Brittany Chukarman
Well-known member
That's great, Joey! Sounds like a good honey hole. I know you want a better-than-average buck but if one doesn't show just take a nice one and enjoy the whole experience. I'm just glad to still be going anymore.
Wy lopes 83
- Thread starter uncle sage
- Start date
nick80
New member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2017
- Messages
- 9
Joey,
Starting next week I'll be in unit 83 helping a friend fill two doe tags before heading up to unit 80 with my buck tag. It'll be my first time in both units. So I don't forget, PM me between 7-12 Sept and I will let you know what we see in unit 83, and where.
Nick
uncle sage
Member
Nick, That would be great, any info you could pass on, wonderful. Will Do!
Chukarman, some good advice there. Also thanks for the PM with enclosed info.
To All: good luck on your hunts this year! I'm still hoping to hear more from members about our late season deer hunt in zone 125 that will start directly after my Antelope hunt.
Joey
uncle sage
Member
I'd like to publicly Thank Nick for taking the time and effort to get back to me with some details and great info concerning spotted animals during his hunt. Thank You Nick!
Our lope and muley hunt is still over a month away and it just can't get here fast enough. Yesterday I again put to test the above mentioned 25-06, the rifle i'm going to depend upon to putting them there were i'll want them. It was bought in 1969, along with a near exact twin by my Grandfather, my very first rifle paid for with my own hard earned money. Back then, i'd carry it along on my scouting, hunting, or just long hikes thru the family's cattle ranch. Coyotes were just starting to make a serious comeback in those days and i was determined to thin them. Even if i didn't shoot it, i was in the habit of undoing the stock from the barrel each night and give it a loving once-over with a rag and light coat of gun oil before putting it up. That gun was my baby, i'll not bore you, lets just say that it was a natural shooter straight from it's box and served me well in both offhand competitions and in the field. Looking back, i never noticed that there was a bedding block just rear of the for-end tip in the barrel groove. I noticed it a few months ago though, could not pass a dollar bill between barrel and stock,.. and she was not shooting modern ammo as well as i remembered her doing back then.
You see, after about 10 years of owning it and then my Grandfather's of the same make, model, and year, i had sold mine that first rifle to my then often blacktail hunting partner, my Uncle who had seen it perform in my hands many times and had, he later admitted, desired it badly. He caught me right after i had just added a fancy stocked mark 5 257 Weatherby mag to my irons. Feeling generous and covered with the .257 WMag, i let it go to him for what i had in it with the Redfield Widefield on top, $250. That was soon and for a long time , a major regret. All these years went by, i still had my Grandfathers 1969 Rem 700 25-06 but mine was gone until a few years ago. Uncle Mike passed, my Aunt and cousins all agreed that that 25-06 would be happy to be back with me and was gifted so for my life's duration, that happening about three years ago now. So the bedding block that exists but i had not noticed it before. After considering all options, I sanded it away, gone, just like that i had a free floating barrel but did not get to test for accuracy improvement or otherwise until yesterday.
After finding the rifle consistently printing them centered but a couple inches low, i raised 10 clicks and tried a fresh target. It shot a 3 shot group 3/8" center to center, 2 1/2" high center of target, all touching. I backed to 200yds, dead center 1" high. At 300yds was center but 4.5" low. I still need to do some work at 4 and 5 hundred but at least i feel better now that i didn't "wreck" the rifle by sanding out that forward bedding block that was keeping the rifle from having a free floated barrel. I'm not now, never was much of a "bench" guy. That 3/8" group was better than i usually can shoot, that's how i remembered that gun being, it always seemed to do the remarkable. This rifle continues to bring me joy. From the summer of 1969 until today, i love that thing.
From the info both my Pard and myself has gathered, this lope hunt in particular, really has some potential to kick out a Dandy Antelope. We are taking the hunt as a chance to get a really good one and will devote at least a week of great fun to find him . Can't wait! Any info Wy Deer unit 125 Nov 1-15th, Antelope 83, love to hear from you! Thanks!
