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So after a fun 2 day antelope hunt last year, my buddy Rick and I booked a combo mule deer/antelope hunt with Bear Track Outfitters in Buffalo, WY. The owner, Pete Dube, has run the lodge for about 30 years, and is now in the process of selling to TJ Tavegie (who never stops smiling). Our "guide" for this trip was Mark Wilson, whom most of you in the 307 know of.... Friday September 30 we flew into Buffalo and saw some antelope right on the short drive to the lodge: After checking in with Pete and TJ, making sure our rifles were still dead nuts on, we decided to check out the local microbrewery, Clear Creek Brewing. It didn't suck that they brew a nice IPA and the Ryder Cup was on.... Typical funny story when we're hunting with Bear Track: Opening morning we scouted a bit, and were in the truck glassing. Mark's looking to the left up in the hills with the spotting scope on a decent 4x4. I'm fence bitch, and Rick is in the back. Ryder Cup is on XM radio. All of a sudden, a buck pops up over a little draw about 80 yards in front of us. Now, this is soon after we didn't bail out fast enough after a real stomper and he didn't stop until he was over in the next county. So I'm yelling "buck, buck", Mark is yelling "where", and Rick is thinking I said "f@#k, f@#k" because the Americans missed a putt... Realizing that Rick gave up his right for first shot because of his attention deficit, I bail and proceed to shoot offhand, right over the buck. My eardrums are now ringing due to my failure to throw in the ear plugs... I drop to a sitting position and as the buck is trotting over a rise, nail him as he's quartering away. The 130 grain VLD drops him and paralyzes his back end. Have to put in a finishing shot and even though I can't hear a single frickin thing because damn, those Vias brakes are LOUD, I'm like, "what the H E double hockey sticks did I just do?" Turns out my eyes didn't deceive, and I had a dandy 6x5 with nice brow tines! The "loudenboomer"... End of Day 1, a few local Black Tooth Brewery beers were enjoyed...
“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.” ALDO LEOPOLD
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Day 2 started off nice with a beautiful sunrise splashing across the Bighorn Mountains. We were fortunate to catch a rainbow, which seemed to be good luck: So, knowing that Rick is shooting a .270, which goes with a rainbow like peas and carrots, I tell Mark we gotta find out what's at the end of that damn thing... Sure enough, there's a nice 4x4 up the draw about 330 yards distant. In typical Hoosier fashion, I'm running the rangefinder because Mr. Wyoming Hunting Guide left his rangefinder in his frickin golf bag... By the time Mark gets on the deer, Rick pulls the trigger and down goes buck #2. Rick and I pose for the "rainbow shot", as I'm explaining to him that shooting a rainbow mule deer with a .270 will make him most certainly famous on the Campfire... Now, I'm not much of a cameraman, but as we got up to the top of the ridge, I snapped a pick and think this shot was money... Rick and Mark go to look over the ridge for the end of the rainbow so he could stick the muzzle of the .270 into it. They didn't find it... Rick ended up with a nice buck with a really cool tine, real nice for his first mule deer: Lunch time was up soon
“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.” ALDO LEOPOLD
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So now we're on to antelope hunting, which being northeast of Buffalo, we had a little work to do as the resident herds had moved south about two weeks prior. And here comes the "if you hunt long enough, you see some things that make you go "huh""... We were on and off goats for a few hours, then as it gets to be late afternoon, out of nowhere we find a single buck only 160 yards away. Rick gets set up on him and takes a quartering away shot at 200 yards. Now, he's shooting that 270 with a Nosler Trophy Grade factory 130 grain Accubond. Hits the buck, it goes right down and doesn't move. We get up to it and find this: Bear in mind, this is the entry wound. No exit wound was found... We didn't mind, we had speed goat number 1 down! So as the day draws to a close, we are treated to a very cool sunset shining on a darkened sky: Panorama style: End of day 2:
“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.” ALDO LEOPOLD
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Day 3 starts off with a forecast for rain setting in that morning. I am without a speed goat and am now back in the fence bitch seat. Being that pickings are pretty slim, and I want some antelope summer sausage, we search for quite a while and finally around mid morning find a couple does and a small buck. They went over the rise, but as we were backing out, we found another average sized buck laying on the hillside XXX yards away. I say XXX because I now can't range anything over 300 yards away because my POS Sig Kilo 2000 all of a sudden stopped ranging at distances over 300 yards. It took me several attempts, but I finally got the range. In case you're wondering, Big Game Guide Wilson's rangefinder was still in his frickin golf bag.... I can say this, when you get a G.A. Precision Extreme Hunter 6.5 SAUM all set up and dialed in, shooting a bedded animal at 300 yards is fun! He never moved: And then we were done. Had to celebrate a successful hunt with a Black Tooth Brew and a selfie:
“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.” ALDO LEOPOLD
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Sounds like a blast, and that's one helluva entry,,,ouch
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“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.” ALDO LEOPOLD
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 13,401
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Day 4 found us shooting a few whitetail does to thin the population out, and allowed me to break in the new lightweight 6.5 SAUM. Those 130 JLK's get to 500 yards pretty fast! No pics as I'm not much for taking pictures of head shots... The new stick, sans scope: Day 5 found us on our way home from a fun trip, and thought I'd leave you all with a nice shot of my home race track...
