F
Flatlandr
Guest
Before I get started I have to say that without the help of many folks, this hunt surely would have turned out much differently. Thanks go out to OddNut1, cowslayer and especially kiolwatt for all of the time you guys spent helping me. Brian, your intel coupled with what the game biologist told me sealed the deal on location for me. Then as you will read, a couple of young guys I met on the hunt helped complete the adventure for me. I have always read & enjoyed everyrone's hunt stories here on MM and always wanted to share one of my own and now I finally had an experience I feel is worthy of sharing...
We left out bright & early Friday Sept 5th and arrived 1500 miles later in La Barge Wyoming on Saturday afternoon. After a restless night at the motel we were up and ready to go at first light. After much map study and a lot of help from folks familiar with our hunt area, I decided on a BLM road about 10 miles South from town as a starting location to scout out for a campsite. Just north of where we jumped off the blacktop road we stopped for a pic at Names Hill,
Jim Bridger?s signature in the rock.
Once we were on the BLM road it wasn?t long before we came upon our first critter encounter, not positive but I believe they are Sage Grouse.
About 45 minutes into the BLM we come across a really nice campsite located in a small bowl on the eastside of a high ridge & nestled in a mixed patch of Aspen & Pine trees with a small pond about 300 YDS from the campsite. There is even some green grass growing right where a tent would sit, sweet! Only downside to this site is that there are some folks camped here already so we keep driving. We head up over the high ridge and down into a pretty wide open canyon that runs north-south and we head north. According to the BLM map I have we can go north a few miles where the trail will cross the creek and connect to a blacktop road (or so we thought).
As we drove north the canyon got narrower and steeper and the trail got nastier. Along the way we spotted this small Bull Moose down in the willows.
OK, fast forward to the end of the trail, we cross the creek once and then thru a gate to the next crossing.
Whoa here boys, one more creek crossing, we better get out and look real good at this one. JD goes wading about halfway out and proclaims that it looks OK. Then I spot some kind of piping in the mud just on the otherside of the creek, I ask JD what he thinks that is but he isn't sure. Now at this point I should have listened to the little voice in my head telling me to turn around and head back the way I came but my party wanted to push on so onward we went. I actually made it about ? of the way across the creek when I hit a hole full of muck and was truly stuck, all wheels just spinning, tailpipe blowing the occasional bubble! *$#@!!* and a few other choice words were said then Dad decides for some reason to get out of the truck and wade the creek to the other side. Now I can clearly see what that piping is that I was just asking about?it's those big nerf bars you see on pickups down low like running boards, they were all twisted up and lodged in the mud from some poor guy who tried to ford this creek!! Now my blood pressure is really starting to rise and to top it all off Dad discovers that the blacktop road is a mere 100 yards from where I am sitting. We watch as a couple of trucks drive by, slowing as they are no doubt chuckling at us. I open my door and the creek is less that an inch from flowing into the cab. Thankfully Rex has some chains and can get close enough to pull me out. Unfortunately my mind wasn?t on photos so I didn't get a good shot of me in the creek but this one gives a decent view of the situation. If you look closely in the left side of the pic on the other side of the creek you can kinda make out the truck parts that the creek had claimed.
OK, now that the drama is over its time for some lunch and dry clothes for Dad & JD. Thankfully I had enough patience to wait that one out in the truck and didn't have to get my feet wet as JD brought the chain out and hooked it to my truck. (I have another pic of this same scene but Dad is giving me the bird, I figured it wasn?t very family friendly & omitted it)
OK so we are now back to the area where the nice campsite is and it's getting late in the afternoon now. I look to my left and see a guy on a horse heading for us so we wait for him. Come to find out he (Chris) is one of the occupants of this camp. We chat for a few minutes and he confirms just what I was thinkin, that this is really one of the best campsites around this area. Now, here?s where it starts to get interesting, Chris proceeds to tell me that he and one other guy (Jeremy) are working for a company that is contracted with the Wyoming Game & Fish to conduct habitat studies for this area because of the decline of Mule Deer in this area. They have over 200,000 acres assigned to them that they have to cover mostly by horseback and compile reports of their findings. Chris also says that they have been camped out here since the first of June.
Soooo, at this point the light bulb is going off in my mind, actually more like a giant strobing neon sign, I'm thinking these guys could have some very valuable Intel for us and before I can ask, Chris is suggesting we setup camp here as there is more than enough room. After much discussion I finally convinced Rex and JD that this was our best choice for camp so we drove down into the bowl & setup camp. Understandably, Rex had reservations about driving 1500 miles to setup camp right next to someone else. Chris and Jeremy?s camp is in the background of the first camp pic.
Now we are on easy street so to speak, just enjoying the scenery and we have a couple of days to scout & get acclimated to the new territory. JD shows us how he is going to sneak up on them with his new decoy?
