Antelope Down!!

Cobbhunts

Veteran member
Jan 22, 2014
1,060
1
Kentucky
Updated with my story and pics. As much as I would have be liked to hang out in that area for a few days....weather didn't allow it. That night about 2am we woke up to 70+ mph winds shredding our tent poles. We packed our camp up the best we could and slept in the truck. That was awful. There was no warning, all weather reports were calm and dry. The next morning was cold and calm. We picked our remaining gear up (some scattered across the prairie) and headed to our mule deer area. The MD area was loaded. With hunters. We scouted and hunted a combined 5.5 days and packed up and drove back. We seen around 100 deer each. I seen a total of 7 small bucks and a truck load of doe. Dwayne did shoot a small 2x2 that was blinded by warts on his eyes. And don't get me wrong, we had a blast. We put many miles on the boots and seen some great country. If the other hunters weren't so rude it would have been better. It was real cut throat out there haha. Oh, and there's a nice outdoor store in Buffalo that fixed our tent poles. The name escapes me, but they had a good selection of gear. Here are a few pics of our MD hunt.

First morning there, Spencer looking over the country we would soon explore.




These guys/gals spent a good deal of time with me.



 

480/277

Very Active Member
Feb 23, 2013
629
1
. Oh, and there's a nice outdoor store in Buffalo that fixed our tent poles. The name escapes me, but they had a good selection of gear.
Sports Lure?
They had a Win pre 64 model 70 in 220 swift that was in nice shape .
I had to leave the store as my will power was draining.....
Nice write up, enjoyed the story and pics
 

Cobbhunts

Veteran member
Jan 22, 2014
1,060
1
Kentucky
Sports Lure?
They had a Win pre 64 model 70 in 220 swift that was in nice shape .
I had to leave the store as my will power was draining.....
Nice write up, enjoyed the story and pics
Yep, that's it. Nice store. Very unexpected for us to find a store like that in the area. Saved our tails too.

Thanks!!
 

roknHS

Member
Sep 25, 2014
135
0
North Idaho, Tick Fever Country
Cobb,
Thanks for the final chapter. Beautiful country. I bet those hay field bottoms had some deer for you to look at in the mornings and evenings.
I know the deer unit was different than the antelope unit you hunted. Did you see antelope while you were deer hunting?
Did you talk to any ranchers about hunting on private land?
What were the land owners asking for fees?

Would you go back to the same areas if given the chance?

Too bad the other hunters you had to deal with all had the first name "dick". I've never understood why people have to act that way.
I do find some local Idaho guys with the first name "dick". Not too many but, it doesn't take many to ruin the day.

Good to hear you could ignore those guys and focus on enjoying your trip.
 

Cobbhunts

Veteran member
Jan 22, 2014
1,060
1
Kentucky
Cobb,
Thanks for the final chapter. Beautiful country. I bet those hay field bottoms had some deer for you to look at in the mornings and evenings.

- Thanks!! Plenty of deer down in those fields. And antelope too. The Doe would travel to and from the public into those fields. The bucks....they didn't leave those fields.


Did you see antelope while you were deer hunting?

- Seen a few. For such a high PP area I was surprised at the lack of antelope sightings. But I suspect that the terrain a few miles west held more antelope than the terrain we were deer hunting in.


Did you talk to any ranchers about hunting on private land?
What were the land owners asking for fees?

- The ranchers in my antelope unit....cool as could be. The ranchers in the deer unit....polar opposite. They patrolled their land. Wouldn't talk or even acknowledge you in passing. The one lady I did make contact with hung up on me. So their fees, well there aren't any haha. Because they either allow no hunting, just let friends hunt, or run outfitted hunts.

Would you go back to the same areas if given the chance?

- I'd go back to the antelope area in a heartbeat. The deer area I would probably pass. Maybe not pass on the unit itself so to speak, but the specific area that we hunted I wouldn't do again. I don't know if I mentioned it, but we Competed with Elk hunters too. So that magnified the dire situation we were in.

Too bad the other hunters you had to deal with all had the first name "dick". I've never understood why people have to act that way.
I do find some local Idaho guys with the first name "dick". Not too many but, it doesn't take many to ruin the day.

- It happens. The two tracks in our little area hurt us. We couldn't get far enough away from other hunters. We sort of knew that going in, but had hoped we could head really far south into the area and hike in to avoid the pumpkin patch. Well we did that and went we as far away from a 2track that we could be, based on our maps. Looked up and there was a crew of hunters that entered a road not showing on our maps/GPS. 3 trucks with 12 hunters that proceeded to pile out hahaha. Oh well. That burnt about 1/2 a day and was a total waste. But we still had fun.

Merged to answer your questions....We renamed that little area Caliconsin!! Only one other state was represented besides those two states.
 

11C50

Member
Oct 13, 2011
75
21
Edgar WI
Sorry to hear that the deer portion of your hunt was so bad, bummer. I knew it was going to be crowded when I saw the licenses for that region sell out for this first time I can ever remember, and that's almost 20 years in that area. As far as the ranchers in this area go, you are correct, they can be difficult at best. Something bad must have happened over the years to sour them, as most folks in Wyoming are absolutely wonderful. As far as your Caliconsin description goes, you could not be more correct. Our standing joke up here (yes it is Wisc) is that the last hunter to leave Wisc that week should turn out the lights.
 

