# Miracle Mile - Wy Antelope



## MuscleWhitefish (Jan 13, 2015)

Another year and another 3 antelope tags on the Miracle Mile. A trend that I hope continues. 

Got off of work Friday and headed to the mile for hopefully some antelope, sage chicken, and great fishing. 

It was raining on the drive in and with the little light left, I drove around looking for antelope and setting up camp. I spotted a good buck that had a herd of the does that I was going to go after in the morning. 

In the morning I wait until it is light and then walk down the road to where I thought the antelope were. They spook and run over the hill. I walk up the other side of the hill. I get up the hill and spot the group of antelope around 300 yards away. With the topography I could get closer. I advance using a dirt mound between me and the antelope. A couple more does file over the hill and look at me then continue towards the other group of antelope. I set up on the mound and put the scope on a buck. Then another buck walks into the picture that looks bigger. Naturally, I adjust my crosshairs onto him. He stops broad side and I squeeze the trigger. I walk upon the buck to find out that he wasn't as big as he looked through the scope, but I was thrilled to score a buck on opening morning. I walk back to the truck and get my pack and dogs then walk up to the antelope to take care of him. While quartering the antelope it sounded like a war zone went off. I was a bit scared that my dogs would be shot, so I kept them close. I was also wondering if there would be any does left due to the 175 permit increase in the unit. I pack up the antelope and head back to the truck to take the antelope to the cooler at camp. 

On the way back to the camp, I notice that there are a lot of mourning doves on the side of the road. After dropping off the meat, I decide to go look for a doe to hunt; but find nothing but more mourning doves. I decide to spend the better part of the afternoon hunting mourning doves, in a way that is borderline ethical; but very fun. I would drive down the road and scare them off of the road then take the dog and try to shoot them. I probably shot close to two boxes of upland steel 20 gauge number 6's, before I realized that I suck at shooting them. We went back to camp to talk a nap. We awoke to wind howling. Decided that sage grouse would be hiding in the canyons. We walked to no avail. No chickens were to be had. 

That evening we set out to find a doe to shoot. The only antelope I was seeing were groups of 3. A doe and two fawns. For whatever reason, I did not feel comfortable taking either the doe for more meat or the fawn for better meat. Driving around I finally spotted a group of antelope with a decent buck and felt more comfortable taking any doe out of that group. I got over the hill and was 143 yards away and waited for one to turn broadside then squeezed the trigger. I thought about taking a second doe out of the group, but wanted to take care of the meat quickly. This doe died right on a pile of cacti. Which was not the best, to say the least. This lead to getting multiple spikes in my off hand as well as knife hand. Got back to camp and set the doe on ice with the buck in the cooler. 

The next morning we went back to the same spot that I shot the buck and sure enough the antelope were back in there. I decided to use my 6.5 creed rather than my .30-06 to shoot this doe. Doe turns broadside and I squeeze the trigger. I clean the antelope and get it on ice. In the mid morning, I set out looking for sharptailed grouse and achieved only walking miles with the dogs. I decided to go back to camp and lone behold the wind picked up and was roaring. I decided to throw a few streamers, because the fisherman that I talked to in the area were doing really well. No fish wanted to play. I decided to pack up camp and spend the evening looking for deer, because I have a deer tag in the area. I didn't see as much as I did earlier in the season. I did head home to process the meat. 

I processed the meat and decided to try a few recipes that I have been wanting the try. Butternuts (Testicles in butter), Hank Shaw's Liver and Onions, and a German Jagerschnitzel recipe online. The first recipe with the testies was not great, there is a first time for everything and this was a bad time. It is like Tofu with a hint of bacon, and yeah I did not like. The other two were amazing and the best way to have the heart and liver in my opinion. 

The dogs were also tired after the trip which is always a plus. The freezer full of meat and Hank Shaw's Buck, Buck, Moose cook book will also be a good time moving forward.


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## JC HUNTER (May 18, 2015)

Congrats on a great hunt. Thanks for sharing.


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## Kwalk3 (Jun 21, 2012)

Nice work! Looking forward to heading up to Wyoming next week with my Dad. 

"Buck, Buck, Moose" is a great resource. We had South African Bobotie out of the book last night and it was incredible. Highly recommend it if your palate is amenable to Indian(ish) flavors and spices. It's fun to experiment with foods which you don't have any experience with. I haven't been disappointed yet.


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## Steve G (Nov 29, 2016)

Thanks for the write up. I'll be heading up for a float trip on the Miracle Mile Saturday and two doe tags the following day.


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## MuscleWhitefish (Jan 13, 2015)

Steve G said:


> Thanks for the write up. I'll be heading up for a float trip on the Miracle Mile Saturday and two doe tags the following day.


It should be a good time. People seemed to be pretty well on bobbers. Sometime here shortly the browns will start running and whacking meat. The dog tags shouldn't be difficult to fill.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Awesome write-up and pictures - thanks for sharing!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Cooler than the other side of the pillow!!

.


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## kodoz (Nov 4, 2016)

Area 63? I went through Monday, decided the roads to the area I wanted to camp were too muddy, so I ended up heading off to the northern part of that unit.


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