Best enjoyed while listening to Don Williams' My Rifle, My Pony, and Me!
tl/dr: Wyoming Region G Deer Tag Punched
In 2017 my then 12 y.o. son ('27) and I attended Non-Typical Outfitters' Shooting Course in Western Wyoming. I met Robb Wiley, his wife Brenda (also a DVM), and their daughters. It was a cool experience for Jake and I.
https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/2916734
After completing the course and learning a bit more about the deer in this part of Wyoming, I put down a deposit for a hunt at a later date. I initially planned to hunt in 2021, but Covid screwed that up. Then the brutal, harsh winters that followed did a number on the deer herd and Robb wasn't too encouraged about the opportunities for the kind of deer I would be interested in hunting. We had an annual phone call and kept pushing it off. This past March, I got a call from Robb saying, "this might be the year to come hunt with us." With little deliberation, I agreed and booked a 7-day 1x1 hunt. I had to choose the camp (Region G or H) and the week I wanted to attend. With some counsel from Robb, we booked the Region G 2nd week hunt (September 21-27).
I won't bore you with the diet changes and exercise. Suffice it to say, I shed 20 pounds and felt really good physically.
I did a pretty major gear overhaul for last year's Nevada deer hunt so I needed just a few more items namely some new Crispi boots. (By the way, these are the best hunting boots I have ever worn!). I also built myself a 7PRC rifle since I was so impressed with the 20+ I have built for others.
I was to arrive in camp at 3PM Mountain time on Sunday, September 20. Camp was about 28 miles SE of Alpine, WY and set at an elevation of 6500'. It was the nicest hunting camp I have experienced. I had my own cabin, compete with wood burning stove. The Deadman Creek flowed right next to camp so each evening I fell asleep listening to the rushing water with a few interruptions from the resident Screech Owl.
Once all hunters had arrived, we went over to the shooting bench for validation for each of the hunters. Targets ranged from 100-550 yards with optional plates at 800 and 900 yards. We all did very well at 300, 400 and 550. Turrets were adjusted and rifles were put back in cabins.
We have the 1st dinner of the hunt and began to get to know the other guides, hunters, and staff. I was in camp with 3 other hunters and 2 carryover hunters with the final days of their 10-day 1x1 hunts. All in all. six hunters in camp. After dinner, I was introduced to my guide Barney Helton from California. Barney is a professional hunting guide and has guided this area for deer and elk for nearly 2 decades. He and I were very compatible and I'm grateful it worked out the way it did.
Monday morning, I got up at 3:30am and double checked all my gear. The generator (lights) come on at 4am with breakfast served soon after. I headed to the dining tent and shared some coffee with one of the 10-day hunters named Mike. He was chasing a big buck that had been scouted pre-season. By 4:50am we are on our horses and headed out for a chilly 2-hour ride in the dark. We traversed some steep hillsides and will readily admit my hands, knees, and backside were plenty sore from all the hours in the saddle. The horses were incredible. Sure-footed and bombproof. Just what I wanted. I alternated daily between the same 2 horses (Jackpot and Arapahoe).
Day 1: Saw lots of elk and deer. The sounds of bugling bulls and aspen quakies shimmering in the wind was like music to my ears. Never gets old. Clearly the deer herd is on the recovery as numbers of young bucks was very strong. Late that morning, I was asked if I was interested in a mid-170's buck that was bedded a couple of hillsides over. I declined and another guide and his 2 hunters from Missouri on their 1st western states hunt proceeded to head his way and successfully stalked in on him over the next couple of hours eventually taking him a few hundred yards from where we last saw him.
Day 2: This morning I got up and relocated from our spot and found 3 bucks down under our position headed to the timber. One buck was really, really wide. I decided this would be a deer I would be happy with and we proceeded to hunt this area (from different vantages) for the next 4 days. We had 1 more brief glimpse of him on the evening of Day 5. That evening I was presented with the question of keep on chasing this buck or consider some other options that had been spotted by other guides.
Day 6: Barney and I decided it was worth another day to see if we could get a better look at the big, wide 3x3. This time we split up and I rode my horse to the area where I initially spotted him and Barney went further east to the base of the mountain to get a better vantage on the entire hillside that I was on. I wasn't in my glassing spot for 5 minutes when I got the radio call that Barney had the buck in his glass and to get over there asap. I gathered my gear, put my rifle in the scabbard, cinched down the saddle, untied the horse and headed for the top of the hill and prepared to cut through the heavy timber to get in a position on the 3x3. Barney then calls and says that the buck's G1's / eyeguards / dogcatchers / browtines aren't 1" long and he's not a legal buck in Region G. (Must have 4 legal points on one antler to be a legal buck). That was like a punch in the gut. Barney sent me a message on my Garmin InReach that he was every bit as wide as we thought (32"-33"+) and that this was the biggest non-legal buck he'd ever seen. I paused a moment and sent back, "It was fun hunting him. Your plan for finding him this morning was excellent and worked. What's plan B?"
