In the fall of 2018, I was blessed having drawn a Wyoming mulie tag in area 128 in the Dubois area as well as an area 53 antelope tag on a random draw. All this and I had already booked a high-quality antelope hunt in New Mexico with Desert Safaris for August 2018. After a long wait to draw my 128 mulie tag, I wanted to get a lot out of my hunt, so I booked with Cody Brown out of Dubois with Wind River Backcountry Adventures. I took a bit of time driving up, spotting game, taking photos, visiting the Virginian Hotel, and stopping to fish in the Miracle Mile and at Lake Alcova, catching my best brown Trout ever in the "Mile" and a lunker Kokanee on a light tackle rig at Alcova. Then the snow came.
I made it slowly into Dubois and then went to meet Cody and his family. It was going to be a near perfect situation for a late hunt in November as we had plenty of 4x4 power and horses, if needed. Cody has very nice hunter accommodations right beside his house. During the hunt, I got to see elk, moose, whitetails, bighorns, lion, and wolf tracks. During the first three days of the hunt, we saw several bucks that might go in the 165 to 170 class, but I was holding out.
On the fourth afternoon, Cody spotted three bucks that looked to be rutting fairly hard and one was clearly larger in body and antler. They were a good 1,000 yards distant. We were running out of daylight but just might have enough time to get there. It was rough going up and down deep mountain draws on Jeep trails but finally got within about 250 yards of where we had seen the three bucks. They had come out of an aspen-choked draw, strung out youngest to oldest. We had maybe two or three minutes of legal shooting light left when I got a good solid rest to let loose with the Browning A Bolt 300 WSM. One shot, thankfully, was all that was necessary and this completed three 2018 big game hunts, all ending with one-shot kills. What a season! The New Mexico goat made it into the all-time B&C record book. The area 53 goat hunt got in a lot of hunting and game viewing, but the trophy potential was overrated and there were too many hunters.
This mulie hunt finished with a beautiful chocolate antlered 5x5. He was very symmetrical with high, deep forks and a double white throat patch. Cody, Sam, Cody's family, McCall and Baylor, and I were all very excited. We celebrated by dining and partying a bit in the "Cowboy Cafe" in Dubois. Interestingly, my wife, my father, and I celebrated there in this same cafe in 1981 after a very successful hunt and on our way to Yellowstone National Park. Dad was one of our WWII heroes we have been celebrating who has passed on after being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Bronze Stars. He was a First Lt. in the Army Air Corps. He loved hunting and seeing Wyoming, which made this hunt all the more special. We made many trips to Wyoming together, with late September and early October being his favorite time of the year.
I would say to anyone drawing this tag to try and hold out until the last three days or so unless a lot of snow has already fallen. The more mature and larger bucks need a lot of snow to drive them down.
Thanks Wyoming, and thanks Huntin’ Fool for all you folks do!
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