I'll start off first by I'm a Midwest guy who has always hunted whitetail and turkeys mostly. This year I decided I wanted to get into western hunting more, as it's always been my dream to tackle the west. Antelope in Wyoming was my first tag for this year. Unit 9. I paid a fee to hunt a friend of a friends land. Private land all to myself. Sit a water hole, and I'm guaranteed a harvest is what they said. NOT!!! Upon arriving I learned they had substantial rain days prior. And the evening I arrived I was greeted by one of the worst thunderstorms I've ever been in as far as rain and winds. I couldn't sleep all night worried about what My success would be like. Opening morning I found myself hiking a few miles to a ground blind in a fence row pinch point. Every step I could hear the water slosh around under my boots. Lesson #1. I understand why people wear gaitors. My pants were completely soaked. I sat in the blind and watched as antelope were all over the grass lands around me. Enjoying my new swaro spotter and phone skope I could see there was one buck in particular that I really liked. I watched him for a couple hours. He sparred with a few smaller ones and pushed some does around. I decided it was time to make a move. I couldn't sit there and watch them in the distance.
I made my move using the terrain as I could. Barely peeking my head above the hills to see the tips of his horns. I made my way from a half mile away to about 80 yards. Long story short. He picked me off somehow. I Ranged him at 80, set my dial and took the shot. He was gone as soon as the bow went off and I missed him.
Day two had me high up glassing in the morning. Spotted this guy and got to about 100 yards once again and he picked me off crawling on my belly.
Lesson #2 was how much I appreciated that I spent the money on good optics. My swaro 10x42s were no doubt a big help in spotting and being able to pick up on horn tips in the grass. Here is a shot of the area I was hunting.
I decided after this blown stalk I needed a decoy. They never bolted but always had a little curiosity enough to stay put for a few seconds. I hiked back to camp. And started my 2 hour drive to Casper to get a decoy. Sportsmans warehouse got me again. After the 4 hour round trip was complete, I ate a bite and headed back out to my hill. I spotted a lone buck bedded about a 1/2 mile away and made a move. I was able to sneak up and crawl within 100 yards of him bedded. Dropped my pack. Knocked a arrow and set up the decoy. As I popped over the small hill he instantly saw the decoy and stood up. Trotted a few yards away and then started towards me. He worked into about 60 and started to get nervous and move off. I knew it was now or never. I ranged him at 71 yards. Drew and settled my pin. The shot was dead on and sounded like a brick hitting him. As he ran his last 50 yards I could see the blood pouring out of him and I absolutely freaked, iand even shed a few tears. I had just harvested my first western animal. I never imagined I'd ever put a stalk on a antelope. The biggest thing I learned after 17 miles of walking in two days was, always be willing to learn. I beat myself up after every failed stalk but I knew I had to learn from every single thing that went wrong and I did. Another big thing was being able to adapt. I never once seen a antelope within 500 yards of the water hole. If I hadn't of decided to leave and get a decoy, I would still be sweating in a blind. It all paid off and I couldn't be happier with him. He's not the biggest but he's mine.
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I made my move using the terrain as I could. Barely peeking my head above the hills to see the tips of his horns. I made my way from a half mile away to about 80 yards. Long story short. He picked me off somehow. I Ranged him at 80, set my dial and took the shot. He was gone as soon as the bow went off and I missed him.
Day two had me high up glassing in the morning. Spotted this guy and got to about 100 yards once again and he picked me off crawling on my belly.
Lesson #2 was how much I appreciated that I spent the money on good optics. My swaro 10x42s were no doubt a big help in spotting and being able to pick up on horn tips in the grass. Here is a shot of the area I was hunting.
I decided after this blown stalk I needed a decoy. They never bolted but always had a little curiosity enough to stay put for a few seconds. I hiked back to camp. And started my 2 hour drive to Casper to get a decoy. Sportsmans warehouse got me again. After the 4 hour round trip was complete, I ate a bite and headed back out to my hill. I spotted a lone buck bedded about a 1/2 mile away and made a move. I was able to sneak up and crawl within 100 yards of him bedded. Dropped my pack. Knocked a arrow and set up the decoy. As I popped over the small hill he instantly saw the decoy and stood up. Trotted a few yards away and then started towards me. He worked into about 60 and started to get nervous and move off. I knew it was now or never. I ranged him at 71 yards. Drew and settled my pin. The shot was dead on and sounded like a brick hitting him. As he ran his last 50 yards I could see the blood pouring out of him and I absolutely freaked, iand even shed a few tears. I had just harvested my first western animal. I never imagined I'd ever put a stalk on a antelope. The biggest thing I learned after 17 miles of walking in two days was, always be willing to learn. I beat myself up after every failed stalk but I knew I had to learn from every single thing that went wrong and I did. Another big thing was being able to adapt. I never once seen a antelope within 500 yards of the water hole. If I hadn't of decided to leave and get a decoy, I would still be sweating in a blind. It all paid off and I couldn't be happier with him. He's not the biggest but he's mine.
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