2018 Wyoming Epic Combo Hunt Adventure Story (Pics)

[Ricochet]

Five friends and I drew 10 Wyoming hunting tags in 2018. We each had a deer buck tag and a antelope buck tag. I did countless hours of research and called numerous biologist/game wardens. I probably spent 50 plus hours on google earth studying the two areas we would be hunting. So I pretty well had all the roads memorized. I worked out all the logistics as well. Where we would get water and shower in between hunts. And I found an awesome butcher in Encampment. Merrill's Meat Company did a great job. Packaged and frozen in one day is amazing.

Our trip started in Portland, Oregon. We hit the road at 3am. There were 4 of us. Two in each truck. We drove straight through to Ogden, Utah. We picked up my Dad, because he flew in to Salt Lake City. Just so he wouldn't be all stoved up when we got to Wyoming. Just when we got to Wyoming around 5pm our lead truck blew a trailer tire. Of course the spare wheel didn't fit. Lucky enough my trailer tire fit his trailer. Then we went straight to the next Walmart. The tire shop guys were awesome and got us all fixed up. The dang tire bent the fender up pretty bad when it blew up. No problem for the Walmart dudes.


After that we got dinner and a hotel room.

The next morning we headed to Casper for our antelope hunt. We pulled into our unit by the mid afternoon. We seen so many antelope. They are literally everywhere. The Casper dump has a herd. The herd buck was 2 feet from the dumpster I used. As we were driving through our unit looking for a campsite out of the wind, I stopped and talked to a hunter all packed up and headed home. I noticed his hands were all bloody. He said he got a nice one. He said the antelope were working in and out of the trees. He gave us a good spot to start our hunt. So we took his advice and set up camp.



More to follow tonight. Check back later. Its going to get good.

 

[theddguide]

Sounds like it was an adventure already!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Ricochet]

First morning of the hunt we wake up with the plan to cover a lot of ground and try to get my dad on a good buck. We could see a herd with a small buck from camp. We drove on a big loop road that was about 4 miles to start first. We probably 100 plus. There were 5 or 6 decent 70 inch bucks. Three of us took a half hearted attempt on a buck that didn't work out. On one lookout we glassed up 7 branch bull elk. That was cool to see. We decided to drive to a different area. There were lots of antelope and great views.

 

[Ricochet]

We came across this buck and Dad put a good stalk on him.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Sounds like Fun /Hurts Like Hell!

 

[Ricochet]

Sorry about the pictures turned to the side.

After we got Dad's buck on ice we went for another drive. We seen a small herd mule deer bucks. And another 100 plus antelope. We went to bed with a good idea of were the better antelope bucks were in the unit.

The next morning Russ announced which buck he wanted. We drove close to were we last saw his buck and sat in the truck until first light.
After a couple Metallica songs we started driving down the old two track road. We were rolling along not seeing any sign of life. I started in on the smart ass comments. Then all of sudden Russ yells "There he is". Not 100 yards to our right his buck was bedded with a doe. He didn't seem to disturbed. The plan was made to keep going down the road and make a stock back for his buck. We got parked and Russ got out his trusty 300 win. He made a good stalk with in 200 yards. He gave a warning shot and the second shot put down the buck.

 

[Ricochet]

When we had parked the truck to go after Russ's buck we could see another group of antelope with some nice bucks. After Russ shot I doubled back to see if I could get a shot.
I got set up on the best buck in the group. I took a shot and it was a bang flop. I was pretty darn excited after we took two nice bucks in just a couple minutes. My other buddy James was getting a seriously itchy trigger finger. Before we know it James shoots a buck of his own. I looked over at him and he said lets go deer hunting. We had a good laugh and high fives and maybe some hugs.
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I'm the guy with the two hats. I regret not taking the stocking cap off. The second buck is not James's buck. I can't find a picture. The second buck is Bryan's. He went off by him self to do solo become one with nature hunt. Bryan got the biggest buck by about an inch.

That night the wind hit us pretty damn hard and the temperature dropped into the thirty's. The next morning we got camp packed up in a hurry and on the road by 9am.

 

[Ricochet]

We headed south to Saratoga. The wind was blowing something fierce. We stopped to check the straps on the trailer. One of the guys was peeing in front of my truck and he got James with pee 60 feet behind Bryan's truck. We had a good laugh about that one. Still blown away about how antelope are in Wyoming. We shower at the hot springs in Saratoga. Washed a quick load of laundry and headed to Encampment. We dropped the antelope at the butcher. We typically cut up our own meat but we had a lot of time before we would be headed home. The butcher let us top off the water barrel. Merrill's Butcher Co are some good people.