“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.” ALDO LEOPOLD
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,621
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Congrats looks like you guys had the time of your lives...
Public landowner...
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 20,281 Likes: 22
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 20,281 Likes: 22 |
Nice work. GREAT mulies.
My Sig Kilo 2000 took a dump on me too in the fog this year. really disappointed in it.
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 4,863 Likes: 1
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 4,863 Likes: 1 |
Looks like you had a great time! Love the Buffalo/Sheridan area was just out there last weekend and weather was great! I'll be back in the spring!
Been having a little trouble with my Sig Kilo also. Love it when it works though
Last edited by JerradPelzer; 11/11/16.
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Joined: Jan 2008
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 5,471 Likes: 1 |
Great stuff Marty, really some nice pictures!!! Congrats to you both, really like the muley bucks you guys got. I will hopefully get one of those next year when I'm in the 307. I'll be burning up 7 preference points on a unit just south of where you hunted.
Sure wish timing had been better, sorry I missed you and Sendero Man at the Winchester!!
"Rather hunt Mule deer than anything else" "Team 7MM-08"
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 102
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
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Nice hunt guys. Also, nice work supporting the local brewery.
If it was easy, everybody would do it.
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Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,538
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2013
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Sorry I did not meet up with you while you were here, Mark is an even better friend then he is a guide. Glad y'all had a Good trip
P.S. Clear Creek Brewery got into a legal matter over names. Clear Creek Distilleries brought suit to them if they did not change their name. So Clear Creek Brewery is now Mishap? Brewing co.
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 43,971 Likes: 25
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 43,971 Likes: 25 |
Great post Marty and NICE mule deer, love the character points!
Fun reading along with uber pics!
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Campfire Outfitter
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Good story and great pictures! Glad that you had a good time here in Wy. Kinda wanted to cross the hill, and say hello to some of you fellers. But, it wasn't in the cards this year. Maybe next. Congrats on a safe,successful hunt. memtb
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
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Joined: Jul 2007
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Campfire Ranger
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Posts: 24,664 Likes: 6 |
Looks like a great time - and nice critters!
WWP53D
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Joined: Oct 2000
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 30,294 Likes: 2 |
Great stuff!
Aside, I've never seen a LRF that didn't have issues in fog including my Leica.
“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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Great stuff!
Aside, I've never seen a LRF that didn't have issues in fog including my Leica. Thanks Brad, As an aside, I took it out several times after in bright sun, partial clouds, and full cloud conditions and it did the same thing. Just must have gotten a bad one...
“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.” ALDO LEOPOLD
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 3,805 Likes: 1
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2013
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Great story and pics. It looks like you guys had a blast.
Details on the light weight 6.5 SAUM please, It looks dandy
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 78,306 Likes: 2
Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 78,306 Likes: 2 |
Great post Marty and NICE mule deer, love the character points!
Fun reading along with uber pics! A BIG +1
"...the left considers you vermin, and they'll kill you given the chance..." Bristoe
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