As some of you may know, i do hunt reports after each hunt that i go on. The info i'm sharing here will not be secret stuff, I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, it's just my observations and opinions earned or gathered after 10 full days lope hunting in unit 83 and 8 days hunting muleys in 125 to be told in a different thread.
The trip to Wyoming got off to a good start. I had loaded my rig and was off on time headed up to Klamath Falls where my old Hunting Partner now lives. Getting there early, we unpacked my stuff into his Duramax and the trailer that carried a Honda Foreman, that we never unloaded, as well as the other gear that the weather would not harm. Our journey off to Wyoming the next day, about 1200 miles, also went well, good times with a great old friend.
One of our first concerns was finding a place to set up my pards new Davis 14x16' wall tent. We only wanted to set up camp once but during the first few days of hunting antelope, we didn't see a place to do so that had at least half of the things we were looking for in a camp site. The Big horn basin is beautiful in it's way but much of the best parts near water are private, there is a noticeable lack of trees, and the slippery muddy roads during weather were a concern so we weren't looking to get too far away from gravel or pavement. As we looked for a campsite, the first few nights were spent under the stars and one particularly blustery night with prospects of snow, was suffered thru with a loose tarp over our cots and bags. The wind howled that night, looking back the tarp should have been tied off and staked, it truly was a miserable sleepless night.
During our covering country looking for lopes on our 6th day, we finally found a great place to put up the tent but we had already done so on a rocky flat spot that wasn't near as good but by then it was home sweet home and the long days of hunting left little desire to pull up stakes, pack up again, and move camp. As it was, the tent did great and the propane heater did take some of the chill off each evening on our return to camp though we could always see our breath steam and then turned it off to sleep. Our sleeping gear was top of the line stuff and once inside on the big heavy duty cots it was toasty but mornings came quickly and it was a might chilly, from 5 to 30 degrees inside, every morning before daylight when we rolled out for another day.
We got into lots of groups of antelope, there is no shortage of lopes on public land in unit 83 though very few of the many bucks were worth a second look. We first checked out a couple places that members here and from other sites i frequent, had advised but though there were lopes about and some with medium-nice quality bucks, there was nothing near a shooter buck located for the first several days anyway. I think it was day 5 that we found a lope on public land that we soon named Snaggle. He looked far taller and heavier in mass than his many buddies, his one cutter was excellent, but he just had the one cutter. Most impressive though was his body size. He was just bigger than the others and he stood out as a bull among steers. Though his horns twisted in slightly different directions and one side seemed to have more deeper curl on top, it was no doubt the lost cutter that held me off the trigger. My old Pard said that he thought snaggle was 16-17", a first day shooter on any lope hunt he had ever been on. Though his advice is always well taken and respected, it was my call, and i held off knowing i still had at least 5 more days to look them over.
When day 8 of the lope hunt came, each day seemed long but they flew by, i knew that it was time to take my antelope. The deer season was to start Nov 1st and though the lope season carried on thru Nov 7th, i wanted it not to interfere with both of our late season 125 deer hunts. The morning of the 8th day, i awoke in the freezing cold tent just knowing that i was going to pop a antelope that day. We had a number of decent candidates, got within distance of some nice ones but nothing remarkable and some of those better bucks seen earlier eluded us altogether. We got in on snaggle too and i had my 25-06's cross-hairs settled nicely behind his shoulder at 100 yards... but could for some reason, not squeeze off on him. I suppose i still had hopes of fulfilling my pre-hunt goal of taking a really good antelope, a monster if you will. Whatever the case, snaggle was a dead critter if i wanted him then but again i passed the shot in hopes of finding the same quality or better buck, one with both cutters intact.
Antelope day 9 hunted hard before daylight until after dark and then day #10, the day before our deer opener, started about the same though there was now a desperate feeling in my agenda. I really needed to take a lope. If nothing else, i love the meat and was not going home empty that trip. It came to early that afternoon. We had surprisingly gotten permission to hunt snaggle from a understanding landowner, i knocked on his door, who allowed us run of his substantial property and to which snaggle had moved his group onto, 4-5 other bucks and 20 or so does. There were exceptions but most of the lopes we came across during our hunt were in bigger groups and being later in the season as it was, not as jumpy, skittery, and eager to run off at first sight of man. I still had though a tuff time to get him to give me the clean shot i wanted. He seemed to surround himself with his buddies ducking in and out or only gave me marginal angles. Just before he topped out on a low ridge about 200 yds away though, snaggle stopped and gave me a broadside opportunity, i made the best of it and snaggle was mine.
His rack was twisted and looked uneven but both horns went over 16", 7" averaged bases and first quarters, and his one cutter measured 6 7/8". The missing cutter looked to have been broken off during development as it certainly was not a fresh break and looked to have healed over. His head and body size was remarkable and the Taxi guy friend my pard took our later taken muley capes to, said my lope head was one of the biggest he'd seen. As soon as i squeezed off on snaggle, i was very satisfied but near exhausted from excitement in that portion of our adventure to Wyoming being completed. We had put in many, many miles in our 10 days, covered and good glassed much of what that country had to offer. Said and now done, i found and took what was clearly one of the best antelope to be had that late in the unit. Snaggle was going to come home with me and i was elated to not only cleanly take such a fine animal but now we had deer season starting the next morning, it was a done deal for the Antelope hunt but now we had a much looked forward to Mule Deer hunt in front of us.
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Originally Posted by Brittany Chukarman
