A little Wyoming fun

It was nice to have a Wyoming deer tag in my pocket this year, it was even nicer to have my good friend Steve, from Oregon, come to Wyoming with an antelope tag. The plan was to hunt antelope for as long Steve wanted to and then turn around and hunt for my mule deer, with his help.

I had waited all summer for him to come down on this hunt, mostly because I wanted to share some of the most beautiful vistas I know with him. His experience with out-of-state hunting is limited and so I knew just getting him out of western Oregon would be a fun adventure, no matter how the harvest goes. The one thing I hadn't planned was Steve bringing Oregon precipitation with him, on the first day of his hunt it rained and snowed…

I chose this unit for him to hunt antelope because he could experience low elevation flatland country all the way up to 10,000'craggy cliffs suited more for bighorns, but for whatever reason lopes seemed to be up there as well, until it snows of course. Although I knew most of the antelope had likely moved down with the snow, I couldn't help but take Steve into the higher country just for the experience. Honestly, not much to see but a complete white-out.

Although the high country didn't produce much for antelope sightings, the bulls were bugling and the vistas on the ride up were amazing. We descended from the snowy grounds back down to the lower country where the rain had turn the roads to a goopy mess. Nothing was going to stop us from trying to find an antelope that Steve would be happy with. We rolled into a valley where from one spot we could see hundreds of antelope, it was kind of like shopping, not hunting. That one is heavy but not very tall. That one has good length but is pretty thin. That one looks pretty good. 

Finally he got his eye on a nice wide buck that somehow had defended  a huge harem of does from all the other rutting bucks cruising the prairie. Steve would take his eyes off of the wide buck and after looking at a few others, he kept going back to it. I know the feeling. I knew that buck would most likely die.

I stayed back at the machine and Steve went in for the stalk. The buck pushed his does over a gentle ridge giving Steve the chance to belly crawl over hoping they would be just on the other side. It worked out perfect and after two solid shots the buck was dead at less than 200 yards. I think Steve was surprised with his own stalking abilities. Being his first antelope hunt and just hearing stories, I think he believed he would have to make multiple stalks (and fail) before ultimately being successful.
The buck's horn flair and overall beauty was attractive and I understand why he liked that animal so much. It was special to be there for the experience.

Then an anti-climatic feeling came over Steve, I'm done, his shoulders lowered and he began glassing the antelope off in the distance. "You're done guy" I reminded him. I think this hunt just filled his desire to come back and do it again.

For me, I was selfishly excited that he had finished his antelope hunt so quickly as this meant we could spend more time deer hunting!

The area I decided to hunt in Wyoming for deer is known to have some older age class bucks, but low densities overall. I snuck down and scouted it a couple times during the summer and during bow season and managed to find a few decent bucks, including one named horse that I hoped to find during rifle season. The unit is low desert land with very few trees but lots and lots real estate full of sage.

Maverik

Horse, Images in picture are bigger than they appear.(;

Whirlwind. I could've killed this buck with my bow

Driving towards camp,the slimy roads made me question whether we can get out and do much hunting before it dried up, or even get to camp!. I could see it on Steve's face that this wasn't what he expected for deer country. Do the deer live out in this open country? Have you seen deer here before? It's really cold!

deer heads primitive and modern

It didn't take him long to "buck up", acclimate, and start getting into the groove of finding deer. Deer sightings were fairly regular but big buck sightings were definitely less frequent then in the earlier season. Antelope, deer, and elk hunters had all left their tracks on the road reminding me that we weren't the only one in there looking for a dream animal.

The older bucks knew the game well. And we were struggling to find where they called their hideouts. By the end of the second day we had seen dozens of bucks but very few that were even tempting. I climbed a large butte that I knew was home to an old buck with lots of character, I called him Maverik. The basin on top of the butte cannot be seen from anywhere without a good hike to get there. I made the hike and wasn't surprised to see a pile of deer bedded on the top. From a distance I could see one buck with super dark antlers and a great frame. I told myself I will kill that buck if his points look as good as his frame, but in order to do so I had to drop off the butte and make a different approach. As I belly crawled into gun range I finally caught a glimpse of the bachelor group, including this big buck and I was easily in range! I was already shaking with a case of the fever when I put my glasses up. I'm usually not disappointed when I see a large buck but this three point just didn't have enough going for it that even with his huge frame I elected to pass on him.

Hunting for big mule deer is an emotional roller coaster for me. Sometimes finding the needle in the haystack seems impossible...there isn't enough light in a day and enough days on a hunting trip to find your dream buck. After passing on over 50 bucks, one evening, I jumped a group of 4 older-aged bucks. They were all bigger than anything I'd seen yet on the hunt. They were moving out fast and I needed to make some decisions: do I shoot and if so which one?

Steve thinking this strap is way bigger than a blacktails!

One deep-forked buck stuck out over the others and he was in a hurry to put distance between himself and my rifle! I quickly laid down, adjusted my scope to 300ish yards and moments before the heavy wise buck crested the last ridge out-of-sight, I pulled the trigger. The buck was hit in the front shoulder and quickly went down. Steve heard the shot and came down to meet me excited and curious. Although I knew there was a couple bigger bucks somewhere around, I was pleased with this buck and once again, cherished the moment.

While I processed meat, Steve pulled the machine onto a small two-track within a half mile away! That made the pack out more tolerable as we packed the buck out in one trip. That night we celebrated with one hell of a fire and good eats. I'll always cherish good campfires with good company.

The next day, I promised Steve we could go back and pick up a few antlers we'd seen throughout the trip as well as maybe make a coyote stand or two. Well, it paid off and Steve was able to kill his first two Wyoming coyotes. Can't wait for you to come back down sometime Steve.