Some of you have read last year's report on my Wyoming 2018 Pronghorn Antelope DIY public land hunt. More prepared than ever and with added knowledge, I returned to Wyoming this year with not one but two buck tags. While I am not an expert on hunting in Wyoming, I've gathered a lot of knowledge from personal experience either on the ground or "playing" their draw system/studying draw results for the past four years. Also I've been active on a different forum and reading up on the subject (yes, I have a hunting problem!). A lot of you have asked me for info, tips, etc, and I hope those who dared to travel south for antelopes this year were successful.
So I applied for the Wyoming draw this year and drew my second choice tag as expected (keeping my preference points for an other year and keep building points for Elk, Antelopes and Deer) and managed to pick up a second Type 2 buck tag in the leftover draw as well as secured private land access. As a back story, I'm in the military and was deployed to Africa for seven months and did all that from the middle of the Sahel desert. Returned home from deployment in time to relax, take time off with the family as well as punch my Archery Mule Deer tag here in Saskatchewan. The season had just started and I already knew it was going to be great. I had also drawn three doe/fawn tags that I decided not to fill (why later).
My hunting season started Sept 1st with archery whitetail deer at home in Saskatchewan. On the first evening of the season, I missed a beautiful velvet buck, he came in trotting and I had to stop him, as he stopped, he stared straight at me up in my tree stand and ended up jumping the string. My arrow barely skimming off its back. I hunted a couple more evenings with no luck and chose to take it easy and spend more time with the family. On Sept 15th, I moved on to archery mule deer. The first morning started off very well, I located an extremely nice 6x5 and started my stalk. The wind was perfect and the terrain made for an easy stalk. I set up behind a small bush and waited for him to slowly feed up the opposing side of a hill in front of me. It would be an easy 40 yds shot once he would be on top. Slowly, I could see the tip of his antlers rising over the hill and within a minute or so, I had a perfect broadside 42 yds shot. That deer was big, high, wide and had all sorts of junk on its rack. I waited for him to put his head down, drew my bow and released. I saw my arrow literally fly through its back hair, I had missed and no one was to blame but me. He gave me a second chance at 50 yds but by the time I drew my bow, he was nothing but a white butt trotting away.
After missing that big mule deer and having been away from home for so long, our freezer was getting lower and lower on red meat. I wanted to get a deer but spend time with my family so I ended up telling myself that I would shoot the first decent 3x3 that I would get a crack at. A couple more days later, I arrowed a 3x4 and punched my first tag of 2019. After missing out on spring bear, picking up that bloodied arrow and finally holding onto those antlers was one of the best feeling I had had that year (being reunited with my family surpassing that, obviously). That deer was far from being my best one but it definitely felt like it.
Day 1: Day one started on 8 Oct. I was lucky to have beautiful weather on my drive to Wyoming, the forecast was calling for some serious shyt weather the next couple days. The drive south was beautiful, as always. Tons of wildlife and a truly beautiful country, those of you who have never been in the mid-west, I really suggest going one day. I started my journey at 0600hr that morning and made it to my hotel about 1900hr that night. I had time to relax, unpack my stuff and get ready for the first day of hunting. The drive through Montana was also used as a quick recce for future deer and antelope hunts in the southwest part of the state, very promising in terms of public land access, terrain and game (that trip will definitely be a pack-in hunt though).
Day 2: Wake up at 0600hr, load up the truck, grab a coffee and burrito at the closest truck stop, and make my way to the unit I was hunting public land in. I was giving myself week days in that unit and would move onto the ranch I had access on the weekend to avoid the weekend crowd on public land. Day one was great, I had never hunted that unit before and scouted mostly. I drove through the entire unit, making mental notes of a lot of great deer areas for future hunts, as well as looking for where I would start the next morning. I spent the day mostly driving Forest Services, BLM, State land, etc and hiking to high features to find goats. While the day was really windy, I managed to find three good groups of antelopes. I passed on several smaller bucks since I still had a few days in that unit. On my way back to the hotel, I had decided that I would stop at the first State land parcel (1x1 mile) that I had seen a few does on. The weather was turning sour so I hiked to a high feature and started glassing. The three does I had seen earlier that morning had now become a dozen or so with several decent bucks. As the weather was getting worse, I decided to pull out of there and head back to the hotel. The 30 min drive back was atrocious and definitely not the safest drive. That day, I found a Mule Deer spiker shed, I've taken habit of leaving sheds I find out in plain sight for others to find. It keeps the wife happy as I am not hoarding more sheds at home and I feel like it can't hurt for good luck. I left the shed at the entrance of a small parcel of State land.
