KHunter WY 2020 antelope

[Khunter]

Drew a 5 or so point hunt that have hunted a couple times before with Dinkshooter. Drew with a different buddy this time who, opposite if Dink, gave ME a points lift in a group application. Had to do the special draw to assure the tag.

Also pulled two doe tags in adjacent unit that were on 20 or so percent odds.

Recipe for a lot of fun with bow and rifle and hopefully a freezer filler.

Photos of a couple lope spotted. They are every bit as close as they look, with no cover between us.
Saw ZERO other hunters last few days of Sept. ZERO, so made for safe bowhunting oportunity. Disclosure, I wore the requisite hunter orange hat or vest at all times while hunting.

 

[Khunter]

As it turned out my buddy hunted the archery opener and i was working. He made it a short 2-hour season stalking in on a buck with his elderly father watching and enjoying the show. Pretty special deal for sure.

So I would be hunting solo when my schedule allowed me to get up to Wyomiong. Here he is with his buck.

 

[Khunter]

As in prior hunts with this tag plan A was to wait for the peak rut and enjoy some wild action with the bow to see if I coiuld get it done without a rifle. So that meant going at end of September.

Becasue of heavy work obligations only had 2-3 days at most to hunt. After the first day late afternoon arrival and cruising and glassing ended up camping more by happenstance right on border of the unit where I had two doe tags and decided to start the day trying to fill those tags.

Here is camp: It was a frosty mid 20s for open air camping, but slept like a baby. May be able to se the frost on the sleeping bag.





As Dink says, one of the best things about high desert pronghporn hunting is the daily amazing sunsets. Here is the first one:

 

[Khunter]

First morning started with this buck just a couple hundred yards from the makeshift camp. He walked by at 70 yards and I let him keep walking. Neat buck with mass.

 

[Khunter]

After seeing that buck I headed the short drive to my doe unit with intention to simply rifle hunt those 2 tags. As it turns out it was rifle/bow.

I ‘goofed’ and shot a fawn with the rifle at 220 yards. Just failed to size up the one animal in the scope aside from being legal on my doe tag.


A couple hours later after putting the first one in the cooler I found another herd that was headed right along a finger ridge. Always happy to pull out the bow as much as possible, decided to set up with the bow at the end of the ridge and see if they would come by, which they did! Pretty easy 35 yard shot with lots of eyes on me as they were deciding whether to bolt or not. I did not want to spend a lot of my short time on the doe hunt portion but I figured give it a 15 minute try. Here is doe tag #2 filled which means the rest of the hunt will be looking for and bowhunting a good buck. Two tags filled by noon so I could relax and enjoy seeking a buck i wanted to hang a tag on for the next couple days if needed. There were tons of lope that seemed pretty calmed down from what was probablky a shooting gallery on the rifle opener a couple weeks prior. As I was still seeing no other hunters and plenty of bucks I was confident I could bow hunt till I had just a few hours left and pull out the rifle if needed it it came to that.

 

[kansasdad]

Passing that buck is probably not what I would have done. Nice restraint sir, looking forward to the remainder of your adventure.

 

[Elmacho]

Go get em Kirby!!!

 

[homers]

Nice, congrats!

 

[fallfreak]

Congrats and some really good pictures too.

 

[CRAZYCARL]

Congrats, nice goats

 

[Buschy]

Kirby is as lethal with goats as every other species out there!

 

[Buschy]

Agree the sunsets there are hard to beat!

 

[El Jason]

Nice photos. No donuts?

 

[Mica Man]

Good time for sure and a fun critter to hunt. Just got back late last night from my Wyoming speed goat adventure. Plenty of rut activity and was wishing I had brought the bow along as well. Looking forward to the rest of your hunt.

 

[El Jason]

Good time for sure and a fun critter to hunt. Just got back late last night from my Wyoming speed goat adventure. Plenty of rut activity and was wishing I had brought the bow along as well. Looking forward to the rest of your hunt.

Take your pup?

 

[EastTNHunter]

Congrats

 

[Mica Man]

Take your pup?

Unfortunately no. Too much unnecessary crap for the three of us who rode in my buddies truck.

 

[RickND69]

Congrats!!

 

[Khunter]

Some of the pronghorn photographed as I sorted through options...

.

 

[Khunter]

Stalked this one...a couple times..gave me the slip twice so did bow hiking for a couple miles trying to relocate him. The best prongs and overall size seen among 40? bucks. not any ki da giant but gotta hunt what is available...







Prairie rattler I almost stepped on till it buzzed at me from a couple feet away