an incredible short antelope hunt...

[huntnmuleys]

I had the good fortune of drawing one of Wyoming's famed red desert antelope licenses this year. talk about a grand area..

[huntnmuleys]

dad and I got down there Monday morning and immediately went to work.  I mean, really, who wants to take time to set up camp with these guys running around?

[huntnmuleys]

ill keep this one short, like the hunt.  

anyway, yesterday I spotted a lone, bedded giant.  made a great stalk in the wind and got to within 15 yards.  needed one more sideways step to clear a brush to shoot and he picked me up. keeping a long story short here (and considering I have no pics of him), no dice.  fast forward to this morning, and dad and I back to looking for him.

we drove high and low to different glassing points and could not turn this buck up. lots of bucks around, including some little freaks!

[Stickbow]

Your killing me Bud. I am headed out in 3 days

[huntnmuleys]

anyhow, at one point we were parked on a high vantage point glassing all over looking for Mr. Big, when we noticed 5 bucks moving through a canyon below us.  they were all small, but one had a bent rack like the previous pic.  kinda cool.  we were both checking him out through the binos, when I lowered mine to look around and was astonished to see a hell of a big, gnarly buck not all that far from us!  he just looked massive as all get out above the cutters and quite tall!  and, surprisingly, he wasn't that far away.  maybe 100 yards or so out and raking a large sage brush.  for the life of me I don't know how we didn't see him before, or him us?

anyway, with him tearing things up I decided to try a sneak.  a gentle breeze hid any noise from my usual stumbling and tripping all over creation, and this guy was really worked up!  he'd beat the brush for a while then look up, but always straight away from me.  there must have been other antelope out there I couldn't see?  who knows, but either way this went on and I kept slowly sneaking in.  in rather short order, I was 25 yards from this guy and raising to shoot.  somewhere in the he noticed me and locked on, but it was too late..

I shot...

he "jumped it" and tried to rocket away so instead of hitting him in the chest broadside he took it from behind the ribs angling in. less than 40 yards later, the heart shot buck crashed to the ground.  I was elated!

[huntnmuleys]

this is the coolest buck I have ever seen!  he has the neatest rack!  here is a side view.  im home now, the meats in the fridge aging and the cape in the freezer, as this buck will be mounted.  quite possibly the coolest buck ive ever laid eyes on, and NOT small.  sorry for the way shorter than usual tale, but it wasn't a long hunt or sneak.  just kinda came together for once...

[neargeezer]

Great buck with exceptional character. Congratulations!

I love eastern Wyoming, someday I hope to make a hunt there.  This great hunting story adds fuel to the fire for sure.  Sometimes, it all comes together just right, nice buck.

[just_a_hunter]

Cool! Congrats!

Todd

[joe skipp]

   

[A.S.]

   

[Tom]

That buck definitely deserves the wall-exceptional character. Good story, short and sweet.

[Phillip Fields]

Congrats.

[highlow]

That is one incredible buck. You done good. What did he measure out at?

[overbo]

Heck of a speed goat. Congrats to him and you

[Joe2Crow]

Wow. He's a beauty. Congrats.

[Terry Lightle]

Good job!
Terry

[bruinman]

Wow, congrats!!

[J. Cook]

Wow!  Great buck!  Congrats on a fine animal.

[CoachBGriff]

Congrats! That's an awesome animal.  

I always marvel at how hard bowhunting is (or seems) when  nothing is going right, but how easy it seems when everything finally comes together.