Putting an end to all the suspense, we had a really successful hunt this year. We had four hunters in camp - this is me with my son Eric.
My friend Jim and his nephew Matthew also had a lot of success. There will be more details and photos later in this blogpost.
I drove thru Chicago to pick up Eric and I received a lot of encouragement from grandsons Tommy and Elliott.
Ok, the drive to Wyoming can be a little monotonous, so we had to get silly on occasion. As we drove into WY, the interstate highways kept having signs and gates that talked about closing the highway...what could that be about? We soon found out.
We booked the hunt thru a booking agent
Hunt Nation Booking Agent . We've used them numerous times since getting ripped off by a disreputable outfitter that we had booked direct. Our experiences have been good on most all of the hunts where we used them. This hunt was with Hunton Creek Outfitters in Wheatland WY.
Hunton Creek Outfitters
Clark Noble and Tad Marshall are partners in the business. The lodge is adjacent to Clark's house on the edge of town. We drove out to various leases for the hunts. This is the main room of the lodge with all of Clark's impressive mounts.
This is the area past the tv in the last photo with some of Clark's African mounts. The bedrooms and bathrooms are off this main room.
Basic but functional bunk rooms. The whole place has concrete slab for floors which is completely practical for a bunch of hunters with muddy boots.
The kitchen on one end of the main room. Clark did most of the cooking assisted by his wife. We didn't go hungry.
On the first day we all drove to a nearby range to confirm sight in on our rifles. My zero was about 1" higher than expected. I'm guessing that was due to elevation - we're over 6000 feet at the lodge and up to 7200 feet on some of the ranches.
Matthew sighting in. There were targets out past 500 yards but we just confirmed zero at 100.
One of the three bathrooms in the lodge.
Construction notes written on the slab.
We had all kinds of interesting skies and unbelievable winds. For our first day of hunting, 60 mph sustained was predicted with gusts to 75 mph. The interstate highway was closed for a while due to blow-over risk for trucks and trailers.
Tad guided Eric and I and he had us convinced that the first day would be a bust due to the winds. We expected to drive around and glass but were lead to believe we were very unlikely to shoot. A new guide, Jason, joined us on this first day so that Tad could show him around this ranch. We took two trucks and drove around the ranch where the valley backed up to the mountains.
We saw some deer early and just kept touring the property. At one point we had to cut across the corner of a neighboring pasture and when we came thru the gate, Jason spotted a shooter buck. We piled out of the trucks and got behind a little hill. Luckily the buck didn't move and it had a buddy with him.
Jason and Eric snuck up and got set up on a pack. Both bucks were shooters and were pretty similar. Tad and I stayed low and out of sight. The bucks ranged about 230 yards. Tad and I kept waiting for the shot - seemed to take forever for Eric to shoot. It turned out that one buck was behind some brush and the other one was just showing his butt. Eventually one buck turned broadside and Eric put him down with a single shot.
Waiting for the Shot
Right as Eric shot, the other buck boogied but a third buck stood up on a cliff top about 100 yards to the left. Tad and Jason hurried me up into position on the pack that Eric had shot from. The buck was in the open, on an exposed cliff, in howling crosswinds at 236 yards. Jason told me to aim for the butt to compensate for the wind. I did and I hit him with the first shot - he went down but not out. I quickly chambered another and missed right. The third shot was the finisher. Later analysis indicated that the first shot spined him ahead of the hips and the third one hit him at the base of the neck.
Here's the spot we were shooting from - we shot off the pack. Eric's buck was kind of sheltered in the valley. Mine was above a cliff in the open. It was first morning, 60 mph winds, and in two minutes we had two shooter bucks down. Awesome.
There wasn't much to the tracking job. We went to Eric's buck first.
First mule deer, second buck of any flavor, single shot kill - well done.
He was a big bodied bruiser with chubby cheeks and a white face.
Tad and Jason got him part way down and then we went looking for mine.
As expected, he was on a cliff top.
Have I mentioned that I don't like heights? But he was impressive.
Tad immediately set up for the Hollywood shots.
And he is a kook to do it this way. He never hesitated to climb out there for the photo. This is a video of the crazy man in action
Tad Hollywood Shot
And this is the shot that he took from that cliff. Classic wide 4x4 with a kicker on the front left. I'm wearing a beanie because the wind was too strong to keep a regular hat on my head. This buck had an impressive "unibrow".
Tad and Jason dragged him down toward Eric's buck and then stopped along the way.
They made quick work of gutting my buck and then...
...moved on to do Eric's buck.
Only about 200 yards to drag both bucks back to the truck.
We spent the rest of the day skinning and caping both bucks and getting them to the processor. What a first day of the hunt.
On day 2, Matthew took this fine buck.
And on day 3, Jim took this buck after watching an even better buck slip across a fence line into a neighbor's property.
Both hunters with Matt's buck.
Meanwhile, Eric and I had moved on to the antelope hunt. We went up to "the plains" at about 7200 feet elevation. Drive and glass was the routine.
We spotted a group in a valley and decided to put on a stalk.