We spent the evening in a new spot and neither of us saw a single deer until the moonlit ride back into camp. I was really feeling the weight of the situation. 17 years of points, 5 days of chasing an illegal deer, and 1 more day to punch the tag. At dinner, Barney gave me 2 options: Head to the top of Deadman Mountain (10,000') and hunt down into the timber pockets from the knife ridge above or head to the area where the 10-day hunter tried unsuccessfully to find the buck they scouted before the season. At this point, I was tired and sore and the ride up the additional 2000' just wasn't what I was interested in so we went north.
Day 7 (last day): I didn't sleep well and was preparing myself for the trip home for some tag soup. We left out early and arrived at the glassing spot under a full moon which had yet to set. Barney and I decided a little power nap was in order. After about 15 minutes, I couldn't stand it any longer so I began to glass well before I could really see clearly. I did notice some elk moving about 600 yards away. Then, I saw this very large body on the far hillside. I woke Barney up and told him to get his spotter on him and….he was the buck everyone had been looking for. He was 975 yards away. He was with a smaller forkie and they were moving downhill and south (to our left).
The plan was for Barney to stay put and keep eyes on the deer. I was to leave most of my gear up top. Take my rifle, range finder, and shooting sticks and head down to close some distance. I bailed off the top and worked my way down through the aspens as quietly and quickly as I could. The deer moved further south. I had glass on them at 750 yards and then 411 yards. Once at the 400 yard range, I sat down with my back against an aspen tree and put my rifle up on the sticks. My pack was under the buttstock. Solid. I was so hot and sweaty that I fogged up my binoculars. I was unable to make the transition from binos to rifle scope and find the deer. I was getting really frustrated by this point. I went from "he's a dead deer" to "welp that's it" in a few seconds. Barney comes on the radio "You gotta hurry up. He's further south and headed downhill and will be out of sight soon!". I hopped up and began to jog south through the aspens. I could see a clearing coming up and exited the aspens. I was standing in waist high bushes and began scanning the timber in the bottom below by the creek. Then….there he was. Standing broadside lat 258 yards looking up at me from a small clearing between 2 clumps of pines about 100 yards uphill from the creek bottom. In the span of about 10 seconds, I ranged him, set my turret, dropped my pack, moved over to a burned out pine tree stump which I grabbed with my right hand. I placed my rifle over my right wrist, put the crosshairs on the shoulder and pulled the trigger.
My heart was pounding and I was out of breath. I radioed Barney and asked how the shot sounded. "You shot? I didn't hear a shot" was his reply. Between the angle, direction, and the suppressor, Barney had no idea I'd taken the 258 yard shot. I asked him to get over above me and keep eyes out for any movement. We both watched the young forkie loitering around the area which gave me some optimism that my shot was true. I marked my location and waited about 10 more minutes before heading down to the ravine below. Once on the other side, I spent several long minutes trying to find the clearing where the buck was last seen. Then, I saw a piece of deadfall timber with several drops of blood and I began to feel relief! Just around the corner, there he was.
I radioed Barney "Big Buck Down!!" and he replied with a hearty congratulations and said he would gather my gear and bring the horses down. Might take him an hour. With that, I went over to the massive grey bodied buck and put my hands on him and felt a wave of emotion come over me. I broke down for a few minutes. The last 1.5 hours, the last 6 days of short nights, the years of anticipation all got to me.
Barney met me with the horses and gave me a big bear hug of congratulations. We took a few pictures then tag-teamed the quartering and caping. We loaded the pans on his horse with equal amounts of meat and packs. Put the head and cape on the horse's back. We then walked the horses out of the area working downhill and out to the main trail which took over 2 hours.
Once back at camp, I packed up all my gear, loaded my truck and headed for Cheyenne. From there I spent an evening with my parents in northern NM. Finally made it home Tuesday evening concluding a 3700-mile round trip and a hunt that I'll cherish to my final days.
While not official, I placed some tape on the buck and get a B&C gross of 197. I've been hunting Mule Deer for 20 years now. This was the hardest and most rewarding hunt of them all.
TX COWDOC
Headed Northwest!
Picked up a Terry Black's BBQ 6# brisket for BQ CO '67 in Mora County, NM.
Delicious!
Rocky Mountain High!
Billy (from Missouri) took the buck on the left on Day 1 of our hunt.
Incredible colors....
Breakfast in the cook tent @ 0415.
Barney and me
Stump where I took my shot
Looking back uphill where I took my shot
Deadfall with fresh blood!
Wyoming Region G Trophy Muley
Walk back to camp. Horses worked their tails off. I was obliged to let them have an easy trip back.
Arapahoe was an incredible horse.
