I posted this on the BTB sight, but I thought I would do the same here as the offending weapon is a Handi.
oaded up the Tacoma with camping gear and set up a dry camp Friday evening after dismissing my 6th grade students for the weekend. Camped about 200 yards from the Lander Cutoff of the Oregon Trail. The weather was nearly perfect, if not a little hot. Short hunt Friday evening, not very serious, but got in a good hike. Breezy, but at dusk the wind died down to nothing. Slept well until about 3:00am, when I had to get up to relieve myself. Outside, the sky was clear and there was not a breathe of air and no moon. So dark the Milky Way was spectacular. Wow!
At 6:00am, fixed myself a breakfast of oatmeal and a banana and hiked from camp about a mile to a ridge where I could glass several square miles, put a belly-crawl sneak on a herd of about 12 goats, but was busted before I could get into range of the Handi 30/30. About 9:00, walked back to camp, had a snack and then drove to an area known as Anderson Ridge, broken country, ideal for sneaking. Put a stalk on another bunch of about 20 goats, but again, because of my impatience, was busted before I could get into range. Their eyesight is unbelievable.
After a morning of several miles of sneak attacks, much of it on hands and knees and belly crawling, I hiked the mile and a half back to the truck. Had just crossed a fence and was about 200 yards from the truck when this buck and two does ran by me and stopped about 100 yards away. Quickly sat down, and after a few seconds the antelope stopped, the does broadside and the buck facing me. Put a 170 grain Hornady FP into his chest, whereupon he hunched up and pranced to a broadside angle. Quickly reloaded and put another just behind the left shoulder. He dropped immediately.
After a morning of scuffed elbows and knees and torn jeans, I got lucky. This certainly isn't the biggest buck I've taken, but is one of the most gratifying. Perfect weather and a perfect setting. In the background of this pic you can see the 13,000 foot peaks of the southern Wind River Range and behind me, which you can't see are the Oregon Buttes, guarding South Pass and the main route of the Oregon Trail, over which traveled more than 500,000 pioneers on their way to Oregon, California, and Utah from about 1840 until the transcontinental railroad came through about 60 miles south in 1868.
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What a priviledge it is to live in Wyoming.
