desperatehills
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I would just like to say thanks to those that helped out with my Casper area antelope hunt. We had a great time even with the less than ideal conditions. I type slow so I will keep it short.
We left southern Oregon Thursday after work and drove to Lakeview. After a few hours sleep we were back on the road with plans of driving all the way to Casper. The first 120 miles we did not see one single vehicle. This part of Oregon is remote but that was incredible, not even a commercial truck going the other way. Things went smooth till we hit Wyoming. It began to snow and the roads were closing. Luckily we got a room in Rawlins and got some sleep. The next morning the road to Casper opened so we headed north arriving in Casper just afternoon. The motel has a 3;00 check in time so we decided to find the meat processor (Pat's in Mills) then go find the ranch we had access to hunt.
After meeting the rancher and getting the lay of the land we went to look around and soon found a herd in a bean field. We were still dressed in travel clothes but decided to try a stalk anyway. There was a foot plus of snow on the ground and my hunting buddy was still wearing his Romeo's. We snuck down a fence line and ranged the herd, 168 yards. I laid down in a prone position and used my pack for a rest. BOOM, nothing. BOOM, nothing. BOOM, still nothing. My buddy took my position and fired twice with the same result. We were baffled. We practiced a lot and were shooting 2" groups @ 300 yards. Apparently the antelope grew curious and decided to run our way and see what all the noise was about. They cut the distance in half and I reranged them, 220 yards! We thought they looked farther but there was no way our new Leica 1600 range finder was wrong. We ranged them several times, I have no idea what happened. Now with a accurate distance we each dropped 2 does each. Our Wyoming hunt was off and running. The guys at Pat's were surprised to see us back so fast.
The next day we went back to the ranch. We still had 2 doe tags left each and we wanted to fill them before we started to hunt for bucks. Our doe tags were for private ground and our buck tags were unit wide. There were 3 does in the bean field so we snuck to the same spot we were the day before. My buddy dropped one and the other two ran off a ways and stopped. As I lined up on the bigger of the two left it fell over. My friend got two with one shot. I thought they were clear when he fired. Apparently not clear enough. Luckily he had 2 tags so he was done for the day. I hiked from there up over the ridge and found several groups around a pivot. I circled around and got within range of a group of 20 or so. As I scoped them out a buck stepped out into the field at 170 yards. He turned and walked right to me. I was lying prone in the snow as he walked past me within 10 yards. It was exciting. He was a decent buck, maybe 14" and a nice heart shape but I passed. I wanted to see the public ground. When the buck was safely behind me I started shooting and soon had my last two doe tags filled. I was shooting a 25-06 with 110 grain accubonds. One shot was a little high on the shoulder and left a enormous exit wound.
Sorry for the gore, just thought some of you who know more about bullet performance might like to see it. With all our does at the processor it was time for some rest, tomorrow we would see more of the unit and try to find some bucks.
We headed to the west side of our unit to a area we new had lots of public land. We drove thru the private ground and started looking for goats once we hit public. We didn't get half a mile and we were spinning in the mud, barely able to go. we turned around and got out of there before we got ourselves stuck. We headed back towards town and took a more main road. It was nice having the land owner chip in our GPS, we knew when we were on public huntable ground. We drove along glassing from the truck. A few times we parked and walked over a ridge to glass. We were struggling to find animals. We had to be missing many. They were tough to see with the snow melting and the area being half white and half dirt. That afternoon my friend found one big enough for him and we were heading back to the processer.
Tuesday was my turn. It was our last tag and I was hoping to look over more bucks than we were seeing the day before. We headed to the east side of the unit and found what we were looking for. Once we hit public ground we started taking random roads. We glassed herd after herd, buck after buck. When we hiked over a ridge to glass the other side we would see several herds. We glassed a herd from the truck and decided to move on. Up the road it turned into private on both sides for a short stretch but soon opened up to a large chunk of public ground. This is where I was thankful to have the land owner chip. Before we reached the public ground the road got to snotty to continue. Rather than tear up the road we stopped and I walked up the road to the public ground. I found three more herds, all with bucks. Again none of them were what I was after. As I walked back to the truck I saw someone walking back to a truck parked behind me. My friend was sitting in the truck when she walked up. Her voice scared the hell out of my friend that didn't see her walk up. After they stopped laughing and my friends heart restarted she asked if he knew we were on private ground. He explained we had the land owner chip and I had walked up the road with the GPS to make sure I was on public land. She had the same GPS and was glad to know we knew the boundries. She was very pleasant as were everyone else we met in Wyoming.
We left there and went down the highway to the next good road. A half mile out we found two more herds to glass. One had 3 bucks. One of the bucks was goofy. His right horn grew straight out over his eye. I was tempted but still wanted to see more bucks. I thought I could find him if I changed my mind so we drove on. A half mile down the road I was fighting the mud once again. I glassed a large area ahead and didn't see much so I decided to stalk goofy. I hiked out the back side of the ridge they were on. when I popped over the top they busted me, I had walked to far and was looking in the wrong spot. They took off but didn't go far enough and goofy was down.
I can't tell if it grew this way originally or was broken somewhere along the way but it was attached. Its not huge so I am going to do a euro mount instead of a full shoulder mount.
After Pat's finished our processing we headed to Cody for a few days to check out the town and the buffalo bill center. From there it was to a friends in Idaho and back to Oregon. We covered 7 states in 9 days. Thanks again to all the MM'ers that helped with my planning this adventure. So much for my story staying short!
