It's Wyoming antelope application time
Snake River Marksman
4/30/07 7:20pm
Game and Fish starts accepting application Tomorrow May 1st to the 31st. It can be done online this year. At least parts of Wyoming are catching up to the 21st century. (mores the pity)
12,028
I hope you draw your desired tags. [-o<
I've applied for two doe tags, which are pretty much a gimme, so if I draw the buck tag as well, thats just icing.
What area of the state do you usually hunt antelope in?
The buck was shot in Casper last year and the doe was shot near Pinedale, also last year. I've got the whole story in word at home that I should post one day. The problem is nobody believes me when I tell them that I shot them with a 250savage. The buck at less than 100yds.
Welcome and thanks for sharing. I like the username also. :)
with a side of garliced baked potato After Climbing and hunting hard Sat morning, I slept in on Sunday, ate a liesurely breakfast and then took the two hour drive to Big Piney where my doe/fawn antelope tag is for. I fueled the truck, grabbed myself a snack and headed out onto the prairie. First stop was a draw where I had seen goats through the summer. A hike up along the top of the ridge for nearly two miles produced exactly nothing but grand views
Coming back along the opposite ridge, I spotted a coyote trotting along under the rimrock on the far side but he would never offer a shot. Truth be told, with the wind at 20mph and gusting and a range of over 250yds, I doubt I could have done it anyway. Coming down into the bottom of the draw, I came across a recent set of antelope tracks headed out towards the road. I followed them and came to the road and low and behold the tracks turned and headed towards the truck. WHAT LUCK! So I continue on towards the truck, keeping an eye out for the goats, and spot a badger. I range him at 258yds, but give him a pass. I'm not sure if he is in season and there is no reason to shoot him anyway. I get back to the truck and there is a brand new FRESH pile of antelope dung right next to it. I don't mind losing a round or two in the battle but that is just plain dirty! Total distance walked: 4.5 miles according to the GPS and what I can guess to add that I didn't mark, would make it around 6miles.
I hop in the truck and head on up the road. Coming to an intersection, I flip a coin and head towards Fear Well. 3.47 miles down the road, I spot a band of antelope running hard away from me. I trail them for a very short distance and they cross the road ahead of me, way too far for a shot and still running hard. I stop and consider a moment then turn around and head for a two track that ran at right angles to the road and in the direction that the goats just went. I hit the two track, and follow it to the first low spot. I should note here that this part of the prairies is VERY flat with short sagebrush. I park the truck and head out towards where the goats rounded the hill. After approx .75miles ( I didn't mark it with the GPS )I spot the goats and I pause to assess the situation. I don't have much cover to work with but I decide to try and get lower in to the swale, move hunched over and far towards the goats as I can, then crawl the rest of the way. I made it to with 500yds or so, and had crawled only about ten yards when all of the goats trotted up over the hill and were gone. I don't know if I was busted, or they just decided to go back where they came from. They didn't bolt, so I still wonder.
Back in the truck, I flipped the coin again and decided to continue on the two track. After traveling about a mile, I spot a band of antelope who are .5miles away and running away fast. I stop to look at them and see another band, trailing the first, but at a much slower pace. I've reached a point where the two track divides, part goes straight ahead, but is less defined. And the more traveled part goes off to the left. I turn left and get down into the next low spot and park, figuring to head out after that slower band of goats. I move a quarter mile (gotta love GPS), and spot the goats on top of a ridge. I sit and wait to see what will happen. If they go over the ridge, I'll rush and try and catch them on the other side. If they see me and get curious, I'll just wait for them to come to me. They go over the ridge so I rush up it. ( It was 3/4 of a mile from where I sat down by the way) I sneak up to the crest and........ Those damned goats are 1/2 a mile away and looking back at me. How the heck did that happen?
At this point I'm really starting to wonder, because you shouldn't have to work this hard to fill a doe antelope tag.
For whatever reason, I decided to continue in the direction that the goats were originally headed in. After a half mile, I come to a windmill. There is water in the tank, even though the mill isn't pumping just that moment, so I decided to stake it out for an hour. By then it will be 530 and I'll need to be heading back to the truck. All 1.89miles of it. Sitting on a ridge, overlooking that windmill I see one hawk. Period.