Day 3: Started much like day 2 but with a lot more snow. I went to the small State parcel that I had seen antelopes the day before, hiked to a high feature and started glassing, nothing. I looked long enough to make sure there was nothing between/around me and the next hill where I would go to glass the farther end of the parcel. I slowly made my way there, no rush. Halfway between both hills, going slowly through tall sage brush, I caught movement to my left. Out of the brush (100m from where I was glassing) came out a buck that was bedded. Not too sure of what I was, he started trotting away, I took off my pack, unfolded my bipod, removed my scope cover, chambered a round and took a good look at him through my binos. He was tall but he was starting a me dead on, I ranged him at 162m. He started trotting away as I was getting ready to shoot, he made the mistake of turning back to have an other look at me (still under 200m) and that was the last thing he did. I let my 25-06 with 110gr ELD-X bark and anchored him on the spot. Turns out he was pretty tall, no mass and was a bit of a fighter as he had a broken tip. Great public land buck in my book. Did a quick photo shoot, quartered it and packed it back to the truck. Made it to the hotel before 1000hr and proceeded to cut and wrap it at the hotel. I met with the Ranch hunting manager that night to fill out paperwork and get the lay of the land. Day 3 had been a very productive day.
Day 4: Morning routine, same as days 2 and 3. This time though, I was headed to the unit I hunted last year, but this time on a private ranch to fill my Type 2 tag (private only). This tag and ranch access was my "Me to Me" end of deployment present. I'm not a big fan of "pay to play" but all this tour money made me change my mind... I headed to the west end of the ranch, where the terrain was slightly rougher, less open fields and more sage brush. That morning started well, I glassed several decent bucks and eventually found a herd in the distance that I wanted to investigate further. I took my pack, spotting scope, rifle and headed their way. I made it about 700m away from them and glassed the herd. I could see several good bucks with the group and a very nice till and wide buck by himself. I looked at the terrain and devised a plan to get closer to him to have a better look and possibly shoot from. I started my hike, following the curves of the terrain and eventually made it to where I had plan. This whole time I was going in blind because of the terrain. When I finally made it to where I wanted to be, the buck was gone. I got higher and found out he had left with the herd and was now far away. I made my first mistake then, I got up, crested the hill and walked back to my truck. Next thing I knew, all 50 or so antelopes, over a km away, were staring at me and bolted out of there as a group. I ended up playing a game of cat and mouse with that herd. Whenever I would make it to the hill they were on, they were over the next one or the tall sage would prevent me from taking a shot. Eventually, the herd merged in with a second one, slightly larger and bedded in the middle of a field. With that other herd, came an other group of hunters who had probably been chasing them until then. Seeing the other hunters who were concentrating on a smaller group of antelopes, I decided to pull back and take the long way down wind to reach the now big herd bedded in the middle of a larger field. The other group opened up on the smaller group they were working, eight or so shots. I was now 500m away for the bedded herd. Crawling through the sage and hundreds of small cactus. I was now roughly 300m from the herd and was setting up for the shot. I was seated, with the bipod and buttstock resting on my pack, steady I could be for a 300m shot. At this point I had a large bedded buck in my scope and I was waiting for him to stand up. He did eventually stand up but only after two shots were fired at the group of antelopes, they all bolted but one that was limping away. A third shot rang out but the wounded antelope was unphased, still limping away. I was not expecting those guys to show up nor was I expecting them to make such a long shot, it must've been at least 600m for them. The wounded antelope limped over quite a long distance and the rest of the herd was too far or spooked to make a move on at that moment. The buck eventually died 10 or so minutes later and out of the horizon came out the other group to retrieve it. I decided to completely pull out of that area and drive a few kms away, keeping the herd in sight. I finally made it back to where I had started my morning with my failed stalk. A group of bachelors with a few does had separated from the main group and were giving me the same opportunity I had missed earlier. Through the same path I made my way earlier, I got closer to the group that were finally feeding calmly. As I was walking up to where I was going to set up for the shot, more shots rang out, I got up only to see the group and the rest of the goats running away. The other hunters eventually left and I was left alone to work the several small herds. The rest of the day turned into many failed stalks, my shots would either be obstructed by brush or the big bucks would stay in a group of does making a single animal kill impossible. The skittish herd would always end up spotting me and I finished the day with a poorly supported 350m shot at a big buck who proceeded to just trot away with his friends. I took the rest of the evening to scout more areas for the next morning. That night, I treated myself to a nice steak dinner and a few beers to cheer myself up.
