AWHOLELOTTABULL
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Meagan and her friend from Kansas, Caleb, drew antelope tags in Wyoming. This would be Calebs first "Speed Goat" hunt and Meagans second. We left Thursday night after Meagans soccer game and that put us into Rawlings at 2:00 a.m. We got up and met our friends early the next morning and finished setting up camp.
We headed out from camp on foot. Cableb and his dad went up the valley to the West and Meagan and I headed East to a place called "The Rock Pile". It over looks another smaller grassy valley with a pond at the head of it.
We had been at The Rock Pile for close to an hour. Most of the antelope were far to the North and East from where we were sitting and by that time it was hot and most of them were bedding down. I was glassing and noticed that it had got really quiet to my left. I looked over towards my hunting buddy and found that she had checked out on me. I guess that late night with an early wakeup call got the best of her.
We decided to head back to camp and get a bite to eat and take a little nap. We had been back to camp for about 30 minutes when Caleb and his dad strolled back in with blood on their hands. After spotting a couple of good bucks at about 300 yards, Caleb had closed the distance to 180 and dropped the hammer on his first goat.
We headed back out after lunch and decided to circle down below where we had seen the biggest concentration of antelope. We got the wind in our face and crawled the last 50 grueling yards to the edge of the valley. As we got closer to the edge we started seeing some does. Some were up feeding but most were bedded down. After glassing for a minute we spotted the buck. He was heavy with great curls on top and good prongs. I left the decision up to Meagan and she said he was good enough to end her hunt on the first day. Now we had to decide on how to get her into position to shoot without being seen. We had a little dirt birm that we were hid behind but if Meagan got into a sitting position to shoot off the bipods it would be really risky and more than likely they would see us. So we dicided to try a prone shot. We had a line of brush the topped the birm to our right with a small opening in the middle. We belly crawled over to the opening and Meagan took off her pack. Laying side by side, I slid the pack up in to the opening as Meagan layed the rifle on top. After getting several minutes of trying to jockey into position she finally found her spot. We had been laying there for around 20 minutes when they started to get up and feed. There were a lot more antelope than we originally saw and they all decided to get in front of the buck. Meagan had no shot. They started to file away to our left and fortunately the buck decided to wait. As Meagan waited for her shot 2 more bucks showed up. They started to mingle with the rest of them and I lost track of the buck Meagan was after. I had left my binos 6 feet away when we decided to belly crawl and all I could tell for sure was that they were bucks. Meagan was watching them file through her scope when she wispered, "I've got him." I asked her if she was sure and she said "Yep, he's the only one with the big curls on top". As the last of the does filed away, the 2 remaining ones were bucks. It just so happened that the other buck picked a spot in front of Meagans buck and stopped. Again, no shot. She waited patiently and finaly the buck turned, took 3 steps and stopped. Before I could say a word, the familiar sound of her .243 rang out. She sent a 95 grain Federal Vital Shock through his right front shoulder and into his left destroying everything in between. The buck dropped like a rock and Meagans hunt was over. After the high fives and the traditional victory dance we made our way over to Meagans buck and we were pleased with what we walked up on. Meagan did the majority of this on her own. SHe picked up the slack with her rifle scope when her dad didn't have his binos to help her. Great job babe! Enjoy!
This photo was taken back at camp. Dad forgot his camera too.
It's always an adventure!!!
We headed out from camp on foot. Cableb and his dad went up the valley to the West and Meagan and I headed East to a place called "The Rock Pile". It over looks another smaller grassy valley with a pond at the head of it.
We had been at The Rock Pile for close to an hour. Most of the antelope were far to the North and East from where we were sitting and by that time it was hot and most of them were bedding down. I was glassing and noticed that it had got really quiet to my left. I looked over towards my hunting buddy and found that she had checked out on me. I guess that late night with an early wakeup call got the best of her.
We decided to head back to camp and get a bite to eat and take a little nap. We had been back to camp for about 30 minutes when Caleb and his dad strolled back in with blood on their hands. After spotting a couple of good bucks at about 300 yards, Caleb had closed the distance to 180 and dropped the hammer on his first goat.
We headed back out after lunch and decided to circle down below where we had seen the biggest concentration of antelope. We got the wind in our face and crawled the last 50 grueling yards to the edge of the valley. As we got closer to the edge we started seeing some does. Some were up feeding but most were bedded down. After glassing for a minute we spotted the buck. He was heavy with great curls on top and good prongs. I left the decision up to Meagan and she said he was good enough to end her hunt on the first day. Now we had to decide on how to get her into position to shoot without being seen. We had a little dirt birm that we were hid behind but if Meagan got into a sitting position to shoot off the bipods it would be really risky and more than likely they would see us. So we dicided to try a prone shot. We had a line of brush the topped the birm to our right with a small opening in the middle. We belly crawled over to the opening and Meagan took off her pack. Laying side by side, I slid the pack up in to the opening as Meagan layed the rifle on top. After getting several minutes of trying to jockey into position she finally found her spot. We had been laying there for around 20 minutes when they started to get up and feed. There were a lot more antelope than we originally saw and they all decided to get in front of the buck. Meagan had no shot. They started to file away to our left and fortunately the buck decided to wait. As Meagan waited for her shot 2 more bucks showed up. They started to mingle with the rest of them and I lost track of the buck Meagan was after. I had left my binos 6 feet away when we decided to belly crawl and all I could tell for sure was that they were bucks. Meagan was watching them file through her scope when she wispered, "I've got him." I asked her if she was sure and she said "Yep, he's the only one with the big curls on top". As the last of the does filed away, the 2 remaining ones were bucks. It just so happened that the other buck picked a spot in front of Meagans buck and stopped. Again, no shot. She waited patiently and finaly the buck turned, took 3 steps and stopped. Before I could say a word, the familiar sound of her .243 rang out. She sent a 95 grain Federal Vital Shock through his right front shoulder and into his left destroying everything in between. The buck dropped like a rock and Meagans hunt was over. After the high fives and the traditional victory dance we made our way over to Meagans buck and we were pleased with what we walked up on. Meagan did the majority of this on her own. SHe picked up the slack with her rifle scope when her dad didn't have his binos to help her. Great job babe! Enjoy!
This photo was taken back at camp. Dad forgot his camera too.
It's always an adventure!!!