Back at the truck, I turn around and start heading back, figuring I'll hunt as I head off the mesa towards the highway and then the two hour drive home. I make it about 300yds from the intersection of the two tracks when I spot the goats, right where they had been before and within rifle range. I slam the truck in park, jump out, grab my rifle and use the door as a rest. The goats are standing there, a fair ways out, but in range, looking at me, and that damned Duramax diesel is vibrating me so bad I can't make the crosshairs settle. I reach in, shut down the truck, turn around get the rifle back on the door frame, and FINALLY get a steady crosshair on a goat. Noting the wind, and the fact that they are out there a good ways, I aim high, but still on hair. At the shot, I hear that oh so wonderful sound of a bullet hitting home.
The band takes off running right to left but my doe, who was already at the trailing edge of the group before the shot, is trailing farther and farther behind. When the band turns and heads away, she is left standing there. In the scope I can see a large blood spot on the shoulder. She stops and I aim and fire once again missing very low. She has move quite abit further away. I adjust and fire again scoring another hit. She runs just a few yards more then stops. I start to fire a fourth time but pause to consider. She is a long ways off and hurt bad. Shes not going anywhere, so I walk closer. At 150yds or so I stop, line up and put a finishing shot through the heart. She dropped like a sack.
Heading back to the truck, I followed the blood trail and ranged back to the truck from the points where I had shot at her. I first shot was 296yds, the second and third shots were at 402yds. Performance from the 250 Savage with 100gr ballistic tips was excellent. Even at that long range, the bullets expanded and exited. No complaints.
As a post script, as I was driving off the mesa, and past where I had been in the morning. Two does and a buck antelope crossed the road and posed 150yds away. It could have been easy.
On Saturday afternoon, I drove across the state to Casper and setup in a campground right off the highway. Since I was only going to be there about 8 hours I merely put an airmattress in the bed of the truck and stretched a tarp over it. (Note, use a nylon tarp. Poly tarps are way too noisy in the slightest breeze) After a fitful nights sleep, I got up, hit the convenience store for coffee, Gatorade, and snacks and drove a couple of miles south to the Walk In hunting area that I had chosen to hunt.
In the parking lot there was one other vehicle already there, which confirmed my suspicions that after the first week of the season, and once deer and elk season opened, only die hard goat hunters and idiots are hunting antelope. I know which one I was. I shouldered my daypack, grabbed my rifle and headed out. I dropped into a wash and chugged up the side to where I could just look over the western edge with the morning sun behind me. Approximately every 50 yds or so a cottontail rabbit would bolt from the brush at my feet. A guy with an accurate rimfire magnum and a steady hand could shoot an antelopes weight in rabbits just walking up that draw.
At one point I saw the other hunter whose truck was parked in the lot. He was half a mile away and walking parallel to me. I silently wished him luck.
When I came to a small saddle I crossed into the next draw over and climbed the small escarpment that leads to a large bench where a friend and I had killed our antelope two years ago. This put me 1.5 miles from the road. I knew if I killed an antelope up here it was going to mean a lot of work getting it out but, if your going to hunt, you better be prepared to work a little. And I had a secret weapon this time.
When I raised my head above the level of the bench, I immediately started scanning for antelope. After taking two steps up onto the bench, I spotted two antelope running. At first I thought that they had bolted at the sight of me, but I soon realized that it was two bucks chasing one another. Through the binocular, I soon saw the rest of the band. They were right near the gate in the fence where I had seen the goats going through two years earlier. Creatures of habit. At roughly 600yds away, most of the goats were looking, if not at me, then at least in my direction. I stayed put and watched for a few minutes and then decided to drop back, move around under the edge of the escarpment, and set up next to an old fence post that would offer me some back support, and break my outline at the same time.
