After applying for points only for 11 years in Wyoming, I finally decided that I wanted to do an antelope hunt this year. I have hunted a lot of different animals, but I had never gone on an antelope hunt. I heard from a lot of people that they are very fun hunts and you see a lot of antelope. I did a lot of research on a long-range rifle. After doing that, I called Christensen and picked their brains and asked a lot of questions. Everyone there was so nice and very knowledgeable. It was a no brainer to find a local dealer in my state, so I did and purchased a Christensen Ridgeline in a 6.5 Creedmoor. I picked it up and then mounted my scope and sent away for my turret. I received it several weeks later, and it was time to start shooting in the backyard.
Now it was time to find a good outfitter. After talking to a lot of outfitters, I was in contact with Extreme Outfitters and talking to Chance Marshall. After talking to him several times, I decided he was the outfitter that was going to fit my needs. I started shooting the Christensen, and after breaking in the barrel, I shot three shots at 100 yards and looked through my scope. I only saw one hole. I said there was no way I could miss paper at 100 yards, so I walked down to target and started laughing. All three shots were in same hole. I started shooting at 200 yards, then 300 yards, and then 400 yards. After that, I started shooting off shooting sticks. I would walk very fast from 100 to 300 yards with my heart rate up and shoot off of sticks. I did this all summer long. Next, it was time to apply. I talked to Chance several times because I was 1 point off from max points. He wanted me to apply for this unit and told me that it was not guaranteed, so I called Wyoming and asked the odds with missing 1 point and they told me it was hard to tell me that. They said it was about 60%-70%. I said I would take those odds and applied. Several weeks later, Chance called and asked if I had drawn my tag. I said I didn't know yet, so I called Wyoming to find out. The young girl who answered the phone looked it up for me and said that I was successful. That was the best news I had heard in a long time.
After shooting a lot of ammo through the Christensen at all different ranges, I was ready to get on a plane and fly to Wyoming. Chance was at airport to pick me up. He said we had a few hours so we should go to my unit and make sure the gun was still shooting well. We all know how airlines like to treat our rifles. We drove to a nice area and got set up, and Chance put a target at 100 yards. I said, "That is only 100 yards?" I joking said that I didn't want to waste ammo at 100 yards, so I shot right in the bull. I asked Chance since it was so wide open here if I could take a shot at a long ways out there. He said sure. He was looking through his spotting scope and point out a rock way over there at about 12’’. I looked through his spotting scope and saw it. I got set up and asked how far it was. He said it was 732 yards, so I dialed my turret to that, adjusted my parallax so it was clear, and said I was ready. I shot, and Chance said I had nailed it and to try again. I did, and he said I hit the same spot, so I was ready. I told Chase that if we saw a 90’’ 'lope at 700 yards I was taking him.
We had about two hours, so we drove around and saw a lot of antelope. They were running up the middle of the two-tracks we were driving on. We got up the next morning, and we were off for the first day of the hunt. We drove all over and saw a lot of antelope, some mule deer, and a bunch of elk. I wanted to stop for a little while and look at elk. Chance got his spotting scope out and saw one really nice bull and a few smaller ones, all with a bunch of cows. On we went, covering a lot of ground and seeing a ton of antelope. We were driving along, and then Chance stopped and was looking through his binoculars for a while. He said there was a nice buck but he thought we could do better. It was only the first day.
About midday, Chance said his dad, Kevin, was setting up the trailer we were staying in so we should go over there and have lunch. After that, Kevin was coming with us. We were having lunch when Kevin stated that he had seen a really nice antelope coming in. Chance's wife was driving in to do all the cooking, and she noticed the same antelope. After lunch, all of us jumped in the truck and went to see this antelope. After just a few miles, we saw him. We stopped and studied him closely, and I asked if I was going to shoot him now. One of them stated that we should shop for two days and then on the third day we would check it out. Chance's wife kept saying that is a very nice 'lope. I asked if we would see anything better than him, and they said we should. If not, we knew where he was hanging out with all his girlfriends. I did not know what to except, so I had to take their word.
After covering a lot of ground again, it seemed like every 10 minutes someone was saying, "Antelope, stop!" I couldn’t believe all the bucks we were seeing, I thought this was great, especially if we saw this all day, every day. That night, we had some weather coming in with rain the next day and then it turned to snow.
We got up on the second morning and it was raining, so the three of us jumped in the pickup and off we went. It was getting so muddy that it was hard to stay on some of the roads we were on. We were slipping, sliding, and everything else. Then the fog started coming in and it was hard to see. We were still seeing a lot of antelope. We tried to go up high so we could try to look down and see if we could get a better look at the landscape. We were driving so slow, but there was so much mud throwing up from the front tires that we had to keep stopping and pouring water on the windows and cleaning mud off so we could see. It started to get colder and mud was freezing on windows. It was getting harder and harder to clean. By now, the weather had changed to snow, making it harder to see. However, we were still seeing antelope.
