Brez
10-07-2016, 08:59 AM
After 30 or so years, I got to realize my dream to hunt pronghorn with my bow.
Three of us headed to Wyoming on August 30th for our Sept 1st hunt. I'd booked through Forbes Outfitters out of Kaycee Wyoming (home of Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang). Penny (co-0wner) boasted of 100% success on pronghorn and now I believe it.
It was a 14 hour drive through some beautiful country with incredible history. The Little Bighorn, the Wild Bill Cody Museum, Yellowstone, the Outlaw Trail,... The list goes on and it's just a corner of the state. With all of the great country, we saw little game till we crossed into Wyoming. It was like someone turn a switch on. There was game everywhere! Twice I almost hit deer on the road and one of those times I threaded my truck through a group of nice muley bucks, missing one by inches. Oh, by the way, the speed limit is 80 mph (130 kph) which, in my September years seems to be a tad fast even for me.
By the time we got to Kaycee, having stopped for breakfast in Buffalo, in a place that had animal mounts from all over the planet, we were pumped. We checked into our cabin.http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb395/Brez2/P8300001.jpg (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/Brez2/media/P8300001.jpg.html) Accommodations and food are not included with Forbes as most people are tagged out early and it would save the hunters a few $. We picked up groceries and had a beer (or two) in the Hole-in-the-Wall bar. Then we checked in with Sandy and Penny Forbes and met Colt, our guide. We would be stationed in blinds and Colt would keep an eye on us, coming when we needed him or moving us if he felt it was necessary. Pick up would be at 5 am and drop off after dark. We returned to the RV park to have a few beers with the couple managing the place. I cannot say enough about the people there. We swapped stories and they made us feel right at home, if not better.
Well, the 4 am alarm came early and we were in our blinds, located on water sources, before daylight. Rob and I had the preferred blind locations, only 150 meters apart and Randy was on a hill a few hundred meters away.
My blind offered shots from 13 meters and out.http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb395/Brez2/DSCF5001.jpg (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/Brez2/media/DSCF5001.jpg.html) Rob's was 20 meters to the water,http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb395/Brez2/DSCF4965.jpg (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/Brez2/media/DSCF4965.jpg.html) and Randy was anywhere from point blank to ??
Other than one real dandy buck , (he would go in the high 70's) that walked between us, Rob and I saw very little. Apparently, the pronghorn did not hear that we had the preferred locations. On the other hand, Randy was passing on all kinds of bucks and took a very nice one late in the morning. It ran over a ridge, so he waited for Colt to come before following up and finishing it off. In the time he was waiting, a few good shooters came by, and one goofy one that the horns went straight out. He commented that he would never shoot such a strange one. We all greed that with the supply of good sized typical bucks around we'd pass on such an anomaly.
I have to say that it can get incredibly hot in these blinds. We were using Bone Collectors and Double Bulls - the Double Bull was nice and roomy and provided easy shooting with my long axle-to-axle bow. Luckily, Penny had supplied us with lots of cold water along with nice lunches so we did not dehydrate too badly. When Colt finally showed up in the afternoon to see how we were doing, I greeted him in my shorts.
We returned to town and grabbed some beers and went to see how Randy was doing caping his buck out and cleaning the carcass. Kristy, the rv/camp ground owner, had provided us with access to her husband's garage, which had been converted into a meat processing facility with lots of room to hang our animals, cut, wrap, and freeze them.http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb395/Brez2/IMG_0064.jpg (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/Brez2/media/IMG_0064.jpg.html) All was included in the price of the cabin rental, which was very reasonable. After congratulations were said and some clean-up done, we headed back for supper, a night cap, and bed.
Rob and I were taken out in the morning with Rob slated to use Randy's blind but he changed his mind at the last minute, figuring that my blind would provide him with his best shot.
I hadn't even settled my stuff in the blind when a small group of does and fawns passed within 3 meters of me! Quickly, I got my $hit together and set up my shooting holes. A short time later some small bucks came to water and then a very nice one showed up. Now, the day we arrived, Sandy stated that any buck that forked above the ears would be a good buck to take. Well this one forked at least 3 cm above the ears and had decent weight and length. The cutter lengths were not stellar and I elected to pass on him even though I had a perfect, broadside shot at 6 meters. http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb395/Brez2/P9010019.jpg (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/Brez2/media/P9010019.jpg.html)
Three of us headed to Wyoming on August 30th for our Sept 1st hunt. I'd booked through Forbes Outfitters out of Kaycee Wyoming (home of Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang). Penny (co-0wner) boasted of 100% success on pronghorn and now I believe it.