That first night Chris and Jeremy came over to camp and we all chatted for awhile, real nice guys, 25 ? 26 years old, both with wildlife biology degrees. Jeremy had found an Elk shed that Day and decided to give it to Dad for which Dad was very grateful. (Side note-Dad has been going west with me for several years chasing Muleys and Elk and has yet to bring home any critters, so this was kind of like his Elk prize so to speak)
Chris had an even neater find to share with us, a female Black Bear skull which he had found out in the sage brush. Upon inspection of its teeth we found some hairs still lodged in its teeth and we all had to wonder, was this the remains of her last meal or a piece of the critter that finished her off?
The next two days (Monday & Tuesday) we spent driving around checking out the surroundings, spotting game and just taking it all in. We saw many Antelope and it appeared that the rut was getting into full swing as many Bucks had their harem of Does which usually amounted to anywhere from 6 to 20 Does in a harem. (Not sure if harem is the correct word) I found a bowl about a mile east of camp that provided a very commanding view of the area so I went there Monday eve and Tuesday Morning with my spotting scope & binos to look at game and game I did see. On Tuesday Morning I spotted a nice Bull Elk from this bowl that I would estimate to be 320-330 class with a few Cows, also saw several antelope from this location. During one of our drives we did spy a nice wide Muley Buck (sorry no pics), I did get the cam on these girls before they disappeared.
Back at camp Monday evening Chris was happy to point out some good lope areas on my BLM map for us to check out. Later that evening around the campfire we are all telling stories, of course we have to talk about Bigfoot and Chris tells us about the Little People which are rumored to have lived in the Wind River Range not too far from us. At some point our conversation drifts to hunting and Jeremy proceeds to tell us about a really nice Antelope Buck, a 16 incher he had found and how he had stalked him on 3 different occasions but just couldn't get into killing range with his long bow. He said this particular buck lived in a bowl at the top of a ridge and that he claimed this bowl as his territory and would run all the other Bucks out of it promptly. He says that he could show someone where this big buck lives. Before he could complete his sentence I said sign me up Jeremy! He said sure, tomorrow we can go there, needless to say I did not sleep much that night.
The next morning (Tuesday) after spotting the nice Bull Elk I went back to camp and grabbed Jeremy (He had a archery Elk Tag) and took him to where I spotted the Bull. He was pretty excited about it and thanked me then he offered to take me to where the good lope buck was.
We could drive the truck down into the canyon below the bowl that the buck occupied but because the way the bowl is situated, somewhat open to the canyon below we had to stop about 1-1/2 miles short of the bowl and use patches of aspen for cover to approach the bowl from below at a angle to the bowl. After trekking up to the bowl, I can understand how this Buck has managed to elude hunters. The bowl is situated on the east side of a ridge that runs north-south, its west side being the highest point and at the peak of the ridge and the east side of the bowl low & open. There is a small patch of trees in the west bottom of the bowl and a very small patch of aspen at the SE corner of the bowl opening. All of the high sides are lined with rim rock and very short sage brush surrounds the bowl. This buck would indeed be a challenge for this flatlander! Nobody was home when we got there which was nice as I could really study the bowl. Jeremy explained that this Buck was easy to spot as his diggers were very high on his horns and he was graying from age. (Sorry, I wanted to but I never did get to take my camera to the bowl, pictures would have been better than my descriptions, just too much weight / bulk to carry)
Wednesday, opening day of hunting season begins with all the usual excitement of opening day. I had decided a long time ago that I was dedicating the first day to getting Dad a Buck. Rex and JD headed down into the canyon west of camp (Miller Creek) to hunt and Dad & I headed out in the truck for hopefully some spot & stalk action. The first two hours were pretty uneventful, no lopes anywhere we had seen them before, just cattle, we also heard a couple of shots in the distance which we later learned was JD letting the air out of his Buck. Finally about three hours later we spotted a good buck up top by the road near the little bowl where I had been glassing. We put a stalk on him but somehow he gave us the slip when he headed down into the bowl. At this point Dad proceeds to tell me that his arthritis in his knee is flaring up and his knee is swelling, he wants to go back to camp. I am getting pretty bummed out as I feel his hunt is going way south on him and there is nothing I can do about it. We hung out in camp for a couple of hours and I finally asked him if he minded if I go up to the bowl to look for the big Buck and I suggested that he ride along and hang out near the truck as one never know what one may see. He agreed and away we went. I made the long climb up to the bowl but nobody home again. I wanted to just hang out there for the day but a nasty looking storm complete with some pretty serious lightning was headed my way. I had read many bad stories about the Rocky Mountain storms and decided I should get the heck out of there while I could. That turned out to be a very good decision on my part. With the exception of JD getting his buck, opening day ended without much excitement, Dad retired early with ice packed on his knee in hopes of being more mobile on Thursday.
