Sagebrush and Bucks By; Joel Johnson You’ve got to be kidding me, eight trips to Wyoming in the last two years, heavy extended periods of rain on all eight. Then on four occasions there was hail damage to my truck and gear and the high winds of course are a given. When and wherever I travel there will be bumper crops for the season. All joking aside I love the outdoor adventures that I find myself involved in. As I headed south out of Wright, Wyoming the visibility was just a few yards and if I actually used my head for a change I would have stayed at the Motel until things cleared and the roads had a chance to dry out. But no! I was going to get to my camp site and get set up today hell or high water. As I struggled the last fifteen miles or so in four wheel drive and at a snails pace, praying I would not slide off or meet an oncoming other vehicle on that muddy greasy road. The Gods must have been looking down on me because I made it to my camp site which was the same patch of cactus and sagebrush I used the year before. It does not look like much but it was to be my home for the next ten or so days. I threw my yellow rain slicker on and in no time I had camp set up. My propane heater was glowing, wet cloths and gear hung to dry and a pot of stew was on the cook stove. Life is good when things are working smoothly which is not normally the case so I sat back relaxed, looked over my maps and prepared to start my scouting and glassing in the morning. With a full stomach and fresh pot of coffee ready to perk on the stove in the morning, this guy shut down the lantern and hit that cot like a ton of bricks. The wind whipped and battered the tent all night long but as the moon was setting and the sun was rising all was calm and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. The coffee pot started perking as I rifled through my gear. I threw together a thermos of coffee, donuts, a couple of sandwiches and snacks for the day. I jumped into the truck pulled onto the muddy road and headed out for a couple of new spots to glass. I looked over a lot of sagebrush and bucks that day both antelope as well as mule deer and had a plan formulated for the opener the following morning. Long before sunrise I was up, the coffee pot was going and I ate a light breakfast. I loaded my gear into the truck and headed out hoping to get into position on a rocky knoll overlooking a brushy draw the antelope used to reach a large open area of prairie I watched them use to feed and bed the day before. I was not there for more then a few minutes when the small silhouettes started working their way through the draw. Does, fawns and average bucks slipped by within seventy five yards. Normally I don’t waste any time and would have taken best buck out of the group. I however had over a week then to wait for deer to open. There were a couple of fourteen inch bucks in the group and figured I could nock around a few days looking for something better although they were good enough for me. I watched many hundreds of antelope in the next few days and made many of stalks on good bucks. I slipped back into position on the rock pile on day five and waited for them to slip through the draw with the hope that a nice buck was among the masses. Now there was a bit more aggressive behavior out of the bucks. Sparing, fighting and chasing each other as well as corralling the does and fawns. I noticed the herd stop and all their attention to the east of my position. Within a few seconds a nice buck strolled into view a mere fifty yards to my left, with a light crosswind and the sun at it’s back I took the opportunity he had given me. I settled the Ruger 77 in 257 Roberts on the buck’s right shoulder as he was slightly quartering towards me and squeezed off the shot. At the shot he spun around and headed directly at me, and dropped about 10 yards from ambush point. The rest of the herd just milled around for awhile not knowing where the shot game from. I was only a couple of hundred yards from where I left the truck so I picked out a dry doe for my parents and dropped her. It was warming up now that the sun was up so I took a few photos, dressed the antelope and headed for Douglas to have them butchered and stored in their freezers until I headed for Colorado after I take a mule deer. A spent the rest of that day and next in camp relaxing and preparing for the deer opener. I had a couple fellow hunters I met the year before whom were up from Texas stop in for a cup of coffee some extra sugar if I could spare and some jawing. I returned the favor by stopping in the next day for a soda and some more jawing at there camp a couple of miles up the road. For the deer opener I had chosen a small by western standards 640 acre section of BLM Land to focus on. I walked the perimeter of this section the year before noting that the west was bound by a road, the north and south lines of the section were delineated by fence lines and the east line of the section was open. I had plugged the coordinates for the boundary into my Garmin GPS unit so there would be little question were I was especially when I got