The interstate mile marker signs are flying past at a mesmerizing pace. After only ten hours in the truck seat my legs are beginning to go numb and my back side is getting sorer by the mile, and too think, there is another ten more grueling hours ahead before we get to our hunting destination. Yep, we are heading out west again for the ultimate kick off of hunting season. Wyoming, what a place with tons of history!
For the last five years I have been heading west around the first week of October in hopes of letting my .52 caliber Knight muzzleloader connect with a nice mule deer and antelope. Now do not get me wrong here, the hunting out west is awesome, but the atmosphere is almost heaven like. You see, most of my life I have really enjoyed watching Westerns on TV. The one that sticks out in my head the most is Gunsmoke. What an awesome show! To tell you the truth, I still love to watch it to this day. I guess it is the ambiance of hunting on ground that so many settlers traveled across in the days of the big westward movement that gets me all reved up. The area history is alive and full with tales of cowboys, gamblers, and bandits such as the “Hole in the Wall Gang” that have been portrayed by Hollywood actors in movies for years. It is hard to explain, but I feel like I step back in time as soon as I drive across the Wyoming line.
The Hunt
Wyoming has tons of public land which is called BLM (Bureau of Land Management) which entails about 60% of the state. Now that is a lot of public ground and with that much dirt you can find a place where you will not be bothered by anyone else, believe me. If you do not prefer to deal with the public ground situation you may want to try and contact a rancher in an area that you have picked out for your core area. Most ranchers allow trespassing for a nominal fee. This would be my choice, but it might take a few trips out there before you can find the right rancher with room on his place. Either way, the western experience is one that you must try!
Opening day, October 1st, this year landed on Sunday, a day earlier than last year. Thus, arriving mid-day on Saturday gave us minimal time to prepare our gear and do some pre-hunt scouting. Well, as most often things go, we ran out of time after unpacking the truck and going to the local gun range to recheck gun zeros. Yep, there was not enough daylight left to do any scouting. We would have to head out in the darkness of opening day without a clue to the whereabouts of any bucks. You might think that would be a tough deal. Well, here it would be tough, but out there things are different. Gary, my hunting partner on this trip, and I found ourselves at the top of a ridge two miles from the nearest building just as the sun began to push itself up for the days light. No sooner than we could see our feet, we could also see silhouettes off in the distance as that country is extremely open. You know, once the light starts to break, it gets on with it. Within minutes we saw four pretty solid bucks heading up the rock face of a mountain out in front of us. They all looked to be o.k., but it was only minutes into the hunt and we both decided to continue on looking for something a little better. We knew there were some really good ones in the area as the rancher mentioned seeing some real bombers not to mention this is the same area that I shot my Booner muley in last year.
After thirty minutes or so of glassing the many rock faces and making our way around a two track road, we had six bucks run right across the road in front of us at 80 yards. Two looked to be real good and the others were a so so case, but by the time we got to look them over real good they were out of my smokepole range. That is one bad thing about hunting out west, sometimes the decisions have to be made fast or the opportunity might be lost. Not wanting to kill out so quick, we decided to study the bucks and let them walk out of sight and try to get back on them later in the day. That is one great thing about hunting mulies, if you see them feeding in a specific place they will be there later in the day or the next day.
Well, day one was slipping away from us so we made an executive decision to go back to the area that we saw the second batch of bucks at daybreak. There were two shooters in the group that we both would like to get a crack at. We decided to split up to cover more ground as light was fading fast. Truthfully, I don’t think Gary was out of my sight for more than five minutes when the bark of his rifle broke silence. My facial expression had to be quite funny looking as I was sort of in shock at the sound. I could not believe that he had time to make a stalk and close the deal in such a short amount of time. Oh well, guess I had better go help my buddy out as my time was almost up. Sure enough, as I topped the ridge line I could see his orange cap waving me on over as he stood over top of his opening day trophy. One muley down and one to go!
Day Two
Our next morning had us in the same routine as opening day but very, very sore. All the walking we did on those mountains the first day had us as stiff as a poker. We looked and felt like we were 100 years old and our walking skills were not all that graceful. But nevertheless, we trudged forward. Fortunately for us, our hunt this morning was very short lived. Again like the first day, as daylight started to lift, we were making our way down a two track road that lead to the back of the ranch when three nice bucks ran across in front of us at fifty yards. Gary hollered at me, “shooter”! In a blinding whirl wind I glassed over the bucks to try to pick out the best one. Not staying around long, the bucks were starting to head up to the high country and by the time I had made my decision to shoot they were standing at 170 yards looking back at us. I’m not sure if they thought they were safe at that distance, but the Knight .52 caliber Long Range Hunter and 375 grain Barnes bullet was good out to 200 yards. At this point, I quickly got down in the prone position and dropped my bipods. Gary called out 171 yards just as I touched off the charge. As the smoke cleared out I could see my buck tumbling down the rocky mountain face. Sweet!
Day Three
Last year when I was out there I did not get a chance to hunt for an antelope due to my persistence in wanting to shoot one specific buck. I ended up harvesting that buck, but it took the entire time I scheduled to be out there. So I went home with no “speed goat, but this time would be different since I tagged out so quickly.
You see, I had been talking with the rancher and he mentioned having this “honey hole” for antelope. He went on to say that if there were any left over permits available he would not mind taking me out to the “spot”. With that being said, I got on the horn to the Game and Fish Department and they said they had 36 tags left, but, there is always a but, I would have to drive all the way to Cheyenne which was 180 miles one way from my location. Well, with tons of time left in the hunt wanna guess where I was headed? Yep, Cheyenne!
After the six hours on the road, I got hooked up with the rancher and we headed to the "spot". He was not pulling my leg about the amount of goats that were in the area. As we pulled in the gate we could see five groups of does off in the distance all with one big buck per pack. We did see a few bucks together off in the distance by themselves and that is normal for this time of years as the subordinate bucks get run off from the pack by the big boys and hang out by themselves. That is good as those were not the ones I was after anyways. I wanted a big one!
Parking the truck at a windmill, we went to ease over a small rise to make a game plan for which group of goats we would try to make a stalk on first when out of nowhere came this lone, big antelope buck. We must have intercepted him coming to the windmill to get water. Whatever the case, Lee, the rancher, quickly said, “Get him”! Not wanting to disappoint, I fell into prone position and flipped the safety forward. The next thing I knew there was a big brusier antelope laying on the ground at 90 yards. Big goat down!
Too say the least, the stars lined up for me on this hunt as everything went smoothly and I was able to harvest two good animals. Hunts like this one do not come by often as I have had some real tough ones in the past, but I will tell you this, I’ll take a hunt however I can get it! As it is not always about the harvest, it is the outdoor experience that I’m after!
Tony Smotherman
www.travelinhunter.com