My 2 Month Wyoming Trip
11-01-2015, 10:47 AM
#1
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
My 2 Month Wyoming Trip
After many months of anticipation I headed out again to Wyoming, my favorite western state, early on Saturday, August 29th. The first two weeks of September was spent in the high country of the Big Horn mountains in north-central Wyoming at between 9,200 and 10,000 feet on an archery elk hunt. Last year I had offered to help an internet friend (car on this website) from southern Ohio that I've known for over ten years, but had never met, with my knowledge of the area if he could draw the tag. In late February after the Wyoming elk draw was completed I got a message that Ron had drawn the tag with his 8 preference points and the hunt was on. The months literally flew by and I met Ron on the road that Saturday night in western Iowa after a long drive for both of us that day. It was like we had been good buddies our whole life and after a little BSing we hit the sacks in my 19" trailer so we could get going early enough to be into the mountains and have camp set up before dark on Sunday. We had a great two weeks together, but the hot weather really hurt the hunting and although we were into elk a number of times and Ron got a shot at a decent bull that he missed the second week, he went home eating tag soup. So goes hunting, but the time spent with Ron in that beautiful country will not be forgotten.
Ron left for Ohio to get back to his car washing business and with my being retired since 2002 my trip was really just beginning as I headed southwest to where I always hunt with several Wyoming friends every year. After a two hour drive I set up camp at our usual spot and the next few days were spent scouting the country looking for some good antelope bucks for my buddy who lives in Sheridan. John has been able to draw the tag as a resident for the unit we like the last four years and the season his tag was good for opened on October 1. Before that hunt was scheduled to start we had booked a 5 day horseback hunt for mule deer in western Wyoming from 9/21-9/25.
John met me early on Saturday, the 19th, and we took a nice drive that day over to the west not too far from the Idaho border and south of Jackson, WY an hour or so. We arrived at the outfitters home and met with him and two CA hunters who had filled their tags with nice bucks and were getting ready to head for home the following morning. That worked out great and we were able to get into the cabin where we stayed a night ahead of time, as well as start our hunt on Sunday, a day earlier than scheduled.
We went to bed early that night with high hopes to take a couple nice bucks and were up at 3AM to dress and grab a quick bite to eat before trailering the horses up to a trail head on the mountain our guide had picked to hunt the first day. After a two hour ride up the mountain of close to ten miles we were on a ridge to glass for deer just as dawn broke in the Salt River Range to the east of Star Valley where we were staying. It wasn't more than a half hour and we found a really nice buck that was a shooter for sure. I had first shot, but while prone on my pack I just couldn't get on the buck that was 275 yards down the steep ridge we were on. We were afraid the buck would slip into the heavy timber he was feeding near and I whispered to John to take him if he could. John was a little higher up to my left and sitting with his attached shooting sticks on his .270 and boom, the buck was down almost before I finished the sentence! Most of the rest of the day was spent taking care of the buck, getting him back out to the trail head and back to camp, etc. Thank God for good horses, as IMHO it's the only way to get back into that country and out again with an animal without killing yourself!
The next day we hunted the same general area and saw deer, elk, and a huge sow black bear with two cubs that were on a deer carcass the CA guys had shot the previous hunt on opening day. We cut that day short and got back to camp by mid afternoon so we could take the head/cape of John's buck to a taxidermist in Afton for full caping and freezing, since the weather was really warm out there all of September and October.
The third day we trailered the horses up north and well east of Alpine into the Greys River Range and were up in the hunt area just as dawn was breaking. Another nice buck was spotted that morning about 600+ yards away, which is much further than I care to shoot with my bad eyes and there was no way for a stalk before he went into the timber to bed for the day. We worked over to where we could watch for him the rest of the day, but he never came back out of the timber during shooting hours. Since the buck was a really nice one, we headed back up into that drainage even earlier the 4th morning and found the buck way down hill from where he was the previous day right as it got light. I got on him from about 175 yards and with a 200 yard zero didn't even take time to use a range finder for fear he would get into the timber when he looked up to the ridge we were on and saw us. At the shot on his right front shoulder he whirled around and made a death run of less than 50 yards and the hunt was over! The rest of the day was spent getting him taken care of and the meat back to camp for safe keeping until we headed out the next morning to Cody to the taxidermist where John is having his buck done in a shoulder mount. Mine is going to be a Euromount and I'll be doing that myself.
