Wyoming antelope successes
10-25-2004, 09:30 AM
#1
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Wyoming antelope successes
My son and I each bagged a pronghorn antelope about a week ago just outside of Gillette, Wyoming. My son took a buck with about 13.25" horns; I took a doe. My son "stalked" his buck in full view of the herd, as there was no cover between a hill perhaps 300 yards from the herd, and my son wasn't comfortable with shooting from this distance. He sat on his butt and leaned back, scooting forward slowly while the buck's head was down. I watched this in some anxiety from the lip of the hill. The does bedded down and watched my son complacently. When my son got to about 150 yards he took the buck with one shot. The shot was rather further back than preferrable, but the buck went down quickly enough.
I stalked up a long zig-zag dry gulch or creekbed just deep enough to conceal me when I crouched over or crawled on hands and knees. After some time at this I realized the bucks I had started after were not getting much closer -- I found it difficult to estimate ranges and distances out there -- and I readjusted my objective to a herd of does that was closer. To approach to within shooting distance of the does I had to cross over to another dry gulch over about 40 yards of open ground. I crawled flat on my belly very slowly across this open ground, not daring to lift my head to look at the does to see if they were running off or staying put. Once in the second creek bed I approached to within 240 yards and took my doe from that distance. My shot also was further back than desirable, but the doe stayed put and went down. I was pretty tired from the long stalk bent over. In the future I think I'll take a substantial breather at the end of the stalk before taking my shot. I had stalked these animals for maybe 30 minutes and they had remained in place during that time. It would have been a safe bet they would remain in place for me to take a 10 minute breather before taking the shot.
We hunted on a 1200 acre ranch just south of Gillette and paid a trespass fee to the rancher for this opportunity. There were lots of antelope there. If I had been ready to spend more time on the hunt I could have scored a buck later that day or the next day, but I had made some plans to visit some people over in SW Wyoming and felt constrained to tag out quickly.
We ate a leg roast from my doe last night -- our first pronghorn antelope meat ever -- and it was quite good. I couldn't really discern that it was different from good deer meat, but my wife and one of my daughters felt that it was better than deer meat and also different tasting from deer meat. I sort of thought that I tasted an extra zing or spicyness to the antelope, but this was not real obvious. I did not taste anything unpleasant about the meat. I skinned, cut-up, and processed the meat myself.
It was fun, and I hope we can do this again.
I stalked up a long zig-zag dry gulch or creekbed just deep enough to conceal me when I crouched over or crawled on hands and knees. After some time at this I realized the bucks I had started after were not getting much closer -- I found it difficult to estimate ranges and distances out there -- and I readjusted my objective to a herd of does that was closer. To approach to within shooting distance of the does I had to cross over to another dry gulch over about 40 yards of open ground. I crawled flat on my belly very slowly across this open ground, not daring to lift my head to look at the does to see if they were running off or staying put. Once in the second creek bed I approached to within 240 yards and took my doe from that distance. My shot also was further back than desirable, but the doe stayed put and went down. I was pretty tired from the long stalk bent over. In the future I think I'll take a substantial breather at the end of the stalk before taking my shot. I had stalked these animals for maybe 30 minutes and they had remained in place during that time. It would have been a safe bet they would remain in place for me to take a 10 minute breather before taking the shot.
We hunted on a 1200 acre ranch just south of Gillette and paid a trespass fee to the rancher for this opportunity. There were lots of antelope there. If I had been ready to spend more time on the hunt I could have scored a buck later that day or the next day, but I had made some plans to visit some people over in SW Wyoming and felt constrained to tag out quickly.
We ate a leg roast from my doe last night -- our first pronghorn antelope meat ever -- and it was quite good. I couldn't really discern that it was different from good deer meat, but my wife and one of my daughters felt that it was better than deer meat and also different tasting from deer meat. I sort of thought that I tasted an extra zing or spicyness to the antelope, but this was not real obvious. I did not taste anything unpleasant about the meat. I skinned, cut-up, and processed the meat myself.
It was fun, and I hope we can do this again.
10-25-2004, 10:40 AM
#3
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RE: Wyoming antelope successes
The price was $125/person for two days of hunting. Other ranchers I called had other deals. You can get a list of farmers/ranchers who accept trespass fees from the local office of the Wyoming Department of Fish and Game. I called the Buffalo office, I think, to get a list of ranchers in my unit 23.
10-25-2004, 08:49 PM
#4
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: south western, wy USA
Posts: 496
RE: Wyoming antelope successes
congrats on the speed goats
i find it interesting that you claim the yardage hard to guesstimate this seems to be a very common problem as many of us locals have the same problem just wont admit it LOL
again congrats
i find it interesting that you claim the yardage hard to guesstimate this seems to be a very common problem as many of us locals have the same problem just wont admit it LOL
again congrats
10-25-2004, 09:39 PM
#5
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 638
RE: Wyoming antelope successes
Wow, $125 per person is a great deal. Hunting a private ranch is the way I would want to do it. How hard was it to draw that tag, and when is the deadline for pronghorn in Wyoming. Congrats to you and your son on a fine hunt.
10-26-2004, 08:07 AM
#7
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RE: Wyoming antelope successes
We hunted unit 23 which is an easy permit to draw (which is why I selected it). In previous years there were left over permits in unit 23 which didn't get allocated in the initial permit drawing. It may have been the same in 2004, but my only interest was that we were drawn so I didn't look into it further.
10-26-2004, 08:09 AM
#8
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RE: Wyoming antelope successes
JJT:
I didn't mention, but I also thought the range to my doe was well less than 240 yards. I would have guessed 100 to 150 yards and was surprised that when I stepped it off it came up as long as it did (my normal pace is 2 1/2', when I pace to measure distance I consciously take long paces and consider each to be a yard).
I didn't mention, but I also thought the range to my doe was well less than 240 yards. I would have guessed 100 to 150 yards and was surprised that when I stepped it off it came up as long as it did (my normal pace is 2 1/2', when I pace to measure distance I consciously take long paces and consider each to be a yard).
10-26-2004, 08:28 AM
#9
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RE: Wyoming antelope successes
For hunters not used to that OPEN country and for that matter the size of the goats, I found a range finder to be an absolute must. I took 2 animals, first at 413yds and the second at 326yds. Both 1 shot kills both lasered with a range finder. I had my trajectory tables taped to both my rangefinder and my rifle. The other guys in my group did not carry rangefinders and they all missed antelope repeatedly. When I asked them to estimate distances with the naked eye it was amazing how far off they were! They all claimed shots at over 300 yds but the truth is they were having trouble hitting stuff at 200 yds. Oh well, thier problem. I waited and saved too long for this trip to screw it up because of a poor shot.
11-09-2004, 08:45 AM
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RE: Wyoming antelope successes
I attach a picture of my son with his pronghorn buck. I hadn't figured out how to download the digital pictures onto my computer after the hunt until just Sunday. My PC is ailing because of spyware: need to have that machine cleaned up. Anyway, hope you enjoy the picture.
