Hangin with the girls

One of life’s greatest enjoyments is hunting with my daughters. We’ve hunted together for many years, and although life gets busy for both Roo, a new momma, and Laynee, a college freshmen, they both found a little time to get out with dad this year. And when I say a little amount of time…I think both Laynee and Roo’s total hunt time combined was 2 hours tops! But we found success on both hunts and more importantly, a little father/daughter time.

Laynee’s schedule with school, college volleyball, her boyfriend, and whatever else has been fairly demanding. She decided her hunt this year that she could fit in would be her antelope buck tag. 

We tried to line up schedules and finally found an afternoon after school and work. We jumped in the truck and the sun sun already hung low on the western horizon… and the wind was nothing short of impressive. To find a buck at closer range in the 45 min of light might be a challenge but…at least we’re hunting.

Laynee has always been such a treat to spend one on one time with. Our windshield time is some of my favorite. We talk about life, she tells stories, I try and scare her on rough or slick roads. 

We both knew our time was limited so we made a commitment. Rather than window shop for antelope (the term we use for looking over bucks and choosing the one you want to harvest); we decided she would shoot the first buck that gave her the opportunity…no matter how big or small.

We had just taken a two-track on the leeway side of a ridge where most likely animals would’ve taken shelter from the strong wind gusts. I spied a buck ahead with a small group of does. He was, by far, the smallest buck you could imagine.

We laughed but followed through with our commitment cause we stick to our commitments! Ha! She laid prone alongside a small prickly bear hidden amongst the golden-colored chest grass. Her shot was good at 250 yards…and he died 10 yards from the two track. Total hunt time: 1 hour. Rounds shot: 1. Time spent with my college girl: Priceless.

Roo’s 30 minute deer hunt

Roo has a lot on her plate as a young stay at home “mama”, a piercing business, and odd and end jobs and hobbies that take up lots of her time. It was tough to find a day when she could break away. We both set aside a half day to do a morning hunt for general season deer up the canyon. 

The deer were migrating and our hope was we could land on a pocket of deer in the morning. Even better, Hunter and his girlfriend Bri joined us. We parked the truck as first light was brightening the sagebrush landscape. 

“There’s deer right here” Hunter shouted out pointing out his window. A small group of does were 50 yards from weee we parked. It was late enough towards the rut, anything could happen when it comes to bucks.

We threw on our packs and slowly worked up the sagebrush swell. Roo loves this country as she lived up the canyon for a couple years. The sun hadn’t even hit the towering peaks when we spotted another group of deer ahead of us. 

This group had a white-faced 3-point buck in the group. We all decided this would be Roo’s buck to chase, while Hunter and Bri would continue up the draw to find another deer. We slowly closed the distant on the 3-point but the terrain laid so flat, getting a probe shot might be a little tricky.

Finally, we found a small pile of river rock Roo was able to lay the rifle prone and wait for the buck to step into a small window between the brush. I don’t take for granted how capable my children are behind a rifle. Between building a quick platform, understanding quick, often haste direction, and pressing the trigger when it counts, they are all very good. Roo performed flawlessly as the buck crumbled like a 2$ lawn chair.

As she walked up to her buck, the sun touched the highest peak above her old home and instantly warmed our souls on a frigid morning. The striking colors of the mule deer cape, a beautiful young mama, the colors of sage, the contrasting dark and light shadows of the surrounding cliffs. It all made for such a breathtaking experience.

My cup was full again. Another year of spending time with my children enjoying a tradition that’s thousands of years old.

  

Emily’s one hunt for the year

 Emily was the only one to draw a buck antelope tag in ‘24, in fact, this was her only hunt this year. I had put her in for a unit next to home so that we could find random hours, after work, to run out and look over antelope throughout the fall.

I enjoyed this hunt with her because it turned into date nights. We would run out for a couple hours look over a handful of bucks and these date nights always ended with the same result. Much like Goldilocks, the bucks were either too thin, too short, nothing seemed just right. The last night we scheduled to hunt,  right before dark, we had found a beautiful 78 inch buck with long sweeping horns and solid prongs..

It seemed like forever, Emily stared at it through her binoculars at this pronghorn and finally made the decision. This wasn’t the Buck she wanted to kill. I ain’t gonna lie, I was a little deflated. We went home thinking her hunt was over but we had a great time with plenty of opportunity.

The second week of November, I came home from a couple out of state hunts with just a few days left of antelope season. The problem was, pronghorn drop their horns early to mid-November and we were right in the middle of it. We decided to make a loop around the unit and see if more bucks had moved in and whether they were packing horns or not! We laughed as we rolled into one large herd where 90% of the bucks had dropped already.

