We’re stacking the dryer! WY Pronghorn

[MtnElements]

This year I decided it was time to go after a couple tags I’ve been working on. Wyoming pronghorn had always been on my radar and knew it would be where I’d find the buck I wanted. I drew the tag and panic set in. I began e scouting hard and digging up memory of what I had found in the past when “passing through for work”. At this point I am beyond excited that I have a great chance at finally getting “the buck”.
I started picking at some close friends to confirm or debunk ideas I had. I’d say most are debunked but confirmed a few and my confidence grew as time went on.
The season isn’t until October so I have plenty of time to prepare right…? Well time ticks fast when you think you have plenty. This year has been a rollercoaster at work and nothing is normal. My schedule has me traveling and out of town during the weeks I needed to be in unit looking around.
excuses aside I think there is an over confidence in the back of my mind.
After all it’s a Wyoming pronghorn Buck!
View attachment IMG_0104.jpeg
@Bluffgruff @winmag

to be continued….

 

[winmag]

Looking forward to the write up!

 

[MtnElements]

September wrapped up and I was scheduled for work in Michigan to start out the month of October. Season is open and I’m on a damn plane surrounded by people! I should be crawling through sage brush not staring at mouth breathers in the airport! Anyway I’m still E scouting and talking to friends. Week 1 goes by. Then week 2 I have family plans so that’s a bust. Week 3 takes me to Texas again for work and I’m not starting to get a little concerned.
I’m trying to get this done without having to plan much time off work as I also have an Elk tag in my pocket for November which is really kind of where my mind keeps going to as I know that is going to take quite a bit of effort and I have @Bluffgruff going along with me and I want that trip to be as prepared as possible. Most have read all about that on the other thread.
So here we go now it’s getting down to the wire and I need to get up there and get this pronghorn done! I get a text from @winmag that he can go up with me and help get the buck done on Monday and Tuesday but needs to be home Tuesday night. Well damn I am beside myself! I get back Friday night from Texas and let the wife know I will be headed out Monday morning 10/28 after my morning work activities are caught up. She isn’t thrilled but understands. So Monday is here. I’m packed up for some truck camping and headed north. We decided winmag will be entering the unit from a pre determined south point and I’ll enter from the north. We will work our way to the middle and meet up to discuss what we have glasses up on the way in. I committed to him that I would not shoot a buck until we got together and evaluated what we have seen. I made sure the rifle was just out of reach and stayed in my work attire all the way to the rally point in the middle. I passed Multiple groups of pronghorn. All holding bucks that to me seemed good enough but I was good on my word and kept on corse. Typical chilly windy afternoon in Wyoming and got to the meeting point on time. Shortly after I get a text as I’m standing on the side of the road in my undergarments trying to get dressed for the occasion. He says head south about 3 miles I have a group we should go check out and a really good looking buck south that we also might want to re visit if we have time. All the sudden getting dressed turns into what my wife would call a yard sale with clothes all over and me hauling butt southbound!
we meet up and quickly sort out what’s going on and take a walk to see the group. Maybe 500 yards up and over a few sage covered bluffs to find this group has moved on in the cover of shallow ravines between the bluffs. It’s amazing how such flat country can hide these animals so well.
We abort and make fast pace back to the trucks and head further south to where the good looking buck was hanging out earlier. No signs of him but spot a group a mile or more south. Figure why not take a look. We get to 500 or so yards and notice there are quite a few animals here. Keep pushing a mild stalk and get to 300. One good looking shooter buck but he’s already dropped a horn. We hang out and watch till the sun drops. We’re seeing animals just gotta get a game plan and get it done. Find a flat area and park for the night. I suggest that there were a ton of bucks on my way in the unit and we agree it’s worth a drive in the morning to take a look.
The night is cold and out of nowhere we get smacked with high winds rain then snow and lightning right on top of us. At one point lightning hit both sides of the road within hundreds of yards maybe of us. We’ll get some sleep and let’s see what the morning brings us!

 

[MtnElements]

Does anyone really get sleep after you get into the grounds and seeing lots of animals?? I might have grabbed a couple winks in the back seat of the pickup. Alarms are going off and it’s still dark. Get up get ready let’s go! Eat a little snack and fire up the truck.
It’s a little foggy and mysterious out. We go with our plan to run and check out the north portion of the unit. A few mule deer out early. Of course we push a few pronghorn across the road as al we are moving. Nothing exciting us but the animals are around no doubt. Glass a few groups and decide we’re far enough into them we should take a road to the west and work the 2 track roads that somewhat show running around the area. As we get into it the fog grows thick. The roads have turned to soup. Maybe it rained a bit more recently to the north. Well as we start west the fog gets thicker. We can now barely see 100’ in front of us. A few animals dart in front of us showing us we will never get a shot off in this! As we get up higher and find a brief clearing we glass a small window and see a few bucks that we should probably get a better look at. Decide to take the return 2 track closer to where they are and after a bumpy muddy mess we get to an area close. They come out of the fog a couple hundred yards away and don’t seem bothered at all. Glass up the couple bucks and I’m ready to go get this done! @winmag says nope not the one keep going. I kinda look over like serious it’s now blowing snow like crazy and xan barely see 200 yards! Nope keep going he’s just an average buck.. I agree and we move along glassing and moving. Not much going on back to the main road. Now the snow has turned the road to a bogg! It’s a hot mess so we make our way back south. Thinking maybe we will turn up that nice buck from yesterday.