Thursday morning came too soon, another night of little sleep. This particular area of Wyoming is without a doubt, with the exception of the seemingly never ending wind, the quietest place I have ever been to and I think that overwhelming silence made it hard to get to sleep. Dad?s knee was much better this morning and he was back in good spirits. We all loaded up and headed down into Miller Creek, Rex and JD going south, Dad and I going north towards the big buck bowl. While Dad was feeling better, he didn't want to push it too hard so he decided to hang close to where I would park the truck, so when we stopped, I handed him the keys to the truck just in case he got one or got cold. I uncased my rifle and loaded four rounds into it. Then I checked my pack, four more rounds of ammo and enough snacks & water to get me through the day plus all the other necessary things for dressing & tagging a critter. Off I went, headed up to the bowl. I had only gone maybe 500-700 yards when I got to the end of the first patch of trees and stopped to glass the bowl. Bingo, we have Antelope in the bowl, from the long distance & low light I could not tell what they were but they were up high just under the rim rock so I would have to backtrack a ways and go high first then head north to the bowl in order to prevent them from seeing me and blowing my stalk. Once near the SE corner of the bowl, I dropped my pack and snuck into the small patch of Aspens where I hoped to glass the bowl. That plan worked out real well and I discovered that the two up high were Does and there were about 35 more lopes bedded down in the bottom west end of the bowl, six of which were bucks, now my heart is starting to pound as I am looking the bucks over. All of the bucks look good to this flatlander but one in particular I noticed was a bit taller and appeared to me to be grayer than the rest. So now I'm thinking this must be the one Jeremy told me about. Out with the range finder, my rangefinder is advertised to a max of 400 yards but sometimes it will display distances greater than 400, go figure? Anyway, this time it won't read them soooo, I backup and head back south to get my pack and head west & a little bit higher to try to get on them. Now I must really be careful as I no longer have the cover of trees, just short sage brush. When I think I am in a good location I drop the pack and start heading into the bowl. At first it's an upright walk that quickly goes to a bent over sneak and then the last 150-200 yards I am on all fours crawling. Boy I hope no one is watching as this is surely a humorous sight. I get to a point where I can see down in the bowl and yep, they are all still bedded in their same locations but now my rangefinder is picking up 400 plus yards. I reason to myself that I can get closer if I sneak back out and go a bit further west soooo, back out I go to my pack. I go to where I had spotted a low spot to crawl in, drop my pack and proceed to crawl in being mindful of the eyes still up high by the rim rock. I get there and glass the high ones and yep, still bedded facing right in my direction, careful Mark, I think to myself and then train my eyes to the bottom where I find no Antelope! I look to the east and see all of the formerly bedded critters slowly heading SE. ?Now what??? I think to myself as I watch them. Within a few short moments about 17 of them including 5 of the bucks split off and are heading for the SE corner of the bowl, yep, right where I just was about an hour ago! They actually passed about 50 yards from the small patch of Aspens on their way out of the bowl and down to the bottom of Miller Creek for a drink of water.
After I collect my thoughts and start glassing again I realize that the bigger buck is still in the bowl, cool! They have now moved to the north side of the bowl, out with the rangefinder but no reading again soooo, yep you guessed it, I crawl back out to my pack and make another stalk on them from a new location.
Now I am on the west side of the bowl crawling in above the rim rock. Another 100 plus yard crawl and I am really exposed now but the sage brush seems to be a little bit taller so I can easily stay below or in it as I crawl into position. Once I get there, I sit up and glass them, still in the same place, cool! Get the rangefinder out and now I am less than 400 yards, great, let's get the shooting sticks setup and collect my critter. I am now over three hours into this hunt and the wind has been blowing at a pretty good rate from the east. As I am setting up for my shot I realize that all of a sudden I hear human voices! What the?panic sets in as I watch my buck and his does get up nervous from the voices and head east and away from me! I glass around trying to locate the voices and I find them, an unoccupied small camper we noticed the first day on the other side of the canyon is now occupied by two guys and they are moving around and talking. Their location is, yep you guessed it, due east of the bowl and the wind is carrying the sound right into the bowl! They have to be a mile away but sound only 200 yards away. All week long the Antelope have had a comfort zone that usually exceeds 400 yards so I have decided that I will have to make a long (for me) shot if I want to get a buck but now they are way over 400 yards! Now I am sitting there thinking what now and the two up high are now on their feet and looking around too, be careful!
As I am sitting there wondering if these two fellas will ever stop talking I notice movement across the bowl on the NE corner. Up go the binos and I watch as 40 Antelope does slowly wander into the bowl. I have also realized that the camper guys have stopped talking and I look their way to see what they are doing, Whew, thank you Lord I mutter. Back over to the new group of does and Whoa! My jaw just hit the ground in amazement, for now just behind the 40 does in typical fashion is the biggest buck I personally have ever seen and he is following his does. OK so now the adrenaline is really flowing, up with the rangefinder and after a few tries I manage to get +430 yards just a few yards my side of him. I look at the direction the does are heading and if they maintain their current heading I should be able to get off a shot at around 325 yards! Up with the shooting sticks and in position! Now I am talking to myself and doing those breathing exercises like the expecting mothers do trying to calm myself for this shot. I'm talking to the does as if they could hear and understand me, ?keep going girls, that's right keep going that way?? then all of a sudden I hear those voices again! OH brother, now the camper guys have all the lopes nervous, there goes my opportunity, dang it!
