Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Other Big Game => Topic started by: Widgeondeke on September 21, 2011, 11:49:02 AM

Title: WY Antelope 2011 by Widgeondeke
Post by: Widgeondeke on September 21, 2011, 11:49:02 AM: Well this year started off kinda slow, but ended great. We hunted 3 different units West of Casper; 70 (bucks), 71 & 72 (does). Definately fewer animals this year; per the WFG biologist they had a bad winter kill.
After the first day of hunting we only had 1 doe in camp. Most of all of us had shots, but either missed ( I missed 1 @ 220yds :bash:) or weren't comfortable with the distance & winds. It did pick up, but man were we worried about filling our buck tags. We scouted/hunted unit 70 three different days and saw a total of 1 buck and 2 does that were on public land.
This was my sons first time hunting big game and he soon realized its not easy. He missed the first 3 lopes he shot at. We started wondering if it was the gun that he had just zeroed in 2 weeks prior to leaving or him. I let him use mine and he hit the next 2 lopes he shot at :). Still not sure, but he sure likes my gun.
You gotta love WFG; they truly want to help the hunters tag out. All their money comes from license sales revenue. The wardens would pull out their maps and point to areas to look. The biologist at the game check station even gave us contact info for ranchers who don't like the lopes in their alfalfa fields. This is how we ended up getting our bucks on the last day there. It wasn't the most challenging hunt or the biggest animals, but no tag soup. We did get one of the bucks on a small public spot.
In all we got 4 bucks and 16 does in camp. There were 6 of us, but only 4 had buck tags.
My son did lose some breakfast when gutting his 1st lope, but we found he did a good job of skinning and trimming meat and he enjoyed that part .

Enjoy the pics. :yike: Warning - one is graphic. All I could see was her head/neck at 110yds.

Oh yeah, this is my 1,000th post :IBCOOL:
Title: Re: WY Antelope 2011 by Widgeondeke
Post by: h20hunter on September 21, 2011, 11:54:23 AM: Nice job all the way around. Looks like the neck shot went about 3 inches before hitting the deck. Looks like the young man was doing a fine job of skinning. I may have to buy you a beer at the Irish pub and talk lopes some day. Thanks for posting.
Title: Re: WY Antelope 2011 by Widgeondeke
Post by: Widgeondeke on September 21, 2011, 11:54:58 AM: We also saw this brute on the drive home. Sorry about the quality. We were doing 80mph on I-25.
If the ears are 6" I'd guess he is all of 17" in length. Of course all the land in that area is private for miles.
Title: Re: WY Antelope 2011 by Widgeondeke
Post by: Huntboy on September 21, 2011, 01:17:35 PM: Nice, looks like fun.
Title: Re: WY Antelope 2011 by Widgeondeke
Post by: MADMAX on September 22, 2011, 05:49:19 AM: Well done can't wait to go try out my new .257 Weatheby mag, leaving the 8th
Title: Re: WY Antelope 2011 by Widgeondeke
Post by: Skyvalhunter on September 22, 2011, 05:52:21 AM: Congrats on your speed goats
Title: Re: WY Antelope 2011 by Widgeondeke
Post by: carpsniperg2 on September 22, 2011, 08:30:52 PM: We are getting close to our trip down there :IBCOOL: This gets me pumped up! Congrats :IBCOOL:
Title: Re: WY Antelope 2011 by Widgeondeke
Post by: sled on September 23, 2011, 11:48:40 PM: Thats awsome! Glad to see you got it done. You had me a little worried when you said it was slower than last year.
Title: Re: WY Antelope 2011 by Widgeondeke
Post by: Bob33 on September 23, 2011, 11:57:59 PM: This is my 7th year to hunt WY. I filled 5 tags in 3 days. I think there were as many antelope this year as in previous years but they were more scattered .