We live in an incredible place. A place where within minutes of the house we could experience a quality adventure hunting big game of all sorts. This year has been pretty exceptional when I look back and count how many of our hunts were within an hour, some within minutes, from our home. This hunt was no exception.
Roo spent the summer at my sisters in Utah nannying their wonderful girls. When Roo got back to Cody she jumped right into college and working as a dental assistant here in Cody. Although she wanted to pick up a deer tag, finding time that fit our schedule was tough. She was pretty bummed that all she drew in the state drawing was a buck pronghorn tag, but it worked well as the unit borders our home with plenty of antelope to look at.
Roo also found a new friend. A boy friend. His name is Tanner, but I like to call him Tannerite. "Can Tanner come along on the hunt?" Roo asked me as we planned for an afternoon hunt. It was the first time any of my kids wanted to invite a special "friend" along. I won't lie, there was a part of me that selfishly wanted to say "No, this is our time we get to spend together, and those times our getting less and less often, but I said "Absolutely", trying not to give it to much thought. Besides, Tanner is a great kid and would be happy to have him be a part of this hunt.
Once we got in the pick-up, Roo turns up the radio for a little game of music trivia, one of her favorite past-times on our outings together. She is such a treat to be around, I soaked in every minute as we drove around and starting finding antelope. She really takes a liking to finding the one buck that sticks out to her, regardless of score.
She had already passed on a couple bucks that didn't quite fit her expectation, when we rolled down a little two-track. I spied a pretty good group of antelope down in a sage draw that looked to have a good number of bucks in the herd. "There's a pretty good one in the back", I told her. She swiveled the binos towards the back and after a minute agreed with me. "Let's go after him".
I was enjoying the driving, conversations, music, and especially the finding antelope so much I almost wish I hadn't said anything at all and kept hunting but once she has her mind made up, it's hard to convince her otherwise, so off we went on foot. The landscape seemed to side more with the antelope than with the hunters with very little cover to hide in on our stalk. There were 20 sets of antelope eyes that pegged us before we could even get into position.
She plopped down Betty, the 6.5 PRC, and began playing with zoom and focus while the antelope began their escape. "550 yards" I would say, "no shot" She would reply. "623 yards", "He's still moving!" She would bark back. She was getting frustrated as the buck would never give her that perfect shot she needed for such ranges. I watched her settle behind the rifle and listened to her breathing cadence. For not getting on a rifle as much as many hunters and shooters do, she sure is good at waiting for the right moment and making it happen.
Finally, the antelope sky-lined and were heading into a draw I thought we could close the distance and perhaps cut them off. So all three of us ran back to the pick-up and made our way around the valley. We hadn't gotten very far on-foot when I saw the first doe come into view just inside 400 yards. We got set-up and patiently waited for each antelope to come into the picture. "That's him" I whispered. The terrain, again, wasn't perfect and Roo couldn't settle in behind the rifle without a little more lift on the stock. She improvised, tooka couple long breaths, "Are you ready?" she questioned. "Yup", I replied watching intently through the binos.
The buck dropped immediately. I think maybe Tanner was most surprised at this girl whackin' antelope at 400 like it was a chip shot. Roo and I didn't expect anything less. Maybe he was more surprised when she picked up the knife and started carving on some backstraps. Tanner has hunted, but not at the same level as Roo so we was probably learning some things watching. I couldn't help but think how amazing of a girl...woman...Roo has become. When it was all said and done, I appreciated having Tanner there and getting to know him a little better. I'll never take for granted every hunt with my children. Roo, I look forward to a hunt with you each year, they will always be some of my most cherished memories of my lifetime. And for the record...I'm pretty sure I whooped on music trivia on this trip.
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