Cobbhunts

Veteran member
Jan 22, 2014
1,060
1
Kentucky
Sorry to hear that the deer portion of your hunt was so bad, bummer. I knew it was going to be crowded when I saw the licenses for that region sell out for this first time I can ever remember, and that's almost 20 years in that area. As far as the ranchers in this area go, you are correct, they can be difficult at best. Something bad must have happened over the years to sour them, as most folks in Wyoming are absolutely wonderful. As far as your Caliconsin description goes, you could not be more correct. Our standing joke up here (yes it is Wisc) is that the last hunter to leave Wisc that week should turn out the lights.
We had an overall good experience. I can't complain and hope it didn't sound as such. Most everyone we ran into were really good guys. And to be honest, the local ranchers were worse than any of the hunters were. With the exception of a few hunters acting out, most were great. But that's the way it is in all aspects of life, right!!

And all of your help early on paid dividends. We got into deer easily. Just no shooters to speak of. And we were limited by time as well. So thanks for pointing us to a couple of places to check out. Much appreciated, hope all is well 11C50!!
 

Topgun 30-06

Banned
Jun 12, 2013
1,353
1
Allegan, MI
I figured that when the 401 Region M leftover tags sold out this year for the first time that it would be a zoo out there for at least the first week and it was. The main NR license plates were from Cali and Wisc and I have never seen so many inconsiderate people in my 20 years out there as there were this year. Two guys walked by in front of my one buddy within 10 yards and never even saw him and then walked up to my other friend and asked him where he was hunting. He was set up on a hill glassing a pasture in a nice basin and after talking to him they walked right on out and through that entire area in front of him and then trespassed on the adjoining private property. We all had similar experiences with guys parking right next to us where we went in before daylight and here they came walking in on the ridges in all their bright orange well after daylight and then wondered why they couldn't see any deer, LOL! They should have all gone over to unit 164 earlier in the month where all the deer are, LOL!
 

AT Hiker

Very Active Member
Aug 2, 2012
638
0
Tennessee
I figured that when the 401 Region M leftover tags sold out this year for the first time that it would be a zoo out there for at least the first week and it was. The main NR license plates were from Cali and Wisc and I have never seen so many inconsiderate people in my 20 years out there as there were this year. Two guys walked by in front of my one buddy within 10 yards and never even saw him and then walked up to my other friend and asked him where he was hunting. He was set up on a hill glassing a pasture in a nice basin and after talking to him they walked right on out and through that entire area in front of him and then trespassed on the adjoining private property. We all had similar experiences with guys parking right next to us where we went in before daylight and here they came walking in on the ridges in all their bright orange well after daylight and then wondered why they couldn't see any deer, LOL! They should have all gone over to unit 164 earlier in the month where all the deer are, LOL!
Y was horrible this year too, we actually had a deer shot right next to us. It literally died 50 yards from us and was about 100 yards from us when he got shot. I have never been more afraid of being shot than at that moment, bad part is he even seen us. Said he had to make a decision if he wanted to shot it or not before it got to us?!?!?!?!?!?!!!! Wow is all we could say...
 

Cobbhunts

Veteran member
Jan 22, 2014
1,060
1
Kentucky
I figured that when the 401 Region M leftover tags sold out this year for the first time that it would be a zoo out there for at least the first week and it was. The main NR license plates were from Cali and Wisc and I have never seen so many inconsiderate people in my 20 years out there as there were this year. Two guys walked by in front of my one buddy within 10 yards and never even saw him and then walked up to my other friend and asked him where he was hunting. He was set up on a hill glassing a pasture in a nice basin and after talking to him they walked right on out and through that entire area in front of him and then trespassed on the adjoining private property. We all had similar experiences with guys parking right next to us where we went in before daylight and here they came walking in on the ridges in all their bright orange well after daylight and then wondered why they couldn't see any deer, LOL! They should have all gone over to unit 164 earlier in the month where all the deer are, LOL!
Yea....it was a bit nuts. I tried to find you, but there were so many camps along where you were camping that we just gave up. And I've never seen so many people start their hunt like an hour after first light. We thought maybe we were messing up by going in so early, because everyone else waited until later. We still had more fun than we should have and seen plenty of game. I'm def checking out 164 on our next trip. We drove through it and it sure looked like mule deer country to me!!

We had a blast antelope hunting and can't wait to get back after them. Mine ended up scoring just over 75".
 

Cobbhunts

Veteran member
Jan 22, 2014
1,060
1
Kentucky
Y was horrible this year too, we actually had a deer shot right next to us. It literally died 50 yards from us and was about 100 yards from us when he got shot. I have never been more afraid of being shot than at that moment, bad part is he even seen us. Said he had to make a decision if he wanted to shot it or not before it got to us?!?!?!?!?!?!!!! Wow is all we could say...
I would have had a hard time controlling myself in that situation.
 

AT Hiker

Very Active Member
Aug 2, 2012
638
0
Tennessee
I would have had a hard time controlling myself in that situation.
If it wasnt for my hunting partner we would have had a situation on our hands, he talked me out of it confronting him. I was furious, I have a 10 month old daughter at home and beautiful wife, Im not about to get killed over a stinking animal!

Hindsight I am glad he did calm me down, the idiot hunter was every bit of 6'5" and 250lbs and obviously not afraid to shoot at someone!