USA: Wyoming DIY Public Pronghorn

[9412765]

My hunting partner and I planned out a DIY public land antelope hunt in eastern Wyo first week of October. It was a lot of fun! We packed in off roads and camped away from other hunters and saw quite a bit of game. Weather was warm but great compared to the week after we left. Just an amazingly vast and beautiful country!

Got this feller with my Cooper in 35 Whelen. Shot him at 180 or so yards with the 250gr speer bullet I have been using, moving at 2450. So far, I haven't had an animal take a step with that bullet; they just fall over.

Never had antelope meat before, but it was so good that my hunting partner and I were wishing we had tagged out our does as well. Our wives and kids love it. Shout out to C&A Meats in Sundance for exceptional customer service on our trophies and game meat.

I took one of my prairie dog rifles and we shot a town one afternoon as well.

(Had a cow pie and dead sage brush fire one evening after we'd finally caught up on sleep and weren't wiped from hiking)

We went through Badlands NP and Wall Drug on way home to get some souvenirs for our kids.

Great weather and great memories; we'll def be going back!

Brent

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats on a great hunt and thanks for sharing!

 

[gillettehunter]

Glad you got to come out our way. Pronghorn meat can be very good. It will be as good as the care taken of it. Poor care and you can hardly eat it. One of my sons like doe antelope better than any other wild meat. Congrats on your buck.
Bruce

 

[Deleted member 40394]

I have 4 points. Planning to do the public thing in another 3-4 years.

 

[pamtnman]

With all the airline covid-1984 nonsense, I have decided to drive everywhere to hunt and fish outside my home state. So reports like this catch my attention. DIY wilderness hunts are my thing.

 

[Deleted member 40394]

I drive everywhere within the US. Headed to Missouri in 2 weeks. Overnight drive with two other people is easy.

 

[9412765]

I have 4 points. Planning to do the public thing in another 3-4 years.

You should be able to draw a great unit with that many points. Good luck!

 

[9412765]

With all the airline covid-1984 nonsense, I have decided to drive everywhere to hunt and fish outside my home state. So reports like this catch my attention. DIY wilderness hunts are my thing.

Lots of public in Wyo. Didn't see anyone more than 100yds from their trucks in their chairs. We had the place to ourselves other than the roads.

 

[Shootist43]

A fun time for and a great report and pics. for us. BTW what is your load for the 250 Gn. Speer? Was it by chance a "Hot core."

 

[9412765]

@Shootist43
Yes, it is their hot-cor bullet. I am using CFE223 powder. Accuracy is great, recoil is mild and it's a very economical bullet.

 

[Shootist43]

9412765, did you by chance chronograph your load. Bob Nelson has been trying to get me to switch to CFE 223 from the IMR 4064 that I currently use.

 

[9412765]

9412765, did you by chance chronograph your load. Bob Nelson has been trying to get me to switch to CFE 223 from the IMR 4064 that I currently use.

@Shootist43
Yes, it is 2,450 f/s. Speer's most recent manual has load data for CFE223 that gets the 250 hot-cor moving over 2,600, I believe. I tried moving up in velocity, but best accuracy for my rifle was at 2,450 and it has performed really well at that.

 

[Bhfs300]

Here is my story.
My father in-law came to Wyoming to hunt for a Pronghorn. Since I wasn’t a hunter I got a local license so maybe one of them could get a second trophy.
When I was introduced to my fathers friend (local Game Warden) I didn’t say anything about having one of them shooting a second Trophy.
They both filled their tags the first morning so they took me out Saturday morning since I was a teacher. We spent the morning on the same land they hunted on and I got one about 11:30.
We had a local teacher that was also a taxidermist who did both my father-in-law’s and my trophy.
His was his Christmas present. Mine looked like this it was the 13th best in my county. Kind of a big deal back then.

 

[Shootist43]

9412765, Thanks.