Back home and got the truck cleaned up from the 14 hour drive. Settled in enough to do a write-up. What you are about to read is the wordiest write up for a doe antelope hunt in the history of ever, but I've got the time. A few of the guys on this page reached out to help me with this unit and I am truly very appreciative.
TL;DR ... shot some does.
Rough start to the trip forgetting the rangefinder a few hours into the drive but I've hunted enough out west to be decent at guesstimating range so wasn't a huge deal.
All of Day 1 scouting turned up one small group of antelope in the bottom of a bunch of nasty ridges and another smaller group on another piece of public. Hiking in to scout ran into three separate parties eyeballing that section but none seemed to have seen the antelope I found. On the hike out I ran into a couple guys heading in to camp on state land for the deer opener and when I told them I was looking for doe antelope, they gave me the number for a landowner that makes a liqeour that my mother really likes after having tried it when I first moved to WY 11 years ago. Small world, just thinking of all the stars that have to align for that to happen. After scouting all day I figured out this unit was completely different from the other units I had hunted in and that it was going to be a tough hunt.
Day 2/Opening day: Plan for opener was to hike in to the little basin with the small group of antelope and hopefully be waiting for them to be around when the sun came up. A drive by that spot at 0500 showed no fewer than 6 trucks, no doubt deer hunters but it ruined my plan. Plan B spot was not as good and sure enough the sun came up and there was nothing but other hunters around. Was a bit disheartened to see the other side of the bowl I was on had a road that I had somehow missed during scouting. Saw one small group of antelope a couple miles back but by the time I got to them they were 1/2 mile over the boundary. Oh well. Got back to the truck after that failed "stalk" and moved over to another section I hadn't been in. Saw a group that would have also been close to the boundary so set off after them. A couple hundred yards into that stalk a yearling buck came over the hill and was blowing at me from 100 yards. Ornery little bugger, but no girls with him. Driving home from the other side of the unit I was thoroughly discouraged at the lack of action and antelope seen. I am used to seeing loads of antelope and more or less being able to pick and choose which group to set off after. I had already taken my bino harness off and was making a plan of where to go the next day when I saw a string of antelope not 200 yards from the parking lot of a place I had scouted the day before. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I slam the brakes on, grab my rifle, fiddle with my bino harness, duck under the fence, and get settled in to shoot. Back doe is a big one and when she stops I let a round off. Immediately the herd takes off and I watch the one I shoot at continue with the group. They curl behind a hill and I hustle up to get another shot. Field is wide open up to the base of this steep ridge and there's not a sick/down antelope in sight, so I take aim at the last one again as they start to walk over. As soon as she stops again I rip another round off, same reaction, only this time they rocket over the edge and out of my life. 20/30 minutes of looking for a hit at both spots I shot and come up with nothing. At this point I have a hunch my rifle is off and am wondering if during the move this summer it didn't get bumped a bit.
Day 3: Planned on walking back on a state section bordering a walk in area on the north end of the unit. Hiked all the way to the top...no antelope. Hiked even further...no antelope. At the very back corner, I see a single doe on the other side of the fence and write it off as she's on private. Technically true, but after double checking my GPS, it was the walk in area. Make a sneak, get set up about 300 yards away (based off the far edge of the prairie dog town/ridge I was on) get my pack out for a rest and settled in waiting for her to stand up and the wind to settle. Out of no where a buck walks up and bumps her out of her bed, but she runs closer to me so I start thinking, hey, easy money right here. When she gets 200 yards away, I hold dead center of her chest and shoot. Good sounding THWACK and she runs off with her leg flopping in the wind with the buck in hot pursuit. Watching her in the binos I see her leg all bloody and thinking she's going to tip over any second I put my head down for a bit. When I look back, she's still standing, looking like she's regaining her composure. At this point they are within 100 yards of the edge of the walk in area ... and she beds down. I watch her for a few more minutes hoping she'll put her head down and die, but the buck continues to pester her and I know they can and will push does a far ways away. With no shot from my spot (over 500 yards now) I have to loop all the way around the ridge I'm on, down a wash, to the border of the public so I am between them and an escape. Halfway through the stalk I check to see if she is still bedded where I left her, and he actually has gotten her out of her bed and is breeding her. If I had had a buck tag I would have undoubtedly shot him if for no other reason than to defend her honor. The nerve of that guy. Thinking he'd have his fun and move on, I move all the way between them and the boundary and sneak up the hill to where I can shoot (should be about 100 yards). Only problem is, he'd stayed around for round 2 and busted me. He takes off and she stumbles to go with him, I sit down quick using my pack as a rest and take another shot as she hobbles away, no reaction. She stops slightly quartering away, I shoot again, down she goes. Thinking it's over, I give her a minute and walk up, only to find she's still alive. One more to the neck to end it. Poor thing, my rifle was so low it was hitting her in the joints of her lower legs, just missing her chest. Also explained the misses from the day before. Felt awful, but the only thing I could do was keep shooting. First one of the trip down. Almost a one mile pack out.
