Where to start? My plan was to swing by my office for something that needed some attention prior to heading south to twilds. As I left my office, I heard the door click and realized I left my truck keys inside. Frantically I made phone calls to coworkers for access. Finally I made the connection and retrieved my keys and I was on my way.
I got down to twilds (Tim) and he gave me a tour to his new crib. Nice! They got a sitter which allowed us (Tim, his lovely wife and I) to head out for a couple drinks and dancing. We had such a great time before we knew it we were closing the bar and heading for breakfast. Problem was, breakfast was over just after 3:00 am and my flight was due to take off at 6:30 am. I was a half hour from the airport and needed to be there early. So after just an hour sleep I was off to the airport. My flight was on time and I was in the air for my layover in Detroit. In and out of Detroit I found myself in Salt Lake City, Utah. It looked like a nice place but it didn’t take long until I was aboard my plane for Gillette, WY.
Mounts Inside the Gillette, WY Airport.
Frank (Kidd642) was already in camp and successfully took a beautiful mule deer buck. He text me and soon him and our host/outfitter Doug Miller was there to pick me up. It was great seeing Frank again and a pleasure meeting Doug. Doug is a big, jolly fellow with a slow, methodical way about him. He’s a pleasure to be around and fascinating to listen to him talk about things. As we pulled out of the airport, Frank pointed out the Pronghorn standing just off the airport parking lot. The excitement started to build. I thought I’d better get a couple shots in just before the hunt to double check the bow. I pulled the bow out of the case and asked how far it was to the target. Frank grabbed his range finder as the other guide, Billy talked with me. Frank said the distance was 55 yards. I shocked the guide as I sent an arrow just left a couple inches of my mark. That got the outfitter Doug’s attention as well and he stepped out on the porch. My second shot was in the X. I said, she’s on and Billy made a gesture that he never saw anything like it and Doug immediately said, he’s with me and I know where he’s going and smiled. Of course I took a couple 20 and 30 yard shots as well to make sure things were perfect.
Very soon after the rest of the guys, Frank’s nephew CJ, his friend Bill and Kevin arrived at camp followed by Greg/ MO and jmbuckhunter (John). The ribbing, laughs and stories started immediately. I don’t think I stopped smiling from that moment on. Once everyone was in camp and settled in, Doug (guide) wanted to get us out into the blinds immediately as it was hot as heck. The situation was perfect and they wanted a jump on the hunting. I found this very generous as we weren’t supposed to start hunting until Sunday. I was excited to say the least. Doug put Greg and I into one watering hole with two blinds.
Greg / MO was in one blind and I in the other. We spent several hours sitting there in the hot sun. What was amazing was the amount of grasshoppers that existed everywhere. They ate the alpalpha fields all but bare. They were inside the blinds, on my bow and hopping around the cameras. Greg and I could cover the whole water hole including having several overlapping shot opportunities. This group of does came in and was 33 yards from him and 42 yards from me.
Several other groups of does came in along with a young buck that Greg and I both agreed that he would be a 2.5 year old like whitetail. Both of us passed on him although he was at one time in range for both of us. Texts came out that two of our camp mates scored including Bill as well as Frank’s nephew CJ. Both were very respectable bucks. Total for the evening I had seen probably about 30 animals with several being very respectable bucks but for whatever reason, those bucks did not come to water. That evening we celebrated 2 of our compadres successful tagged animals. That left 4 of us with buck tags. We all rejoiced over some cold beverages well as a hearty meal. If someone went away with an empty stomach, it would have been a personal choice. Cold beer, good friends, great food and 2 tags filled, the whole trip was already a success.
The next morning Greg and I headed out with Doug, the owner/outfitter while Kevin and John (jmbuckhunter) headed out with the Billy the guide. Greg and I would be hunting separate blinds about 700 yards apart. We communicated via texts on sightings as well with texting how jmbuckhunter was making out. Frank sat with Doug in a vehicle overlooking both our blinds. In the background you can see Greg’s blind while my blind is way in the distance near the group of 3 trees.
And a close up on my sight.
When the guide dropped me off it was getting light quickly. As we entered the area from far from the left there was already a group/herd of pronghorn in the field about 200 yards out from my watering hole. They remained there as I got out and into the blind but once the guide pulled away, they left the field. Little did I know, it wouldn’t take long for them to return. It turns out, they will tolerate vehicles to some degree but will not tolerate people walking around.
The morning went slow, very slow and sightings were down. I had the occasional doe come by and water but I did not see any shooter bucks for quite a while. Around 10:00 I got a text from jmbuckhunter asking if this was the 10:00 lull. Chuckling aloud I returned, I do believe so!
So I passed the time slowly with a pocket game of Yatzee and texting others on what was going on in their neck of the prairie.
Before long, Pronghorn were making their way back into the alphalpha field. At one point I had 24 speed goats either bedded or standing around grazing.
Suddenly 6 bucks came around the 3 trees and dam and proceeded to drink from the water hole. Unfortunately, none were considered shooters by me and I was content on passing them and photographing the larger one trailing the others.
Soon more shooter bucks started to show up including the one I ultimately ended up tagging. At first he came in from behind me and to my left and actually came into bow range but didn’t water. I had my video camera all set up and rolling but something changed his mind. I caught him by camera as he walked away and shortly thereafter, bedding about 75 yards out behind me in the alphalpha field. Another shooter buck came strolling by which caused “my” buck to get up and move closer to my blind. At this point he was about 50 yards out but bedded.
A text came in that Greg just shot one and it was coming my way. I was watching behind me when I saw a bruiser goat stroll across the field. Try as I might I could not put a hole in him and ultimately it turned out that his shot went high and back and only brushed his back side. I watched that buck make a scrape and routinely go about his business unharmed. The outfitter was glassing on as well as Frank and both said the buck was unharmed. Turns out a stiff wind took Greg’s 42 yard shot errant. Time passed slowly as I kept track on the bedded buck behind me. I got word that Greg arrowed and successfully recovered a buck.
continued below: