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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 5, 2018 18:04:08 GMT -5
Just got back from another successful hunt in Wyoming. I had a buck pronghorn and a cow elk tag, and my brother-in-law had buck and doe pronghorn tags. We left home at about 3 AM ET Saturday, September 29th, and arrived at camp at around 9 PM MT. As per usual, we had seen a few hundred pronghorn on the drive through western Nebraska and Wyoming. After turning off of the interstate and climbing up into the mountains, we saw a whitetail doe, several muley does, a young muley buck, and 3 antlerless elk. As we set up the Kodiak Canvas next to a small stream, a bull elk bugled intermittently up the hill from camp. After camp was set, I bugled back at him a couple times, and he was quick to reply each time. We went to bed feeling like we had picked a pretty good spot, despite neither of us ever hunting this unit before.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 5, 2018 18:18:01 GMT -5
Sunday we got up and headed for our pronghorn unit. I had hunted here last year, so I had a few spots picked out ahead of time. We stopped for fuel and talked to Roy, the friendly old storeowner in Rock River. He advised us that he would be closed for church and Sunday lunch from 8-2, so we'd have to come back after that if we needed any ice. We started out on a section of BLM where another brother-in-law killed a buck last year. There were pronghorn there again this morning, including a decent buck, but they were way out on a flat plateau and wouldn't allow us to get within shooting distance. A smaller buck presented us with an easy shot opportunity on the hike back to the truck, but neither of us wanted to take him so early in the hunt. We drove a large loop through the unit, checking out each small chunk of public land, sometimes glassing from the truck, sometimes taking a small hike up a ridge to glass the other side. While quite a few pronghorn were found on public, we weren't yet seeing a buck that we were ready to shoot. At around 10 AM, we spotted a group of pronghorn in an area that presented an opportunity for a stalk. Adam (BIL) crept up to within approximately 300 yards, and elected to pass the buck and fill his doe tag. His doe turned out to be real nice, and even had a small set of horns.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 5, 2018 18:28:39 GMT -5
We got Adam's doe skinned, quartered and in the cooler, and headed back to Rock River for ice. We still had a couple of hours until store-owner Roy opened up the store again, so we stopped back at the initial section of BLM we had started at that morning. Once we topped a ridge about 1/2 mile from the road, we spotted a doe pronghorn running across the sagebrush flat below. As we watched, 2 bucks came running behind her, one after the other, looking just like whitetails chasing in the rut. They were too far for a shot, but we saw where they were curving around to and we dipped down into a fold in the terrain and set up where they looked like they were headed. We never did see the doe and the one buck come up out of the dip in the terrain, but the other buck came out broadside at about 250 yards, walking right to left in front of us. Adam was to shoot his buck first, but from his position couldn't get the buck in his scope due to the rolling terrain. He whispered back to me to shoot if I could, so he barrel rolled out of my way to free me up for a shot. I sat up, rested my rifle on my backpack, and watched the buck drop through my scope as I squeezed the trigger.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 5, 2018 18:39:52 GMT -5
We got my buck caped and cut up, and headed back to Rock River for ice and another visit with Roy, since he was back from church and lunch by then. After icing everything down, we drove up to a Hunter Management Area, which is private land enrolled in a free public access program. We saw a ton of animals on the HMA, including a few nice bucks. Adam made a few fruitless stalks before we found a large group of about 20 does and 4 bucks. The 2 larger bucks in the group were alternating between pestering the does and fighting with each other. They'd sniff a doe, then chase after each other a short distance, then stop and pee and rub their horns on the sagebrush. The herd saw Adam approaching, and slowly kept moving further and further away. They almost seemed too preoccupied with their rutting behavior to run clear out of the country though, and Adam eventually got to within 300 yards and took what looked like the largest buck in the group. This was a real nice buck, and even had the end of a horn and part of his prong broomed off due to all of the fighting he had been doing. We got him caped and all taken care of shortly after dark, then took the long drive into Laramie to get some dry ice to get everything frozen solid for the rest of the week. In one long day of hunting, we had filled all of our pronghorn tags.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 5, 2018 18:46:47 GMT -5
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 5, 2018 18:57:38 GMT -5
We finished the morning hunt having only bumped a mule deer buck, and no bugles heard. With all of the sign in the area though, we knew the elk had to be around somewhere. Monday evening we headed in a slightly different direction, and this time bumped an elk at about 10 yards. The timber and deadfall was so thick though, we couldn't even tell if it was a bull or a cow, let alone get a shot off. We continued on through the timber until we reached a large open hillside near the edge of the National Forest, bordering private land. We decided to put in an observation sit, and saw a huge 4x4 mule deer buck and 5 moose. There was a small bull, a medium-sized bull, an enormous bull, a cow and a calf. Only the small bull came close enough for a blurry phone photo. And while no elk were spotted, we heard some bugling on the opposite hill side in the timber and formulated a plan for the next day. We also bumped a small muley buck on our walk back to the truck that night.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 5, 2018 19:24:54 GMT -5
