I applied for a Wyoming antelope hunt, hoping to find a buck worthy of B&C scoring. I called and talked to a game biologist at the Wyoming Fish and Game and quizzed him on winter kill in different quality units. I decided on unit 57 in the southcentral part of the state about 30 miles from Craig, Colorado. I contacted Huntin’ Fool and asked for and received a list of all the members who had previously hunted that unit, all of which were gracious and most helpful. In fact, one member, Colton Bowers, took part of his day to come out to my office and show me the maps and what to expect. He's an awesome guy!
I settled on staying at the Cowboy Inn in Baggs, which, by the way, is the best. It has great food, nice rooms, and super friendly, fantastic owners. My younger brother, John, decided to go with me just for fun, so off we went from our little town of Sandy, Oregon to Baggs, Wyoming, a two and a half-day jaunt not driving at night. We had three days of scouting before the season opened. I would estimate that we saw up to 200 antelope each day and found four that might make my goal of 80 inches. The day before season opened, we received a snow and rainstorm. Unfortunately, all of the side roads off of the main gravel roads turned into gumbo that would not clean out of the truck tires when wet. That put every hunter who wanted to hunt the off-roads onto the main graveled roads. We couldn’t find any of the four large bucks we put to bed.
Discouraged, we decided to just drive a gravel road and see what we could. My brother, while driving, said there was a good one, probably 150 yards out, but with no harem. All of the single bucks we were seeing were smaller, so I didn’t pay much attention to this one until my brother, who was looking through his binos said, “Put the spotting scope on him.” I did, and this antelope looked like he might make the grade. With nothing to hide our approach, the 'lope started up a steep hill at a trot and I thought I was going to lose him as he went over the top. Just as he reached the top, he stopped and turned broadside, looking at us. I judged him at about 300 yards, bellied down in the gumbo, got my bipod adjusted for the uphill shot, and touched the ol' 270 off. I lost the animal in the recoil but heard my brother say, “You got your antelope.” I ranged him after he was down at 288 yards. The elevation of the country was almost 7,000 feet, and now I had to go another 500 feet up to get to my buck.
I was so exhausted when I got to him, given my age of 70 years and being a little heavier than I should be, that I just laid on him and rested while my brother went back to the truck for my backpack. We got the buck dressed out and cooled in ice in short order and to the local slaughterhouse where I had him caped out and measured at 75". He was not a B&C antelope, but he is a nice addition to my wall as his horns have a bunch of gnarly points, giving him great character. This was a great time with my brother and an awesome hunt!
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