Coming back up onto the bench, I found that the antelope hadn’t moved and that a few were actually bedded down. Due to a roll in the terrain, I couldn’t see the antelope from a sitting position, so every half minute or so, I would ease up the fence post and glass the antelope, still 475 yards away. It was a group of 8 does, with one small buck who I watched run off two other small bucks over the course of the next 20 minutes or so. Shortly one of the does began to wander off to my right, and the other goats soon began to follow. I watched for a while and when I judged that they had reached their closest point of approach, I ranged them at 375 yards. Still too far by my personal standard. I took a few moments to contemplate my options, and I decided to drop back off the bench, move up to the head of the draw and cut the distance by about 100yds. Once I was out of sight, I removed my jacket, and revealed my grey sweatshirt. My thinking was that it would offer something different from what they had been seeing before. I trotted up the draw and eased my head up above the edge. By the time my shoulders had cleared the edge, that little buck, which had been heading left to right, spotted me, made a hard right turn and came straight at me, bringing the rest of the band right with him. I dropped to kneeling, put the polecat crossed sticks up and layed the rifle in their V. Just as I got comfortable, the buck appeared right in front of me. He was facing me nearly dead on, but the lower half of his chest was screened by the short sage. I waited in a tense standoff for what seemed to be forever but was really just a few seconds. Finally, he turned and took a couple of steps. This left his chest clear and I slipped the tang safety and applied pressure to the trigger. At the shot the antelope staggered sideways, took a step or two and then fell over. The does stood around trying to figure out what happened as I safed the rifle and ranged the fallen goat. 66 yards.
Now the work begins. I field dressed the buck using a knife that I am field testing for knifeforums.com. It is a Spyderco Ocelot. It is designed by Tim Wegner. If you like folders for hunting this is a nice knife. Once the buck was dressed, I drug it away from the gut pile, in case the coyotes got there before I got back. I left my jacket on it, marked it on the GPS and headed for the truck. Once at the truck, I unloaded everything from my pack. Put in the camera and the tripod, and unloaded my secret weapon from the bed of the truck. My wheel barrow. Having learned two years ago that dragging antelope through sage brush, even short sage brush is HARD WORK, I came prepared to make it a little easier this time.
A NOTE HERE ABOUT GAME CARTS AND THE PRAIRIE :
Solid tires are HIGHLY recommended. Pneumatic tires and cactus spines DON’T mix well. Wheel barrows with one flat tire do not make your life easier. Tire slime might help. Back to the story.
After a reasonable amount of effort, I got the wheel barrow out to the buck, got the buck loaded and moved him to the only tree around for miles. I took my “trophy photos” reloaded the buck and pushed him back to the truck. Once loaded in the truck, I drove to the store, picked up two bags of ice put them in the chest cavity of the antelope, covered him with the wheel barrow and drove home.
This antelope is just a dinky thing. I could have held out, drove to a couple of other areas and maybe shot a bigger goat, but I was there more for the hunt than the horns and with two goats in the freezer now, I can hold off on shooting a small Muley or Elk and extend my hunting into late November.
In 2005 I got with a couple of my cousins in Colorado and we decided to revive the tradition. In 06 we added my brother, my son, and a cousins son so we are up and running again with a great family adventure and tradition. My 16 year old son bagged his first lope on his own and although a very young buck it was a great trophy.
Here are a few pics of old memories and new ones.
Dad and my cousin that passed from a 60's hunt
Cody's first lope
packing out goat meat
60 mph winds did a number on our tent
06 goat (sorry about the blood)
me and the cuz's from 05
my brother and his tender tasty cull doe fawn.
The 250 is perfect for the type of antelope hunting that I do, spot and stalk to within 300yds and one, sure, shot if possible.
Being stuck right between the 6mm and 6.5mm which are two oustanding long range bullets in several platforms.
I believe the only thing holding the 250 savage back as a long range performer are the twist of barrels most commonly available. Those being 1 in 14 and 1 in 10 both of which do not seem to stabilize longer bullets those over 100 grains. I think it would be interesting to see how they would work in a 1 in 9 or 1 in 8.5.
All this aside it does not have to be a longrange star to be a star for taking antelope.
I would not have any problem with the use of an 87 grain bullet to take a lope.