over the ridge and decided to settle within 50 yards of my parked truck over 1000 yards away.

We maneuvered to keep the wind in our favor and used the ridge to cover our movements. By this point, we were both extremely excited with the prospect of taking another buck within 100 yards of our truck. Just as we were finished setting up for a 250 yard shot from a coulie, we noted a dust cloud coming from a far off ridge with the distinct sound of a chainsaw.

Needless to say, the person driving a side by side did not notice the BIG SILVER CHEVY COLORADO in the middle of the prairie with pronghorn all around it. What they did see, however, was the pronghorn herd. With my wife already on the riflescope, zoomed into the buck she wanted to harvest, she had to come off since the side by side was directly inline with the buck she was about to shoot. The driver did not slow down until he was within a 50 yards of the herd, slams on his brakes, jumps out with a rifle and attempts a shot at one of the now fleeing herd.

Both my wife and I are absolutely stunned at this action. I am RED HOT, fuming, pissed off, and cursing up a storm. First of all, a 4 hour stalk was just busted up by a hunter within moments, secondly, he almost got himself shot, had we not been paying attention to the general area. My wife, with her soft voice, looks over at me, shrugs her shoulders, and says, "Well, thar's public land huntin' for ya." Reality instantly sets back in, and the mood switches to laughing at the idiot who tried to kill a pronghorn in full run from a sXs.

I unloaded the rifle, collapsed the tripod, strapped on my backpack and walked back to the truck. While taking a water break and just getting our wits about us, we used the time to look at the area for all the "sign" the herd left behind around our truck. The sXs had literally and figurative scared the crap out of the whole herd. We also inspected the truck for bullet holes and any type of blood trail that may have been left behind by out sXs cowboy.

We immediately left the area after a quick glassing session, fully deciding that this herd had been sufficiently put on guard for at least the foreseeable future from hunting pressure. We went into town, filled up our gas tank, grabbed a couple candy bars and to our surprise the same sXs pulls in to fill up his gas tank right next to my truck. Without missing a beat, I ask the guy if he got that big buck he was chasing down. He was completely surprised by the comment, finally looked at my truck, and sheepishly answered with, "no." I didn't say another word directly to the driver but made some comments to my wife along the lines of how glad I was she didn't accidentally shoot the side by side in XXXXXX BLM area near creek YYYYY when she had that pronghorn in the scope at 250 yards. The guy finished filling his gas tank, took one look back at us, and said "sorry" before he drove off towards the area he was "hunting".

We stayed in this and the adjacent unit for two more days, looking for our other buck/doe harvests but in the end, we both agreed that the herd did not need us thinning them anymore than the previous winter had. We packed up and headed home to Tennessee, completely satisfied with only filling one of our four tags. It wan't that we didn't have a chance/opportunity to fill our tags, we chose not to fill our tags with herd conservation in mind. We dry fired hundreds on times on numerous does but both agreed that they had earned the right to see another winter and hopefully help the herds start their way back to recovery.

Needless to say, this trip was an adventure. We had fun almost everyday. We enjoyed the wild outdoors and the locals who we bumped into quite often when sitting on a hilltop glassing for antelope. Everyone seem genuinely happy to point out where they had seen animals or where they had harvested their lope. Several HT'ers were all in the same unit and we texted around the group, with locations of herds, stories from the hunt, and just general good luck to everyone each day. This made the long hours of the hunt bearable knowing that people were getting it done around us and seeing animals on a regular occasion. Sometimes it is all about being in the right place at the right time to capitulate on a hunt.