# Waspocrew's Wyoming Extravaganza



## waspocrew

This was a trip I had been looking forward to for a number of years. I knew that moving to the east coast for medical school would definitely hamper my time in the outdoors. My parents picked up some awesome property to hunt earlier this year and luckily we were able to pull tags for the unit. In total, I was able to spend 12 days hunting. I got back to Virginia late last night and will try to give a consecutive play by play of the hunt. 


10/6
After making the nearly 4 hour drive from Billings, MT, my brother and I quickly unloaded our gear and hopped in the side by side to begin searching for elk. The opener was only 2 days away and we wanted to have a general idea of where to be. Once on top of the property, we ran into a large herd of at least 100 head. What a great way to jump back into western hunting! There were a few good looking bulls in the group that I would have been glad to tag. 

One bull got a little curious and crept our way until he was just outside of 100 yards from us - he had a really interesting rack which appeared to be from an injury to the antler base (we probably saw 4 or 5 similar bulls, so maybe there's a genetic component to it as well). After the bull walked out of sight, we enjoyed a nice sunset while listening to the bugles behind us, then headed down to the campers to finish unpacking.


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## waspocrew

10/7
The morning started out again by scouting for elk - not long into the process, we definitely found our #1 bull. He was a beautiful, symmetric 6x6 with incredible tine length. We watched him lead the herd for the better part of 30 minutes. Once the rest of the elk funneled up the mountain to their bedding area, we went for another drive to see the rest of the property. 

As we came around the corner, our pivot field came into view and it was full of antelope! This was my first time hunting antelope and it was exciting to see so many hanging around. We looked the herd over pretty good and one buck in particular caught my attention. He was just too unique to pass on! That's all I needed to see before we raced back to get our rifles. Unfortunately, I hadn't had the opportunity to check the zero of my 6.5 Sherman yet, so I went with my brother's Nosler Liberty 7RM. 

We took a different route towards the back of the field hoping to crest the hill and see the buck within 200 yards. However, the antelope had a different plan. They were on the move and heading for the rolling hills that surrounded the field. I quickly looked over each buck, but couldn't find the one I was after. We watched the direction they were heading, backed out, and tried our best to get in front of them. 

Turns out our plan worked pretty well! We were able to get back onto the antelope and after about 10 minutes of glassing, we turned up my buck. I took my time setting up for the shot, took a few breaths, and slowly pulled the trigger. I couldn't see the bullet strike through the recoil, but my brother let out a loud "NAILED HIM!". After a few high fives, we walked down to get a better look at my buck. The 168 gr Accubond LR had center punched the front shoulder and exited just in front of the off shoulder. The buck was even cooler than I had originally thought. He may not be the biggest, but he will certainly make a unique euro mount!


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## wyogoob

That's one cool antelope!

.


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## waspocrew

10/8:
Again, more scouting for elk in the early morning. After watching the elk for a while, we met up with a friend from the area to go find a couple of antelope in an region he knew well. It was awesome antelope country, but for some reason, the goats weren't where they were supposed to be. After driving and glassing for 90 minutes, I finally spotted a group of antelope bedded on a hillside a couple hundred yards away. We looked over the bucks in the group and picked out what seemed to be the best one. My brother set up for the shot and waited for the buck to stand. A few minutes later, the buck stood and the 7 RM barked. There was the unmistakable "thump" as the 168 Gr ABLR found it's mark! We headed over to check out the buck, clean him, and get on our way. Rain and snow had been falling intermittently throughout the morning, so the once dry roads were now turning into a slippery mess. Once back to our campers, we took care of his antelope and tried our best to stay out of the nasty weather.


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## waspocrew

10/9
Opening morning for elk was finally here! We had been watching the elk move up to their bedding location each morning and had a route picked out. We hiked in to where we thought they'd eventually head. After sitting for about 5 minutes, we started to hear cows chirping and a few bugles heading our way. Soon after, my heart sank as I saw elk moving our direction way too early. We had another 20 minutes before shooting light and the elk were only 150 yards away. The wind was still at our face, but the lead cows knew something was up. 

