4 deer tags and 1 bull tag...Wyoming, are you ready for this? Pics/story added!

[GUscottie]

Well, it's official, GUHunter and I are going to go after some Big Horn Mountain animals...I've got 2 doe tags and an "any deer" (say buck!!) tag and he's got the resident deer tag and a bull elk tag for the Northern Big Horns...

I am leaving on Wednesday morning for this hunt to get my two does before the general season opens on the 15th. I'm very excited for the opportunity to get to scout and hunt prior to opening day. I hope I'll be taking some pics of the slick heads and hopefully the two bucks and big bull.

I pray my girlfriend will forgive me for leaving the day before her birthday for this hunt. I think she's ok with it because she said she'll stay around if I bring home some deer and elk meat...

The worst part of the trip, working my forty hours Fri-Mon...Come on Tuesday! The second worst part: missing the general opener in Washington...I guess I'll get over it...

 

[carpsniperg2]

Sounds like fun, GL

[GUscottie]

I made it to the land of the giants...Wyoming. It took 13.5 hours from my doorstep to GUHunter's doorstep, thankfully he left a key under the mat.

I have unpacked everything and have everything ready to go, except for my truck mounted deer hanger. Someone must have locked their storage unit and kept the only key with them. I'll make do and improvise, plus it makes the hunt that much more unique since I'll have to rough it.

I'm off to bed so I can hopefully let my .270 have a date with a slick head in the AM.

[GUscottie]

The hunting is finished...

I shot two white tail does, one on my first day hunting and one two days before the region R Deer opening day. Not too much to their stories, hunted some Walk in Hunting area near Greybull and found the does meandering through some corn. One shot at 150 and 270 yards through the heart on both. Pretty fun when you can put a full sized doe in your pack frame and pack her out of the field.

For opening day of the general deer season, I took GUHunter's soon to be brother in laws out with me, both had general tags. One was 21 and the other 14 years old. The elder of the brothers shot a nice lil 4x2 mulie in the evening of the opener and the younger didn't come out in the evening hunt (when we saw all the deer) due to having to be in school and starting basketball practice.

Day two of the general buck season:
I began the day by hiking in some BLM land from 0500-1230 hours. I saw a nice 4x4 mule deer, but he wasn't what I was looking for. I had some meat with my two downed white tail does. He was still inside his ears and had lots of potential. I knew it was for the best letting this lil guy walk. I called my girlfriend who told me that hard work pays off and I'll see a bigger buck to shoot. I am glad she gave me that lil pep talk because I was feeling a lil exasperated from passing a buck I never would have passed in Washington.

I was exhausted and ate a quick bite before hitting a new piece of walk in hunting land near the town of Shell. I only saw a pumpkin patch...no deer or anything. I then decided to hit a tiny piece of walk in property that I had seen a giant 5x5 white tail on. It had a large hill on the west edge of the property and the east and west boundary of the property was BLM land. I decided to take a shot at this buck since GUHunter would be arriving that night and we were going to start his elk hunt the next morning.

I get to my spot on the hill top at about 5pm, with the sun setting at 630~pm. I am sitting on the west hill with the creek that I saw the buck jump out of about 200 yards in front of me. The property stretched before me, being sage, creek, field and then more sage. The farmer's cattle and horses were across the creek in the grass field about 300 yards to my front, just east of the creek.

At about 6pm, the cows begin getting restless and they begin mooing and moving south in the field towards the farmers house about a mile to the south. They were mostly milling about. While I was listening to the moos of the cows and the whinny of the couple horses, I hear a large rustle in the brush. I don't see anything, but my heart begins racing.

It begins raining again, most of the day had been full of rain and wind. As the evening was wearing down I saw a rainbow...shortly after, I saw a second rainbow, a freaking double rainbow?! Are you kidding me? The smaller of the two rainbows landed on my truck and the words of my girlfriend began to ring through my head: it's my day today and I'm going to shoot that giant 5 point white tailed buck.

The sun began to set to my back and I heard the unmistakeable sounds of people all around me bagging bucks.

As my shooting light was nearing its end, I told myself, 5 more minutes and I'm calling it a night.

3 minutes later...Crunch crunch CRASH! My heart skips a beat. All of the cattle have moved just south of me in the field and were no where near the creek. I still don't see anything, but I know deep down this is the buck. I use my binos and don't see him. Then, I catch a glimpse of a buck popping out of the creek and behind a large brush. I put the binos down and steady my rifle on my knee since I was on a hillside with no trees and I couldn't use my bipod to rest it on.

He stepped out from behind the brush and I let out a terrible attempt at a bleat to stop him. He stops, but doesn't look at me...POW! I let my .270 eat! I hear him run about 10 yards to the south and then nothing. I heard the report of the rifle and then the unmistakeable whack my 130 grain bullet hitting home. As I closed the 200 yards between where I sat and where the deer was hit, I heard the buck move again. The noise was only about 10 yards from where I last saw and heard the buck.

I came through a thick patch of sage brush and there he lay. He was a chocolate horned white tailed deer. He was a nice 5x5, the biggest buck I've ever had the opportunity to hunt. I took him to Black Hills Taxidermy on October 17th, the day after I harvested him and rough scored him at about 140 inches.

GUHunter and I stayed out until about 3 am on the morning of the 17th due to a power outage and having to bone one deer and then skin and bone my deer before his buck hunt.

[GUscottie]

GUHunter's Elk hunt was a fun time. We saw 4 elk and more than 50 mule deer. We bumped a single 4x4 mule deer at about 40 yards that I was hollering at GUHunter to shoot...for whatever reason, whether it was his pack, his gun, or maybe just me, but he didn't get the shot off. It wasn't what he was looking for, but I thought it was a good 4pt deer. No matter, we had a great time elk hunting.

Unfortunately, no elk were harmed in the making of our trip.

[brianb231]

Thanks for the story and Congrats!  BUT must have pics or ............IT DIDNT HAPPEN!!!!!

[GUscottie]

My buck:


A second of my buck:


One of my does:

[brianb231]

Very Nice!

[Bigshooter]

Nice story. Sounds like it was fun.

[C-Money]

Nice Buck! Congrats on a great hunt!

[BENCHLEG]

keep up the good work

[Chappyk16]

killing them!