Antelope Hunt 2001

I just got back from my latest Wyoming antelope hunt. It was a unique experience to say the least. I did my research way back in January to select a unit to apply for and to run down a place to hunt in the selected unit. In doing the research, I was looking for a unit with an abundance of animals and a good chance to draw a tag. I finally selected unit 70 which is immediately south and west of Casper. I then requested a list of landowners from the Chamber of Commerce which is actually maintained by the game wardens in the area. I sent a letter to each of the listed landowners confirming that they allowed hunting, that they owned land with a huntable population of antelope, and what the costs and/or restrictions were on the hunting. I only received responses back from 3 but felt comfortable that if I drew a tag I would have a place to hunt.

After successfully drawing our tags, I again contacted the landowners that had responded previously and finally selected one ranch to hunt. The ranch selected consisted of +-3000 acres and provided access to a significant amount of BLM land as well. At this point I thought everything was set and we were ready to go.

We drove out to Casper the Thursday before the opening day with the thought we could scout the ranch on Friday and hunt Saturday and Sunday. Friday morning we went out to the ranch to start scouting only to find the ranch was actually in unit 71 not 70. Even though it was listed as 70 on the list and the owner thought it was in 70. So here we are with tags for a unit that consists mostly of private land with no place to hunt the day before the season. I was not a happy camper to say the least.

Fortunately, I brought all my accumulated information with me, including the list of landowners. We started calling the landowners, apologeticly explaining what had happened and requesting permission to hunt at this late date. We were fortunate and found two that would let us hunt. One had a small area of about 500 acres close to town with about 75 goats calling it home. The other we didn't catch up with early enough to scout on Friday, but it was adjacent to the original ranch so I felt we might just make this a successfull hunt yet.

While scouting on Friday we had spotted a single buck with a group of about 50 does and fawns, so we decided that we would go after him first thing Saturday morning. We started glassing, looking for the buck, and located him right where we expected him to be. Put a stalk on him as planned, working across a flat above him, popping over the edge of the ridge for the shot. Everything worked, we popped over the ridge to find him surrounded by the does, 135 yards below us. The does conveniently stepped away, the shot rang out, and the buck dropped in his tracks. We dressed the buck and headed for the meat processors.

We then headed for the second ranch we had permission to hunt. We found the ranch just fine and began following the many 2-track trails around and glassing for goats. Unfortunately, several hours and many miles revealed 3 does, a tiny buck and about 40 vehicles full of hunters.

At this point we gave up on the second ranch and returned to the first, hoping another buck had taken over all the lonely does we left that morning. We glassed the area, drove around the section several times and spotted numerous bucks, all where we didn't have permission to hunt.

Finally, we were flagged down by the rancher across the road. He asked if we were hunting and if so we were we interested in shooting a 12.5 in buck that was hanging out in his alfalfa field. At this point, I thought that didn't sound too bad, given the options available, so I readily agreed. His son pointed out a second buck that was away from the herd saying it was larger than the 12.5 previously noted. On that note I quickly decided on the second one and away we went. We followed the rancher down the road to the gate, which he opened for us. We pulled in, bailed out of the truck, I grabbed my rifle while my buddy sat up the tripod and proceded to pop this buck standing 120 yards away before he wandered over in front of house. In all the scurrying around, I never once really looked at the horns. I sqeezed the trigger, the 25 barked, and the buck hit the ground. When I walked over to the buck that was larger than the 12.5, his horns had shrunk down to 9-10 inch.

I felt really bad, I had just let the excitement of the moment overcome good judgement and killed an animal that I really didn't want. I still don't believe that I let this happen but happen it did. So now I still don't have an antelope on the wall. I guess I'll just have to go back and try it one more time.