I was 19, hunting deer and antelope in the thunder basin national grasslands northeast of Bill, Wyoming. Myself and two of my dads friends decided to
hunt the large, wide and ancient Cheyenne river bed. I have many fond memories of that river. Many of our camps were set up near there.
I was on the south side, when one of the guys got on our radio and said there was a buck antelope within range of him. I had yet to fill my antelope
tag and the day was fading on us so we decided to put a small stalk on him. I made my way towards an adequate shooting position, put the buck and in
the crosshairs and pulled the trigger.
If you’ve hunted antelope you know that sometimes they have this bionic ability to survive longer than they should. I hit him right in the front
shoulder. He should have gone down; instead he ran. So, we waited a few minutes.
We picked up the blood trail and followed it a ways. Found him again standing in the open prairie of the riverbed. So, I lined it up and shot again.
Another well placed shot; another bionic retreat from the antelope. But as the sun grew closer to the horizon, we began to worry about a wounded
animal not being found on time. So, we found the blood trail and split up. Each of us trying to surround the area we knew he was in. After 30-45
minutes...we found nothing. He had to of been there, somewhere. But nothing.
It was suggested we come back in the morning and retrace our steps. I agreed but wanted to do one last pass to see what we could find. I didn’t want
the animal to suffer more than it already had and I didn’t want to lose it to a coyote. So I walked the exact same path one of the other guys
walked.
After about 400 yards or so, I was getting ready to circle back around to the other two. Suddenly, I heard a commotion coming from the sagebrush
behind me. I turned and the first thing I saw were antlers. I pulled my gun around, put the heart in the scope and pulled the trigger on a large
whitetail buck who had been bed down right there the whole time. They tend to be very patient, quiet and still in that area. But he probably felt it
was time to move. His mistake, my gain. One shot, clean kill.
I waited and watched, then slowly approached. The closer I got the more my excitement grew. All I could see was a massive bodied animal and antlers on
the ground. It was a monster buck. One that many spend their whole lives looking for.
I called the other guys over on the radio. Radioed to my dad to bring the truck to us and get his checkbook ready (he always promised he would pay
for my first trophy to be mounted), and the gawking amongst everyone began.
206 1/2 non-typical, 21 points, 260* pounds after field dressing. An absolute brute of an animal. The guy who’s trail I took asked where he was. I
showed him, and he was slightly frustrated because he walked right by the whitetail and never saw him. He’s a hell of a hunter, so it’s not like
he didn’t know what to look for. Plus, he was looking for blood and an antelope. He wasn’t necessarily looking for a bed down and well camouflaged
whitetail.
If it weren’t for the bionic antelope, I never would have come across that whitetail.
edit on 21-10-2018 by Assassin82 because: (no reason
given)