We finally got headed up to deer camp. We saw two small forkys on the way to camp. We found a nice dry spot tucked into some trees. Just as we got camp set up it started to rain really hard. We stayed nice and dry with the trusty Davis wall tent. The next morning I wake up with a headache. I fought altitude sickness during the whole deer hunt. We were camped at 9200 feet and hunted up to 10000 feet. I had medication but it didn't stop all of the symptoms. I got through with a little whining. I didn't take a single day off. I didn't want to miss a thing.

 

[Ricochet]

I also need to say that our deer unit was on fire. Some guy left a fire smoldering in Colorado and the dry winds pushed the fire into Wyoming. Two thirds of the unit was closed. We decided before we left for Wyoming to deer hunt anyway and to make the best of it.

At first light we hop in the trucks and drive the road that is not closed do to the fire. We had been in the truck the day before so I needed to stretch the legs. We pulled over and walked up the hill for 5 minutes. I saw a spike standing in the trees. I was focused on this little guy when my buck moved his head. I could see my buck had a decent amount of antler. I raised my 25-06 and dropped him right there. It happened so fast I didn't have time buck fever. I looked at James and my Dad in disbelief. My Dad reminded that I put this hunting party together and brought us everybody a thousand miles from home and I made my dreams come true. I was awesome to have my Dad there. While I was working my buck the spike was still looking for his friend. Dad had him in his sights. I had to talk my dad down twice. He wanted the spike bad. We still had 9 days left two hunt. I think he just wanted to hang out at camp.

 

[Ricochet]

Sorry this is so long winded. I'm having fun telling the story. I'm struggling at getting the pictures right side up. I might have it figured out now.

By the end of the first day I saw 9 bucks. There was a nice 2x3 I tried to see if dad wanted and he said no. Now he was being picky. We had a good laugh at that. The area that was open to hunt was heavy timber. Down towards Encampment there was brushy sage areas we had not checked out. That night the weather set in and we got some snow. The next few days were cold and wet. Not much deer activity.

 

[Ricochet]

The next few days we hiked a lot. Five days straight we got into bugling elk. Not just way off in the distance. We were busting elk 30 to 100 yards a couple times a day. I was surprised by all the rutting and bugling activity. It really made us think about doing the general hunt there in the next year or two. James found a nice arrow head. Looked authentic to me.
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[Ricochet]

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[Ricochet]

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[Ricochet]

After not getting any deer activity for a few days we had to make a change. I got the guys to check out a different area. We went down in elevation were the oak type trees met the sage brush. There was more camps and hunters. It appears the deer had moved because of the snow. I told Bryan to drive a road to the right and hike around. We went to the left and found some good vantage points. James went around the right from our parking spot. Russ and I set up in the brush over looking a big hill side. After a while my feet got cold so I went up the hill. As I was going up the hill a truck parked up on the landing overlooking the valley. He had a old ford with a big dog in the front seat. He was standing on top the hill with Ar10 looking down hill. He didn't even turn off his truck. I looked at the dude and then noticed there was a buck walking behind his truck. I motioned to the guy that there was a buck. He walked over to me and said "You mean that 2x3?" He said he was holding out for a 190 plus. I said I have I guy down the hill that would like that buck. He told me to get him up here. I waved down at Russ. He was already looking at us do to all the commotion. Russ came up the hill in a hurry. He was breathing like hell when he made it up to us. The buck ignored us and bedded down behind a tree. It was the oddest thing. After Russ caught his breath he darn near took its head off with his 300 win. Neck shot.

Now that Russ got the ball rolling we tagged out. The next day the guys got the job done. Lots of happy hunters.

 

[Micah S]

Congratulations on the great hunt.

 

[Ricochet]

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[Ricochet]

Dad ended up getting a forky. He was happy. Probably his last trip out of state. I'm glad he was there. We dropped all the deer off at the butcher and took a day to chill around camp. It was a nice warm 27 degrees.


I want to thank all of the guys for making it a great trip. It was the perfect group of guys for a 15 day adventure.

And most of all I want to thank my wife for supporting my hunting trips. I went to Alaska the year before and she had could have put a stop to the Wyoming trip. Now I have to go to Mexico for her adventure. I wonder if there is any hunting in Cancun? Probably not.

 

[Slugz]

Thanks for the pic and great story!!! See below.....tons of great fishing

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g150807-Activities-c61-t217-Cancun_Yucatan_Peninsula.html

https://www.cancun.com/fishing

 

[LCH]

Sounds like you all had a great time!

I was downwind of your smoke last fall on my hunt, also took advantage of those showers at the hot springs. That's a neat area to spend time in.

 

[Bonecollector]

Great story. Thanks for sharing!