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uncle sage
Member
It's been almost a month since i last posted on this thread and longer that that since i posted last on one i started in the "deer" forum, "wy 125 late". I can't say the time has flown by. I have recently been retired with various medical problems but much of that has been helped with a substantial weight loss do to a bitch of a diet and exercise routine i put myself on. It's the continuous pain in my lower back shooting down my legs now that bother me the most. Still though, much of my adult life, i tried to run my own show, always hustling work, different kinds of Construction jobs, and still working at least part time 30 years or more as a Plumber for a Contractor who bid everything from Hospitals to track homes. I picked up some skills along the way and lucky enough for me, a good bunch of friends as well. It's these guys that now are helping keep my thoughts off the upcoming, leaving next weekend, Wyoming Lope and Deer hunt. I can't do as much of the actual work anymore, certainly not 8 hrs day after day, but much of what i have acquired thru the years in the trades is still between the ears and has been a blessing now as i have proved to still at least be useful in helping my Buds. A week to go.
I did get a chance to get out and shoot more of those Factory 110 gr Accubond DoubleTap 25-06 rounds at various ranges over my daybag. This time after one shot at a hundred, right there 2.5" center high. I backed off to 300, 400, then 500 yards and they all hit within a inch of vertical ending 19" low at 500. As said above, this old rifle continues to amaze me. The two shots on target at 500, about my self imposed limit, were within 1" of each other. I feel as confident with the rifle and load combo as can possibly be, the thing will do it's job, i have no doubts at all and that DoubleTap factory ammo is the most accurate factory stuff i've ever shot.
I have a question, as one gets older, does he take more stuff hunting? lol I remember hunting blacktails on our ranch as a young man with no day bag, nothing in my pockets but a can of snuff, a few bucks maybe, a sharp pocket knife, half a dozen extra shells if i had that many, and hardly ever even a flashlight. Now it seems i have to decide what not to bring. Don't get me wrong, i don't have, never have owned a GPS, cell phone, talkie-talkie, none of that stuff except for a old Nikon 800 Range finder. Some of that tech stuff i could probably find useful but at this ending stage of my outa State trips, i'm not going to go there now. But the Clothing, which coveralls, jackets, shirts, pants, boots, that kind of stuff as i have gotten older has gotten to be quite a pile and not all of it necessary i'm sure. This week, one week to go. My Buds projects are all complete. The few bills are all paid up in full and the $1500 i've saved for almost 2 years to have and share trip expenses, is rubber banded nicely waiting in my safe. A bit of paperwork to do, the deciding of what to take and what to leave will be front and center. That's all that remains now before i'm out the door and on my way. Can't wait!
Good luck to those still hunting! May your hunting dreams come true. As Always, any help or info on my Pard and my lope and/or late season muley hunt is more than welcome. Shoot straight!
I did get a chance to get out and shoot more of those Factory 110 gr Accubond DoubleTap 25-06 rounds at various ranges over my daybag. This time after one shot at a hundred, right there 2.5" center high. I backed off to 300, 400, then 500 yards and they all hit within a inch of vertical ending 19" low at 500. As said above, this old rifle continues to amaze me. The two shots on target at 500, about my self imposed limit, were within 1" of each other. I feel as confident with the rifle and load combo as can possibly be, the thing will do it's job, i have no doubts at all and that DoubleTap factory ammo is the most accurate factory stuff i've ever shot.
I have a question, as one gets older, does he take more stuff hunting? lol I remember hunting blacktails on our ranch as a young man with no day bag, nothing in my pockets but a can of snuff, a few bucks maybe, a sharp pocket knife, half a dozen extra shells if i had that many, and hardly ever even a flashlight. Now it seems i have to decide what not to bring. Don't get me wrong, i don't have, never have owned a GPS, cell phone, talkie-talkie, none of that stuff except for a old Nikon 800 Range finder. Some of that tech stuff i could probably find useful but at this ending stage of my outa State trips, i'm not going to go there now. But the Clothing, which coveralls, jackets, shirts, pants, boots, that kind of stuff as i have gotten older has gotten to be quite a pile and not all of it necessary i'm sure. This week, one week to go. My Buds projects are all complete. The few bills are all paid up in full and the $1500 i've saved for almost 2 years to have and share trip expenses, is rubber banded nicely waiting in my safe. A bit of paperwork to do, the deciding of what to take and what to leave will be front and center. That's all that remains now before i'm out the door and on my way. Can't wait!