(Side note- I have never taken a shot over 400 yards at game. I know that a 30-06 is capable of killing at that range and like I said earlier, the lopes are not letting us get any closer than 400 yards so I had decided that I would have to try a longer shot)
The camper?s voices stop and the buck & does stop milling around. I think to myself, it's now or never so I put the crosshairs on him and let the first one fly?big puff of dust behind him. Second, third and fourth shots go about the same as the first. The Antelope finally get tired of all of the commotion and head north up & out of the bowl, bye bye big boy! Only had four rounds in the gun, empty now! I sit there for a few minutes thinking, first dejected then realizing what a fun four plus hours I just had! Up I stand and back out of the bowl, upright this time thankfully, to my pack.
Back at my pack I sit down, load my last four rounds in my rifle, drink some water and eat some snacks. Now what I think to myself? I put my pack on and think, well I haven't seen anything to the north of this bowl and I'm already up here, what the heck I will head north a bit. I am now on the west side of this big ridge and I have probably traveled 400-500 yards north when I catch some movement north of me I'm guessing +300 yards. I hit the brakes and sit down really quick. Binos up and I confirm several Antelope in a low spot milling around. Off with the pack and out comes the shooting sticks and rangefinder! As I am sitting there I say to myself, ?The big boy is history, just shoot the next decent buck you see?. I watch as several does head west down the side of the ridge then slightly south at which point they are now fully visible to me directly west of me. I recall thinking this can't be happening, as the big boy steps out into view and stops broadside! I pick up the rangefinder and I honestly don't recall the distance other than it was 300 something, OH YA I'm taking the shot! (Yes I am quite excited at this point) BOOM, nothing, he just stands there. Two more times I shoot and nothing then BOOM-WHACK and he just stands there. All of his does run off down into the canyon and he just stands there not moving a muscle. I sit there watching him for 15 minutes and he doesn't move even his head. Why am I just sitting there watching him you ask, yep, out of ammo! I sit there for a few more minutes and finally he does a 45 degree spin and lies down with his head up. OK now I am a half hour into this and I decide that yes I hit him and yes most likely a gut shot.
(Side note- I have always prided myself on clean kills or not taking an iffy shot opportunity but I suppose the excitement got the best of me this time. This is the first time I have ever gut-shot a critter and I deeply regret the fact that I was not able to cleanly kill this beautiful animal and that he had to suffer)
Soooo, I decide that the only option I currently have is to pack my tail back over and down this ridge the +1-1/2 miles to my truck to get some ammo so I can get back up here and put him out of his misery, so off I go.
On the way down I get on my two way radio to Dad and find out that he has just had a fun but unsuccessful stalk and Rex connected a few hours ago on a buck. They meet me at the truck and we decide that JD and I will go back over the top and dispatch my buck and Rex and Dad will take the truck around the end of the ridge and drive back north to meet us. I give them my GPS which has the current truck location marked and tell them that when they get even to this location on the other trail (the trails run parallel to each other) to stop so as not to blow him out of his bed.
Back on top JD and I am really sucking wind now trying to grab oxygen out of the thin air and a weather system has blown in and its sleeting sideways at us, the fun just never stops. At this point I figure the big guy upstairs is mad at me for my poor shot placement and is making me pay for it and I figure I deserve it! We get very near where I last saw my buck and (sinking sick feeling here) no buck. I look to the NW into the bottom of the canyon and I spy Rex and Dad about 2 miles too far north, yep they spooked him off his bed! We start looking around and low and behold I spot him probably 600 yards north of us and intently watching Dad in the truck. JD and I start moving his way, we close the gap to probably 400 yards when he spots us and runs NW down into the canyon a little ways but I can tell he is not feeling real good at this point.
We watch him go a little ways then stop so we start stalking again. The west side of this ridge has no sage brush, just some sparse grass that is maybe 1-1/2 feet tall, not exactly what you could call cover soooo, down on our bellies we go. As we are crawling I spot a small pile of rocks maybe four feet wide and two feet tall max so I head for the rock pile where finally I setup a prone position shot to finish off my beautiful buck!
Now the kicker to this story is that while Rex and Dad are driving north of us a really nice buck shows himself to Dad, he gets out of the truck and BOOM but a clean miss but instead of running away, this buck runs straight for Dad?s position stopping right around 200 yards and BANG-FLOP!! YESSS, Dad finally scores a critter out west!
Back at camp I am pretty much spent but we still have much to do. First, we setup for some photos and then Chris & Jeremy show up and Jeremy says yep, that's the buck in the bowl!