It was a 14 hour drive through some beautiful country with incredible history. The Little Bighorn, the Wild Bill Cody Museum, Yellowstone, the Outlaw Trail,... The list goes on and it's just a corner of the state. With all of the great country, we saw little game till we crossed into Wyoming. It was like someone turn a switch on. There was game everywhere! Twice I almost hit deer on the road and one of those times I threaded my truck through a group of nice muley bucks, missing one by inches. Oh, by the way, the speed limit is 80 mph (130 kph) which, in my September years seems to be a tad fast even for me.
By the time we got to Kaycee, having stopped for breakfast in Buffalo, in a place that had animal mounts from all over the planet, we were pumped. We checked into our cabin.http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb395/Brez2/P8300001.jpg (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/Brez2/media/P8300001.jpg.html) Accommodations and food are not included with Forbes as most people are tagged out early and it would save the hunters a few $. We picked up groceries and had a beer (or two) in the Hole-in-the-Wall bar. Then we checked in with Sandy and Penny Forbes and met Colt, our guide. We would be stationed in blinds and Colt would keep an eye on us, coming when we needed him or moving us if he felt it was necessary. Pick up would be at 5 am and drop off after dark. We returned to the RV park to have a few beers with the couple managing the place. I cannot say enough about the people there. We swapped stories and they made us feel right at home, if not better.
Well, the 4 am alarm came early and we were in our blinds, located on water sources, before daylight. Rob and I had the preferred blind locations, only 150 meters apart and Randy was on a hill a few hundred meters away.
My blind offered shots from 13 meters and out.http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb395/Brez2/DSCF5001.jpg (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/Brez2/media/DSCF5001.jpg.html) Rob's was 20 meters to the water,http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb395/Brez2/DSCF4965.jpg (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/Brez2/media/DSCF4965.jpg.html) and Randy was anywhere from point blank to ??
Other than one real dandy buck , (he would go in the high 70's) that walked between us, Rob and I saw very little. Apparently, the pronghorn did not hear that we had the preferred locations. On the other hand, Randy was passing on all kinds of bucks and took a very nice one late in the morning. It ran over a ridge, so he waited for Colt to come before following up and finishing it off. In the time he was waiting, a few good shooters came by, and one goofy one that the horns went straight out. He commented that he would never shoot such a strange one. We all greed that with the supply of good sized typical bucks around we'd pass on such an anomaly.
I have to say that it can get incredibly hot in these blinds. We were using Bone Collectors and Double Bulls - the Double Bull was nice and roomy and provided easy shooting with my long axle-to-axle bow. Luckily, Penny had supplied us with lots of cold water along with nice lunches so we did not dehydrate too badly. When Colt finally showed up in the afternoon to see how we were doing, I greeted him in my shorts.
We returned to town and grabbed some beers and went to see how Randy was doing caping his buck out and cleaning the carcass. Kristy, the rv/camp ground owner, had provided us with access to her husband's garage, which had been converted into a meat processing facility with lots of room to hang our animals, cut, wrap, and freeze them.http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb395/Brez2/IMG_0064.jpg (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/Brez2/media/IMG_0064.jpg.html) All was included in the price of the cabin rental, which was very reasonable. After congratulations were said and some clean-up done, we headed back for supper, a night cap, and bed.
Rob and I were taken out in the morning with Rob slated to use Randy's blind but he changed his mind at the last minute, figuring that my blind would provide him with his best shot.
I hadn't even settled my stuff in the blind when a small group of does and fawns passed within 3 meters of me! Quickly, I got my $hit together and set up my shooting holes. A short time later some small bucks came to water and then a very nice one showed up. Now, the day we arrived, Sandy stated that any buck that forked above the ears would be a good buck to take. Well this one forked at least 3 cm above the ears and had decent weight and length. The cutter lengths were not stellar and I elected to pass on him even though I had a perfect, broadside shot at 6 meters. http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb395/Brez2/P9010019.jpg (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/Brez2/media/P9010019.jpg.html)