dailordasailor
AH enthusiast
My first time ever going out west was on an antelope/mule deer hunt with a forum member I had never met prior to arriving in Wyoming. @jduckhunter (Jeff) had replied to a post I made about wanting to DIY antelope for my first time out west. About a year later and after Jeff walked me through the licensing process, I landed in Denver, picked up the rental, and met Jeff and George (Jeff’s son) on side of highway between Denver and Kaycee. Fast forward 7 days with no shower and an antelope and mule deer in the cooler, and I couldn’t wait to get back out west.
Fast forward 4 years and 5 more hunts out west and Jeff asks about my plans for this fall. My mission for the last two years has been to get my now 16 year old nephew on an antelope hunt which would be his first big game animal. It works out that Jeff has some room at camp and before long myself, my wife and my nephew are buying antelope licenses.
My nephew and his mother live in SC and I live in TX so try to do some kind of hunting/fishing trip yearly. He and his mom comes out to TX on October 5th, him and my wife hop on a plane for Denver then I drive up after work and meet them at the Hotel by the airport.
We make the drive to Kaycee on the 6th with a pit stop to shoot Prairie dogs and arrive around 1:30. We do introductions and before long are headed out in the truck and SXS chasing antelope. It’s not an hour later and we get a text that Jeff and my nephew have an antelope down. About the same time we get a flat tire in the truck. After swapping we do a little more scouting then head back to camp.
Friday morning we are up at 5:30 and headed out. This time my wife is in the SXS and we follow in the pickup. Before long the SXS pulls off the road and my wife and Jeff stalk up to the top of the hill. Sticks go up and we hear the gun go off. We wait with baited breath then Jeff pumps his arms and we know she made a good shot.
We gut then load up the truck with her antelope. She hops in truck, I join Jeff in the SXS, and we head out looking for one more good buck. It’s not long before we spot a decent looking buck in a gully. I get out to try to sneak on him and watch him take off out of the gully. Hop back in SXS and continue down the road when he suddenly crosses around 150 yds in front of us. I hop out again and get set up leaned against the SXS. Jeff whistles, the buck stops, and I send one. I see the dirt fly behind him and ask if I missed. As I ask, I can see with my naked eye that his white on his chest is turning red. A second later he tips over. We gut him, load up, and head back to camp thinking how we’ve had a hell of a morning.
I also had a doe tag and have wanted a “trophy doe” for the last 4 years. After a mid day nap we head out doe hunting. We drive towards back of property and locate a ~14 antelope heard and a couple smaller groups. There was one decent looking doe but a rival buck caused the large group to move off and we headed back to camp before full sunset.
We had to leave Saturday afternoon to make the drive back to TX so planned to skin and quarter Saturday morning and take off after lunch. For whatever reason I woke up feeling sick and was dragging ass and trying not to vomit behind the barn. My wife and nephew struggled through the animals but came out on top and we stuffed the coolers full. Around 9 I start feeling a little better and Jeff asks if I was still looking for a Trophy Doe. We had already started packing up so I grab a box of bullets, knife, and gun and we head out with plans of only going out for a short time and I wasn’t too worried about filling the tag. Fortunately about 30 mins in we come accords a loan doe at 50 yards with good horns. Hop out, shoot her and she stumbles off out of sight. I walk over the hill and see she still has her head up. Shoot once more and we have filled all 4 tags in 2 days. Skin, quarter, cooler, and we say our goodbyes and head out.
My biggest take away from all this is that if it wasn’t for Jeff and George inviting a complete stranger out 4 years ago I don’t know when I would have finally made it out west alone. Fast forward 4 years and I get to share that same experience with my Nephew. It’s amazing the good people that are involved in the AH community and I can’t thank Jeff enough. Jeff dosnt make a dime off taking people hunting out there and in reality loses money with cooking the camp meals and gas for the vehicles.
This hunt motivated my nephew to seek out a hunt club back home in SC and has big plans to go hard into hunting on his own. Can’t wait to see what the coming years offers for future trips together.
-Dale
Fast forward 4 years and 5 more hunts out west and Jeff asks about my plans for this fall. My mission for the last two years has been to get my now 16 year old nephew on an antelope hunt which would be his first big game animal. It works out that Jeff has some room at camp and before long myself, my wife and my nephew are buying antelope licenses.
My nephew and his mother live in SC and I live in TX so try to do some kind of hunting/fishing trip yearly. He and his mom comes out to TX on October 5th, him and my wife hop on a plane for Denver then I drive up after work and meet them at the Hotel by the airport.
We make the drive to Kaycee on the 6th with a pit stop to shoot Prairie dogs and arrive around 1:30. We do introductions and before long are headed out in the truck and SXS chasing antelope. It’s not an hour later and we get a text that Jeff and my nephew have an antelope down. About the same time we get a flat tire in the truck. After swapping we do a little more scouting then head back to camp.
Friday morning we are up at 5:30 and headed out. This time my wife is in the SXS and we follow in the pickup. Before long the SXS pulls off the road and my wife and Jeff stalk up to the top of the hill. Sticks go up and we hear the gun go off. We wait with baited breath then Jeff pumps his arms and we know she made a good shot.
We gut then load up the truck with her antelope. She hops in truck, I join Jeff in the SXS, and we head out looking for one more good buck. It’s not long before we spot a decent looking buck in a gully. I get out to try to sneak on him and watch him take off out of the gully. Hop back in SXS and continue down the road when he suddenly crosses around 150 yds in front of us. I hop out again and get set up leaned against the SXS. Jeff whistles, the buck stops, and I send one. I see the dirt fly behind him and ask if I missed. As I ask, I can see with my naked eye that his white on his chest is turning red. A second later he tips over. We gut him, load up, and head back to camp thinking how we’ve had a hell of a morning.
I also had a doe tag and have wanted a “trophy doe” for the last 4 years. After a mid day nap we head out doe hunting. We drive towards back of property and locate a ~14 antelope heard and a couple smaller groups. There was one decent looking doe but a rival buck caused the large group to move off and we headed back to camp before full sunset.
We had to leave Saturday afternoon to make the drive back to TX so planned to skin and quarter Saturday morning and take off after lunch. For whatever reason I woke up feeling sick and was dragging ass and trying not to vomit behind the barn. My wife and nephew struggled through the animals but came out on top and we stuffed the coolers full. Around 9 I start feeling a little better and Jeff asks if I was still looking for a Trophy Doe. We had already started packing up so I grab a box of bullets, knife, and gun and we head out with plans of only going out for a short time and I wasn’t too worried about filling the tag. Fortunately about 30 mins in we come accords a loan doe at 50 yards with good horns. Hop out, shoot her and she stumbles off out of sight. I walk over the hill and see she still has her head up. Shoot once more and we have filled all 4 tags in 2 days. Skin, quarter, cooler, and we say our goodbyes and head out.
My biggest take away from all this is that if it wasn’t for Jeff and George inviting a complete stranger out 4 years ago I don’t know when I would have finally made it out west alone. Fast forward 4 years and I get to share that same experience with my Nephew. It’s amazing the good people that are involved in the AH community and I can’t thank Jeff enough. Jeff dosnt make a dime off taking people hunting out there and in reality loses money with cooking the camp meals and gas for the vehicles.
This hunt motivated my nephew to seek out a hunt club back home in SC and has big plans to go hard into hunting on his own. Can’t wait to see what the coming years offers for future trips together.
-Dale
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