Dad?s buck.
My buck.
A group pic of all of our bucks.
Then its time for skinning & quartering, hook up the critter pole!
Our last night in camp is a pretty one with the full moon?
Fast forward back home a few days later we have a butchering party, all?s well that ends well.
We left out bright & early Friday Sept 5th and arrived 1500 miles later in La Barge Wyoming on Saturday afternoon. After a restless night at the motel we were up and ready to go at first light. After much map study and a lot of help from folks familiar with our hunt area, I decided on a BLM road about 10 miles South from town as a starting location to scout out for a campsite. Just north of where we jumped off the blacktop road we stopped for a pic at Names Hill,
Jim Bridger?s signature in the rock.
Once we were on the BLM road it wasn?t long before we came upon our first critter encounter, not positive but I believe they are Sage Grouse.
About 45 minutes into the BLM we come across a really nice campsite located in a small bowl on the eastside of a high ridge & nestled in a mixed patch of Aspen & Pine trees with a small pond about 300 YDS from the campsite. There is even some green grass growing right where a tent would sit, sweet! Only downside to this site is that there are some folks camped here already so we keep driving. We head up over the high ridge and down into a pretty wide open canyon that runs north-south and we head north. According to the BLM map I have we can go north a few miles where the trail will cross the creek and connect to a blacktop road (or so we thought).
As we drove north the canyon got narrower and steeper and the trail got nastier. Along the way we spotted this small Bull Moose down in the willows.
OK, fast forward to the end of the trail, we cross the creek once and then thru a gate to the next crossing.
Whoa here boys, one more creek crossing, we better get out and look real good at this one. JD goes wading about halfway out and proclaims that it looks OK. Then I spot some kind of piping in the mud just on the otherside of the creek, I ask JD what he thinks that is but he isn't sure. Now at this point I should have listened to the little voice in my head telling me to turn around and head back the way I came but my party wanted to push on so onward we went. I actually made it about ? of the way across the creek when I hit a hole full of muck and was truly stuck, all wheels just spinning, tailpipe blowing the occasional bubble! *$#@!!* and a few other choice words were said then Dad decides for some reason to get out of the truck and wade the creek to the other side. Now I can clearly see what that piping is that I was just asking about?it's those big nerf bars you see on pickups down low like running boards, they were all twisted up and lodged in the mud from some poor guy who tried to ford this creek!! Now my blood pressure is really starting to rise and to top it all off Dad discovers that the blacktop road is a mere 100 yards from where I am sitting. We watch as a couple of trucks drive by, slowing as they are no doubt chuckling at us. I open my door and the creek is less that an inch from flowing into the cab. Thankfully Rex has some chains and can get close enough to pull me out. Unfortunately my mind wasn?t on photos so I didn't get a good shot of me in the creek but this one gives a decent view of the situation. If you look closely in the left side of the pic on the other side of the creek you can kinda make out the truck parts that the creek had claimed.
OK, now that the drama is over its time for some lunch and dry clothes for Dad & JD. Thankfully I had enough patience to wait that one out in the truck and didn't have to get my feet wet as JD brought the chain out and hooked it to my truck. (I have another pic of this same scene but Dad is giving me the bird, I figured it wasn?t very family friendly & omitted it)
OK so we are now back to the area where the nice campsite is and it's getting late in the afternoon now. I look to my left and see a guy on a horse heading for us so we wait for him. Come to find out he (Chris) is one of the occupants of this camp. We chat for a few minutes and he confirms just what I was thinkin, that this is really one of the best campsites around this area. Now, here?s where it starts to get interesting, Chris proceeds to tell me that he and one other guy (Jeremy) are working for a company that is contracted with the Wyoming Game & Fish to conduct habitat studies for this area because of the decline of Mule Deer in this area. They have over 200,000 acres assigned to them that they have to cover mostly by horseback and compile reports of their findings. Chris also says that they have been camped out here since the first of June.
Soooo, at this point the light bulb is going off in my mind, actually more like a giant strobing neon sign, I'm thinking these guys could have some very valuable Intel for us and before I can ask, Chris is suggesting we setup camp here as there is more than enough room. After much discussion I finally convinced Rex and JD that this was our best choice for camp so we drove down into the bowl & setup camp. Understandably, Rex had reservations about driving 1500 miles to setup camp right next to someone else. Chris and Jeremy?s camp is in the background of the first camp pic.
Now we are on easy street so to speak, just enjoying the scenery and we have a couple of days to scout & get acclimated to the new territory. JD shows us how he is going to sneak up on them with his new decoy?
That first night Chris and Jeremy came over to camp and we all chatted for awhile, real nice guys, 25 ? 26 years old, both with wildlife biology degrees. Jeremy had found an Elk shed that Day and decided to give it to Dad for which Dad was very grateful. (Side note-Dad has been going west with me for several years chasing Muleys and Elk and has yet to bring home any critters, so this was kind of like his Elk prize so to speak)
Chris had an even neater find to share with us, a female Black Bear skull which he had found out in the sage brush. Upon inspection of its teeth we found some hairs still lodged in its teeth and we all had to wonder, was this the remains of her last meal or a piece of the critter that finished her off?
