Dusty, Ronnie, and I had a pretty successful Wyoming Antelope hunt this week. At first, we really didn’t know what to expect as we were going to a new place. A guy from work’s family has a nice ranch near Casper and they were happy to give us permission to hunt. We started applying for tags a couple of years back and luckily drew out this year. He’d told me there was quite a few ‘lopes on the place, but we didn’t know how the hunting pressure was nor the quality of the animals. We decided to give it a fair shake, heck, it was a free hunt and definitely worth a shot.

Upon arrival to the ranch, the land owner drew us a map and pointed us in the right direction for some preseason scouting. We drove around Sunday afternoon and spotted some nice bucks, so we were pretty pumped for opening day. Dusty has never been Antelope hunting and he was pretty excited about the hunt.

Opening morning we went to a large field near a highway where we’d spotted some nice bucks the prior evening. After it was light enough to see, we spotted a nice buck probably in the 12†range. Dusty said he liked the way he looked and wanted to try a stalk so we made a large loop around them and put a hill inbetween us and the herd for a stalk. It was a nice set-up as we had the sun rising to our backs and the hill giving us cover for the stalk. As we crested the hill I set the sticks and hit them at 230 with my LRF. Dusty’s 6mm was zeroed at 300 yards and I’d seen him shoot enough to feel pretty confident with him shooting to that range. He was shaking like a leaf so I told him to calm down and not to shoot until he felt good about it. In the mean time some of the does made us, began to spook, and it wasn’t long before the buck followed. They ran out to about 300 and the buck stopped broad side. Dusty settled for the shot, but the nerves got to him as he flinched at the shot and made a clean miss. As the herd fled the scene some guys in the distance had parked on the side of the road and spooked another herd in our direction. Turns out a real nice buck was in the herd headed our way and luckily they all stopped just over the hill from us, so stalk number 2 was on. As we eased to the crest of the hill the herd was in a perfect position and all of the sudden shots broke out and the herd fled. As they ran by I glassed the big one and he was a beauty indeed, nice prongs and 14-15†in length. I stood up and saw two idiots riding their atvs and chasing the herd. These freaking idiots could plainly see us making the stalk yet they started firing from their atvs from ½ mile in the distance. The idiots didn’t even have orange on, real classy hunters for sure. I was pretty pissed to say the least, but decided to just leave it be, pull out to a different location, and let the slobs have it. When we left the field we had to drive around and go by the slob’s truck on the way to a new area. While driving by their truck we saw them in the distance chasing a herd in our direction, so we pulled back into the field and got out to glass the herd. There was two bucks and several does headed right to us. The two bucks weren’t monsters, both around 11â€, but one had some pretty good mass and Ronnie said he be glad to take him so I hit them with the LRF at 250 as they spotted us and stopped. The bigger of the two bucks was standing by himself, but straight on. I figured Ronnie would wait for him to turn, but he let him have it straight on. The buck didn’t even react to the shot, but there was an unmistakable thud at the shot and it wasn’t long before he peeled from the pack and tipped over. I’m telling ya, I’ve taken a few ‘lopes and thought of them to be fairly easy to kill but that buck wasn’t giving up, he tried to get up a few times and about the time we were ready for another shot, he was done. The 100 grn NBT had entered his chest, blown his heart into pieces, jellied the lungs, and made a large exit at the rear of the ribs. The buck turned out to only be 11†long, but he was an older buck with good mass, knarly bumps all over his beams, and the tips broken of his prongs. Here’s a pic of Ronnie’s buck:


