Wyoming twofer, mule deer n antelope, its long
Oct 23, 2017 20:56:45 GMT -5
depcon3, dougader, and 3 more like this
Post by bigbrowndog on Oct 23, 2017 20:56:45 GMT -5
First off, if someone would volunteer to post the pics I've got I'd appreciate it, otherwise this story is just that, a story. I haven't got the patience to sort out photobucket or imgur, or whoever...........
I have been blessed with awesome friends in the shooting industry. Through the years I've become very good friends with a handful of them, no nearly as many as I would like but there is still time. I do a small operation destructive animal abatement, and so I get to invite these friends to help out with feral hog eradication occasionally. In turn I get assistance from them in the form of product, and on rare occasions invited on hunts as well.
For the the last two years I've been invited to join a small group of industry, and family friends on a Wyoming pronghorn hunt. Last year I was able to take a buck and doe, and the doe was taken with my new to me Gallagher 500max,.....way too much gun for a pronghorn doe but both the gun and I were up to the task. Earlier in the year, I picked up a 10.5" Ruger 357max, and with David Bradshaw's help sorted out the junkyard gorilla trigger job. Sixshot sent me some cast 200gr. LFN bullets to try in addition to some Hornady XTP's I was using. The XTP's were giving really good accuracy, I fired a 3x5" group at 200m with them from the bench and was consistently doing 6" from shooting sticks at that distance. October snuck up on me quick, what with moving into a new house and trying to sell the old one. Sixshots cast bullets were hurriedly loaded into a standard load of H4227, and while they provided good accuracy, the velocity was a bit slow, like 200fps slower than expected. I'm still investigating that situation, but looking forward to trying the bullets more now that I don't have the time crunch. Also after loading and shooting Hornady's for most of the summer I was running low on loaded rounds, I only had 15 loaded and I wanted to verify one more time before leaving for Wyoming.
I had packed my reloading components and unpacked most of it but the 357 max brass, and bullets were nowhere to be found. (I found them the day after I got back from Wyoming).
I had received permission from the group and landowner that I would be able to put in for a mule deer buck tag as well as the pronghorn if I wanted,.......well yeah!!! I was drawn for both the mule deer and pronghorn buck, my intention was to take another new to me gun on the hunt, a Winchester 71, vintage 1940's. Luckily I had already developed a load for it, and I could find those loading components to load more. I also have industry sponsors that I wanted to support so I included a JP enterprises LRP07 in 260rem. as my "oh crap" rifle in case I had no luck getting close enough with the revolver and lever action. The JP wears a Burris XTR II scope, and the Ruger has a 2-7x BDC scope on it, since Burris is one of my shooting sponsors I could take care of my two primary sponsors at the same time. Luckily I was able to verify my zero on the Ruger with 2 rounds at 100, 2 at 150, and 2 at 200, that left me 9 to go hunt with, I would return with 7. The JP, was verified out to 550 yards, and the Win. 71 was checked at 100 and at 150.
I was packed, fueled up and headed north, from Lampasas Tx. it's a two day drive. The first day was 15-16 hours and the second was an easy drive of 5 1/2 hours.
Day 1 of hunting had me glassing two decent mule deer bucks about 3 1/2 years old I'd guess. I was considering passing on the biggest one because I was 2 hours into the first day, and then remembered some sage advice, "don't pass up today what you'd be happy to have on the last day". The other reason for considering passing it up was, the closest I was able to get was 300-350 yards, but my "oh crap" rifle was in the truck. So I hustled back to the truck and was able to get to 328 yards from the buck, he was still laying down in the morning sun. When he stood up, I fired and filled my mule deer tag. I was now more determined to fill my remaining tag with the handgun, no more rifles for this trip.
Day 2 was filled with failed stalks for me but allowed me to help the others fill their tags for pronghorn.
Day 3 started with a failed stalk for me, then a stalk that allowed me to close the distance to 155 yards on a small group only to get busted by an unseen doe, and send the herd trotting off. One of my companions would take a nice buck from the group after they stopped briefly at 480 yards. I helped him load his buck, and while he cut and processed it in the shade of some trees. I took off on foot in the direction the herd had gone, in hopes that they would stop and bed in the midday. I walked a couple of miles along a ridge line glassing the valleys and draws, spotting only mule deer. Then way off in the distance I saw a small group of 3 does and one buck, they looked way too far to plan a stalk on them. As I walked I began seeing more pronghorn in the same area as the small group, when I ranged them, they were less than 1000 yards away. Closer than I thought, but still two drainages away and very close to the border of the ranch. If they moved away from me much they would be out of bounds for me, but they were starting to bed down.