The next two days (Monday & Tuesday) we spent driving around checking out the surroundings, spotting game and just taking it all in. We saw many Antelope and it appeared that the rut was getting into full swing as many Bucks had their harem of Does which usually amounted to anywhere from 6 to 20 Does in a harem. (Not sure if harem is the correct word) I found a bowl about a mile east of camp that provided a very commanding view of the area so I went there Monday eve and Tuesday Morning with my spotting scope & binos to look at game and game I did see. On Tuesday Morning I spotted a nice Bull Elk from this bowl that I would estimate to be 320-330 class with a few Cows, also saw several antelope from this location. During one of our drives we did spy a nice wide Muley Buck (sorry no pics), I did get the cam on these girls before they disappeared.
Back at camp Monday evening Chris was happy to point out some good lope areas on my BLM map for us to check out. Later that evening around the campfire we are all telling stories, of course we have to talk about Bigfoot and Chris tells us about the Little People which are rumored to have lived in the Wind River Range not too far from us. At some point our conversation drifts to hunting and Jeremy proceeds to tell us about a really nice Antelope Buck, a 16 incher he had found and how he had stalked him on 3 different occasions but just couldn't get into killing range with his long bow. He said this particular buck lived in a bowl at the top of a ridge and that he claimed this bowl as his territory and would run all the other Bucks out of it promptly. He says that he could show someone where this big buck lives. Before he could complete his sentence I said sign me up Jeremy! He said sure, tomorrow we can go there, needless to say I did not sleep much that night.
The next morning (Tuesday) after spotting the nice Bull Elk I went back to camp and grabbed Jeremy (He had a archery Elk Tag) and took him to where I spotted the Bull. He was pretty excited about it and thanked me then he offered to take me to where the good lope buck was.
We could drive the truck down into the canyon below the bowl that the buck occupied but because the way the bowl is situated, somewhat open to the canyon below we had to stop about 1-1/2 miles short of the bowl and use patches of aspen for cover to approach the bowl from below at a angle to the bowl. After trekking up to the bowl, I can understand how this Buck has managed to elude hunters. The bowl is situated on the east side of a ridge that runs north-south, its west side being the highest point and at the peak of the ridge and the east side of the bowl low & open. There is a small patch of trees in the west bottom of the bowl and a very small patch of aspen at the SE corner of the bowl opening. All of the high sides are lined with rim rock and very short sage brush surrounds the bowl. This buck would indeed be a challenge for this flatlander! Nobody was home when we got there which was nice as I could really study the bowl. Jeremy explained that this Buck was easy to spot as his diggers were very high on his horns and he was graying from age. (Sorry, I wanted to but I never did get to take my camera to the bowl, pictures would have been better than my descriptions, just too much weight / bulk to carry)
Wednesday, opening day of hunting season begins with all the usual excitement of opening day. I had decided a long time ago that I was dedicating the first day to getting Dad a Buck. Rex and JD headed down into the canyon west of camp (Miller Creek) to hunt and Dad & I headed out in the truck for hopefully some spot & stalk action. The first two hours were pretty uneventful, no lopes anywhere we had seen them before, just cattle, we also heard a couple of shots in the distance which we later learned was JD letting the air out of his Buck. Finally about three hours later we spotted a good buck up top by the road near the little bowl where I had been glassing. We put a stalk on him but somehow he gave us the slip when he headed down into the bowl. At this point Dad proceeds to tell me that his arthritis in his knee is flaring up and his knee is swelling, he wants to go back to camp. I am getting pretty bummed out as I feel his hunt is going way south on him and there is nothing I can do about it. We hung out in camp for a couple of hours and I finally asked him if he minded if I go up to the bowl to look for the big Buck and I suggested that he ride along and hang out near the truck as one never know what one may see. He agreed and away we went. I made the long climb up to the bowl but nobody home again. I wanted to just hang out there for the day but a nasty looking storm complete with some pretty serious lightning was headed my way. I had read many bad stories about the Rocky Mountain storms and decided I should get the heck out of there while I could. That turned out to be a very good decision on my part. With the exception of JD getting his buck, opening day ended without much excitement, Dad retired early with ice packed on his knee in hopes of being more mobile on Thursday.
