welp I'm new here and new to huntn the west

[riley]

so about a year ago i stumbled across the famous randy newberg you tube channel, been watching his videos since, so with that i found out about this place, I'm your basic whitetail hunter from illinois , I'm headed for Wyoming next week oct15-19th looking to fill a couple antelope tags . 1 buck 2 does. its my first hunt out west.

i thought id start this up hoping that, if i run into questions on the antelope hunt, i can post here maybe someone will respond and help me out .

so far what i got going.

-I'm taking my wife, she's excited
-good shoes and tent
-good bingo's
-2 guns
1.savage 308 that I'm easily comfy with to 300yds. ( it might be a year but I'm looking to upgrade maybe to a bergara premier stalker .308, anyone like or dislike???)
2. old marlin .444 lever action iron sights my grandpa gave me (i love this gun,i will need to be within 100yds, maybe thats wishful thinking but I'm going for it)

-basic hunting/camping stuff.
-after that we are wingN it

First- we plan on covering as much ground as possible to check out whats out there. and to see how antelope react to us humans . we are going to come up with a game plan after whatever we experience .

i will keep this updated and if we run across some problems/questions hopefully someone on this forum could help.

Casper looks like the biggest town nearby. if we do stop in is there any restaurants worth it in that town?

 

[JohnCushman]

Welcome aboard! Good luck!

 

[406LIFE]

Whats a bingo?

 

[riley]

Oops.. bino’s not bingos

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Welcome! I shot my first buck with a .444 marlin. Kicked so hard I don't know who bled more, me or the deer.

 

[LCH]

Have fun and be safe!

No opinion on restaurants in Casper, but the G&F Office is a cool place to stop and visit if you have time.

 

[Rzrbck918]

Welcome and good luck! Be sure to report back.

 

[MN Public Hunter]

Welcome and have fun. If they have been shot at already, don't expect them to stand around long once they see you

 

[OhHeyThereBen]

Best of luck! Look forward to seeing some pictures!

 

[spinal tap]

Good luck!

 

[Wy067]

There should be plenty of opportunity for you to fill your tags. Looks like the weather will turn better about the time you get there. The wyoroads.info website has handy webcams for looking at the road conditions for where you're going. Casper is a large town (by Wyoming standards... LOL) and has all of the chain style restaurants. I can't speak for any special places. As MN said, some of the areas there opened up for rifle in late September, so they have probably been shot at and will take off as soon as they spot something suspicious on a ridge. Depending on the area and the terrain, I'd say you're most likely to use the .308.

 

[duckhunt]

Welcome from Iowa. Good luck

 

[wytex]

Good luck and travel safe.
Weather will be better for you as Wy067 stated. I would also stop in at the G&F office, they have tons of info for you.
Just remember those antelope will see you before you see them, lol.
We have some good local breweries also, check them out .

 

[JoePronghorn]

I hunted near Casper at the end of September. Tons of pronghorn around, though maybe they've been scattered since the opener.

Wyoming Ale Works in Casper had a great local beer selection.

 

[AggieCowboy]

Good luck! Casper is a big enough town and should have everything you'll ever need. Some of the smaller towns "nearby" keep pretty well stocked, too. I like HQs BBQ in Casper, great burgers.

 

[Elkhunter24]

welcome and good luck!

 

[Hobbs]

Lived in Casper for 10 years now. Good luck to you on your hunt, sounds like you have a good plan and you should have some success. Some good restaurants that I know of I have listed below with some notes. As mentioned there are a good majority of Chain restaurants in town, i.e Buffalo Wild Wings, Texas Roadhouse, But ill try to list some of the local flavor that I enjoy.

Breakfast - greasy spoon style (both are open for lunches as well, I believe they are only open on weekdays)

Sherrie's Place
310 W Yellowstone Hwy, Casper, WY 82601

Plows Dinner
2150 E Yellowstone Hwy, Casper, WY 82609

Lunch/Dinner

Wyoming Ale Works
5900 E 2nd St, Casper, WY 82609

Fire Rock Steakhouse
6100 E 2nd St, Casper, WY 82609

 

[5Speedjim]

Welcome aboard. I’ll be in Casper 10/15-31. I have 2 doe tags and a deer tag. If you need a hand give me a shout. I like the food suggestions, I’ll keep them in mind

 

[ol_spark]

Which unit are you hunting?

 

[riley]

.

ok guys we made it back alive . we had a really good time. we hunted oct 14-17 in a 0-PP unit close to casper. we drove through a snow storm saturday night/sunday morning, they shut down I-80 on us . that was an experience. went to our unit for the first time sunday afternoon and hunted till wednesday night. we ended up dropping the camping idea and staying in a hotel every night. long story short if we found goats they were either on private or really close to private, coming from a guy that has no experience with goats i would say they were herded up, we didn't see a group smaller then 10 we did see a group as large as 80! basically sunday/monday we didn't have anything close enough to shot at. but we did notice that we kept finding goats way off in the distance in one general area . tuesday we drove to another piece that got us close to were we had been seeing all these goats and it worked out great . at first light we had a chance at a 250yrd shot on a doe but after a 100 yard sprint and then a dive into a sage bush i was in no condition to shoot and passed on the shot.(that was also the first time i got to experience a cactus, those hurt) through-out the day we had goat activity, finally after lunch i was presented with a 287 yard shot that i was comfortable taking. we got him. it was a group of about 20 and i bet half were bucks , the biggest buck was standing at 380 but i decided i was still happy with the buck standing closest to us. took a good shot and we got him.

to sum it all up we filled our buck tag , did not fill any of our 2 doe tags . we had 3 opportunity at does (between 180-250 yards) all of the shots had at least one element that made it a uncomfortable shot for me so i passed on all, we had plenty of opportunity at filling our tags i just wasn't trigger happy. we did see at least two hunters per day but that didn't bother us at all. no way was i going to get close enough to goats to use my marlin .444. we spotted lots of mule deer does, and once a group of about 8-10 grouse. the more country we see the more amazed we are that God was able to create it all in only 6 days. casper has everything in it you would ever need . the G&F office in casper is way cool. the Hunt was fun and we are looking forward to another adventure next year . thanks for reading guys/gals