Well, we are back and didn't drink all your beer. We also didn't pull the trigger either. We saw some great country, came across an few old stone buildings, that I thought looked like a castle. We went and had a look after and took some pictures. Went up and down some of the god awful-est mountain sides ever, thinking....this is it. This is how folks disappear...they go antelope hunting and follow a two track up the side of the mountains...never to be seen again. Crazy hills, but the Dodge ram 3500 just kept on trucking. Came down hard in one area and pushed the right side of our back bumper up a wee bit, which does give it some character, but put the tailgate and truck cap a wee bit out of line. We stumbled across some antelope packed hidey holes, and glassed tons of great animals, I've read and heard alot about unit 62 and the better then average animals it holds, so I personally, was looking for one that would add to that list of beauties. Some had nice cutters, but no curl, mass or height...or other different combo's, but none that took my breath away. I actually only had my gun on one animal, but when he turned so I could see the rest of his rack, got a free pass to carry on. We knew going in, that the year was exceptionally dry, so they would be tougher to find. Let me tell you...there is no shortage of animals, no matter where you go. So many folks say that you have to look for the bigger groups and you'll find a dominate buck, and that the loners aren't much worth your time. We seen the total opposite on this trip, although I am sure its not always the case. The mirage from the sun didn't help out any with the evaluations of some of the bigger bucks, and the ones we weren't sure of sure got an extra lot more foot mileage as we tried to cut them off from the directions they were heading. We were in on some two tracks and spotted a small group that had been hanging out by the highway the night before and as tucked away as I was, while creeping in to get a better look, the buck still got a glimpse of me and must have thought I was another animal and decided to come charging up the hill after me. He sure kicked up some dirt once he got to the top of the bushes I was hiding in, and saw it was just a girl. My husband was off to the side watching. We saw the same group at the same mile marker the next day and took some pictures of him. They seem to be quite habitual.
Had an up close and personal with a rattle snake, but I didn't scream like a girl. I was too busy trying to catch my breath thinking HOLY SHAVING CREAM....ok...not what I really said. I was walking in a creek bed that still had water, staying out of sight as there were TONS of antelope out yonder. I was just getting ready to take a step over the creek, and I caught a glimps of the snake curling back into itself under a leafy green bush right next to the water. It didn't rattle though.... I knew in the back of my head to watch for them, but as I trucked from one side of the creek to the other, sneaking up the sides to take a look, I obviously wasn't really looking. Let me tell you....I never watched the ground more in my life after that. The next day, Rene come across one in the same spot, but this time it rattled and had a little bird sitting out in front of him. He at that point hadn't been paying as much attention either, but soon focused a little more on his footing as well.
Come across a group of three mule deer and one had tons of junk. It was sort of hard to focus on antelope after that. We watched and glassed them for quite some time and wondered how easy it would be to get an over the counter tag, because these guys weren't in any hurry to leave their beds, and weren't bothered by us at all. On the way home, on this side of Casper, I was glassing up a hill close to the road and near choked on my apple. There on the side of the hill laying down watching the road was the blackest, thickest, tallest buck I had ever seen with cutters like you wouldn't believe flying out the side of his horns. He even came with a nice curl up top to finish up the entire package. Unbelievable. While we were hunting, we skipped over to Baroil to see if there was a place to buy some oil for the generator, and just on the side of the road we were seeing some amazing bucks. Unit 61 was our first choice, but we never got tags. 62 is a great unit, I hope to come back some day. Hardly any hunters at all the entire time. Sheesh what a ramble for no animals eh!!
this is the buck that charged me. I had two other opportunities to shoot but decided to just take his picture instead.
These are two of the mulies we seen up in the middle of no where.