Good luck to those still hunting! May your hunting dreams come true. As Always, any help or info on my Pard and my lope and/or late season muley hunt is more than welcome. Shoot straight!
uncle sage
Member
As some of you may know, i do hunt reports after each hunt that i go on. The info i'm sharing here will not be secret stuff, I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, it's just my observations and opinions earned or gathered after 10 full days lope hunting in unit 83 and 8 days hunting muleys in 125 to be told in a different thread.
The trip to Wyoming got off to a good start. I had loaded my rig and was off on time headed up to Klamath Falls where my old Hunting Partner now lives. Getting there early, we unpacked my stuff into his Duramax and the trailer that carried a Honda Foreman, that we never unloaded, as well as the other gear that the weather would not harm. Our journey off to Wyoming the next day, about 1200 miles, also went well, good times with a great old friend.
One of our first concerns was finding a place to set up my pards new Davis 14x16' wall tent. We only wanted to set up camp once but during the first few days of hunting antelope, we didn't see a place to do so that had at least half of the things we were looking for in a camp site. The Big horn basin is beautiful in it's way but much of the best parts near water are private, there is a noticeable lack of trees, and the slippery muddy roads during weather were a concern so we weren't looking to get too far away from gravel or pavement. As we looked for a campsite, the first few nights were spent under the stars and one particularly blustery night with prospects of snow, was suffered thru with a loose tarp over our cots and bags. The wind howled that night, looking back the tarp should have been tied off and staked, it truly was a miserable sleepless night.
During our covering country looking for lopes on our 6th day, we finally found a great place to put up the tent but we had already done so on a rocky flat spot that wasn't near as good but by then it was home sweet home and the long days of hunting left little desire to pull up stakes, pack up again, and move camp. As it was, the tent did great and the propane heater did take some of the chill off each evening on our return to camp though we could always see our breath steam and then turned it off to sleep. Our sleeping gear was top of the line stuff and once inside on the big heavy duty cots it was toasty but mornings came quickly and it was a might chilly, from 5 to 30 degrees inside, every morning before daylight when we rolled out for another day.
We got into lots of groups of antelope, there is no shortage of lopes on public land in unit 83 though very few of the many bucks were worth a second look. We first checked out a couple places that members here and from other sites i frequent, had advised but though there were lopes about and some with medium-nice quality bucks, there was nothing near a shooter buck located for the first several days anyway. I think it was day 5 that we found a lope on public land that we soon named Snaggle. He looked far taller and heavier in mass than his many buddies, his one cutter was excellent, but he just had the one cutter. Most impressive though was his body size. He was just bigger than the others and he stood out as a bull among steers. Though his horns twisted in slightly different directions and one side seemed to have more deeper curl on top, it was no doubt the lost cutter that held me off the trigger. My old Pard said that he thought snaggle was 16-17", a first day shooter on any lope hunt he had ever been on. Though his advice is always well taken and respected, it was my call, and i held off knowing i still had at least 5 more days to look them over.
When day 8 of the lope hunt came, each day seemed long but they flew by, i knew that it was time to take my antelope. The deer season was to start Nov 1st and though the lope season carried on thru Nov 7th, i wanted it not to interfere with both of our late season 125 deer hunts. The morning of the 8th day, i awoke in the freezing cold tent just knowing that i was going to pop a antelope that day. We had a number of decent candidates, got within distance of some nice ones but nothing remarkable and some of those better bucks seen earlier eluded us altogether. We got in on snaggle too and i had my 25-06's cross-hairs settled nicely behind his shoulder at 100 yards... but could for some reason, not squeeze off on him. I suppose i still had hopes of fulfilling my pre-hunt goal of taking a really good antelope, a monster if you will. Whatever the case, snaggle was a dead critter if i wanted him then but again i passed the shot in hopes of finding the same quality or better buck, one with both cutters intact.