Day 5: I was a little slower that morning, I had been going hard at it for the past three days and it was starting to show. I went to a spot where I had glassed a herd the night before but no white butts were present. The snow had finally melted and they were now easy to spot. I passed on a VERY nice buck, he was 100 or so meters away, broadside in a field but the whole thing didn't seem right. I was driving when I spotted him and I didn't feel like shooting a buck from the trail, I had put a lot of time and effort preparing and during this trip, I wasn't going to finish it shooting from a hard packed trail (don't get me wrong, I have done so in the past and will most likely do it again in the future but in that moment, it didn't feel right). I made my way back to where it had all started the day before. I spotted a group of three bucks with 5-6 does. They were feeding with the rising sun, following the rays as they were reaching farther and farther past the hills. I quickly grabbed my gear and started making my way to a point where I thought I would get a shot from. Sure enough, I got to where I wanted but the groups was slightly farther then what I had envisioned. I somehow didn't get busted abut my shot was obstructed by sage brush. I pulled back to set up where I would have a better field of view and clear shot, all I had to do was wait for them to continue feeding as they were. 10 minutes passed by, still no antelope. I was worried they were gone so I knelled up to get a better view and started glassing, no white butts in sight. I sat back down and as I grabbed my rifle, something caught my attention on my left. The group had been doing what I thought they would do except the terrain was not as flat as I had thought. They were now completely to my left and I was caught in the open while they were feeding at my level but on the opposite hill. The rising sun had saved my azz, the goats were to the west and I was sitting to the east with the sun having barely crested the hill I was sitting on. They couldn't see me thanks to mr. rising sun. I turned to the left, set up for my shot and ranged them at 268m. The group had three bucks, all roughly the same size, one caught my eye as he was much wider. Those of you who have hunted pronghorns know what they are extremely hard to field judge, length, width, thickness, etc. I had decided that I was going to go for the widest one, he had nice cutters and his prongs were curving in like a heart. He may not have been the biggest of the three but I could already picture his euro mount on my mantle! He was azz first and I didn't feel like taking a Texas heart shot, I waited, he fed away going uphill and finally gave me a nice quartering away shot. Finally let the 25-06 off confirming that the previous day's miss was all my fault and watched him drop in his track. Day 5 was Saturday and my wife was throwing a massive Thanksgiving feast for some of the neighbours on Sunday. I decided to quarter my buck, pack him on ice, pack up my stuff and clear out of my hotel and start the journey back to Saskatchewan that same day although I still had three doe/fawn tags left in my pack and plenty of cooler space. On my way back to the truck I spotted an old Mule Deer shed, I hung it up on a fence post for an other to see and thought it was a nice way to end my hunt. I made it home in the middle of the night, butchered my antelope on Thanksgiving morning, started working on both heads for euro mounts (trying out a new sous vide method) and helped the wife finish her Thanksgiving feast!
I am truly thankful for an understanding wife who supports me 100% in my crazy hunting adventures. Next up, try and fill my Saskatchewan Whitetail and Mule Deer doe tags, go to Manitoba for a quick Whitetail hunt, host my brother and then father-in-law for their non-resident Whitetail hunts and finally go on a January Antlerless Elk draw tag hunt here at home to wrap up the 2019 season.
So I applied for the Wyoming draw this year and drew my second choice tag as expected (keeping my preference points for an other year and keep building points for Elk, Antelopes and Deer) and managed to pick up a second Type 2 buck tag in the leftover draw as well as secured private land access. As a back story, I'm in the military and was deployed to Africa for seven months and did all that from the middle of the Sahel desert. Returned home from deployment in time to relax, take time off with the family as well as punch my Archery Mule Deer tag here in Saskatchewan. The season had just started and I already knew it was going to be great. I had also drawn three doe/fawn tags that I decided not to fill (why later).