I slowly lifted my binoculars to get a better look at the bull in the group - it was the bull we were after! I glanced at my watch and saw we were still 15 minutes from legal shooting light. The elk froze around 90 yards from us. They never spooked, but changed their direction and slowly made their way to the opposite hillside. With 8 minutes until shooting light, I watched the big bull walk over the hill. His cows were still hanging low when it was legal shooting hours, so we couldn't make a play at that time. Once the rest of the herd cleared, we tried to get to a position where we'd find the bull. As we crested the hill, we saw a large herd (easily 150 head) making their way up the mountainside. I looked over each bull, but never saw the big bull. He must have snuck up out of view while we waited for his cows to clear. 

Feeling a little dejected, we hiked down to our vehicle to try our luck higher up on the property. The roads were pretty sloppy from the snow the day before, but we were able to climb quite a ways. As we were driving, I looked across the small canyon to my left and spotted a cow. "STOP!" We hopped out and caught a herd of about 30 elk making their way across the canyon. There were a few bulls in the group. Again, I didn't find the one I was looking for, but saw a wide bull with nice mass. Having never taken a bull elk before, I decided this was an opportunity I didn't want to pass on. I shouldered my brother's 7RM (my 6.5 Sherman wouldn't zero and I had to pull the scope), and held on the bull's shoulder. Again, the 168 gr ABLR made an audible "THUMP" as it broke his front shoulder. He was obviously not feeling well. The rest of the elk trotted off and the bull bedded down. We watched him for a few minutes thinking he would expire, but his head never dropped. I decided I needed to get another round in him, but he wasn't offering the best shot while bedded. I made my way towards him and saw that he had moved while out of my sight. I popped up and over the ridge he had bedded on previously and found him working his way down the other side. I put another round in him and watched him go down towards the bottom of a nasty ravine!

While it wasn't the bull I was initially searching for, I was definitely happy with him! My brother also had a tag, so I knew we'd still have a chance at the big guy. 

After snapping some pics, the real work started! There was no way we'd be getting the elk out whole, and with hardly any room to work, we went with the gutless method. We quartered the bull and packed the meat up to where we could eventually get a vehicle. 

After having packed out my bull, we decided to take the evening off and rest up for the upcoming days. We cooked up a tenderloin and man, it was great!


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## Bow hunter mojo

Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed reading about your experience. I think that buck is gnarly! Way to go. What a great area and a nice bull to boot!


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## CPAjeff

Awesome - congrats on the great bull and buck!!


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## waspocrew

Bow hunter and CPA - Thanks gents! It was a great way to start off the trip!


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## waspocrew

10/10
My step dad had to take off for a few days for business, so my brother decided he wanted to wait to chase bulls until he returned later Friday afternoon. In the mean time, we decided to try to address my rifle issue. I had spent quite a bit of time trying to find the right load for my 6.5 Sherman before heading out to WY. The 140 VLD was definitely shooting well! However, I noticed my POI would not stay consistent in WY. 3 shot cloverleafs just an inch high of center, make an adjustment, then I'd be zeroed for 2-3 shots, then I'd be 2 inches right and low with the next group. 

Suspecting I had something loose, I took the scope off, retorqued the bases and rings, and cleaned the rifle. I had the rifle zeroed in about 5 shots. I then made the adjustments for 300 yards and fired a 1 1/2 inch three shot group on our steel target (was not holding for wind). I went back down to my 100 yard zero, fired, then back to 300 (held for wind) and it was just left of the original group. 

My confidence in my rifle went way up at that point and I was looking forward to using it later in the week for the deer opener and cow elk.