I took off in their direction hoping to find enough cover to get within 200 yards. When I came out of the last drainage there was a row of mountain mahogany brush on the lip of the ridge. When I got there I ranged the herd,.....355yards!!!, the strip of brush followed the lip of the ridge and looked like it might get me 100 yards closer but it also ran farther to the left. I backed up and out of the brush to move quicker along it, and when I moved left I spotted antelope I hadn't seen previously. They were much closer, ranging them I found they were all does, with a single buck bedded at 225 yards. I snuck back into the brush, and found a suitable spot to sit with my back supported by a bush and my shooting sticks firmly planted in soil. I had gained some yards on the buck when I went back in the brush, his distance was now 201 yards. While I waited I checked my position for stability by practicing the shot over and over and making sure I could hold on him without drifting off his shoulder. When the far group of antelope began to rise and come towards me, I knew the buck would get up. When he did, I wasn't quite ready and he took a few steps to my left. Not a big problem but if he took a couple more he would be out of my clear shooting lane. So I settled in and put the 200 yard hashmark just behind his shoulder and the gun went off. I heard the bullet hit and saw a small blemish on his side appear, sadly it was about 6" farther back than where I aimed,.....I had forgotten to hold wind. The hit was good enough to make him lay back down immediately, and as I watched the other antelope run off he remained right there laying down refusing to stand. I watched for a bit and decided to try and sneak closer to deliver a finishing shot, rather than take the chance of him regaining strength and running off. I gained another 40 yards in closing the distance and was able to deliver a shot to the neck that broke the spine and sever a major vessel, he bled out by the time I walked down to him.
He is not as big as the one I took last year with a rifle, but he is a trophy that has more memories, lessons, and enjoyment than last years buck. I think I have a much better understanding why people like Dick "sixshot" Thompson really enjoy the chase and thrill of hunting strictly with a handgun, I'm not giving up my rifles just yet, but this western handgun hunting is growing on me.
Trapr
I have been blessed with awesome friends in the shooting industry. Through the years I've become very good friends with a handful of them, no nearly as many as I would like but there is still time. I do a small operation destructive animal abatement, and so I get to invite these friends to help out with feral hog eradication occasionally. In turn I get assistance from them in the form of product, and on rare occasions invited on hunts as well.
For the the last two years I've been invited to join a small group of industry, and family friends on a Wyoming pronghorn hunt. Last year I was able to take a buck and doe, and the doe was taken with my new to me Gallagher 500max,.....way too much gun for a pronghorn doe but both the gun and I were up to the task. Earlier in the year, I picked up a 10.5" Ruger 357max, and with David Bradshaw's help sorted out the junkyard gorilla trigger job. Sixshot sent me some cast 200gr. LFN bullets to try in addition to some Hornady XTP's I was using. The XTP's were giving really good accuracy, I fired a 3x5" group at 200m with them from the bench and was consistently doing 6" from shooting sticks at that distance. October snuck up on me quick, what with moving into a new house and trying to sell the old one. Sixshots cast bullets were hurriedly loaded into a standard load of H4227, and while they provided good accuracy, the velocity was a bit slow, like 200fps slower than expected. I'm still investigating that situation, but looking forward to trying the bullets more now that I don't have the time crunch. Also after loading and shooting Hornady's for most of the summer I was running low on loaded rounds, I only had 15 loaded and I wanted to verify one more time before leaving for Wyoming.
I had packed my reloading components and unpacked most of it but the 357 max brass, and bullets were nowhere to be found. (I found them the day after I got back from Wyoming).
