Well, with much help from Long Range Hunting members, we did it!
My daughter (12) and I flew into SLC late last Wednesday night and drove out to unit 72 first thing Thursday morning. Around 3:00 we entered our hunt area. A member, Jim, had forwarded me maps of areas he had hunted in the past with success. With maps in hand, we headed to the area. Changed on the side of a two track, checked our equipment, and started to hunt!
First evening was tough. We saw several groups of antelope, but they were spooky. If they saw you within 1 mile, they were running. The area was vast with little features to use for stalking or getting into range. We tried to set up on 5 or 6 bucks with no success at all. At last light we headed into Casper. Had fun getting back to a main road; and had to back track quite a bit to keep off of private land. I had bought the Wyoming GPS map and it was really helpfu.
At first light we headed back to our area. We saw a bunch of antelope on private land on the ride in. As soon as we hit unit 72, we saw two seperate groups of antelope in a large open area. This area had potential though. Approximately 3/4 mile from the road was a series of rock out croppings. There were probably 1/2 dozen washes coming from the rocks down through the fields. It looked like we could walk up a wash and get behind the rocks and walk back and forth to glass. We parked off the two track and headed up a wash. The wash was between 4 and 12 feet deep. We were able to walk right up the middle of the field without anything seeing us! Once we got to the rocks, we could walk back and forth completely out of sight. We glassed the two groups for a while as they fed back and forth out of range, 600-900+ yards and beyond.
After an hour or so, I saw a lone buck walking up toward us at about 1500 yards. We walked down and over to the last rock and peeked over. He was about 700 yds away, but I felt we could get to within about 350 yds using a hill between us. We walked down the back of the rocks and around to the hill. I peeked over the top a few minutes later and there was the buck, bedded at about 350 yds. He was in range now, but there was a fence between us and him. I know the chances of hitting the fence were slim, but I didn't want to take the chance. We crawled on our hands and knees to about the 310 yard mark, where we had to crawl on our bellies. I had my daughter, Erika, stay right behind me. We covered the next 60 yards in about 1/2 hour. Slow and steady, using a single large sagebush near the fence as cover. Now and then I checked on him, but he stayed bedded watching two does in the field.
We made it to the fence undetected. I set Erika's gun (Browning X Bolt micro .243) up on the bipod and stuck it through the fence. I had to raise the legs all the way to clear some grass. She pulled up behind the gun and took a look. He was bedded, looking away from us, but sage covering his vitals. I told her we would wait until he stood before we shot. Distance was 246 yards.
While we were waiting, I had her dry fire at him to see how it felt. We had brought along a rear bag, but the bipod was raised so high to get above the grass, she could not use it. She asked where she should aim, and I told her to put it right in his ear. She dry fired the first time and said it was good. Second time she said she wiggled a bit. Third and fourth time she said it felt good. Without warning, the buck jumped up and looked away from us at the does. I chambered a round and told her to wait a moment. He was quartering away, but I was afraid he would walk straight off or run off. I told her to shoot at the opposite shoulder, but to aim three inches high and three inches to the right. We were sighted dead on at 200 yds and with the wind, I felt we should compensate a little. She said OK and settled in. About 5 seconds later she shot and the buck took off. I jumped up and watched him through the binos to look for signs of a hit. He ran about 40 yds in a semi cirle and piled up! Erika jumped up and I gave her a big hug. I was so proud of her. She jumped over the fence and ran all the way down to him. She made an absolutely beautiful shot.
Thanks again to everyone for their advice, information, and help. Especially Jim, Lineman69 and fast-pirogue.
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