8 Goats. 9 Hours. (Pronghorn does)

[FrankenMauser]

What started out as a seemingly disappointing experiment went completely the other way in the blink of an eye.

New unit (near Thermopolis, WY). New area. First late-season antelope hunt for two of the hunters. First antelope hunt in snow for any of us. First time dealing with the landowner. Difficulty meeting and talking to said landowner. Less access than expected. Fewer roads than expected. Bad roads with any moisture, whatsoever. Bad weather. Too early for the migration. Too early for the rut.
No legal animals on ANY of the land we had permission to hunt, or BLM. Few animals anywhere near where we could hunt.
Things were looking pretty bleak.
Completely snowed-in for an entire day of the hunt. That didn't help.

And then Sunday morning happened. We expected a fairly crappy hunting day, considering the previous weather, snow falling, temperature, and weather forecast; but figured we'd burn some gas and give it a shot, anyway (15 mile drive to the ranch, from our RV park cabin).

Boy, were we wrong. The migration had been kicked off by the big storm the day before. As the landowner had told us on Saturday morning we'd be able to if things were 'right', we "took our pick" of the does, as the groups strung out and worked their way across the valley.


Five were down within 30 minutes after sunrise - two for Cornbush, one for Crankylove, and two for me. (All of us on foot.)
It took another 4 hours to get them dressed, drug out to a road, and loaded in the truck.
My father dropped his first at about 3 pm. (On foot.)
Then my father and Crankylove each dropped one more at about 4:30 pm. (Drove the truck close, and got out for the shots.)

The last two were dressed and in the truck by 5 pm.
8 goats. 9 hours.
It was a very busy day.


Although all four of us took a .243 Win and intended to each take at least one animal with them; all four of us also ended up using whatever our other rifle was for the actual dirty work. Such is life, sometimes. Whatchu gonna do?..

For those curious:
(Near to far in first photo.)
Winchester M70 Featherweight, .270 Win.
Remington 700 Long Range, .300 WM.
Winchester M70 (in Super Grade stock), .270 Win.
Ruger M77 Mk II, .270 Win. (SilencerCo Harvester .300 suppressor)

Don't worry about the fact that it looks warm in these photos. It was only about 50 degrees, and the goats were still frozen from spending a night in WY.

I love the way that this part of the country just gets even more beautiful with snow...

 

[Dano4734]

Amazing

 

[FITASC]

Nicely done, but a 300 WM on antelope does? Seems to be a tad much, don'tcha think?

.24 and .25 cartridges work excellent on those speed goats

 

[huntinaz]

Yes! That's a mighty fine pile of goats sir. Nice work

Nicely done, but a 300 WM on antelope does? Seems to be a tad much, don'tcha think?

.24 and .25 cartridges work excellent on those speed goats

So do 30 cal cartridges. Bullet selection is everything. Tough bullets ruin less meat. I shoot a 180gr Nosler Accubond at 90lb coues deer, and I shoot leg/shoulder. Nickel-sized exits and very little meat damage.

Or, a soft one thru the soft stuff doesn’t ruin much either.

 

[Crankylove]

It was quite an enjoyable hunt.

Hearing (or NOT hearing) Frankenmauser take his shots was interesting. I was tagging my first doe when he took the shot on his second. While I was only a couple hundred yards away, when he fired, I couldn’t hear the report of the rifle. The only reason I knew he had dropped that second doe was because I heard the impact of the bullet, but nothing else. Was really weird.

First time I’ve been out and had every hunter fill every tag in one day, was very nice considering we went out that day hoping to maybe fill 2-3 tags.

 

[Colorado Redneck]

Wow! Pile of goat meat!

Nice going! Sounds like y'all had fun. Congrats on the hunt! Sounds like you filled every tag, so you went home?

 

[FrankenMauser]

Thanks, guys.

Yea, we headed home a little early, since we were tagged out.
We wanted to take care of the animals and get everything butchered as quickly as reasonably possible.

