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For Kaoru’s 2009 Antelope hunt, and my initial Wyoming West-Laramie (Unit 45) antelope hunt, we left Friday afternoon (September 4th) to head up to Craig, CO. We both wanted to sight in our rifles – I was bringing my 7mm Remington Ultra-Mag, and Kaoru was bringing his 300 Winchester Magnum. I hadn’t shot my rifle since I picked it up in Wyoming with my new Huskemaw Optics Scope. Kaoru hadn’t shot his since the previous year’s elk hunt.
We decided to stop at the open-to-public range near Hot Sulfer Springs, just east of Kremmling, taking the route over Berthoud Pass. We saw the aspen changing, and, we saw a couple of herds of bighorn sheep. That’s always cool. But what wasn’t cool was the crowd at the public range. There were no open spaces – being that Saturday was the 1st weekend in the muzzle-loading season. It seemed that everyone was sighting-in at the last minute. Of course, I would never be accused of that…
So, we decided to detour to an area close to where we shot our elk last year – in unit 211. There’s an area there called Duffy Mountain that offers plenty of opportunity to pick out a rock and shoot at it. The rocks are such that they absorb the bullets – more like sandstone than granite, so we didn’t have to worry about the bullets ricochet. We arrived at 5:30 and had about an hour of sight-in time. Perfect.
We used duct-tape to secure a target on a rock and drove back about 200 yards. Kaoru nailed the target, fighting a 5-10 mph crosswind, about where he expected. Then, from that sight-in rock, I picked out a rock on a cliff-face, 350 yards away, that was about 1 minute of angle wide – or 3-4 inches. I had Kaoru both locate the rock in his binoculars, and, let me know the wind reading on my Caldwell wind wizard. The sun was shining on it perfectly. I loaded a 180-grain Berger bullet, took a prone position, held for about a 5 mph crosswind, and squeezed the trigger. A puff of dust indicated a direct hit. I then invited Kaoru to do the same. I gave him the wind readings (between 2 and 7 mph – I had him hold just inside the 1 MOA windage mark) and he squeezed the trigger. The rock was absolutely destroyed. The sun no longer had something to shine on!
We then taped a couple of cups to the rock that we had originally taped the target. 1 was a small white Styrofoam cup, the other a McDonalds large coffee cup. We then drove back 600 yards and took position. Again, I had to hold for about a 5 mph crosswind, which, at that distance, was approximately 2 MOA (Minutes of Angle). In prone position, I attached my bipod, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. The small white cup disappeared. I then called Kaoru over to do the same – and he initially said ‘no, that’s okay.’ I highly encouraged him to do it, and, he agreed to give it a shot, as it were. I adjusted the scope, and he squeezed off a round. Right over the top! I checked the range again, and, adjusted the scope accordingly. He then squeezed off another round. Sweet! He nailed the cup – we could see it dangling off the rock (only through the binoculars – we couldn’t see it otherwise). After driving up to the rock, we saw that he nailed the cup right in the middle, where the tape was holding it to the rock.
Kaoru couldn’t believe it. Even though he held the cup in his hand, he couldn’t believe it. But, there it was – a large McDonalds coffee cup with a bullet hole in the middle. I told him he ought to keep the cup as a souvenir.
After cleaning up all the trash (little pieces of Styrofoam cup, pieces of the target, etc.) we headed back into town, and, I found out why Kaoru didn’t want to shoot my rifle. He said that if he made the shot, then, he knew he would have to get a Huskemaw scope. But, being that they’re kinda pricey, and his wife is in school, he wouldn’t be able to get one right away. This, of course, was unacceptable to him. But, I told him that as long as we’re hunting together, he could always use mine if he wanted. The next day, I found out he wanted…
We checked into the hotel, went to JW Snacks for the best ribs in Craig, went through our hunting gear, and got some sleep. The next morning we drove to the Blue Gravel Ranch, for their Ranching for Wildlife program. Check-in time was 7:00 AM. With an amiable smile, the guy checked us in. At the same time, another hunter and his father were checking in for the same ranch. We exchanged pleasantries and wished each other success.
After circling the check-in place, I went back in and asked for directions to the ranch – my memory had said that it was just west of where we checked in. However, I found out we had to go down the highway a bit. So, then we were off to go find the antelope. At 7:10 (after the 6 miles down the highway to the entrance to the ranch) we saw the same guys we saw at check in. They had spotted some antelope that ran off to a hillside about a mile away. He said his son was going to go make a stalk, and, that “the antelope will probably run back this way after he shoots, so, you can just wait here for them.” Yeah, buddy, that’s not how we roll. We don’t sit and wait for something to saunter by. If we don’t see them, we’re going after them. Very rarely will you see Kaoru and I just sitting and waiting for the animals. Yes, we have sat and watched a field at sunrise or sunset, waiting for the animals to come feed, or make their way back to the bedding place… but we’re not going to sit around and wait for someone else to go shoot at a herd and wait to see if the herd comes our way.
As we rolled away from there, about a mile further down the road, we spotted a herd of prairie goats. I offered my rifle, and Kaoru didn’t say no. We left the truck, made a stalk to within 500 yards, and I attempted to range the animals. Damn… my range finder works well when reflecting off of rock faces. But, off the side of antelope, I just couldn’t get a clear signal. I was able to range a post near to where they were, but, I didn’t want to take any chances with not being able to dial in the right distance. So, we stalked to within 350 yards and set up for a shot. Kaoru picked out a nice doe antelope, I ranged it at 328, we dialed in the scope, he aimed high shoulder, and squeezed off a round. It dropped immediately to the ground. It was 7:25 AM.
Kaoru walked down to find the antelope in the tall grass – it was near where Mike Finch had shot his antelope the year before. I drove the truck closer, grabbed my gear, and walked down to join Kaoru. We quartered the antelope, placing each quarter in a plastic trash bag, cut the area below the knee off, and packed out the meat. I attempted to take some pictures, but, the batteries were dead. Oh well – at least we had pictures of the cups. All the meat was in the cooler, and we were on the road again, by 8:30. Time to head to Wyoming to get two antelope for me!
A beautiful drive through Medicine Bow National Forest, on our way to Centennial and Unit 45 was our destination. This unit is west of Laramie, however, it does not contain a lot of public land. Each tract of BLM land that we went to had already been picked over by antelope hunters that morning. There were 0 prairie goats on public land. Our intention was to spend the night in Centennial, but, given the lack of public land and lack of antelope on said land, we decided to bag it for the day and drive home. I am going back to that area in a few weeks time for two antelope north of Laramie, and, I will try my luck again in west Laramie.