Buck #1 was in the bag and Dusty was up to bat. We rode around to the land owners house and told him about the buck. We also told him about the idiots on the atvs and he said it was pretty wild around there opening week. He pointed us toward a large portion of land well away from the highways, so we set out to try and get Dusty a buck. After checking out the new area, we spotted a herd in the distance with what appeared to be a descent buck in the mix. After glassing for a bit we decided we better go ahead and get Buck #1 quartered and on ice before the temp climbed and we went for another stalk. After getting him taken care of we planned a stalk on the herd. As we were discussing that plan, we spotted a lone buck all by himself about 600 yards from us feeding along. Dusty glassed him and said he looked good to him, so we set out in his direction. As we got to around 200 he spotted us and spooked. At around 250 he stopped to look back and Dusty had a dead bead. When the shot broke, the buck didn’t flinch and headed away. I saw dust fly about 10 yards behind him and way right. I was thinking “Dang, that was a terrible miss!†I was wrong, after about 50 yards he became sick and finally tipped over after around a 100 yard mad dash. The 6mm 100grn partition had made it’s mark. Again, very surprised at no reaction, he busted both shoulders and destroyed the lungs. Dusty was tickled to say the least. Turned out to be a nice 11-3/8†buck, not too bad for his first ‘lope at 14 years of age. Here’s a couple of pics of Dusty’s buck:



Only noon on day one and two tags filled. Up to me to seal the deal and hopefully connect with a nice one. We took care of Dusty’s buck and set out to do some more glassing. Around 2pm we decided to head in for some lunch and put alittle more ice on the meat. As we headed toward town, I told Ronnie we should stop and check out some fields on the way that were just past the “4wheeler fiasco†spot we hunted at day break just to see if there were any herds to come back and persue that evening. As we headed down a trail near a ridge for some glassing a buck came out of a draw right at us and stopped on a ridge about 100 yards out. I got all of my gear situated, loaded my rifle and glassed the buck. He looked pretty good, but I couldn’t shoot him because there was a shack or camp of some sort in the distance. As I watched him two other bucks came running out of the same draw and he followed suit. They ran out to about 150, and stopped for a few seconds, but the bigger of the three was straight on and all I could think about was the nasty mess the Berger 140 would do at that range with a head on shot. The two smaller bucks took off again and the large buck was about to bolt as well. I held dead center of his chest and waited for the second for him to turn. As soon as he turned I let him have it dropping him on the spot. The 140 7mm Berger VLD hit him on a slight quarter taking out the vitals and destroying the bottom of his spine above the liver. Small entrance, destroyed tissue and bone, and about a dime sized exit. He turned out to be a pretty nice buck and measured 13-1/8†Not a monster, but I’m tickled with him and he ought to make a fine looking skull mount. Here’s a couple pics of my buck:

Check out the large hole that was in his horn:


Here’s a pic of all 3 bucks:

And a pic of the sunset when rolling into Raton:


Tagged out by 2:30 on day one, not bad, not bad at all. We took care of the meat and eased on into town for a big juicy celebration steak It was a fun trip to say the least, we all had a great time. Looking forward to doing it again. Next time we’ll hunt alittle longer and try to be more selective.


That’s the first blood I’ve drawn with the new 140grn .284 Berger VLDs and though not much of a test and not the best shot placement by any means, it was a DRT and seemed to be adequate for medium game. I’m going to fill a few whitetail doe tags with them before long and see how they fair.

Ya’ll have a good one,

Reloader

here is to good bucks and good memories! Congrats

CONGRATS on what turned out to be quite a trip for you guys...

As to the Berger 140s, I have been surprised as to the actual penetration. In test medium, they do come apart after a bit of penetration. But I've shot through the shoulders of 2 large hogs and had exits in both cases. A smaller 170 pound was no problem, either.

Since the hogs, I haven't shot anything else with the 7mm/140 Bergers in a few months now but hope to remedy that once whitetail season opens.

Thanks for the test results Bobby. These are the best 140 grn weight bullets I've tried in the SFII thus far giving near .25 MOA at 200.

I had loaded a box of 20 before the hunt and when I checked zero, placed two shots inside a 3/4" bullseye at 220 yards. I was hoping to try them alittle further out on the 'lope hunt, but gotta do what ya gotta do.

Have a Good One,

Reloader

Great post Reloader.