Nicely done, but a 300 WM on antelope does? Seems to be a tad much, don'tcha think?

.24 and .25 cartridges work excellent on those speed goats

Absolutely.
The shooter (and the rest of us) knew it was too much, and fully intended to use his .243 Win instead.
But when the time came to load rifles and get geared up, the only animals we had seen were waaaaaaayy out there. He grabbed the .300 WM because he knows the rifle and load well enough to feel confident in one-shot kills out to 600 yards ... and it happened to be on top of the pile.
He also planned to take head shots, if the animals were at closer ranges. But, of course, everything is dynamic in the field. Head shots didn't work out at the time.

He didn't lose as much meat as you might expect.

Hearing (or NOT hearing) Frankenmauser take his shots was interesting. I was tagging my first doe when he took the shot on his second. While I was only a couple hundred yards away, when he fired, I couldn’t hear the report of the rifle. The only reason I knew he had dropped that second doe was because I heard the impact of the bullet, but nothing else. Was really weird.

"THWOP" with no 'bang' is definitely different.
I'm a believer now - especially for hunts with multiple tags.

 

[Wyosmith]

I think the hunt should be FUN and if using something big or "weird" makes it more enjoyable, do it.
These days I usually used "old fashioned guns" just because I have more fun that way. On the opener I killed my buck with a 6.5X54 Mann/Scho with iron sights.

I know the day you guys were out. I was not far from you with a friend killing a deer. The storm blew in FAST and hard and the temps dropped like lead. It is not unexpected in the middle of Wyo.

Good shooting to you all, and may I offer my greetings from Wyoming, and say I hope to see you come back again.

Where are you guys from?

 

[FrankenMauser]

Thanks.
I agree that making it fun with something 'different' is never a bad thing. Last year, I took my .307 Win out after deer in Idaho. I didn't fill the tag (I didn't really try), but my son and I had plenty of fun decapitating pine chickens with it (legal in Idaho).

This year, I turned down a modern inline muzzle loader that was dialed in to 300 yards for the muzzle loader deer hunt, and stuck with my loose black powder and patched round balls out of a side-lock. The deer was just as dead, and it was a more interesting and fun hunt.

And, next year, at least a few people in the family plan on going 'mil-surp-only' for day one, and lever gun or single shot only for day two of the deer hunt. (Free for all after that.)


I live in Southeastern Idaho. The other three hunters are trying to find an escape from the Salt Lake area.
We've hunted speed goats in Wyoming for a long time - beginning around Rawlins and Baggs. But, the changing population and draw odds, and loss of access to certain areas, forced us to evolve and become more nomadic. We moved through the units between the southern border and I-80, before settling in around Kemmerer for a while. When those tags became unobtainable, we found a nice place near Farson. But, then those tags vanished (the herd had some really rough years), and we went through a long dry spell. This year, I made arrangements for the private land access in a unit with almost 'guaranteed' draw success, and lucked into getting these guys their first goats in seven years.

There's one thing that must be said about Wyoming:
In nearly any other state, the residents and resident hunters predominantly look down upon nonresident hunters. I've even seen residents (especially in Utah and Idaho) tell a nonresidents to "go home" or "go back where you came from." About 20 years ago, there was a string of vandalism and tent and trailer destruction in camps of nonresident hunters in Utah. When the suspects were caught, they said it was simply because those hunters had California license plates.

But that doesn't seem to happen in Wyoming. Nonresidents are nearly always given a warm welcome, and possibly even local advice to help fill the tags. I've also never had a bad experience with a game warden in Wyoming. For the most part, they've also tried to help fill our tags. After watching us hunt for a few days, one game warden even gave us his personal phone number and asked us to contact him if we had any interest in hunting on alfalfa fields close to his home in La Barge the next year. (The phone number was lost before it could be put to use. )

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

That is one heck of a day. I've never seen anything like that! Congrats!