Thursday morning came too soon, another night of little sleep. This particular area of Wyoming is without a doubt, with the exception of the seemingly never ending wind, the quietest place I have ever been to and I think that overwhelming silence made it hard to get to sleep. Dad?s knee was much better this morning and he was back in good spirits. We all loaded up and headed down into Miller Creek, Rex and JD going south, Dad and I going north towards the big buck bowl. While Dad was feeling better, he didn't want to push it too hard so he decided to hang close to where I would park the truck, so when we stopped, I handed him the keys to the truck just in case he got one or got cold. I uncased my rifle and loaded four rounds into it. Then I checked my pack, four more rounds of ammo and enough snacks & water to get me through the day plus all the other necessary things for dressing & tagging a critter. Off I went, headed up to the bowl. I had only gone maybe 500-700 yards when I got to the end of the first patch of trees and stopped to glass the bowl. Bingo, we have Antelope in the bowl, from the long distance & low light I could not tell what they were but they were up high just under the rim rock so I would have to backtrack a ways and go high first then head north to the bowl in order to prevent them from seeing me and blowing my stalk. Once near the SE corner of the bowl, I dropped my pack and snuck into the small patch of Aspens where I hoped to glass the bowl. That plan worked out real well and I discovered that the two up high were Does and there were about 35 more lopes bedded down in the bottom west end of the bowl, six of which were bucks, now my heart is starting to pound as I am looking the bucks over. All of the bucks look good to this flatlander but one in particular I noticed was a bit taller and appeared to me to be grayer than the rest. So now I'm thinking this must be the one Jeremy told me about. Out with the range finder, my rangefinder is advertised to a max of 400 yards but sometimes it will display distances greater than 400, go figure? Anyway, this time it won't read them soooo, I backup and head back south to get my pack and head west & a little bit higher to try to get on them. Now I must really be careful as I no longer have the cover of trees, just short sage brush. When I think I am in a good location I drop the pack and start heading into the bowl. At first it's an upright walk that quickly goes to a bent over sneak and then the last 150-200 yards I am on all fours crawling. Boy I hope no one is watching as this is surely a humorous sight. I get to a point where I can see down in the bowl and yep, they are all still bedded in their same locations but now my rangefinder is picking up 400 plus yards. I reason to myself that I can get closer if I sneak back out and go a bit further west soooo, back out I go to my pack. I go to where I had spotted a low spot to crawl in, drop my pack and proceed to crawl in being mindful of the eyes still up high by the rim rock. I get there and glass the high ones and yep, still bedded facing right in my direction, careful Mark, I think to myself and then train my eyes to the bottom where I find no Antelope! I look to the east and see all of the formerly bedded critters slowly heading SE. ?Now what??? I think to myself as I watch them. Within a few short moments about 17 of them including 5 of the bucks split off and are heading for the SE corner of the bowl, yep, right where I just was about an hour ago! They actually passed about 50 yards from the small patch of Aspens on their way out of the bowl and down to the bottom of Miller Creek for a drink of water.
After I collect my thoughts and start glassing again I realize that the bigger buck is still in the bowl, cool! They have now moved to the north side of the bowl, out with the rangefinder but no reading again soooo, yep you guessed it, I crawl back out to my pack and make another stalk on them from a new location.
Now I am on the west side of the bowl crawling in above the rim rock. Another 100 plus yard crawl and I am really exposed now but the sage brush seems to be a little bit taller so I can easily stay below or in it as I crawl into position. Once I get there, I sit up and glass them, still in the same place, cool! Get the rangefinder out and now I am less than 400 yards, great, let's get the shooting sticks setup and collect my critter. I am now over three hours into this hunt and the wind has been blowing at a pretty good rate from the east. As I am setting up for my shot I realize that all of a sudden I hear human voices! What the?panic sets in as I watch my buck and his does get up nervous from the voices and head east and away from me! I glass around trying to locate the voices and I find them, an unoccupied small camper we noticed the first day on the other side of the canyon is now occupied by two guys and they are moving around and talking. Their location is, yep you guessed it, due east of the bowl and the wind is carrying the sound right into the bowl! They have to be a mile away but sound only 200 yards away. All week long the Antelope have had a comfort zone that usually exceeds 400 yards so I have decided that I will have to make a long (for me) shot if I want to get a buck but now they are way over 400 yards! Now I am sitting there thinking what now and the two up high are now on their feet and looking around too, be careful!
As I am sitting there wondering if these two fellas will ever stop talking I notice movement across the bowl on the NE corner. Up go the binos and I watch as 40 Antelope does slowly wander into the bowl. I have also realized that the camper guys have stopped talking and I look their way to see what they are doing, Whew, thank you Lord I mutter. Back over to the new group of does and Whoa! My jaw just hit the ground in amazement, for now just behind the 40 does in typical fashion is the biggest buck I personally have ever seen and he is following his does. OK so now the adrenaline is really flowing, up with the rangefinder and after a few tries I manage to get +430 yards just a few yards my side of him. I look at the direction the does are heading and if they maintain their current heading I should be able to get off a shot at around 325 yards! Up with the shooting sticks and in position! Now I am talking to myself and doing those breathing exercises like the expecting mothers do trying to calm myself for this shot. I'm talking to the does as if they could hear and understand me, ?keep going girls, that's right keep going that way?? then all of a sudden I hear those voices again! OH brother, now the camper guys have all the lopes nervous, there goes my opportunity, dang it!
