hilljack22
Member
I just got back from 2 weeks in the Casper, WY area from an antelope hunt. On the way out, my buddy and I probably counted 400 head of antelope, so I figured it would be easy to fill our tags.
WRONG!!
I bet I walked 50 miles in a week and a half up and down mountains and ravines. Wind blowing anywhere from 20-40 mph around the peaks at 30 degree temps in the morning.
These little boogers are all eyes...You would have to spot them from long distances and attempt to sneak up to them (crawling and using every little sagebrush for cover) and hope that their sentinels set up on each side of the herd wouldn't spot you.
Some observations:
1) Take a backup gun! My scope on my Savage 30-06 got bumped when I was doing a crawl/stalk and I was able to switch to my Remington 243 very quickly without resighting the Savage.
2) Get good Optics ! I had a pair of Baush & Lomb 10 x40s which were OK, but my buddys Ziess binoculars were like having the sun directly overhead at all times (including early morning).
3) Be in shape! I bet we walked 50 miles on inclines at 6000 feet (roughly) for 12 hours a day. The last few days I was just driven by willpower alone.
4) Bring a game carrier or be ready to drag your animal up and down mountains to get to the truck...
5) Bring a cleaning kit/rod into the field. I was sitting in a gully glassing a basin area when a wind gust knocked my Savage over and got some mud in the barrel. I was able to use a long thistle weed to pull the mud out from the muzzle.
But the final result... It's a blast!!
WRONG!!
I bet I walked 50 miles in a week and a half up and down mountains and ravines. Wind blowing anywhere from 20-40 mph around the peaks at 30 degree temps in the morning.
These little boogers are all eyes...You would have to spot them from long distances and attempt to sneak up to them (crawling and using every little sagebrush for cover) and hope that their sentinels set up on each side of the herd wouldn't spot you.
Some observations:
1) Take a backup gun! My scope on my Savage 30-06 got bumped when I was doing a crawl/stalk and I was able to switch to my Remington 243 very quickly without resighting the Savage.
2) Get good Optics ! I had a pair of Baush & Lomb 10 x40s which were OK, but my buddys Ziess binoculars were like having the sun directly overhead at all times (including early morning).
3) Be in shape! I bet we walked 50 miles on inclines at 6000 feet (roughly) for 12 hours a day. The last few days I was just driven by willpower alone.
4) Bring a game carrier or be ready to drag your animal up and down mountains to get to the truck...
5) Bring a cleaning kit/rod into the field. I was sitting in a gully glassing a basin area when a wind gust knocked my Savage over and got some mud in the barrel. I was able to use a long thistle weed to pull the mud out from the muzzle.
But the final result... It's a blast!!