We knew it would be slim pickings  But we were enjoying ourselves. We rolled into a new valley, and out across the valley we could see a buck packing both sides and appeared to have a very mature body profile. At this point, I was done with any words of encouragement or talking her into anything, she knew what she wanted. You could’ve blown me over with the feather when she said “that’s the one!”

As we got into distance, she laid prone with the 6.5 PRC.  The Buck knew we were there, but wasn’t too agitated at 450 yards. I had set up the spotting scope with my phone as Emily was setting up for the shot. I heard the safety click and quickly pushed record on my phone to barely capture her quick shot, which was perfectly placed into the boiler room.

Emily and I are at an age where this sort of hunt is comfortable, the excitement is there , but we’ve learned how to tame it and work together as a team. This buck is special, although his horns aren’t overly long, nor do his prongs swoop out very far, but his horse-like head and missing teeth, shows his age. The buck was down to his last year of surviving this open landscape and I couldn’t be more proud of Emily and her choice of antelope. 

 

Long eyelashes

"So what type of antelope are you looking for this year Laynee?" I asked while driving up to her hunt. "One with long eyelashes" she replied. She loves hunting antelope. They're a dainty, beautiful animal with long eyelashes, big black eyes, and some of the tastiest meat on the landscape. 

Someone forgot the orange hat, Laynee wasn't too excited when I found orange in the truck

Laynee and Emily both drew buck tags again, this year....I didn't ...again. I'm okay with it though because I really do enjoy these days with the girls. Laynee loves antelope hunting because it's snack-eating, music on the radio, interrupted by brief sightings of antelope. 

With Laynee playing volleyball with the high school, we swung through her unit after a great volleyball game in Riverton and spent the afternoon hunting. Antelope sightings were a little less common than in years past but we were still seeing plenty of game. She passed up 5 or 10 bucks until Emily points out the window "There's a little one". I slowed down and Laynee and I both got serious quick as we knew it was the biggest buck we had seen yet. 

The buck was putting some distance between us fairly quickly. She would get on it and it would move, and repeat that pattern time and time again. I was ranging and working the turret on the 6.5 PRC. Wind was minimal but he had put 618 yards between us and I was about to tell Laynee let's get closer when the rifle barked! I jumped back in the binos in enough time to hear the "thump" and see him take a few steps and lay down. It looked like a liver shot. We quickly snuck into 400 yards and she made a great follow-up double lung shot. 

She is such a joy to be around when we're up in the mtns. She's solid, strong, and a pretty decent shot! Congrats Laynee on your second antelope. You can do anything you put your heart and soul into. 

Emily decided we would come back another day and hunt for her. We both enjoy our annual hunting date, no matter what it is we are hunting. I like hunting antelope with her, she seems to have a knack for big bucks and this year was no exception. 

It was a week or two later in the season and the antelope had moved into the area and they were abundant. Our time was limited but we did as much window shopping as we could, then this heavy guy comes over a ridge with a handful of does. "He's heavy, long-pronged, and good lengths Michael" She said while staring through the spotting scope.

We settled in at around 500 for the shot. He was bedded with a small buck bedded right in front of him for 15 minutes. I think the waiting gave Emily the jitters a bit because when the small buck got up and gave Emily a clear shot, she shot an inch over his back! The antelope spooked and moved a half-mile before settling back down. We made another attempt before it got dark.

Now Emily was upset with herself and I know there wasn't going to be another miss. The buck was moving away, again around 500 yards. She sent a 140 grain eld-m and it met it's mark. This time her shooting position was solid and I knew she would kill.  Maybe she was a bit rusty with the first shot. The buck was an exceptional , mature 14" buck that would score 79". A beautiful buck that has it all.

Emily helped with the field dressing as she shows more interest to help, which I appreciate. We've learned to work together on these hunts and she is such a joy to be with. Great shot Emily. I look forward to when you draw again next year and I'm hired as your hunting buddy.

An evening with Roo...and Tanner

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.

 

Emily’s Booner Day

We ran across a huge buck on Laynee’s antelope hunt just a week prior. It really didn’t hurt my feelings that Laynee's attempt on this buck was unsuccessful as your first big game animal shouldn't be a record-book type of animal. This buck was big and I wanted to find it again.

 Emily had the same buck tag so after work one evening, I took her back up there with just an hour and a half to hunt. Questioning whether this short-duration hunt would be worth it, we slowly drove into the area where the buck had been days prior. Through the glasses, I found some does bedded up. He stood from his bed within the sagebrush, I knew it was him. We tried to set-up but as they did with Laynee, they got nervous and left the safety of the small ravine in which they were bedded and headed over a bald ridge into more open country that would make shooting closer distance more difficult.

