yes it was. and you are the type not to hunt with. from Randy from minnesota. seems awfully composed for what he went thru....
"Well, I had to cut my hunt very short because I became ill...I did get to meet Topgun and found him quite the character...He loves to talk....
It was unfortunate for him that I got sick...And I felt sorry for his predicament...He got awful mad at me for cutting my hunt short because he told his wife he would not hunt alone....He vowed to never talk to me again....I had scheduled two weeks off and could have hunted possibly that long if need be, but usually we would fill within two or three days anyway and the weather would dictate the condition of the meat and the length of the trip...
I only hunted one day and took nice 13" lope, but he will be good eating.....We saw several nicer ones but the stalks were blown for one reason or another...I had one great opportunity at an easy 368 yard shot and could not believed that I missed...Top eventually convinced me somehow that I did and refused to look for it with me...I looked around a little but eventually succumbed to his negativity.....Well my goal was to kill that 1/4 mile antelope and the 368 yard shot was almost there....A lot of practice told me it was a chip shot and a steady squeeze off the harris bi-pod from a prone position and the tell tale slump in the scope as the rifle jumped said he was mine............................................Why didn't I keep on looking (guess it is a respect for your elders thing).........After two days bed rest back here in MN, I tried the rifle today...dead on when setting the turret to my marks just as I had in WY.......Boy am I mad at myself for feeding the coyotes.....Other than Top not believing my range finder he didn't know about resettable scopes and turrets..The scope on that rifle was a twenty year old Tasco world-class that has always held zero on any rifle I have had it on.....I don't even think he owns a range finder so why in the world should he believe they are accurate to plus or minus 1 yard (He thought the distance was closer to 800 yards).......My main reason for the trip was to hunt mule deer and to pick up a couple antelope for table fare....The mule deer option was nullified because I was under the impression that we would each hunt on our own, not knowing that he made a promise to his wife that he would not hunt alone....My two biggest rules besides safety are stealth and odor control and neither of these was achievable hunting as we did......
I hope we both learned something from the trip.....Never hi-jack someone else's vacation and never let your vacation be hi-jacked by someone you don't really know......
Randy
2nd Post from Randy:
Thanks everybody,
I am feeling much better from the head cold and sore thoat stuff today and returned to work.....Talking out my predicament with the guys made me feel much better.....I still feel bad about leaving Topgun in a bind but sure wish I knew up front about his promise to his wife.....Although I would not have wanted to hurt his feelings, I would have said no because I have enough trouble taking care of myself let alone having to entertain, guide and be responsible for the well being of someone that I barely know.....He had told me of his poor memory and vision problems before but I laughed them off because I sometimes forget and can't see the best myself....Now I can really see the concern of his wife I had to stop him once from entering a down hill slope that was too steep to navigate....Several times he bolted ahead in spite of the fact that I suggested an easier route.....I would end up waiting for him to reach the top after I took the longer routes that weren't quite as steep....
My back is feeling much better now too, I opted not to bring my boning gear on my sit that evening, with light fading a trip back to camp for the cart or boning gear would have left me in the dark so I opted to drag it back to the road where I could pick it up with my truck....I waited a while for Top to show, he was only about 300 yards from me and he said he actually saw it fall when I shot, but when it ran over the hill it was out of site of him and I guess he thought I "missed" again....I thought the two finishing shots would get his attention but apparently not (both in the neck at 200+ missed the bone)(and it was still alive when I got to it, I cut its throat...one tough animal).... So off alone I went, it was only about a half mile across the prairie with only 2 large cuts to cross but it really took a toll on my back....An elderly gentleman from a nearby camp helped me drag it up the last slope to the road.....It was a piece of cake after that....It was stone dark before I got the generator and lights set up for the skinning and boning job.....I felt embarrassed as Top watched me get started (it sure seems awkward to do things like that in the dark and took me quite some time) Top watched for about two minutes and said I didn't need him and went to bed.....several hours later I got my knives cleaned up and carried the carcass, hide and bones down the a hundred yards or so from camp.......By this time the meat had cooled in the chilly wind somewhat so I bagged it up and got it in my freezer.....I was so sore tired and chilled by the time I crawled up in my topper I am sure that is what broke my resistance down and made me real sick....I was stuffed up a couple of nites before when I slept in Top's camper but thought it was probably a combination of the dog smell and musty/sweaty mattresses in his camper.....I slept in my topper after the first night and a half and could breath much better...
As I thought about the 368 yard shot today back at work, the 204 yard shot that I made on the lope that I took home came to mind.....The lope was slightly quartering to me and the boiler room shot seemed like a slam dunk.....Trouble was that the Berger 115 VLD seemed to take a left turn as it entered just in front of the right leg and traveled completely kitty corner through the body (including the guts), catching only one lung, and coming to rest just under the hide of the left rear leg.....To me the angle did not look anything like that.....Last year again with the same bullet a similar shot produced almost the same results that time breaking the rear leg bone.....Both lopes needed to be dispatched with follow up shots......Has anybody had poor results or heard of "internal deflections" with these Berger bullets or is it just me....
All these thoughts and feelings...Even though a year of overtime to pay for the hunt, the months of planning and preparation and the opportunity to hunt mule deer are all but vanished....I learned that my family is so important to me, one of my sons offered to drive me back this week to finish my hunt, My wife also said we should pack up our dog and together.....(I told her no, Top's dog is much more behaved than our pup and the yelling he did at it when he brought it out during the night always woke me up so I am sure the yelling I would do at my dog would wake up the neighboring campers...LOL).....I really don't think bringing a dog to a big game camp is the best idea in the world to begin with.....(especially where there is cactus)....
And besides....My grandson Chase is participating as a 10 year old on a special youth hunt in WI this coming weekend.....I was sure to miss it because of the WY trip and now I will be able to be there (silver lining in every cloud)...Hoping that he gets a chance at his first deer...Wish him luck "