Antelope day 9 hunted hard before daylight until after dark and then day #10, the day before our deer opener, started about the same though there was now a desperate feeling in my agenda. I really needed to take a lope. If nothing else, i love the meat and was not going home empty that trip. It came to early that afternoon. We had surprisingly gotten permission to hunt snaggle from a understanding landowner, i knocked on his door, who allowed us run of his substantial property and to which snaggle had moved his group onto, 4-5 other bucks and 20 or so does. There were exceptions but most of the lopes we came across during our hunt were in bigger groups and being later in the season as it was, not as jumpy, skittery, and eager to run off at first sight of man. I still had though a tuff time to get him to give me the clean shot i wanted. He seemed to surround himself with his buddies ducking in and out or only gave me marginal angles. Just before he topped out on a low ridge about 200 yds away though, snaggle stopped and gave me a broadside opportunity, i made the best of it and snaggle was mine.
His rack was twisted and looked uneven but both horns went over 16", 7" averaged bases and first quarters, and his one cutter measured 6 7/8". The missing cutter looked to have been broken off during development as it certainly was not a fresh break and looked to have healed over. His head and body size was remarkable and the Taxi guy friend my pard took our later taken muley capes to, said my lope head was one of the biggest he'd seen. As soon as i squeezed off on snaggle, i was very satisfied but near exhausted from excitement in that portion of our adventure to Wyoming being completed. We had put in many, many miles in our 10 days, covered and good glassed much of what that country had to offer. Said and now done, i found and took what was clearly one of the best antelope to be had that late in the unit. Snaggle was going to come home with me and i was elated to not only cleanly take such a fine animal but now we had deer season starting the next morning, it was a done deal for the Antelope hunt but now we had a much looked forward to Mule Deer hunt in front of us.
The trip to Wyoming got off to a good start. I had loaded my rig and was off on time headed up to Klamath Falls where my old Hunting Partner now lives. Getting there early, we unpacked my stuff into his Duramax and the trailer that carried a Honda Foreman, that we never unloaded, as well as the other gear that the weather would not harm. Our journey off to Wyoming the next day, about 1200 miles, also went well, good times with a great old friend.
One of our first concerns was finding a place to set up my pards new Davis 14x16' wall tent. We only wanted to set up camp once but during the first few days of hunting antelope, we didn't see a place to do so that had at least half of the things we were looking for in a camp site. The Big horn basin is beautiful in it's way but much of the best parts near water are private, there is a noticeable lack of trees, and the slippery muddy roads during weather were a concern so we weren't looking to get too far away from gravel or pavement. As we looked for a campsite, the first few nights were spent under the stars and one particularly blustery night with prospects of snow, was suffered thru with a loose tarp over our cots and bags. The wind howled that night, looking back the tarp should have been tied off and staked, it truly was a miserable sleepless night.
During our covering country looking for lopes on our 6th day, we finally found a great place to put up the tent but we had already done so on a rocky flat spot that wasn't near as good but by then it was home sweet home and the long days of hunting left little desire to pull up stakes, pack up again, and move camp. As it was, the tent did great and the propane heater did take some of the chill off each evening on our return to camp though we could always see our breath steam and then turned it off to sleep. Our sleeping gear was top of the line stuff and once inside on the big heavy duty cots it was toasty but mornings came quickly and it was a might chilly, from 5 to 30 degrees inside, every morning before daylight when we rolled out for another day.
We got into lots of groups of antelope, there is no shortage of lopes on public land in unit 83 though very few of the many bucks were worth a second look. We first checked out a couple places that members here and from other sites i frequent, had advised but though there were lopes about and some with medium-nice quality bucks, there was nothing near a shooter buck located for the first several days anyway. I think it was day 5 that we found a lope on public land that we soon named Snaggle. He looked far taller and heavier in mass than his many buddies, his one cutter was excellent, but he just had the one cutter. Most impressive though was his body size. He was just bigger than the others and he stood out as a bull among steers. Though his horns twisted in slightly different directions and one side seemed to have more deeper curl on top, it was no doubt the lost cutter that held me off the trigger. My old Pard said that he thought snaggle was 16-17", a first day shooter on any lope hunt he had ever been on. Though his advice is always well taken and respected, it was my call, and i held off knowing i still had at least 5 more days to look them over.
