The current thread about a Wyoming antelope hunt has stirred some memories.
My dad was an outdoorsman, hunted and fished most all his adult life until glaucoma and cataracts took their toll. Primary hunted white tail deer, dove and quail. He built a pier on Lake Norman for us to fish from before there was water. Took the scope off his rifle, screwed it onto an eight foot 2X4 and used it like a transit. This impressed me once the lake filled up and the pier was not under water.
Dad was from the Harmony, NC area, moved to Kokomo, IN when he was young and lived in Milwaukee during WWII before moving back to NC. He hunted in all those areas.
What was his bucket list hunt ( I think ) was a trip to Wyoming.
What you have to consider is his trip was in 1966 and his planning was a little different than how we do it today. He read Outdoor Life magazine religiously for about a year, making notes on the good areas to hunt out west. For us, at that time, buying a magazine EVERY MONTH was a bit of a luxury. So once he had an area picked out he looked at the map and picked 2 or 3 of the closest towns. Then he wrote letters to the chamber of commerce asking for a list of ranchers or property owners who would allow him to hunt on their property. And then he waited for a reply from the COC, by mail. Then it was letters to the land owners and another wait for a reply. Long distance phone calls were another luxury so he waited until he had things pretty much narrowed down before he made a phone call.
He finally connected with a rancher named Tom in Wheatland, WY who welcomed my dad and one of his friend's to come out for a antelope and mule deer hunt. Tom also offered to act as a guide as he was a hunter himself. So dad loaded up the Belair wagon and off they went.
Once there Dad said what they tried a few times was once a herd was spotted was to take off across the prairie in Tom's truck at 50 mph or so, get as close as they could, jam on the brakes and jump out to try to get off a shot. This was not successful, only thing dad got was a butt full of cactus thorns when he squatted for a shot without looking first. He wore the thorns all the back to Charlotte, mom had to pick them out.
Now when the antelope were running from the truck they would often come upon sheep fencing which is about 4 feet tall and made up of 6" squares. Dad said they were amazed at watching the antelope run into the fence at full speed, bounce off it, then get up and scurry under it somehow. They never jumped over it the way a deer does.
So after a few stalks dad gets his antelope, pretty nice buck. Supposedly the shot was about 250 yards but who knows. He sure didn't have a range finder in 1966. Mule deer hunt didn't work out so well. Shot across a small canyon at a nice buck or so he thought. The side of the deer dad saw had half of a nice rack. When he got where the deer was he found that the other side of the antlers was just one small deformed horn that curled down around his ear. The meat was good, though.
Rifle was a Winchester Model 70 in .257 Roberts that he bought new in 1938 and I have today. Scoped with a Unertil Hawk 4X on a Buehler one piece base. Ammo was dad's hand loads with a 100 gr bullet.
This is all coming from memory as told to me by my dad since I wasn't there. I may go back and edit this if I remember any pertinent info. It was a long time ago.
Here's dad and his antelope.
My dad was an outdoorsman, hunted and fished most all his adult life until glaucoma and cataracts took their toll. Primary hunted white tail deer, dove and quail. He built a pier on Lake Norman for us to fish from before there was water. Took the scope off his rifle, screwed it onto an eight foot 2X4 and used it like a transit. This impressed me once the lake filled up and the pier was not under water.
Dad was from the Harmony, NC area, moved to Kokomo, IN when he was young and lived in Milwaukee during WWII before moving back to NC. He hunted in all those areas.
What was his bucket list hunt ( I think ) was a trip to Wyoming.
What you have to consider is his trip was in 1966 and his planning was a little different than how we do it today. He read Outdoor Life magazine religiously for about a year, making notes on the good areas to hunt out west. For us, at that time, buying a magazine EVERY MONTH was a bit of a luxury. So once he had an area picked out he looked at the map and picked 2 or 3 of the closest towns. Then he wrote letters to the chamber of commerce asking for a list of ranchers or property owners who would allow him to hunt on their property. And then he waited for a reply from the COC, by mail. Then it was letters to the land owners and another wait for a reply. Long distance phone calls were another luxury so he waited until he had things pretty much narrowed down before he made a phone call.
He finally connected with a rancher named Tom in Wheatland, WY who welcomed my dad and one of his friend's to come out for a antelope and mule deer hunt. Tom also offered to act as a guide as he was a hunter himself. So dad loaded up the Belair wagon and off they went.
Once there Dad said what they tried a few times was once a herd was spotted was to take off across the prairie in Tom's truck at 50 mph or so, get as close as they could, jam on the brakes and jump out to try to get off a shot. This was not successful, only thing dad got was a butt full of cactus thorns when he squatted for a shot without looking first. He wore the thorns all the back to Charlotte, mom had to pick them out.
Now when the antelope were running from the truck they would often come upon sheep fencing which is about 4 feet tall and made up of 6" squares. Dad said they were amazed at watching the antelope run into the fence at full speed, bounce off it, then get up and scurry under it somehow. They never jumped over it the way a deer does.
So after a few stalks dad gets his antelope, pretty nice buck. Supposedly the shot was about 250 yards but who knows. He sure didn't have a range finder in 1966. Mule deer hunt didn't work out so well. Shot across a small canyon at a nice buck or so he thought. The side of the deer dad saw had half of a nice rack. When he got where the deer was he found that the other side of the antlers was just one small deformed horn that curled down around his ear. The meat was good, though.
Rifle was a Winchester Model 70 in .257 Roberts that he bought new in 1938 and I have today. Scoped with a Unertil Hawk 4X on a Buehler one piece base. Ammo was dad's hand loads with a 100 gr bullet.
This is all coming from memory as told to me by my dad since I wasn't there. I may go back and edit this if I remember any pertinent info. It was a long time ago.
Here's dad and his antelope.