I had received permission from the group and landowner that I would be able to put in for a mule deer buck tag as well as the pronghorn if I wanted,.......well yeah!!! I was drawn for both the mule deer and pronghorn buck, my intention was to take another new to me gun on the hunt, a Winchester 71, vintage 1940's. Luckily I had already developed a load for it, and I could find those loading components to load more. I also have industry sponsors that I wanted to support so I included a JP enterprises LRP07 in 260rem. as my "oh crap" rifle in case I had no luck getting close enough with the revolver and lever action. The JP wears a Burris XTR II scope, and the Ruger has a 2-7x BDC scope on it, since Burris is one of my shooting sponsors I could take care of my two primary sponsors at the same time. Luckily I was able to verify my zero on the Ruger with 2 rounds at 100, 2 at 150, and 2 at 200, that left me 9 to go hunt with, I would return with 7. The JP, was verified out to 550 yards, and the Win. 71 was checked at 100 and at 150.
I was packed, fueled up and headed north, from Lampasas Tx. it's a two day drive. The first day was 15-16 hours and the second was an easy drive of 5 1/2 hours.
Day 1 of hunting had me glassing two decent mule deer bucks about 3 1/2 years old I'd guess. I was considering passing on the biggest one because I was 2 hours into the first day, and then remembered some sage advice, "don't pass up today what you'd be happy to have on the last day". The other reason for considering passing it up was, the closest I was able to get was 300-350 yards, but my "oh crap" rifle was in the truck. So I hustled back to the truck and was able to get to 328 yards from the buck, he was still laying down in the morning sun. When he stood up, I fired and filled my mule deer tag. I was now more determined to fill my remaining tag with the handgun, no more rifles for this trip.
Day 2 was filled with failed stalks for me but allowed me to help the others fill their tags for pronghorn.
Day 3 started with a failed stalk for me, then a stalk that allowed me to close the distance to 155 yards on a small group only to get busted by an unseen doe, and send the herd trotting off. One of my companions would take a nice buck from the group after they stopped briefly at 480 yards. I helped him load his buck, and while he cut and processed it in the shade of some trees. I took off on foot in the direction the herd had gone, in hopes that they would stop and bed in the midday. I walked a couple of miles along a ridge line glassing the valleys and draws, spotting only mule deer. Then way off in the distance I saw a small group of 3 does and one buck, they looked way too far to plan a stalk on them. As I walked I began seeing more pronghorn in the same area as the small group, when I ranged them, they were less than 1000 yards away. Closer than I thought, but still two drainages away and very close to the border of the ranch. If they moved away from me much they would be out of bounds for me, but they were starting to bed down.
I took off in their direction hoping to find enough cover to get within 200 yards. When I came out of the last drainage there was a row of mountain mahogany brush on the lip of the ridge. When I got there I ranged the herd,.....355yards!!!, the strip of brush followed the lip of the ridge and looked like it might get me 100 yards closer but it also ran farther to the left. I backed up and out of the brush to move quicker along it, and when I moved left I spotted antelope I hadn't seen previously. They were much closer, ranging them I found they were all does, with a single buck bedded at 225 yards. I snuck back into the brush, and found a suitable spot to sit with my back supported by a bush and my shooting sticks firmly planted in soil. I had gained some yards on the buck when I went back in the brush, his distance was now 201 yards. While I waited I checked my position for stability by practicing the shot over and over and making sure I could hold on him without drifting off his shoulder. When the far group of antelope began to rise and come towards me, I knew the buck would get up. When he did, I wasn't quite ready and he took a few steps to my left. Not a big problem but if he took a couple more he would be out of my clear shooting lane. So I settled in and put the 200 yard hashmark just behind his shoulder and the gun went off. I heard the bullet hit and saw a small blemish on his side appear, sadly it was about 6" farther back than where I aimed,.....I had forgotten to hold wind. The hit was good enough to make him lay back down immediately, and as I watched the other antelope run off he remained right there laying down refusing to stand. I watched for a bit and decided to try and sneak closer to deliver a finishing shot, rather than take the chance of him regaining strength and running off. I gained another 40 yards in closing the distance and was able to deliver a shot to the neck that broke the spine and sever a major vessel, he bled out by the time I walked down to him.
He is not as big as the one I took last year with a rifle, but he is a trophy that has more memories, lessons, and enjoyment than last years buck. I think I have a much better understanding why people like Dick "sixshot" Thompson really enjoy the chase and thrill of hunting strictly with a handgun, I'm not giving up my rifles just yet, but this western handgun hunting is growing on me.
Trapr