We snuck up to the edge where we had last seen the antelope and, when we looked over the edge, they were gone. We repeated this a couple times in the snow and howling wind without success.
So, we moved to a different property down at a lower elevation. Tad spotted a group of antelope in a valley and we drove up the other side of a hill until we were close to them. We made a stalk up to the crest of the hill.
Tad and Eric belly crawled up to the edge and the antelope group was right below them. As Eric was getting set up they became alert. Eric's first shot barely skinned the bucks butt and he ran about 20 yards and stopped. Eric's second shot put him right down. Here's a video that I took from behind of the shots.
Eric's antelope shots
Walking up to it and starting to figure out how nice a goat this was.
He was really tall and turned out to be the best goat of our group.
Now Eric is tagged out and Jim, Matt and I need to get an antelope to close out the hunt.
Tad doing the dirty work on Eric's goat.
Replaying the action.
Close up of the antelope fur - it is hollow hair and is very easy to pull out of the hide. Anyway, that was the end of Day 2 for us - back to skin him and get him to the processor.
Day 3 and back to the plains to find me an antelope. More crawling stalks to sneak up on them but they were too smart.
It was cold and windy again. Turn on the sound to check out the wind in this video.
Windy Hunt Or just watch these clouds.
Clouds Moving
Jim, Matthew, and their guide Bill were also working the plains for antelope. Bill had a cow screen that they were using to try to sneak up on the antelope. In these high winds, it was somewhat like a kite.
Bill and Matthew walking in on a group of antelope behind the cow screen. They got to about 400 yards before they put on the afterburners.
Meanwhile, we pushed a group of antelope after one stalk and then we followed their tracks around the edge of a drainage. When we came around the edge, there were three bucks standing about 275 yards away. They saw us immediately.
We backed up to a rock for a rest but by the time I had them in the scope, they were on the move. We watched them past 400 yards when they disappeared over the crest.
We glassed and stalked all day in the plains.
We spotted a ton of antelope but couldn't get anywhere close to them.
We chased them thru the rocks.
We chased them up a fence line (property line).
This is a group of about 35 antelope that we spotted from 600+ yards.
We put one stalk on them and they ran but it broke the group up.
Eventually we put another stalk on a smaller group. We belly crawled up to 430 yards - too far, especially in the howling winds. So we took a chance and kept belly crawling across the snow and cactus (ouch in the knees). When we got to about 380 yards, two things happened; 1.) we saw that they were across a fence on neighbor's property and 2.) they busted us and put on the afterburners.
Antelope poop for "poop of the week".
We covered hundreds of acres and eventually ended up on this high ground in howling wind watching a coyote chase our antelope. Jim and Matthew also struck out on day 3 on antelope. Lots of ground covered, lots of antelope seen, but we couldn't get anywhere close to them.
More Wind
I'm not sure when this shot was taken but it wasn't up on the plains in the snow and wind.
Day 4 and we still need 3 antelope. Tad, Eric and I try going back to the ranch where we shot our deer. Shortly after sunrise we spot a group running. Here's a video of them running along parallel to the truck on a ranch road.
Antelope running One stops and gives us a look. I pile out of the truck and hear a range from Eric of 187 yards.
Stop for Shot I rush a shot and am not sure if I hit him - he runs. I jump back in the truck and we follow. He stops again and I pile out again - range 199 yards. I take a shot and there is no doubt this time - he's down.
A short tracking job as the sun comes up.
First shot was a miss - second one was on target. Eric and I are tagged out.
Photos in front of the sunrise.
By 7:30am, he was gutted and in the truck.
We were back to camp, got him skinned and to the processor. With lots of time left, Eric and I decided to take a drive to Devil's Tower. Jim and Matthew were still out trying to get their antelope. We kept in touch by text.
I've been to Devil's Tower but it was the first trip for Eric.
It's hard to get the scale from photos. It's huge.
On a previous trip, one of our hunters didn't heed the sign. There is a solemn place where people tie prayer rags in the trees. He happened to be standing there and loudly passed some gas. We had seven hunters on that trip and got skunked - we were sure it was a curse due to the disrespect shown. So we came back to show some gratitude after this successful hunt.
This might help to show the scale. I'm standing inside the red circle in this photo.
Eric used a 600mm digital zoom to take this picture of me from the same spot.
Anyway, it's a really cool place.
We took the trail all the way around the base.
While we were at the tower, Matthew took his buck...
...and so did Jim. So all four hunters tagged out on a combo mule deer and antelope hunt - with a hunting day to spare. It turns out that this outfitter had 100% success this year on elk, mule deer, and antelope - quite a record.
After a little drama obtaining a permit to transport Jim and Matt's meat and heads, we were all set to head home a day early.
One of the many missile silo sites that we saw while driving around the countryside here. Tad works in the maintenance of these units.
This was a really cool souvenir from Hunton Creek Outfitters.
It's a "challenge coin" with a mule deer on one side and an antelope on the other.
We obviously had a great hunt and would recommend it to anyone.
