Outdoor Junkie
Active member
Hey guys,
My brother, Bob (canoecountry) and I went back out to Wyoming for the third time in four years and the results were basically the same. I'd prefer not to say where we were at, but I will say that we have hunted all public land and the unit we hunt has leftovers every year. For the guys building up tons of points, I respect you, but there are a ton of good antelope on public land. My brother hunted with one of our long time friends (Cory) and our 18 year old Nephew (Brandon) while I hunted with our brother-in-law (Keith) and our 16 year old nephew (Kyle). We have a certain chunk (~ 10 sq. miles when combined) that rarely gets hunted, which we affectionately call Death Valley. The plan was to get into two high vantage points about 2 miles apart just before sun up and find some antelopes so that my nephews cold get some shooting. About 10 minutes into the season, I realized that I left my gun leaning up against the side of my truck about 200 yards away. As I turned to walk back to the truck I realize that a herd of 6 does and a buck where directly behind us. I snuck back down and got Kyle set up, but the herd had seen us and crested the ridge before he could get stable. We snuck around the hill and there was no sign of the antelope. Based on this, we knew they had to be past the next crest. As we began to sneak up to that crest the buck came over the crest and started walking straight toward us to about 100 yards. My nephew settled in and made a great shot, which dropped him.
At the same time, my brother had got my nephew Brandon got on a great (wide) antelope over on his side of Death Valley. Brandon also made a great shot and dropped this one in his tracks.
While my Brother and Brandon were sneaking up on their antelope, our friend Cory spotted a nice buck out about 1 1/2 miles from where they were at. After they tagged and gutted Brandon’s antelope, they proceeded to put on the stalk for the buck Cory had spotted. By this time, our group had already tagged and gutted Kyle's buck and we watched Cory sneak over a rock ledge and put the hammer down on this nice buck (see buck on the left).
At this point, we had 3 of the 6 tags filled by noon on the first day.... typical Wyoming antelope hunting
Later that afternoon Kyle, Keith and I went up to a "honey hole" which we have done really well on in years past. It's only 1 square mile of state land, but it's proven to be really good. After glassing for a bit, my nephew saw a heard of about 25 does all bedded with one really great buck. We knew they were close to the private, but we decided to make a stalk and see if we could get a closer look to where they were. We crested a ridge about 270 yards from them and based on my GPS, I thought that they were right on the property boundary, so I told him not to shoot. After watching them for a while, the heard got up and moved back onto the private land. After they left, we walked up to where they were and wouldn't you know they were actually ~120 yards onto public.... oh well, better safe than sorry!
The next day, we went back out to Death Valley, but things were very quiet. My brother and their group decided to check out the water hole where I shot my mule deer 2 years ago and while heading over there, they found this really great buck. Bob waited them out and made a nice shot on this buck at 280 yards when the herd got up to graze.
At that point, it was just Keith and I with open tags. Based on that, Keith hopped in with my brother and Cory hopped in with me, so that we had 1 open tag per vehicle. Bob and Keith found a heard on a 1 square mile of state land while they were driving to a piece of walk in land that we like to hunt. After a half mile stalk, Keith was able to tag this nice antelope buck from about 200 yards.
While that was happening, Cory, Kyle and I pulled up to a huge chunk of walk in access/ public (~ 10 square miles) that we've hunted in the past, which has quickly become a favorite for me. We started to glass and I saw what looked like about 10 black spots moving across a yellow grass area about 2 miles away. It was all that we could do to see them through the binos, but we figured what the heck; let’s go see what they are. After a very long stalk, we eased over what we figured had to be the last ridge and we started seeing horn tips above the grass. Cory and I snuck around about 150 yards from where we originally crested, so that we could get a better vantage point on the bucks. At that point, some of the bucks started chasing each other around. There were 2 yearlings, a decent wider buck and a taller buck without a lot of mass. At one point, the bucks ran behind this hill and a much bigger, wider buck came running out and chasing after them. I knew that was the one I wanted. The problem is that as soon as he showed up, he disappeared...almost as if it we were imagining it. I looked over the other 4 bucks and decided that I didn't want to shoot any of them and my decision was hastened by a down pour that opened up bringing 40-50 mile per hour gusts. At the same time, one of the small bucks saw me and the entire heard (30 or so antelope) ran off and crested a ridge about a mile away. We retreated about 300 yards and tucked behind an overhang until the weather cleared. After the wind calmed and we warmed up, I asked that we go back and come around the other side of that hill, since we never saw the wide buck come back around. As we snuck around the edge of the hill, Cory noticed the horns from the wide one we had seen earlier. He was bedded with 16 does and the only reason we saw him earlier is that he was ticked that the other bucks got to close to his harem. I belly crawled in to about 200 yards, when out of nowhere, the buck stood up. I gently pulled my pack frame up in front of me and set my gun on top as a rest, at which point the buck started running right at me.... he thought I was another antelope screwing with his girls. At about 110 yards he slowed down and started to realize I wasn't an antelope. As he began to quarter to turn, I shot and dropped him where he stood. We gutted him and strapped him to my frame pack for the 2 mile hike back to the road.
Here is a final shot of the group with all of our bucks. Wyoming antelope has once again proven to be a phenomenal hunt.