We left southern Oregon Thursday after work and drove to Lakeview. After a few hours sleep we were back on the road with plans of driving all the way to Casper. The first 120 miles we did not see one single vehicle. This part of Oregon is remote but that was incredible, not even a commercial truck going the other way. Things went smooth till we hit Wyoming. It began to snow and the roads were closing. Luckily we got a room in Rawlins and got some sleep. The next morning the road to Casper opened so we headed north arriving in Casper just afternoon. The motel has a 3;00 check in time so we decided to find the meat processor (Pat's in Mills) then go find the ranch we had access to hunt.
After meeting the rancher and getting the lay of the land we went to look around and soon found a herd in a bean field. We were still dressed in travel clothes but decided to try a stalk anyway. There was a foot plus of snow on the ground and my hunting buddy was still wearing his Romeo's. We snuck down a fence line and ranged the herd, 168 yards. I laid down in a prone position and used my pack for a rest. BOOM, nothing. BOOM, nothing. BOOM, still nothing. My buddy took my position and fired twice with the same result. We were baffled. We practiced a lot and were shooting 2" groups @ 300 yards. Apparently the antelope grew curious and decided to run our way and see what all the noise was about. They cut the distance in half and I reranged them, 220 yards! We thought they looked farther but there was no way our new Leica 1600 range finder was wrong. We ranged them several times, I have no idea what happened. Now with a accurate distance we each dropped 2 does each. Our Wyoming hunt was off and running. The guys at Pat's were surprised to see us back so fast.
The next day we went back to the ranch. We still had 2 doe tags left each and we wanted to fill them before we started to hunt for bucks. Our doe tags were for private ground and our buck tags were unit wide. There were 3 does in the bean field so we snuck to the same spot we were the day before. My buddy dropped one and the other two ran off a ways and stopped. As I lined up on the bigger of the two left it fell over. My friend got two with one shot. I thought they were clear when he fired. Apparently not clear enough. Luckily he had 2 tags so he was done for the day. I hiked from there up over the ridge and found several groups around a pivot. I circled around and got within range of a group of 20 or so. As I scoped them out a buck stepped out into the field at 170 yards. He turned and walked right to me. I was lying prone in the snow as he walked past me within 10 yards. It was exciting. He was a decent buck, maybe 14" and a nice heart shape but I passed. I wanted to see the public ground. When the buck was safely behind me I started shooting and soon had my last two doe tags filled. I was shooting a 25-06 with 110 grain accubonds. One shot was a little high on the shoulder and left a enormous exit wound.
Sorry for the gore, just thought some of you who know more about bullet performance might like to see it. With all our does at the processor it was time for some rest, tomorrow we would see more of the unit and try to find some bucks.
We headed to the west side of our unit to a area we new had lots of public land. We drove thru the private ground and started looking for goats once we hit public. We didn't get half a mile and we were spinning in the mud, barely able to go. we turned around and got out of there before we got ourselves stuck. We headed back towards town and took a more main road. It was nice having the land owner chip in our GPS, we knew when we were on public huntable ground. We drove along glassing from the truck. A few times we parked and walked over a ridge to glass. We were struggling to find animals. We had to be missing many. They were tough to see with the snow melting and the area being half white and half dirt. That afternoon my friend found one big enough for him and we were heading back to the processer.
Tuesday was my turn. It was our last tag and I was hoping to look over more bucks than we were seeing the day before. We headed to the east side of the unit and found what we were looking for. Once we hit public ground we started taking random roads. We glassed herd after herd, buck after buck. When we hiked over a ridge to glass the other side we would see several herds. We glassed a herd from the truck and decided to move on. Up the road it turned into private on both sides for a short stretch but soon opened up to a large chunk of public ground. This is where I was thankful to have the land owner chip. Before we reached the public ground the road got to snotty to continue. Rather than tear up the road we stopped and I walked up the road to the public ground. I found three more herds, all with bucks. Again none of them were what I was after. As I walked back to the truck I saw someone walking back to a truck parked behind me. My friend was sitting in the truck when she walked up. Her voice scared the hell out of my friend that didn't see her walk up. After they stopped laughing and my friends heart restarted she asked if he knew we were on private ground. He explained we had the land owner chip and I had walked up the road with the GPS to make sure I was on public land. She had the same GPS and was glad to know we knew the boundries. She was very pleasant as were everyone else we met in Wyoming.
We left there and went down the highway to the next good road. A half mile out we found two more herds to glass. One had 3 bucks. One of the bucks was goofy. His right horn grew straight out over his eye. I was tempted but still wanted to see more bucks. I thought I could find him if I changed my mind so we drove on. A half mile down the road I was fighting the mud once again. I glassed a large area ahead and didn't see much so I decided to stalk goofy. I hiked out the back side of the ridge they were on. when I popped over the top they busted me, I had walked to far and was looking in the wrong spot. They took off but didn't go far enough and goofy was down.
I can't tell if it grew this way originally or was broken somewhere along the way but it was attached. Its not huge so I am going to do a euro mount instead of a full shoulder mount.
After Pat's finished our processing we headed to Cody for a few days to check out the town and the buffalo bill center. From there it was to a friends in Idaho and back to Oregon. We covered 7 states in 9 days. Thanks again to all the MM'ers that helped with my planning this adventure. So much for my story staying short!