 

[MtnElements]

We get to about the day one meetup point mid unit after a dozen or so miles of driving through a sloppy mess and the sun kinda pokes us in the eyes. Right then 2 bucks out of the blue run across the road we travel. Nope avg bucks he says…. I replied we might just have to shoot one of these so called avg bucks if we are gonna be home tonight! Let’s keep going. Maybe a few more miles and weather is holding. I spotted a small group up on a hillside. We marked them and found a possible road to get us closer. Take the road and it looks like maybe someone was in here recently it’s a muddy mess and there are somewhat fresh tracks. We can’t see where those animals went. I suspect either they bumped or just hidden behind a bluff. We push a bit higher and man I gotta wash some dirt off! Stop at the top and handle business. We are out of the truck so might as well glass. We see some off in the distance but don’t appear to be any bucks. We are high so look further and longer. I come back to that group and it’s multiplied. Hey did you see those over there? Ya there’s 3 does…. I see like 10 but can’t make them out. It’s maybe a mile out.
Get the spotter out and holy smokes. I think I heard him say sumthin like. “Sumbitch that’s him”. We marked him and really looked over the terrain. How can we get there without blowing them out….

 

[MtnElements]

We make a plan and drive back down like we are leaving and stop out of sight. It’s a few hundred yards across a flat to a finger berm that we can’t skirt a few hundred more yards and ends at a short knob and 200 yard shot. But there is one small problem. The buck was bedded down with a few does at the bottom of a hill. The original 3 doe we had spotted were about 10’-15’ higher up and we know if they make us then we will be blown out.
We start walking and once we get to the berm we get low and turn up. Make it 100 yards or so and we both look over and dang those 3 are right there staring at us. Damn! We back up and get lower. Crawling through the sage we make it to the point and to our surprise they aren’t moving. In fact the buck is still in his bed chewing away. We slowly move into position. I check wind. He says not enough to worry. I get comfortable in a sitting position on bipod. Feeling good just watching them watching us. The wind is a steady breeze. Occasionally gusts. I’m a little worried the wind here is different. @winmag says don’t worry about it. Ok. I turn back on him just to hear him say oh by the way this might be the biggest buck I’ve seen in person… well damn that doesn’t calm me a bit. I then and say sweet you want me to shoot him in his bed? No let him get up. I ask again and look over you sure about the wind? He looks at him and looks back at me. He stood up you better shoot!! Eternity goes bye in my head but probably less that a second and BOOM! Hit him! Reload! He’s just standing there… hit him again no dont hit him again… ehh hit him again no don’t he’s going down…. He then starts to walk and I hear hit him Boom! He’s done! Haha we grab our breath and give him a moment. Let’s go get bands on him!
We take the short walk and I take my moment to in quiet to celebrate and thank him for his life. Shortly after @winmag says not gonna lie I kinda hate you right now this thing is a stud! Haha. Then a text from @Bluffgruff congrats! I’m starting to snap out of the rush of emotions. He’s “the Buck” we came to find!
We take care of business with photos and get him cleaned up and ready to travel. I can’t thank him enough for making sure I got what I came for. He’s happy for me and says well I told the wife you would come over and help stack the washer and dryer with me when we were done! I laughed and said you better text her and tell her we’re coming home to stack the dryer!
It wasn’t a half hour more we were on the road headed home and like a switch the snow and wind came back in on us hard and fast! It didn’t matter I was on top of the world!!
I’m having troubles posting photos hope this works!

 

[MtnElements]

Well for some reason I have a hard time getting photos in where they need to go.
I have had an incredible season on so many fronts! I’ve been humbled in so many ways.
Thank you @winmag @Bluffgruff @trb for making this a highlight year for me! Without I’d be sitting on an avg pronghorn and a busted up bull elk! Happy hunter right here!

 

[trb]

Hell of a buck! Great work, nothing in my experience in hunting out west is quite as much or at least the same type of fun as chasing pronghorn!

 

[Addicting]

Congrats but what the hell does the title mean?

 

[MtnElements]

Congrats but what the hell does the title mean?

The last few sentences explains. Thanks it was a great hunt with a great friend!

 

[winmag]

Congrats but what the hell does the title mean?

I promised my wife that @MtnElements would help me stack our washer and dryer (which required making some custom brackets) to convert our laundry room into a mud room if she let me go hunting those days.

 

[SwaggyD]

Congrats but what the hell does the title mean?

He’s happy for me and says well I told the wife you would come over and help stack the washer and dryer with me when we were done! I laughed and said you better text her and tell her we’re coming home to stack the dryer!

 

[Nick87]

Congrats
Really like that buck.

 

[WNC2500]

Congrats on the great pronghorn!

 

[Bowmannate2000]

Awesome! You had a great fall!

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

Love a good pronghorn story, thanks for taking us along.

Beautiful buck, love the width on him

 

[Bluffgruff]

I deemed that buck "huge," and I'm a bit jealous! Glad you got a taste of the target rich joy that is pronghorn hunting!

 

[Caseknife]

Sweet buck and great story. Hope the laundry room didn't turn into a mud room before the washer and dryer were stacked

 

[winmag]

@MtnElements I'm happy I was able to be a part of it! Hell of a year! It'll be a while before you get lucky and stack two great tags like that in one year again. Good job doing them both justice. And yes, I still hate you a little for your 80" pronghorn on such a short hunt!

 

[CPAjeff]

Great buck - congrats!