After our horseback hunt was over we headed up through Jackson and Yellowstone to our taxidermist in Cody where John dropped off his deer antlers and cape for a full shoulder mount. Then we headed back southeast to what would be our "camp headquarters" until the end of our other hunts in late October. We have a needy family close to where we hunt and all but one backstrap of our deer was dropped off at their house. Then the next few days were spent doing more glassing for nice antelope and between my previous scouting and those few days we waypointed 5 or 6 of the best we saw that John felt he would shoot if we could find them again. We had one particularly nice buck that was the best of the bunch and tried to find him on opening day, but were unsuccessful. We decided to try for him again the second day and found him while going up the mountain he was previously on during scouting. If you have never hunted antelope, don't believe that they are all out in the flat sagebrush areas all the time, as they go where the feed and water suits them and that might be at 8,000'. We made a very short stalk on the buck and he was down and out with one shot John made with his backpack resting over a rock outcropping for a good, solid support. The buck did not suffer any ground shrinkage and, in fact, was even better than we had estimated with a quick taping at camp showing he should easily break the 80" mark after the 60 day drying period. We took the meat to our needy family and spent the rest of the day taking the head/cape up to the Cody taxidermist for another shoulder mount. The next morning John headed back to Sheridan and then to work in ND the following day.
That night an internet friend I had never met came in from MN with his buddy for his first antelope hunt. He had a buck tag and two doe tags, while his older buddy came along for the ride and a new outdoor experience. We got Rick one of the other nice bucks I had scouted in September the second night and filled his two doe tags right after daylight the third morning. The rest of that day was spent getting all the meat taken care of and they left for MN the next morning to make sure all the meat got home in good shape.
The rest of the month John had to work and was only able to hunt or help our friends on the weekends. While he was gone the first week I scouted for elk and deer, since he had a cow elk tag and other friends had elk and deer tags. On the opener for elk I helped a friend from Worland who brought his girlfriend and Dad over to try and fill the bull tag she had drawn for her first big game hunt. We were successful and put her on a nice 5x5 that she shot with her boyfriend's 25-06 and with the 4 of us on that hunt we were able to get the bull packed out in two trips even though it was a mile uphill back to the trucks. I had forgotten my camera at camp that day and didn't get any pictures of her first bull.
During the following week I did more scouting and picture taking until John and two friends from Gillette got in on Friday night. We couldn't get on any bulls close enough for a good shot on Saturday, but did see a number of elk. However, we did get the 16 year old boy a nice little 4x4 mulie buck on his tag and he made a great 200 yard shot on it the middle of the day on Saturday. They cut their weekend short and took it back to the processor in Gillette because of the very warm weather we experienced out there my entire trip. The next morning John and I were set up where we had been seeing elk and a small herd almost walked over top of us right at daylight.. John took a nice cow elk on his tag and his hunting was over for the season with all three of his tags filled successfully. We quartered it and took two trips to get it all packed out over a mile to the truck and away he went that afternoon to get it to his processor in Dayton. The heart and liver from the buck went to the needy family, but due to the heavy elk loads we packed out those had to stay with the elk carcass for the yotes to devour.
That left me alone again and I did more scouting along with relaxing in the overly warm days we were having where I was actually in shorts and a T short most middays when we were in camp. That, along with shooting some prairie dogs that week, passed the time until another older friend from Worland got over early on Thursday for a quick deer hunt. We got him a nice meat buck and the cull was a spike on one side and a fork on the other with a short brow point that stuck straight out. Again the heart and liver went to the needy family.
The following evening John and our friends from Gillette got back over, but we just couldn't get the elk to cooperate and come onto public land that we hunt. We saw quite a few on the two private ranches next to where we hunt, but they never would cross the property lines like they routinely do to where we can hunt them legally. The guys headed for home and I had planned to stay through the end of the month to help another friend who was to come in from Ohio that weekend for a cow elk hunt. I got word a few days earlier that he had to cancel his trip due to surgery his wife had in September that was not healing as fast as they thought it would and he had to stay home since she could not drive yet.