We got back in the truck and parked short of where I thought they would be, we packed the 6.5 PRC and in the frigid cold made our way to a lookout post. Sure enough, they were there, but they had attracted the attention of more bucks, which were coming in to check the does which got the big ol' buck kicking, urinating, and posturing up to these newcomers. He was raking brush with his horns as Emily got set up for the long 600 yard shot. 

There was a big rock Emily was able to lay the bipod and rear bag on for a steady shot. The buck stopped broadside momentarily and she let one fly, hitting the heart and dropping him instantly. "Nice shot! but you shot the smaller buck", I whispered to her. She ripped her head back at me in disbelief, but could tell by my smirk that I was kidding. Emily wanted to walk up to the animal by herself, so I ran back and got the pick up and met her at the kill site.

 I approached the buck and the horns kept growing bigger and bigger. The mass and character were unbelievable as we admired every curve and crack in it's slate-black horns. I most likely will not ever kill an antelope that big, but I’m OK with that. This was the hunt for the books, and her hour and a half antelope hunt produced a  gross score of over 84" of horn, but who’s counting! 

Emily has become quite the huntress herself and every year we enjoy our time together outside connecting with our local landscape, wildlife, and wild food. Great shot on a true buck of a lifetime Emily!

Laynee’s first big game hunts

This was a special year with Laynee turning 12, which allows her to hunt big game in Wyoming. Her luck was good in the draws and she drew an antelope buck tag, a bull elk tag, and she picked up a general season deer tag. First up was her antelope and we were fortunate enough to have Jared and Dillon Zierenberg with us on the hunt. I told Laynee antelope hunting is kind of like window shopping, where you can drive around and spot lots of different bucks, eventually you just decide which one you want and go for it. 

We drove into the unit and did just that. Laynee would have reasons why certain bucks weren’t the one she wanted, I sensed a little nervousness from her as this was her first hunt with a centerfire rifle. She had shot the .243 actually during practice sessions and I was confident if she could set up the rifle quick enough we would have a successful hunt. After passing 10 or 15 bucks we stumbled on a buck that blew me away as far as it's horn size. I haven’t seen a buck that big in the Big Horn basin...ever. She we went after it. The buck would not give her a standing shot since the does were a bit spooked leaving the country taking him along with them. We knew which little valley they had dropped into and decided to make a hike and try again.

As it would go, the buck fooled us and we watched it run away as Laynee frantically tried to get the rifle on it. Tears streaming down her cheeks in frustration, and I told her "no worries" there’s plenty other antelope around. We spotted another herd down the same ravine, which also got away from us as Laynee tried to get on the moving buck.  Fortunately, there was another herd another half-mile beyond and we continued our stalk. Laynee was getting better and better on the rifle and I was confident that one of these attempts would be successful. As we were making our final approach crawling on hands and knees, a buck antelope was coming into to us curious. His approach was rather fast and before we knew it, he was going to be within 200 yards of us. Laynee got on the rifle and made an awesome shot on her first buck antelope!

We had fun quartering out the pronghorn and packing it back down to the pick up where Jared and Dillon were waiting for us. The initial giant buck haunted my mind as I knew he was big; with Emily having the same tag in her pocket, I was itching to get back in there. Stay tuned for Emily’s hunt for the giant buck.

Laynee‘s elk hunt opened on the 15th of October in the BigHorn mountains, we invested a couple weekends going down there and had seen plenty of wildlife, including elk but as it goes, we were never able to drop the hammer on a bull. Her elk hunt will always be one of my favorite memories as we got to spend a lot of time together in beautiful country. We stayed in a small country home out of Hyattsville at night.

While we were elk hunting we had seen several good bucks, including one heavy ol' white-faced 4 point at 120 yards that almost took a bullet. That buck Laynee and I will never forget. One evening we made a stalk on a large herd of deer that included two bucks. We belly crawled through cactus to get within range and in the final minutes of the evening Laynee connected with the larger of the two bucks. We quartered out the buck in the dark; something she hasn’t done much of so she was definitely on edge wondering how we would get the buck and ourselves off the mountain without daylight, but all is well and we rolled into camp that night happy.

I’m super proud of Laynee and how she stuck with it on these hunts. We had snow, wind, and lots of driving, glassing, and hiking, and I never heard her complain except for some cold feet. I’m looking forward to many more hunts with this little huntress.