My brother, Bob (canoecountry) and I went back out to Wyoming for the third time in four years and the results were basically the same. I'd prefer not to say where we were at, but I will say that we have hunted all public land and the unit we hunt has leftovers every year. For the guys building up tons of points, I respect you, but there are a ton of good antelope on public land. My brother hunted with one of our long time friends (Cory) and our 18 year old Nephew (Brandon) while I hunted with our brother-in-law (Keith) and our 16 year old nephew (Kyle). We have a certain chunk (~ 10 sq. miles when combined) that rarely gets hunted, which we affectionately call Death Valley. The plan was to get into two high vantage points about 2 miles apart just before sun up and find some antelopes so that my nephews cold get some shooting. About 10 minutes into the season, I realized that I left my gun leaning up against the side of my truck about 200 yards away. As I turned to walk back to the truck I realize that a herd of 6 does and a buck where directly behind us. I snuck back down and got Kyle set up, but the herd had seen us and crested the ridge before he could get stable. We snuck around the hill and there was no sign of the antelope. Based on this, we knew they had to be past the next crest. As we began to sneak up to that crest the buck came over the crest and started walking straight toward us to about 100 yards. My nephew settled in and made a great shot, which dropped him.
At the same time, my brother had got my nephew Brandon got on a great (wide) antelope over on his side of Death Valley. Brandon also made a great shot and dropped this one in his tracks.
While my Brother and Brandon were sneaking up on their antelope, our friend Cory spotted a nice buck out about 1 1/2 miles from where they were at. After they tagged and gutted Brandon’s antelope, they proceeded to put on the stalk for the buck Cory had spotted. By this time, our group had already tagged and gutted Kyle's buck and we watched Cory sneak over a rock ledge and put the hammer down on this nice buck (see buck on the left).
At this point, we had 3 of the 6 tags filled by noon on the first day.... typical Wyoming antelope hunting
Later that afternoon Kyle, Keith and I went up to a "honey hole" which we have done really well on in years past. It's only 1 square mile of state land, but it's proven to be really good. After glassing for a bit, my nephew saw a heard of about 25 does all bedded with one really great buck. We knew they were close to the private, but we decided to make a stalk and see if we could get a closer look to where they were. We crested a ridge about 270 yards from them and based on my GPS, I thought that they were right on the property boundary, so I told him not to shoot. After watching them for a while, the heard got up and moved back onto the private land. After they left, we walked up to where they were and wouldn't you know they were actually ~120 yards onto public.... oh well, better safe than sorry!
The next day, we went back out to Death Valley, but things were very quiet. My brother and their group decided to check out the water hole where I shot my mule deer 2 years ago and while heading over there, they found this really great buck. Bob waited them out and made a nice shot on this buck at 280 yards when the herd got up to graze.
At that point, it was just Keith and I with open tags. Based on that, Keith hopped in with my brother and Cory hopped in with me, so that we had 1 open tag per vehicle. Bob and Keith found a heard on a 1 square mile of state land while they were driving to a piece of walk in land that we like to hunt. After a half mile stalk, Keith was able to tag this nice antelope buck from about 200 yards.
While that was happening, Cory, Kyle and I pulled up to a huge chunk of walk in access/ public (~ 10 square miles) that we've hunted in the past, which has quickly become a favorite for me. We started to glass and I saw what looked like about 10 black spots moving across a yellow grass area about 2 miles away. It was all that we could do to see them through the binos, but we figured what the heck; let’s go see what they are. After a very long stalk, we eased over what we figured had to be the last ridge and we started seeing horn tips above the grass. Cory and I snuck around about 150 yards from where we originally crested, so that we could get a better vantage point on the bucks. At that point, some of the bucks started chasing each other around. There were 2 yearlings, a decent wider buck and a taller buck without a lot of mass. At one point, the bucks ran behind this hill and a much bigger, wider buck came running out and chasing after them. I knew that was the one I wanted. The problem is that as soon as he showed up, he disappeared...almost as if it we were imagining it. I looked over the other 4 bucks and decided that I didn't want to shoot any of them and my decision was hastened by a down pour that opened up bringing 40-50 mile per hour gusts. At the same time, one of the small bucks saw me and the entire heard (30 or so antelope) ran off and crested a ridge about a mile away. We retreated about 300 yards and tucked behind an overhang until the weather cleared. After the wind calmed and we warmed up, I asked that we go back and come around the other side of that hill, since we never saw the wide buck come back around. As we snuck around the edge of the hill, Cory noticed the horns from the wide one we had seen earlier. He was bedded with 16 does and the only reason we saw him earlier is that he was ticked that the other bucks got to close to his harem. I belly crawled in to about 200 yards, when out of nowhere, the buck stood up. I gently pulled my pack frame up in front of me and set my gun on top as a rest, at which point the buck started running right at me.... he thought I was another antelope screwing with his girls. At about 110 yards he slowed down and started to realize I wasn't an antelope. As he began to quarter to turn, I shot and dropped him where he stood. We gutted him and strapped him to my frame pack for the 2 mile hike back to the road.
Here is a final shot of the group with all of our bucks. Wyoming antelope has once again proven to be a phenomenal hunt.