My hunting season started Sept 1st with archery whitetail deer at home in Saskatchewan. On the first evening of the season, I missed a beautiful velvet buck, he came in trotting and I had to stop him, as he stopped, he stared straight at me up in my tree stand and ended up jumping the string. My arrow barely skimming off its back. I hunted a couple more evenings with no luck and chose to take it easy and spend more time with the family. On Sept 15th, I moved on to archery mule deer. The first morning started off very well, I located an extremely nice 6x5 and started my stalk. The wind was perfect and the terrain made for an easy stalk. I set up behind a small bush and waited for him to slowly feed up the opposing side of a hill in front of me. It would be an easy 40 yds shot once he would be on top. Slowly, I could see the tip of his antlers rising over the hill and within a minute or so, I had a perfect broadside 42 yds shot. That deer was big, high, wide and had all sorts of junk on its rack. I waited for him to put his head down, drew my bow and released. I saw my arrow literally fly through its back hair, I had missed and no one was to blame but me. He gave me a second chance at 50 yds but by the time I drew my bow, he was nothing but a white butt trotting away.
After missing that big mule deer and having been away from home for so long, our freezer was getting lower and lower on red meat. I wanted to get a deer but spend time with my family so I ended up telling myself that I would shoot the first decent 3x3 that I would get a crack at. A couple more days later, I arrowed a 3x4 and punched my first tag of 2019. After missing out on spring bear, picking up that bloodied arrow and finally holding onto those antlers was one of the best feeling I had had that year (being reunited with my family surpassing that, obviously). That deer was far from being my best one but it definitely felt like it.
Day 1: Day one started on 8 Oct. I was lucky to have beautiful weather on my drive to Wyoming, the forecast was calling for some serious shyt weather the next couple days. The drive south was beautiful, as always. Tons of wildlife and a truly beautiful country, those of you who have never been in the mid-west, I really suggest going one day. I started my journey at 0600hr that morning and made it to my hotel about 1900hr that night. I had time to relax, unpack my stuff and get ready for the first day of hunting. The drive through Montana was also used as a quick recce for future deer and antelope hunts in the southwest part of the state, very promising in terms of public land access, terrain and game (that trip will definitely be a pack-in hunt though).
Day 2: Wake up at 0600hr, load up the truck, grab a coffee and burrito at the closest truck stop, and make my way to the unit I was hunting public land in. I was giving myself week days in that unit and would move onto the ranch I had access on the weekend to avoid the weekend crowd on public land. Day one was great, I had never hunted that unit before and scouted mostly. I drove through the entire unit, making mental notes of a lot of great deer areas for future hunts, as well as looking for where I would start the next morning. I spent the day mostly driving Forest Services, BLM, State land, etc and hiking to high features to find goats. While the day was really windy, I managed to find three good groups of antelopes. I passed on several smaller bucks since I still had a few days in that unit. On my way back to the hotel, I had decided that I would stop at the first State land parcel (1x1 mile) that I had seen a few does on. The weather was turning sour so I hiked to a high feature and started glassing. The three does I had seen earlier that morning had now become a dozen or so with several decent bucks. As the weather was getting worse, I decided to pull out of there and head back to the hotel. The 30 min drive back was atrocious and definitely not the safest drive. That day, I found a Mule Deer spiker shed, I've taken habit of leaving sheds I find out in plain sight for others to find. It keeps the wife happy as I am not hoarding more sheds at home and I feel like it can't hurt for good luck. I left the shed at the entrance of a small parcel of State land.
