Got Back Yesterday
What a fantastic trip. Everything went perfectly. The weather was great and everything went as planned.
On Monday, we shot prairie dogs on a ranch north of Wall, SD. Probably connected on 100 or so. We used the .22 mag for the dogs at less than 100 yards and the .22-250 for longer shots. Judy got her fair share and made a couple of 300+ yard shots late in the day.
On Tuesday, we visited Jewel Cave and Mt. Rushmore. We drove to Casper, WY late in the day and stayed with the in-laws.
On Wednesday, we fished on Alcova lake and picked up enough rainbows for a nice dinner while sight-seeing and just goofing off. 'Spent the night at the in-law's place on the lake.
Thursday was fishing day - my brother-in-law and I fished the N. Platte with Luke Keil of Wyoming Anglers. Can't say enough good things about Luke as a guide. He really knows the river and how to fish it. We boated over 50 rainbows and browns. My brother-in-law landed a 4.25 lb rainbow just as we finished the day.
We drove to the Table Mountain Outfitters (TMO) hunt location (north of Douglas, WY) on Friday afternoon. We met Angie and Scott Denny and the other hunters in camp. We had plenty of time before dinner to re-check rifle sight-in and drive local roads to get a "lay of the land". After a late dinner, we found out that Judy and I would be hunting with Angie - this was definitely the best guide/hunter match up that could have happened. Angie loves to hunt, is an excellent guide and really knows pronghorn habits. She's also the mother of 2 kids, so she and Judy really "connected" - their conversation alternated back and forth between hunting and raising children!
Our hunt on Saturday morning was almost too successful too fast. We started glassing from a high point just as the sun came up. Within 20 minutes, we had spotted at least 4 decent bucks. By 8:00 AM, Judy and Angie were stalking a small group of antelope with a nice lead buck. At 8:15, Judy scored the first animal of the day.
After taking pictures, we field dressed the antelope and went back to hunting. It didn't even take 30 minutes and we had spotted a buck for me.
The second hunt of the day was a longer stalk. We trailed the group of 8 animals for about three-quarters of a mile slowly going over small hills, but staying far enough back so that we did not spook them. Eventually we caught up with them and I was able to take the shot from a sitting position from 205 yards. At 10:30, we were taking pictures of the second animal.
After skinning out the two speed goats, we headed to the locker plant in Douglas to have them chilled, cut, wrapped and frozen. We spent the balance of the day sight-seeing and goofing off. On Sunday morning, we picked up the venison, loaded the heads/hides, put plenty of dry ice on everything and drove to Devil's Tower where we spent the afternoon taking picture and hiking.