Thus ended my two months out in the state I call my second home and I got home last Monday night. Here is a picture of my buck. All the other pictures I planned to post are too big for this website and I'm scared to try and resize them for fear of messing them up. Thanks for your time reading this write up of my 2015 Wyoming trip!
Ron left for Ohio to get back to his car washing business and with my being retired since 2002 my trip was really just beginning as I headed southwest to where I always hunt with several Wyoming friends every year. After a two hour drive I set up camp at our usual spot and the next few days were spent scouting the country looking for some good antelope bucks for my buddy who lives in Sheridan. John has been able to draw the tag as a resident for the unit we like the last four years and the season his tag was good for opened on October 1. Before that hunt was scheduled to start we had booked a 5 day horseback hunt for mule deer in western Wyoming from 9/21-9/25.
John met me early on Saturday, the 19th, and we took a nice drive that day over to the west not too far from the Idaho border and south of Jackson, WY an hour or so. We arrived at the outfitters home and met with him and two CA hunters who had filled their tags with nice bucks and were getting ready to head for home the following morning. That worked out great and we were able to get into the cabin where we stayed a night ahead of time, as well as start our hunt on Sunday, a day earlier than scheduled.
We went to bed early that night with high hopes to take a couple nice bucks and were up at 3AM to dress and grab a quick bite to eat before trailering the horses up to a trail head on the mountain our guide had picked to hunt the first day. After a two hour ride up the mountain of close to ten miles we were on a ridge to glass for deer just as dawn broke in the Salt River Range to the east of Star Valley where we were staying. It wasn't more than a half hour and we found a really nice buck that was a shooter for sure. I had first shot, but while prone on my pack I just couldn't get on the buck that was 275 yards down the steep ridge we were on. We were afraid the buck would slip into the heavy timber he was feeding near and I whispered to John to take him if he could. John was a little higher up to my left and sitting with his attached shooting sticks on his .270 and boom, the buck was down almost before I finished the sentence! Most of the rest of the day was spent taking care of the buck, getting him back out to the trail head and back to camp, etc. Thank God for good horses, as IMHO it's the only way to get back into that country and out again with an animal without killing yourself!
The next day we hunted the same general area and saw deer, elk, and a huge sow black bear with two cubs that were on a deer carcass the CA guys had shot the previous hunt on opening day. We cut that day short and got back to camp by mid afternoon so we could take the head/cape of John's buck to a taxidermist in Afton for full caping and freezing, since the weather was really warm out there all of September and October.
The third day we trailered the horses up north and well east of Alpine into the Greys River Range and were up in the hunt area just as dawn was breaking. Another nice buck was spotted that morning about 600+ yards away, which is much further than I care to shoot with my bad eyes and there was no way for a stalk before he went into the timber to bed for the day. We worked over to where we could watch for him the rest of the day, but he never came back out of the timber during shooting hours. Since the buck was a really nice one, we headed back up into that drainage even earlier the 4th morning and found the buck way down hill from where he was the previous day right as it got light. I got on him from about 175 yards and with a 200 yard zero didn't even take time to use a range finder for fear he would get into the timber when he looked up to the ridge we were on and saw us. At the shot on his right front shoulder he whirled around and made a death run of less than 50 yards and the hunt was over! The rest of the day was spent getting him taken care of and the meat back to camp for safe keeping until we headed out the next morning to Cody to the taxidermist where John is having his buck done in a shoulder mount. Mine is going to be a Euromount and I'll be doing that myself.
After our horseback hunt was over we headed up through Jackson and Yellowstone to our taxidermist in Cody where John dropped off his deer antlers and cape for a full shoulder mount. Then we headed back southeast to what would be our "camp headquarters" until the end of our other hunts in late October. We have a needy family close to where we hunt and all but one backstrap of our deer was dropped off at their house. Then the next few days were spent doing more glassing for nice antelope and between my previous scouting and those few days we waypointed 5 or 6 of the best we saw that John felt he would shoot if we could find them again. We had one particularly nice buck that was the best of the bunch and tried to find him on opening day, but were unsuccessful. We decided to try for him again the second day and found him while going up the mountain he was previously on during scouting. If you have never hunted antelope, don't believe that they are all out in the flat sagebrush areas all the time, as they go where the feed and water suits them and that might be at 8,000'. We made a very short stalk on the buck and he was down and out with one shot John made with his backpack resting over a rock outcropping for a good, solid support. The buck did not suffer any ground shrinkage and, in fact, was even better than we had estimated with a quick taping at camp showing he should easily break the 80" mark after the 60 day drying period. We took the meat to our needy family and spent the rest of the day taking the head/cape up to the Cody taxidermist for another shoulder mount. The next morning John headed back to Sheridan and then to work in ND the following day.