Day 3: Started much like day 2 but with a lot more snow. I went to the small State parcel that I had seen antelopes the day before, hiked to a high feature and started glassing, nothing. I looked long enough to make sure there was nothing between/around me and the next hill where I would go to glass the farther end of the parcel. I slowly made my way there, no rush. Halfway between both hills, going slowly through tall sage brush, I caught movement to my left. Out of the brush (100m from where I was glassing) came out a buck that was bedded. Not too sure of what I was, he started trotting away, I took off my pack, unfolded my bipod, removed my scope cover, chambered a round and took a good look at him through my binos. He was tall but he was starting a me dead on, I ranged him at 162m. He started trotting away as I was getting ready to shoot, he made the mistake of turning back to have an other look at me (still under 200m) and that was the last thing he did. I let my 25-06 with 110gr ELD-X bark and anchored him on the spot. Turns out he was pretty tall, no mass and was a bit of a fighter as he had a broken tip. Great public land buck in my book. Did a quick photo shoot, quartered it and packed it back to the truck. Made it to the hotel before 1000hr and proceeded to cut and wrap it at the hotel. I met with the Ranch hunting manager that night to fill out paperwork and get the lay of the land. Day 3 had been a very productive day.
Day 4: Morning routine, same as days 2 and 3. This time though, I was headed to the unit I hunted last year, but this time on a private ranch to fill my Type 2 tag (private only). This tag and ranch access was my "Me to Me" end of deployment present. I'm not a big fan of "pay to play" but all this tour money made me change my mind... I headed to the west end of the ranch, where the terrain was slightly rougher, less open fields and more sage brush. That morning started well, I glassed several decent bucks and eventually found a herd in the distance that I wanted to investigate further. I took my pack, spotting scope, rifle and headed their way. I made it about 700m away from them and glassed the herd. I could see several good bucks with the group and a very nice till and wide buck by himself. I looked at the terrain and devised a plan to get closer to him to have a better look and possibly shoot from. I started my hike, following the curves of the terrain and eventually made it to where I had plan. This whole time I was going in blind because of the terrain. When I finally made it to where I wanted to be, the buck was gone. I got higher and found out he had left with the herd and was now far away. I made my first mistake then, I got up, crested the hill and walked back to my truck. Next thing I knew, all 50 or so antelopes, over a km away, were staring at me and bolted out of there as a group. I ended up playing a game of cat and mouse with that herd. Whenever I would make it to the hill they were on, they were over the next one or the tall sage would prevent me from taking a shot. Eventually, the herd merged in with a second one, slightly larger and bedded in the middle of a field. With that other herd, came an other group of hunters who had probably been chasing them until then. Seeing the other hunters who were concentrating on a smaller group of antelopes, I decided to pull back and take the long way down wind to reach the now big herd bedded in the middle of a larger field. The other group opened up on the smaller group they were working, eight or so shots. I was now 500m away for the bedded herd. Crawling through the sage and hundreds of small cactus. I was now roughly 300m from the herd and was setting up for the shot. I was seated, with the bipod and buttstock resting on my pack, steady I could be for a 300m shot. At this point I had a large bedded buck in my scope and I was waiting for him to stand up. He did eventually stand up but only after two shots were fired at the group of antelopes, they all bolted but one that was limping away. A third shot rang out but the wounded antelope was unphased, still limping away. I was not expecting those guys to show up nor was I expecting them to make such a long shot, it must've been at least 600m for them. The wounded antelope limped over quite a long distance and the rest of the herd was too far or spooked to make a move on at that moment. The buck eventually died 10 or so minutes later and out of the horizon came out the other group to retrieve it. I decided to completely pull out of that area and drive a few kms away, keeping the herd in sight. I finally made it back to where I had started my morning with my failed stalk. A group of bachelors with a few does had separated from the main group and were giving me the same opportunity I had missed earlier. Through the same path I made my way earlier, I got closer to the group that were finally feeding calmly. As I was walking up to where I was going to set up for the shot, more shots rang out, I got up only to see the group and the rest of the goats running away. The other hunters eventually left and I was left alone to work the several small herds. The rest of the day turned into many failed stalks, my shots would either be obstructed by brush or the big bucks would stay in a group of does making a single animal kill impossible. The skittish herd would always end up spotting me and I finished the day with a poorly supported 350m shot at a big buck who proceeded to just trot away with his friends. I took the rest of the evening to scout more areas for the next morning. That night, I treated myself to a nice steak dinner and a few beers to cheer myself up.