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## waspocrew

10/11-12
After having a pretty good idea of what the elk would be up to, we decided to start looking the area over for good bucks in preparation for the 10/15 opener. The property has both mule deer and whitetails that roam the area, so it was somewhat of a hard decision. My brother had watched a nice whitetail grow throughout the summer and came close to sealing the deal with his bow a few weeks earlier. Since he basically had dibs on the biggest whitetail around, I turned my attention to mule deer. 

We really hadn't seen any "huge" bucks hanging around, but this guy was one of the better bucks I saw during our evenings out. I liked how he flared out a bit and had deep forks. He was over 600 yards away from us, so this was the best look we could get. I was definitely going to keep my options open, but I wasn't about to be too terribly picky.

After watching the buck and his buddies move out, we were treated to a nice sunset to end the day.


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## waspocrew

10/13
With my step dad returning in the early afternoon, we were pumped to head out for the evening with hopes of tagging the big bull. Before heading out, I threw the spotter up in the general direction the elk had been hanging out. Almost immediately, I saw the huge frame I was looking for. The big guy was up top with his cows. We came up with a game plan and made our way up towards the elk. 

We slowly made our way up and over a few ridges, taking time to carefully glass the area before popping over the top. Almost an hour later, we felt we were in a good position to catch the elk as they came down for the evening. Minutes felt like hours as we sat below the ridgeline. Finally, as the sun began to set behind us, I spotted a cow milling around roughly 700 yards away. The rest of the herd still hadn't came out from the junipers yet. As we impatiently waited, our shooting light started to dwindle. With 10 minutes of light left, the elk still hadn't come down their normal trail. I decided to drop back and run to our left to peek over into the next drainage. As soon as I looked over, I saw tan bodies rushing down the mountain almost heading right for us. Game on!! 

I rushed over to let my brother and stepdad know that we needed to move fast! By the time we got to our vantage point, light was quickly fading and we could only catch glimpses of elk and they passed through a narrow draw. Knowing we couldn't get a shot, we sat and listened to the show around us. Bulls were bugling, cows chirping. It was awesome. We sat for a few minutes to let as many elk by before we would eventually have to bump them during the hike out in the dark.

P.S. The ivories from my bull turned out pretty nice!


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## waspocrew

10/14
We woke up to a half inch of snow on the ground, with more continuing to fall. We slowly made our way to the ridge we thought would offer the best vantage point. As legal shooting light grew closer, the clouds began to drop and we were surrounded by thick fog. We could hear the elk around us, but they were just out of sight. When the fog finally broke for a few moments, we had a decent herd a few hundred yards away, but the bull we were looking for was nowhere to be found. After freezing for nearly two hours, we packed up and headed in to town to grab a nice hot meal at a local diner. 

That evening, we were back in position, waiting the elk out. Around 6 PM, they started to file down a fence line heading our direction. We looked over quite a few bulls and my brother was having a hard time deciding if he wanted to fill his tag or try to wait the bigger bull out. As light was fading, and knowing we had deer tags to fill, my brother opted to take a nice 6x7 bull. One shot at 350 yards and his bull was down! 

We were able to clean his bull and get a side by side close enough to load him whole - definitely beat having to quarter and pack out!


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## waspocrew

10/15
Opening morning of deer season was something I had been looking forward to for a long time! For the morning hunt, my brother, brother-in-law, and myself decided to take a look near one of our pivots that frequently holds animals. We could see the outline of deer feeding in the field when we arrived. After quietly getting closer, I could tell that a few of them were bucks and two in particular looked pretty nice. I quickly looked through my binos and I was staring at the buck I had seen a few nights prior. Now at only 100 yards away, he looked great and would easily be my best deer at this point. 

The bucks didn't hang around long and moved out of sight to our left. I decided I wanted to try to get a better look and took off after them. Twenty minutes later, once I crested a small ridge, I could see the group of bucks. I set my pack down, ranged the bucks, and got prone - all while trying not to let the excitement get the best of me! The buck was slightly quartering away at 375 yards. I squeezed the trigger on my 6.5 Sherman and sent a 140 gr VLD his way. He took a few short steps and tipped over! I was even more pleased with him when I got closer and saw what a unique rack he had.