(Side note- I have never taken a shot over 400 yards at game. I know that a 30-06 is capable of killing at that range and like I said earlier, the lopes are not letting us get any closer than 400 yards so I had decided that I would have to try a longer shot)
The camper?s voices stop and the buck & does stop milling around. I think to myself, it's now or never so I put the crosshairs on him and let the first one fly?big puff of dust behind him. Second, third and fourth shots go about the same as the first. The Antelope finally get tired of all of the commotion and head north up & out of the bowl, bye bye big boy! Only had four rounds in the gun, empty now! I sit there for a few minutes thinking, first dejected then realizing what a fun four plus hours I just had! Up I stand and back out of the bowl, upright this time thankfully, to my pack.
Back at my pack I sit down, load my last four rounds in my rifle, drink some water and eat some snacks. Now what I think to myself? I put my pack on and think, well I haven't seen anything to the north of this bowl and I'm already up here, what the heck I will head north a bit. I am now on the west side of this big ridge and I have probably traveled 400-500 yards north when I catch some movement north of me I'm guessing +300 yards. I hit the brakes and sit down really quick. Binos up and I confirm several Antelope in a low spot milling around. Off with the pack and out comes the shooting sticks and rangefinder! As I am sitting there I say to myself, ?The big boy is history, just shoot the next decent buck you see?. I watch as several does head west down the side of the ridge then slightly south at which point they are now fully visible to me directly west of me. I recall thinking this can't be happening, as the big boy steps out into view and stops broadside! I pick up the rangefinder and I honestly don't recall the distance other than it was 300 something, OH YA I'm taking the shot! (Yes I am quite excited at this point) BOOM, nothing, he just stands there. Two more times I shoot and nothing then BOOM-WHACK and he just stands there. All of his does run off down into the canyon and he just stands there not moving a muscle. I sit there watching him for 15 minutes and he doesn't move even his head. Why am I just sitting there watching him you ask, yep, out of ammo! I sit there for a few more minutes and finally he does a 45 degree spin and lies down with his head up. OK now I am a half hour into this and I decide that yes I hit him and yes most likely a gut shot.
(Side note- I have always prided myself on clean kills or not taking an iffy shot opportunity but I suppose the excitement got the best of me this time. This is the first time I have ever gut-shot a critter and I deeply regret the fact that I was not able to cleanly kill this beautiful animal and that he had to suffer)
Soooo, I decide that the only option I currently have is to pack my tail back over and down this ridge the +1-1/2 miles to my truck to get some ammo so I can get back up here and put him out of his misery, so off I go.
On the way down I get on my two way radio to Dad and find out that he has just had a fun but unsuccessful stalk and Rex connected a few hours ago on a buck. They meet me at the truck and we decide that JD and I will go back over the top and dispatch my buck and Rex and Dad will take the truck around the end of the ridge and drive back north to meet us. I give them my GPS which has the current truck location marked and tell them that when they get even to this location on the other trail (the trails run parallel to each other) to stop so as not to blow him out of his bed.
Back on top JD and I am really sucking wind now trying to grab oxygen out of the thin air and a weather system has blown in and its sleeting sideways at us, the fun just never stops. At this point I figure the big guy upstairs is mad at me for my poor shot placement and is making me pay for it and I figure I deserve it! We get very near where I last saw my buck and (sinking sick feeling here) no buck. I look to the NW into the bottom of the canyon and I spy Rex and Dad about 2 miles too far north, yep they spooked him off his bed! We start looking around and low and behold I spot him probably 600 yards north of us and intently watching Dad in the truck. JD and I start moving his way, we close the gap to probably 400 yards when he spots us and runs NW down into the canyon a little ways but I can tell he is not feeling real good at this point.
We watch him go a little ways then stop so we start stalking again. The west side of this ridge has no sage brush, just some sparse grass that is maybe 1-1/2 feet tall, not exactly what you could call cover soooo, down on our bellies we go. As we are crawling I spot a small pile of rocks maybe four feet wide and two feet tall max so I head for the rock pile where finally I setup a prone position shot to finish off my beautiful buck!
Now the kicker to this story is that while Rex and Dad are driving north of us a really nice buck shows himself to Dad, he gets out of the truck and BOOM but a clean miss but instead of running away, this buck runs straight for Dad?s position stopping right around 200 yards and BANG-FLOP!! YESSS, Dad finally scores a critter out west!
Back at camp I am pretty much spent but we still have much to do. First, we setup for some photos and then Chris & Jeremy show up and Jeremy says yep, that's the buck in the bowl!
Dad?s buck.
My buck.
A group pic of all of our bucks.
Then its time for skinning & quartering, hook up the critter pole!
Our last night in camp is a pretty one with the full moon?
Fast forward back home a few days later we have a butchering party, all?s well that ends well.