When day 8 of the lope hunt came, each day seemed long but they flew by, i knew that it was time to take my antelope. The deer season was to start Nov 1st and though the lope season carried on thru Nov 7th, i wanted it not to interfere with both of our late season 125 deer hunts. The morning of the 8th day, i awoke in the freezing cold tent just knowing that i was going to pop a antelope that day. We had a number of decent candidates, got within distance of some nice ones but nothing remarkable and some of those better bucks seen earlier eluded us altogether. We got in on snaggle too and i had my 25-06's cross-hairs settled nicely behind his shoulder at 100 yards... but could for some reason, not squeeze off on him. I suppose i still had hopes of fulfilling my pre-hunt goal of taking a really good antelope, a monster if you will. Whatever the case, snaggle was a dead critter if i wanted him then but again i passed the shot in hopes of finding the same quality or better buck, one with both cutters intact.
Antelope day 9 hunted hard before daylight until after dark and then day #10, the day before our deer opener, started about the same though there was now a desperate feeling in my agenda. I really needed to take a lope. If nothing else, i love the meat and was not going home empty that trip. It came to early that afternoon. We had surprisingly gotten permission to hunt snaggle from a understanding landowner, i knocked on his door, who allowed us run of his substantial property and to which snaggle had moved his group onto, 4-5 other bucks and 20 or so does. There were exceptions but most of the lopes we came across during our hunt were in bigger groups and being later in the season as it was, not as jumpy, skittery, and eager to run off at first sight of man. I still had though a tuff time to get him to give me the clean shot i wanted. He seemed to surround himself with his buddies ducking in and out or only gave me marginal angles. Just before he topped out on a low ridge about 200 yds away though, snaggle stopped and gave me a broadside opportunity, i made the best of it and snaggle was mine.
His rack was twisted and looked uneven but both horns went over 16", 7" averaged bases and first quarters, and his one cutter measured 6 7/8". The missing cutter looked to have been broken off during development as it certainly was not a fresh break and looked to have healed over. His head and body size was remarkable and the Taxi guy friend my pard took our later taken muley capes to, said my lope head was one of the biggest he'd seen. As soon as i squeezed off on snaggle, i was very satisfied but near exhausted from excitement in that portion of our adventure to Wyoming being completed. We had put in many, many miles in our 10 days, covered and good glassed much of what that country had to offer. Said and now done, i found and took what was clearly one of the best antelope to be had that late in the unit. Snaggle was going to come home with me and i was elated to not only cleanly take such a fine animal but now we had deer season starting the next morning, it was a done deal for the Antelope hunt but now we had a much looked forward to Mule Deer hunt in front of us.
Brittany Chukarman
Well-known member
That's a good character buck, Joey. You must know that unit pretty well after this trip. I've also had trouble finding a real good campsite the first time in a new unit. Those cold nights are no fun. Congrats.
Frequently Banned Troll
Well-known member
Nice buck. Congrats. Did TopGun 30-06 lend you his measuring tape?
uncle sage
Member
Thanks again for the info you gave before the hunt. Though we didn't stay at the oasis in Mateeteese, we did fuel up there, we fueled up a lot, and twice took in lunch across the street. One of the two side by side diner & water holes there, closed it's doors for good maybe, from what we were told while we were in the area. Really great folks around there and though i'm just a coffee guy these days, i know from my time in Chester that it's nice to have options when a guy gets asked to leave.
Greenhorn, Thanks! no loaned rubber measuring tape from ol Top though i would like to have met him on this trip. You see, not too long ago in another website, i'll just say that after awhile, Top and i did not get along. I always did though, like the way that he tried to help people on their Wy hunts and here before this hunt, here he was giving me out "spot on" info that proved out to be uncanny accurate. I'm older now i suppose, i'm at a new place in life for me i'm not quite used to. i'm willing to let bygones be bygones, it's all good. Kinda wish i owned a cell phone or camera to take more pics but i have never owned such devices and rely on the ones my pard took and send to me on this hunt and peck laptop. For S's and giggles, yesterday i compared my last wy lope, he was short but he grossed just short of 80", to the single good horn on snaggle. Snaggle's good horn makes my 80 incher look rather puney in comparison.