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## silentstalker

Man what a fun hunt in a target rich environment! Thanks for sharing the write up and pics!


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## waspocrew

10/16
My younger brother had watched a nice whitetail grow all summer and we had been seeing him in an oat field almost every evening. We figured this morning was as good as any to try to tag the buck. A few weeks prior, my brother had the buck at 30 yards with his bow, but the buck never offered a clean shot. He really wanted to try to tag him with his bow, so we snuck off into a creek bottom to hopefully seal the deal. 

We were able to close the distance on the buck as he fed calmly in the field. As we were approaching him, I peeled off and let my brother go the rest of the way. I kept watching the buck in the meantime. Every now and then, he'd lift his head and look in my brother's direction, then go back to feeding. At one point, he way staring at my brother for at least a minute. I kept thinking I'd see an arrow any second, but he never drew back. With it being my brother's first year of archery, he didn't feel super comfortable past 30 yards. He had the buck ranged at 40, but there was no way to get closer. 

The buck trotted off eventually and that was the end of our stalk. After chatting it over with my brother and buddy (who snagged some awesome pics from the hillside), my brother decided he'd grab my stepdad's new 6 Creedmoor and try to fill his tag. 

It took us about 45 minutes to locate the buck again. By this time, he had moved from the field and was heading into the sagebrush. Once we got on him, my brother made a great shot and placed a 108 gr ELD-M in the boiler room! It was pretty awesome to see him tag a buck he'd had so much history with. 

That evening, we headed out to find my brother in law a buck. As we crept close to the edge of our pivot, we could see a few bucks feeding. A nice tall three point was bedded near the center of the field. After looking him over for a good 45 minutes, he decided the buck was definitely worth his tag. I brought my rifle along in case a longer shot presented itself and it worked out perfectly. We ranged him at 460 yards, made the necessary adjustments, and waited for the buck to stand. Once the buck stood, my 6.5 Sherman barked and the 140 gr VLD dropped the buck in his tracks!

In the pic, his buck is bedded just right of the top of the pivot. Just waiting him out at this point.


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## waspocrew

silentstalker said:


> Man what a fun hunt in a target rich environment! Thanks for sharing the write up and pics!


Thanks! It was a great time. Already looking forward to next year!


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## johnnycake

This has been incredible! Wow! Say, uhh...your stepdad isn't in the market to adopt an adult son is he?


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## waspocrew

johnnycake said:


> This has been incredible! Wow! Say, uhh...your stepdad isn't in the market to adopt an adult son is he?


He may be up for it!


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## waspocrew

10/17
Decided to try my luck with my cow elk tag in the morning and it was a bust. We were able to get into elk, but couldn't get into position quickly enough for a shot. 

After a late breakfast, we went out in search of antelope. This was my sister's first time with a tag and she was looking forward to having a chance at harvesting a buck. We had spent time shooting with her during the week and she was comfortably hitting a 10" plate at 300 yards.

We snuck out to the infamous pivot. Quite a few antelope were feeding/bedded, giving us plenty of time to look over each buck. After picking out the largest buck, we helped my sister get set up and ready for the shot. She took her time and squeezed off a perfect shot. The 6 Creedmoor dropped the buck in his tracks. We snagged some pics and then went to work breaking the buck down and getting him into a cooler.


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## Clarq

johnnycake said:


> This has been incredible! Wow! Say, uhh...your stepdad isn't in the market to adopt an adult son is he?


I was thinking the same thing. And if the answer is no...

... is your sister single? :mrgreen:


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## waspocrew

10/17
This was going to be the last evening to hunt before I had to catch a flight early on the 19th. I wanted to try for cow elk one last time. We decided to hop in the side by side and take a trail up to the top of the property where we've ran into elk before. 