At midday, we went back to the trailer and Kevin found some sheet metal, screws, and a drill. We cut some sheet metal to size, and Kevin screwed it into his mud guards that were already on the truck to try to keep some of the mud from coming off the front tires onto the side windows so we could see. Off we went again with mud flying everywhere. We were slipping and sliding, and it was snowing harder and the wind was blowing. However, that did not stop us. The sheet metal did help. As we were driving, we spotted a big group of antelope that had about 20-30 in it. They would run off, and we would try to drive on the other side of them to get a better look. We went back and fourth several times. We decided to try to make a stalk on them and try to get within 200-300 yards for a better look. All three of us got out of the truck, and the stalk was on. We walked several hundred yards and kept glassing to see if we could find "Mr. Big." As my heart was racing, I told myself that one of those bucks had to be a shooter. I was ready for one of the guys to say, "There he is!" but after looking all of them over at only about 150 yards, they said there were no shooters. I told Kevin that this was more stressful than my work. I came out here to have no stress. I asked what would happen if we slipped into one of the ditches or got caught up in one of those deep drenches we kept driving through. Kevin stated, "We got it handled."
After all day of that, we saw a lot of antelope but nothing we were interested in. We got back to the trailer and had to water down all the windows really well and clean them so none of the mud would freeze overnight.
We got up on the last morning to the ground covered with snow, 24 degrees, and the wind blowing. They all told me, "Welcome to Wyoming!" I mentioned it would be nice if we could try and find that buck we had seen on the first day. We were off to driving on some of the muddiest and slipperiest roads and two-tracks that I had ever seen. After stopping a few times to clean mud off the windows again. I wondered how we were ever going to clean this truck. The mud was so heavy and thick that it was pulling the mudguards off the top of the wheel wells. With it snowing so hard and the wind blowing, it seemed like a lot of the antelope wanted to stay bedded down. As we were driving along, Kevin stated that he could stay one more day if I wanted because the weather has been so bad. I thought that if it didn't happen in a few hours I may have to call the airlines and delay my flight for tomorrow.
As we were looking for Mr. Big, we saw a small group of antelope bedded down and could tell there were a few nice bucks, so I said we should go look. It was the last day, and I wanted to shoot a nice buck. We stopped the truck, got out, and started sneaking up to try and get close so we could get a good look. As my heart was racing, I thought it was time. There had to be a nice buck in this group, so I was as ready as ever. We got nice and close and looked them over really well and decided there was nothing to shoot. We got back in the truck and looked for that big, thick mass buck. We were driving along, and they said this was the area where he was a few days ago. What were the odds of this buck being in the same area for three days? We found the nearest two-track where we thought he was seen last. We stopped and glassed and glassed but couldn’t see him, so we started driving on the two-track. Chance was in the backseat and looked behind as we drove. He said, "Stop," so we stopped and he glassed the buck. It was him. It was snowing very hard, the wind was blowing about 30 mph, and it was 24 degrees. We stopped, and I was getting my gun out of the case and asking how far he was. He was running with some does and another buck, so Chance said 250 yards, then 300 yards, and then 275 yards. I put my turret on 300 yards and went to the front of the truck. The hood was too high for me, so I was going to the back when I heard Chance say, "Darn it!" The buck had just laid down over a little ridge. I looked through my binoculars and could see just his antlers. I could not believe the mass. I asked if Chance thought it was the same buck from the other day, and he said yes. I said it didn’t look like he had that much mass, but I had to shoot this guy now.
We all got back in truck. We were going to backup and leave the truck running so he could still hear the truck even in all the wind. While it was snowing and the wind was blowing as well, we all got out and said we were going to walk up to that rock on top of this little ridge and get set up. Chance said to get up to that rock, get set up, and the buck would jump up and run off. Once he did that, he would stop and Chance would tell me the range. I'd adjust and take him. I walked up and got to the top of the ridge with my bipod fully extended. I was almost to the rock when the buck stood up and looked right at me. I automatically raised my gun and put the scope on him. I noticed it was blurry and I could barely make him out. I put it on the base of his neck and squeezed the trigger. Down he went. Chance and Kevin both said, "You got him!" They asked me if I knew I had never made it to the rock, my bipod was fully extended, and I was standing up. I said yes. I looked at my rifle, wondering why my scope was so blurry. I had the power still on 18X and the parallax on 300.
Long story short, in all this very bad weather, no one ever gave up and a huge antelope with a lot of mass was on the ground with only about two or three hours left of the hunt. After shooting all summer at somewhat long range, running from 100 to 300 yards to get my heart rate up, and all that preparing and I shot my antelope at 53 yards. Extreme Outfitters never gave up in the worst weather they said they had ever hunted antelope in. I waited 11 years for this to happen, and now finally I get a huge antelope on the wall.
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