Day 5: I was a little slower that morning, I had been going hard at it for the past three days and it was starting to show. I went to a spot where I had glassed a herd the night before but no white butts were present. The snow had finally melted and they were now easy to spot. I passed on a VERY nice buck, he was 100 or so meters away, broadside in a field but the whole thing didn't seem right. I was driving when I spotted him and I didn't feel like shooting a buck from the trail, I had put a lot of time and effort preparing and during this trip, I wasn't going to finish it shooting from a hard packed trail (don't get me wrong, I have done so in the past and will most likely do it again in the future but in that moment, it didn't feel right). I made my way back to where it had all started the day before. I spotted a group of three bucks with 5-6 does. They were feeding with the rising sun, following the rays as they were reaching farther and farther past the hills. I quickly grabbed my gear and started making my way to a point where I thought I would get a shot from. Sure enough, I got to where I wanted but the groups was slightly farther then what I had envisioned. I somehow didn't get busted abut my shot was obstructed by sage brush. I pulled back to set up where I would have a better field of view and clear shot, all I had to do was wait for them to continue feeding as they were. 10 minutes passed by, still no antelope. I was worried they were gone so I knelled up to get a better view and started glassing, no white butts in sight. I sat back down and as I grabbed my rifle, something caught my attention on my left. The group had been doing what I thought they would do except the terrain was not as flat as I had thought. They were now completely to my left and I was caught in the open while they were feeding at my level but on the opposite hill. The rising sun had saved my azz, the goats were to the west and I was sitting to the east with the sun having barely crested the hill I was sitting on. They couldn't see me thanks to mr. rising sun. I turned to the left, set up for my shot and ranged them at 268m. The group had three bucks, all roughly the same size, one caught my eye as he was much wider. Those of you who have hunted pronghorns know what they are extremely hard to field judge, length, width, thickness, etc. I had decided that I was going to go for the widest one, he had nice cutters and his prongs were curving in like a heart. He may not have been the biggest of the three but I could already picture his euro mount on my mantle! He was azz first and I didn't feel like taking a Texas heart shot, I waited, he fed away going uphill and finally gave me a nice quartering away shot. Finally let the 25-06 off confirming that the previous day's miss was all my fault and watched him drop in his track. Day 5 was Saturday and my wife was throwing a massive Thanksgiving feast for some of the neighbours on Sunday. I decided to quarter my buck, pack him on ice, pack up my stuff and clear out of my hotel and start the journey back to Saskatchewan that same day although I still had three doe/fawn tags left in my pack and plenty of cooler space. On my way back to the truck I spotted an old Mule Deer shed, I hung it up on a fence post for an other to see and thought it was a nice way to end my hunt. I made it home in the middle of the night, butchered my antelope on Thanksgiving morning, started working on both heads for euro mounts (trying out a new sous vide method) and helped the wife finish her Thanksgiving feast!
I am truly thankful for an understanding wife who supports me 100% in my crazy hunting adventures. Next up, try and fill my Saskatchewan Whitetail and Mule Deer doe tags, go to Manitoba for a quick Whitetail hunt, host my brother and then father-in-law for their non-resident Whitetail hunts and finally go on a January Antlerless Elk draw tag hunt here at home to wrap up the 2019 season.
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. The last weekend of the season, I took time to go and try to fill my two Mule Deer doe tags. I joked that morning that I would come back with a truckload of deer, well, I did just that. The morning started slow but the wind was right, I would spend the next couple hours hiking, wind in my face, looking for Mule Deer. I eventually found a dozen does and bucks bedded on a bushy hill side. They were bedded ranging 150 to 170 yds away. I set up for a comfortable shot and spent the next half hour observing them. It was pretty cold that day and decided I would have to shoot soon or I would probably be too cold to do anything as I was dressed for still hunting. A big doe eventually stood up to re-position herself, all she gave me was a frontal shot so I aimed just above her throat patch and let the bullet drop do the rest. The rest of the herd stood up and stayed there, they gave me enough time to reload the smoke pole, pick another one out and shoot it. I rarely fill my doe tags but had decided to try and fill both this year for several reasons: one of the Mule Deer buck that was taken on the property the previous year had come back positive for CWD (I would submit the heads of my does, the MNR has only taken serious actions towards CWD in recent years and submitting heads is the best way to get an actual sample size), the herd on the property I hunt is very healthy and finally I would send the meat back home to my family. I spent the following days butchering the deer with my daughter and the FIL, time well spent!