As we were passing through a gate, I looked over to my left and spotted about 20 elk in the junipers. I had my brother continue driving while I hopped out behind him. I made it about 50 yards before the elk knew my game plan and busted out of there. I walked over to our vehicle and and we made our way up to the top. Once on top, we spotted a fairly large herd of elk across a canyon. They didn't seem to notice us at that point, so my brother and I hopped out and tried working our way closer to the elk. We made it to the edge of the canyon and realized we were going to run out of light before we could drop down and make it to the other side. 

I dropped my pack, got prone, and set up for the shot. I picked out a cow on the edge of the herd and touched off a shot. The 6.5 Sherman did the trick again and she was down for the count!

Our work was definitely cut out for us at that point! We made our way to find her, and after 45 minutes of searching in the dark, we found her piled up in the brush. I forgot extra game bags back in the trailer, so we couldn't take her all that night. We cleaned her and strapped the front shoulder, backstraps, and tenderloins on my pack and threw the hind quarter in my brother's pack and made the long hike out in the dark. This was everything I had been missing over the past few years - even though my calves and lungs were burning, I couldn't help but look forward to heading back in the early morning to pack the rest out!


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## waspocrew

Clarq said:


> I was thinking the same thing. And if the answer is no...
> 
> ... is your sister single? :mrgreen:


Haha sorry gents, she's taken :mrgreen:


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## johnnycake

Just sayin if I get adopted then you and I would be within the relative requirements so you could come up here to AK and hunt all the cool stuff with me without having to hire a guide... And with your luck, I like our odds!


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## Clarq

waspocrew said:


> Haha sorry gents, she's taken :mrgreen:


Haha, I had to ask. My dad's advice to me when I headed off to college was to make sure I found a God-fearing, honest, loving woman (whose family owns 1,000+ acres of prime hunting land) to be my wife. I'm still working on it.

I also have a cousin who put up with his wife for about a year longer than he really cared to so he could hunt the in-laws' property one last time before filing for divorce. One simply can't underestimate the importance of these things in a relationship.


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## johnnycake

Clarq, you missed the important follow up question: is she * happily* married?


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## Clarq

johnnycake said:


> Clarq, you missed the important follow up question: is she * happily* married?


Typical lawyer...


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## johnnycake

Hey now, here I am just looking out for your interests and you gotta cut me deep like that? Well I was going to help you out pro bono on this one, but not anymore. Watch out for my invoice


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## Clarq

And let me guess:

Next, you'll tell me to ask if Mr. waspocrew himself is happily married. Because after all, it is 2017.

Am I right?


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## johnnycake

Clarq said:


> And let me guess:
> 
> Next, you'll tell me to ask if Mr. waspocrew himself is happily married. Because after all, it is 2017.
> 
> Am I right?


A wise man once said,



> . One simply can't underestimate the importance of these things in a relationship.


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## Clarq

I give up...

Sorry for the hijack. That really was a trip for the books.


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## wyogoob

Wow!

This is my favorite thread.

.


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## waspocrew

johnnycake said:


> Just sayin if I get adopted then you and I would be within the relative requirements so you could come up here to ASK and hunt all the cool stuff with me without having to hire a guide... And with your luck, I like our odds!


I like your thinking! Sounds good to me!


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## waspocrew

johnnycake said:


> Clarq, you missed the important follow up question: is she * happily* married?


She is! If anything changes, you guys will be the first to know


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## waspocrew

Clarq said:


> And let me guess:
> 
> Next, you'll tell me to ask if Mr. waspocrew himself is happily married. Because after all, it is 2017.
> 
> Am I right?


Happily married as well haha. I definitely owe my wife for holding down the fort while I went and played out west for a couple weeks!


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## Idratherbehunting

Awesome thread man! I loved reading through it!


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