TL;DR ... shot some does.
Rough start to the trip forgetting the rangefinder a few hours into the drive but I've hunted enough out west to be decent at guesstimating range so wasn't a huge deal.
All of Day 1 scouting turned up one small group of antelope in the bottom of a bunch of nasty ridges and another smaller group on another piece of public. Hiking in to scout ran into three separate parties eyeballing that section but none seemed to have seen the antelope I found. On the hike out I ran into a couple guys heading in to camp on state land for the deer opener and when I told them I was looking for doe antelope, they gave me the number for a landowner that makes a liqeour that my mother really likes after having tried it when I first moved to WY 11 years ago. Small world, just thinking of all the stars that have to align for that to happen. After scouting all day I figured out this unit was completely different from the other units I had hunted in and that it was going to be a tough hunt.
Day 2/Opening day: Plan for opener was to hike in to the little basin with the small group of antelope and hopefully be waiting for them to be around when the sun came up. A drive by that spot at 0500 showed no fewer than 6 trucks, no doubt deer hunters but it ruined my plan. Plan B spot was not as good and sure enough the sun came up and there was nothing but other hunters around. Was a bit disheartened to see the other side of the bowl I was on had a road that I had somehow missed during scouting. Saw one small group of antelope a couple miles back but by the time I got to them they were 1/2 mile over the boundary. Oh well. Got back to the truck after that failed "stalk" and moved over to another section I hadn't been in. Saw a group that would have also been close to the boundary so set off after them. A couple hundred yards into that stalk a yearling buck came over the hill and was blowing at me from 100 yards. Ornery little bugger, but no girls with him. Driving home from the other side of the unit I was thoroughly discouraged at the lack of action and antelope seen. I am used to seeing loads of antelope and more or less being able to pick and choose which group to set off after. I had already taken my bino harness off and was making a plan of where to go the next day when I saw a string of antelope not 200 yards from the parking lot of a place I had scouted the day before. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I slam the brakes on, grab my rifle, fiddle with my bino harness, duck under the fence, and get settled in to shoot. Back doe is a big one and when she stops I let a round off. Immediately the herd takes off and I watch the one I shoot at continue with the group. They curl behind a hill and I hustle up to get another shot. Field is wide open up to the base of this steep ridge and there's not a sick/down antelope in sight, so I take aim at the last one again as they start to walk over. As soon as she stops again I rip another round off, same reaction, only this time they rocket over the edge and out of my life. 20/30 minutes of looking for a hit at both spots I shot and come up with nothing. At this point I have a hunch my rifle is off and am wondering if during the move this summer it didn't get bumped a bit.
Day 3: Planned on walking back on a state section bordering a walk in area on the north end of the unit. Hiked all the way to the top...no antelope. Hiked even further...no antelope. At the very back corner, I see a single doe on the other side of the fence and write it off as she's on private. Technically true, but after double checking my GPS, it was the walk in area. Make a sneak, get set up about 300 yards away (based off the far edge of the prairie dog town/ridge I was on) get my pack out for a rest and settled in waiting for her to stand up and the wind to settle. Out of no where a buck walks up and bumps her out of her bed, but she runs closer to me so I start thinking, hey, easy money right here. When she gets 200 yards away, I hold dead center of her chest and shoot. Good sounding THWACK and she runs off with her leg flopping in the wind with the buck in hot pursuit. Watching her in the binos I see her leg all bloody and thinking she's going to tip over any second I put my head down for a bit. When I look back, she's still standing, looking like she's regaining her composure. At this point they are within 100 yards of the edge of the walk in area ... and she beds down. I watch her for a few more minutes hoping she'll put her head down and die, but the buck continues to pester her and I know they can and will push does a far ways away. With no shot from my spot (over 500 yards now) I have to loop all the way around the ridge I'm on, down a wash, to the border of the public so I am between them and an escape. Halfway through the stalk I check to see if she is still bedded where I left her, and he actually has gotten her out of her bed and is breeding her. If I had had a buck tag I would have undoubtedly shot him if for no other reason than to defend her honor. The nerve of that guy. Thinking he'd have his fun and move on, I move all the way between them and the boundary and sneak up the hill to where I can shoot (should be about 100 yards). Only problem is, he'd stayed around for round 2 and busted me. He takes off and she stumbles to go with him, I sit down quick using my pack as a rest and take another shot as she hobbles away, no reaction. She stops slightly quartering away, I shoot again, down she goes. Thinking it's over, I give her a minute and walk up, only to find she's still alive. One more to the neck to end it. Poor thing, my rifle was so low it was hitting her in the joints of her lower legs, just missing her chest. Also explained the misses from the day before. Felt awful, but the only thing I could do was keep shooting. First one of the trip down. Almost a one mile pack out.