Daylight Tuesday morning found us on the same hillside, hoping to catch elk moving back up into the timber from the private flats below. We did see 4 elk, a bull, 2 cows, and a calf, but they unfortunately moved up into private timber. After about an hour, we got up and headed down into the thick and nasty, climbing over, under and through deadfall. Elk sign was everywhere, rubs, scat, wallows, tracks, etc. We did several miles and never did see an elk, but did bump into a cow and calf moose pair, possibly the same from the night before. The deadfall is nasty, but the fringes are made up of beautiful aspen stands. At midday we found that we had a punctured tire from the sharp rock roads. We slapped on the spare and drove the truck to Saratoga to have the damaged tire repaired. There were several other hunters there with the same issue, and we got some good visiting in while the tire was fixed. Marty and Gib at the tire shop got us fixed up and on our way, but by this time the evening hunt timeframe was almost shot. We headed down to the local hot springs, and while we skipped the soak we did take advantage of the free showers. North Platte River running through Saratoga: I had about 45 minutes of daylight upon return to camp, so took a quick walk down the 2-track behind the tent. All I found was some fresh bear tracks, so after that we took extra care with our food and our trash while we were gone from camp.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 5, 2018 19:46:14 GMT -5
Wednesday morning we began our hike in darkness. We were headed to the spot where we had seen the most sign. Right at daylight we bumped into a big bull moose and a cow that were engaging in some serious rut activity not suitable for a description here. We attempted to circle around them, but the bull took a bound towards us and stared us down. This caused us to have to backtrack a long way due to the terrain, getting us where we wanted to be late in the morning. When we got close though, we could hear bulls bugling in the timber, which meant that cows were probably nearby. We set up along a narrow open stretch at the edge of the timber where the elk were, but the wind began to swirl badly. The elk smelled us and moved further away into the deadfall mess. We followed. We wound up doing a 4 mile circle in the timber, bumping the elk time and again at close range but with no shot. Several times a big bull would present us with an easy 20 yard shot, bugling and showing off for the cows. The cows, however, were more concerned with our pursuit and stuck to the thickest cover available. Finally, after several bumps, I caught a glimpse of the cows in a thick stand of trees behind some deadfall about 50 yards ahead of us. They knew we were there, but stuck tight to the cover. I think they thought they were totally hidden in that spot. Several times I raised my rifle to my shoulder, only to lose the cow behind the deadfall again. Two huge bulls are bugling and parading about during all of this. Finally, after about 20 minutes, I could make out a cow's head staring right at us over a fallen tree. I set my pack across the deadfall in front of me, rested my rifle across it, and shot the cow between the eyes. It didn't make for the best photo opportunity, but resulted in a humane kill and zero meat loss. A few minutes after the shot, the herd bull came back to about 20 yards, bugling for his cow. We got a quick phone video before he caught sight of us and bolted. The elk died about 1.5 miles from the road, downhill about 0.5 miles through deadfall then uphill the rest of the way. True distance packed was a bit further, due to the inability to walk a straight line through the deadfall or up the slopes. We broke it down into 6 loads, and got it out in 3 trips, taking everything except the organ meat. We broke camp Thursday in a thunderstorm and headed home. Another incredible hunt finished.
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Post by featherduster on Oct 5, 2018 20:26:19 GMT -5
FANTASTIC! thank you for sharing your story and photographs. My hat goes off to you for being so successful at freelance hunting.
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Post by esshup on Oct 5, 2018 22:40:35 GMT -5
Ditto what featherduster said! Congrats on a great successful hunt!!
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Post by Woody Williams on Oct 6, 2018 5:48:39 GMT -5
WOW!
Thanks for the great trip and hunting report and pictures.
To everyone who would like to do this type of hunt - DO IT!
If I was a much younger man I'd do it again...
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Post by greghopper on Oct 6, 2018 6:12:58 GMT -5
Good stuff congrats...
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Post by medic22 on Oct 6, 2018 8:11:38 GMT -5
Congrats! Got me jonesing to cash in points (only have 1 though)
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Post by ukwil on Oct 6, 2018 8:13:26 GMT -5
Great job. Showed my dad the pics and hes pumped up. We are setting in Sioux Falls, SD eating breakfast now. We'll be in Buffalo,Wyoming this afternoon for our hunt.
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Post by whitetaildave24 on Oct 6, 2018 8:45:12 GMT -5
Congrats on a great trip and a great write up. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by steiny on Oct 6, 2018 10:16:07 GMT -5
Congrats on a successful hunt ! Enjoyed the pics and story.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 6, 2018 20:57:08 GMT -5
Congrats! Got me jonesing to cash in points (only have 1 though) I drew this one with zero points. Go for it!
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Oct 6, 2018 20:58:41 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for the kind words.
We spent all day cutting/grinding/packing meat today. We got a total of 247 pounds boneless meat, 160 from the elk and remainder from the 3 pronghorn.
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Post by schall53 on Oct 7, 2018 12:12:09 GMT -5
Sounds like a great trip with lots of good eating to come, thanks for the story and pictures. Unfortunately my Wyoming deer hunt was tag soup this year.
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Post by featherduster on Oct 7, 2018 14:25:44 GMT -5
Sounds like a great trip with lots of good eating to come, thanks for the story and pictures. Unfortunately my Wyoming deer hunt was tag soup this year. I knew your luck would run out one of these days, tag soup, BBQ tag, sauteed tag, a least you have enough Elk & turkey to last you for long time.
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