NoWiser, Thank You, He was something to see when all proud of himself and full of life. As you can probably tell i'm way bigger than the average Bear and still at 64 years old, can Palm a Basketball. To me, the head looks big in those pic's too. It is what it is, said and done, i was very happy and well satisfied to have picked him to come home with me.
Thanks Top, Brit, Nick80, oilcan, and all the others that helped with bits of info!
Also, we very much appreciated the fine folks of Wyoming that took the time and effort to Post their Marginal property. Some lands were obviously private but often i had to keep a running thumb on our BLM maps and Wy gazette map book to tell where we were at and what we could hunt. My pard just got his first phone on retirement and i've never owned one so the Onix maps thing probably would have helped but we got along without. Those that posted their property though, made it easier on us and was nice to see no mistake about it, Thank You!!
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Phaseolus
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2014
- Messages
- 797
Joey, This BeanMan enjoyed your story very much. Congrats and good to hear you are still out there.
uncle sage
Member
This Joey wishes that BeanMan all the best in his retirement... and that life presents him with smooth trails!
I'll be hunting and fishing the local stomping grounds for bucks n browns as long as i can. Here's a pic of a nice trout we caught out with another great friend.
Phaseolus
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2014
- Messages
- 797
December 31 will be here soon...you must still be lurking a bit...it’s gone downhill hasn’t it?
Nice Fish, I still use some of the lures you sent me, after Dec 31 they will get more use.
Nice Fish, I still use some of the lures you sent me, after Dec 31 they will get more use.
oilcan
Active member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2009
- Messages
- 163
Glad you had a good Hunt Joey
uncle sage
Member
Thanks oilcan! This coming back up has been a surprise, what a fun and productive hunt we had this past season. If you are inquiring how the deer portion of our hunt turned out, we saw bucks on public land every day but not many and only a couple might a been better than the one i took shown here, mistakenly thinking he was even bigger, and the nice one my Pard took, similar to mine, because he was called home on a Family emergency. Not too bad for a couple old farts. lol
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Knight.54
Well-known member
Great job on your hunt uncle!
So cool to see you guys helping one another out with the info and recon.
This is a great community!
So cool to see you guys helping one another out with the info and recon.
This is a great community!
uncle sage
Member
Thanks Knight.54, anytime you get guys willing to help beforehand with their past experiences in a area, it's a big bonus. Yes some of the guys here did come thru for us but i seemed to also get a bunch of info from the online hunting community in general. As happened on this hunt and has happened many times before, once we checked out the spots or areas mentioned beforehand, we were pretty much left on our own to decide which bits of the units to hunt next which is a big part of the fun in any hunt.
I mentioned early on in this thread that i'm disabled from what they are telling me is a non-operable bad back. I can walk across the street and back but that's about it. There is no way that i could have done this hunt without my long time hunting pard and good friend so i owe much of the success of this hunt to him. We spent a lot of time glassing within 100 yards of our rig yet looking over completely different country than could be seen from the road. My pard was the motivation for these little glassing jaunts and all said and done, i'm glad he was.
Area 83 lopes, we didn't get the feeling that it was much of a Deer zone. We saw a few whitetail bucks in the creek bottoms that were worth looking at and there were muleys groups about, mostly on private fields, but in all our travels thru the 10 day hunt thru Oct 31st, we didn't see anything we would have wanted taking. Area 125 Deer, has potential.
Cottontail were there for the taking. Not a whole lot of them but we saw some, enough every day and a guy with a 22 could have gotten his dinner if that was a goal.
Fishing, we both wished that fishing was included with the $900.+ or so moneys we paid for our hunting lic fees but it's not. There was a daily rate lic. but we didn't care to fish for a day or a particular day, more like maybe drop in a line here and there for a bit throughout our adventure. The Non Res lic., for us, just seemed to be too costly for the little fishing we might have done.
As usual, the wonderful people of Wyoming always made us feel very welcome, i mean not one bad word or any hard looks from anybody. From 45 plus years of adventures afield in many states, this is certainly not always the case but it has been the rule in Wyoming. The people there are nice as can be. Anyway guys, thanks again!
another pic of my muley
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