That night an internet friend I had never met came in from MN with his buddy for his first antelope hunt. He had a buck tag and two doe tags, while his older buddy came along for the ride and a new outdoor experience. We got Rick one of the other nice bucks I had scouted in September the second night and filled his two doe tags right after daylight the third morning. The rest of that day was spent getting all the meat taken care of and they left for MN the next morning to make sure all the meat got home in good shape.
The rest of the month John had to work and was only able to hunt or help our friends on the weekends. While he was gone the first week I scouted for elk and deer, since he had a cow elk tag and other friends had elk and deer tags. On the opener for elk I helped a friend from Worland who brought his girlfriend and Dad over to try and fill the bull tag she had drawn for her first big game hunt. We were successful and put her on a nice 5x5 that she shot with her boyfriend's 25-06 and with the 4 of us on that hunt we were able to get the bull packed out in two trips even though it was a mile uphill back to the trucks. I had forgotten my camera at camp that day and didn't get any pictures of her first bull.
During the following week I did more scouting and picture taking until John and two friends from Gillette got in on Friday night. We couldn't get on any bulls close enough for a good shot on Saturday, but did see a number of elk. However, we did get the 16 year old boy a nice little 4x4 mulie buck on his tag and he made a great 200 yard shot on it the middle of the day on Saturday. They cut their weekend short and took it back to the processor in Gillette because of the very warm weather we experienced out there my entire trip. The next morning John and I were set up where we had been seeing elk and a small herd almost walked over top of us right at daylight.. John took a nice cow elk on his tag and his hunting was over for the season with all three of his tags filled successfully. We quartered it and took two trips to get it all packed out over a mile to the truck and away he went that afternoon to get it to his processor in Dayton. The heart and liver from the buck went to the needy family, but due to the heavy elk loads we packed out those had to stay with the elk carcass for the yotes to devour.
That left me alone again and I did more scouting along with relaxing in the overly warm days we were having where I was actually in shorts and a T short most middays when we were in camp. That, along with shooting some prairie dogs that week, passed the time until another older friend from Worland got over early on Thursday for a quick deer hunt. We got him a nice meat buck and the cull was a spike on one side and a fork on the other with a short brow point that stuck straight out. Again the heart and liver went to the needy family.
The following evening John and our friends from Gillette got back over, but we just couldn't get the elk to cooperate and come onto public land that we hunt. We saw quite a few on the two private ranches next to where we hunt, but they never would cross the property lines like they routinely do to where we can hunt them legally. The guys headed for home and I had planned to stay through the end of the month to help another friend who was to come in from Ohio that weekend for a cow elk hunt. I got word a few days earlier that he had to cancel his trip due to surgery his wife had in September that was not healing as fast as they thought it would and he had to stay home since she could not drive yet.
Thus ended my two months out in the state I call my second home and I got home last Monday night. Here is a picture of my buck. All the other pictures I planned to post are too big for this website and I'm scared to try and resize them for fear of messing them up. Thanks for your time reading this write up of my 2015 Wyoming trip!
Last edited by Topgun 3006; 11-01-2015 at 10:49 AM.
11-01-2015, 11:03 AM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
Pictures from My Wyoming Trip
Okay, I figured out my resizing problem and here are other pictures of my trip. The first is a photo of the Grand Tetons looking north from the ridge where I shot my buck. The next is looking to the east from that ridge. The next two are of my buddy and his nice buck deer and antelope. The final one is a friend from MN and his first antelope the second day of his hunt.
Last edited by Topgun 3006; 11-01-2015 at 11:07 AM. Reason: Spelling
11-01-2015, 02:22 PM
#8
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
I would have absolutely no idea, LOL! I know where I would be living if I was single and it wouldn't be here in southern Michigan! That's why I call Wyoming my second home and I'm lucky enough to spend a couple months out there every Fall.
