We went antelope huntin yesterday

[skeet]

Was a beautiful day..at first. Went up to a ranch west of Meeteetsee. I was just along for the ride(meaning I didn't take a rifle) and being out in the open. Had a little bit of time in the hospital..kidney stones..anyway. the guy I was with was after a doe antelope. Sheesh..every buck we saw just stood there eating as unconcerned as they could be. Every doe was running at 600 yds. Blasted things must have ESP. Well we got about 3 1/2 miles from the house and saw a small herd of elk at a couple miles..maybe 20 animals. You could hear the ol herd bull bugling.. Really kinda neat...went about another 1/2 mile around a ridge and saw another bunch...but these were closer..like 300 yds. Understand now..we have 2 cow tags for the area..one rifle in 243 . Well we decided to go back around the ridge and wait for them as they were drifting that way. Got around the ridge with barely enough time. Critters went by at a slow trot. No bull license and we have an easy 380 class bull stand in front of us at 80 yds..Beautiful Bull. Total of 71 animals in the bunch...Well my friend decides to shoot a cow. drops the hammer on what he considered a small one at less than a hundred yds. Darn thing didn't travel 30 ft. Then we had another large cow stop and look at us.. He handed me the rifle. So help me, I didn't even think about shooting. Still not feeling up to par and we already had a critter that we had to take care of. All in all a really nice day..but I gotta tell ya...that "small" cow he shot turned out to be one of the largest cows either of us has ever seen. we finally got it loaded. we weighed it later and it was over 440 lbs field dressed without the lower legs Glad I didn't shoot one too...Maybe next week...When we got up in the area we hunted the temp was 69 and beautiful..when we were leaving it was spittin rain and 42 Course we were at 8700 ft. I did learn a lesson. Always expect the unexpected. we were antelope huntin. I also learned where I'm puttin in for a Bull tag next year

[M.T. Pockets]

You gotta love Wyoming. Sounds like you had a great day.

[Rapier]

Jeez Skeet,
That was great and sad at the same time. Shows some maturity though, not shooting the 2nd cow. Nothing like dressing a critter out in the dark, in the rain at near 9,000 feet. Sounds like you would have needed a dump truck to haul them both out.:D

They going to be able to do sonic shock waves on those stones?
Ed

[Jack]

Sounds like a great day.
Hope you're feeling better, Skeet.

[skeet]

Jeez Skeet,
That was great and sad at the same time. Shows some maturity though, not shooting the 2nd cow. Nothing like dressing a critter out in the dark, in the rain at near 9,000 feet. Sounds like you would have needed a dump truck to haul them both out.:D

They going to be able to do sonic shock waves on those stones?
Ed

Dem stones is gone..blowed up and and dribbled out in many painful doses. Feelin oh SO much better.. and I got to Cabela's and bought a collapsible shootin bench. I have 500 yds I can shoot here at the house. Got her put together today. I made target stands out of PVC pipe and some wire...hold the targets on with clothes pins. Loaded some 165 gr Sierras in the ol 06 cases. Gonna shoot 'em tomorrow. Loaded a total of 50 with 10 different powder charges. Both rifles (a 34 made Win 54 Carbine and a 47 made M-70)shoot pretty well with either 4350 or H414. Used 4350 this time . Want to find a load to shoot my elk with. Going back out to the ranch next week cause the weather is really changing. We had a mild frost at home at 4200 ft. So I'm gonna have to do my part and protect that ranchers hay stack...Gotta keep them elks out of that hay ya know. I'm gonna change the scope on the M-70. It has a period Stith mount and Kollmorgan Bearcub scope on it. I have an as new Redfield rangefinder scope I'm going to mount on it(3x9). I know I will be able to see better with it. Heck the rifles are older than me and the ol Redfield is older than some of the members on HC. Hope I can show 'em we don't really need onea them new short maganumbs to kill an elk....much less a deer

[MtnMike2]

Skeet,
The pronghorn / elk story makes me almost want to move to Wyoming. Very cool. Glad you're feeling better.

Mike

[buckhunter]

Skeet rumor has it that Elk are amune to anything but magnums. Beware that 06 might not be up to the task. Sure. Good Luck.

[Larryjk]

Skeet, Sorry you were under the weather. Sounds like you had a good time on the hunt. I just returned from North Dakota on a pheasant hunt. Had a great time and took a few pheasants home. Lake Sakakwea is full. Glad to see that again. All of the ponds were full. Long drive, but the country looks good. Hope you take a fat cow. They are very tasty in the freezer.