close to the east line of the section; I did not want to drift onto private property without permission. This was a peace of heaven with water in the creek, cottonwoods and willow brush chocking the bottom and high cut banks on either side, opening up into a large bowl east of the section. I parked out on the road without opening the gate the first morning. I worked along the tops on the north side of the drainage glassing and still hunting as I crept along at a snails pace. I was encouraged that there were does, fawns and younger bucks along my entire route to the east line. To my surprise I took notice of a very heavy dark antlered buck bedded maybe fifty yards or so east of the east line of the section. He was bedded in the shade at the base of the cut. I watched him for a couple of hours to see if he would rise and work his way west where I could legally shoot. However he rose for his bed stretched and moved easterly into the thick cover of the bowl. I slipped down the hill a hundred yards or so to were a large cottonwood lay. I was going to make a makeshift blind out of the sticks and sage brush that was lying around the stump of the fallen tree. I spent the rest of the day watching and glassing for the buck who did not show, I slipped out just before dark and planned to head back to the blind before first light. After a good hot dinner and small camp fire as it was a calm and clear night I hit the hay with the anticipation the next day would bring. As the first rays of sun broke the eastern skyline there was a raft of activity. I had a herd of forty or fifty antelope feed within one hundred yards of me with a huge buck I would guess was sixteen inches with very heavy beams. I noted deer all through the draw and down in the bowl. I caught movement out of the right corner of my eye, it was the buck from the day before headed westerly and at about the same spot he was bedded yesterday. Low and behold he laid down what appeared to be the exact spot he bedded before. I watched him for about an hour and formulated a plan to make a move on him. If I waited him out he would probably head back to the east and I would be out of lick again. I had a slight breeze in my face and with the antelope bedded below me I would work my way back up and out of the blind thus working my way westerly and out of sight and sent of the bedded animals. I moved about a half mile to where I could cross the bottom and climb to the top of the cut on the south side of the creek. Once on top I was able to stay out of sight and with the favorable wind was able to make good time. Before moving I was able to pick out a landmark that would mark the bedded buck’s position. I turned on my GPS unit and quietly slipped a cartridge into the chamber. Safety on I checked my location, I was within five yards of the east line of the section and knew I need to get that buck up on his feet and out in the open as well as have him move westerly to give me the shot. The antelope were now up and moving northwest and towards the crest of the hill I watched them from earlier that morning. I picked up a couple of rocks and fired them to the far side of where I believe the buck was bedded. Now the antelope were making tracks over the crest on the hill, whether they saw me throw the rocks or more then likely winded me things were happing. Below and out in front moving on the same path the antelope where on was a nice high racked young buck with a terrible limb. I took a quick look at him through the binoculars and noticed his right rear leg was broke completely in half about a foot above the hoof. At that point the large buck bounded out past the injured buck and stood looking back at him. I swung the rifle over and settled the crosshairs behind and high on the ribs. I looked back at the smaller buck struggling to climb the bank to catch up with the old boy. It took him over a minute to cover that short distance so after beating myself up over shooting the big buck and letting the one dragging his leg, I swung over to the younger buck so when he finally got to the top I sent a 117 grain Hornady bullet on its way. At shot the larger buck took off on a run and the younger buck dropped out of sight. I found a cattle path the made it an easy crossing for me as the cut banks were quite steep. As I topped the other side I saw the buck had dropped in his tracks. He was a pretty buck and was going to make great table fare as well. His leg was in bad shape and did not look like a fresh wound. I dressed him out, took a couple of photos and then drug him about two hundred yards to the two track where I could pick him up with the truck. Once back at camp I hung him as it was overcast and much cooler then the week before. Early the following morning I packed up camp and headed for Douglas. I needed to pick up ice for my coolers and the cut, wrapped and frozen antelope from last week. A full tank of fuel, coolers full of meat and I am headed south to Elk Camp in Southwestern Colorado. It’s a wonderful life, it only took me about sixty years to arrive but I am there.
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