Barney Helton and another successfully guided Wyoming Muley!
tl/dr: Wyoming Region G Deer Tag Punched
In 2017 my then 12 y.o. son ('27) and I attended Non-Typical Outfitters' Shooting Course in Western Wyoming. I met Robb Wiley, his wife Brenda (also a DVM), and their daughters. It was a cool experience for Jake and I.
https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/2916734
After completing the course and learning a bit more about the deer in this part of Wyoming, I put down a deposit for a hunt at a later date. I initially planned to hunt in 2021, but Covid screwed that up. Then the brutal, harsh winters that followed did a number on the deer herd and Robb wasn't too encouraged about the opportunities for the kind of deer I would be interested in hunting. We had an annual phone call and kept pushing it off. This past March, I got a call from Robb saying, "this might be the year to come hunt with us." With little deliberation, I agreed and booked a 7-day 1x1 hunt. I had to choose the camp (Region G or H) and the week I wanted to attend. With some counsel from Robb, we booked the Region G 2nd week hunt (September 21-27).
I won't bore you with the diet changes and exercise. Suffice it to say, I shed 20 pounds and felt really good physically.
I did a pretty major gear overhaul for last year's Nevada deer hunt so I needed just a few more items namely some new Crispi boots. (By the way, these are the best hunting boots I have ever worn!). I also built myself a 7PRC rifle since I was so impressed with the 20+ I have built for others.
I was to arrive in camp at 3PM Mountain time on Sunday, September 20. Camp was about 28 miles SE of Alpine, WY and set at an elevation of 6500'. It was the nicest hunting camp I have experienced. I had my own cabin, compete with wood burning stove. The Deadman Creek flowed right next to camp so each evening I fell asleep listening to the rushing water with a few interruptions from the resident Screech Owl.
Once all hunters had arrived, we went over to the shooting bench for validation for each of the hunters. Targets ranged from 100-550 yards with optional plates at 800 and 900 yards. We all did very well at 300, 400 and 550. Turrets were adjusted and rifles were put back in cabins.
We have the 1st dinner of the hunt and began to get to know the other guides, hunters, and staff. I was in camp with 3 other hunters and 2 carryover hunters with the final days of their 10-day 1x1 hunts. All in all. six hunters in camp. After dinner, I was introduced to my guide Barney Helton from California. Barney is a professional hunting guide and has guided this area for deer and elk for nearly 2 decades. He and I were very compatible and I'm grateful it worked out the way it did.
Monday morning, I got up at 3:30am and double checked all my gear. The generator (lights) come on at 4am with breakfast served soon after. I headed to the dining tent and shared some coffee with one of the 10-day hunters named Mike. He was chasing a big buck that had been scouted pre-season. By 4:50am we are on our horses and headed out for a chilly 2-hour ride in the dark. We traversed some steep hillsides and will readily admit my hands, knees, and backside were plenty sore from all the hours in the saddle. The horses were incredible. Sure-footed and bombproof. Just what I wanted. I alternated daily between the same 2 horses (Jackpot and Arapahoe).
Day 1: Saw lots of elk and deer. The sounds of bugling bulls and aspen quakies shimmering in the wind was like music to my ears. Never gets old. Clearly the deer herd is on the recovery as numbers of young bucks was very strong. Late that morning, I was asked if I was interested in a mid-170's buck that was bedded a couple of hillsides over. I declined and another guide and his 2 hunters from Missouri on their 1st western states hunt proceeded to head his way and successfully stalked in on him over the next couple of hours eventually taking him a few hundred yards from where we last saw him.
Day 2: This morning I got up and relocated from our spot and found 3 bucks down under our position headed to the timber. One buck was really, really wide. I decided this would be a deer I would be happy with and we proceeded to hunt this area (from different vantages) for the next 4 days. We had 1 more brief glimpse of him on the evening of Day 5. That evening I was presented with the question of keep on chasing this buck or consider some other options that had been spotted by other guides.
Day 6: Barney and I decided it was worth another day to see if we could get a better look at the big, wide 3x3. This time we split up and I rode my horse to the area where I initially spotted him and Barney went further east to the base of the mountain to get a better vantage on the entire hillside that I was on. I wasn't in my glassing spot for 5 minutes when I got the radio call that Barney had the buck in his glass and to get over there asap. I gathered my gear, put my rifle in the scabbard, cinched down the saddle, untied the horse and headed for the top of the hill and prepared to cut through the heavy timber to get in a position on the 3x3. Barney then calls and says that the buck's G1's / eyeguards / dogcatchers / browtines aren't 1" long and he's not a legal buck in Region G. (Must have 4 legal points on one antler to be a legal buck). That was like a punch in the gut. Barney sent me a message on my Garmin InReach that he was every bit as wide as we thought (32"-33"+) and that this was the biggest non-legal buck he'd ever seen. I paused a moment and sent back, "It was fun hunting him. Your plan for finding him this morning was excellent and worked. What's plan B?"
We spent the evening in a new spot and neither of us saw a single deer until the moonlit ride back into camp. I was really feeling the weight of the situation. 17 years of points, 5 days of chasing an illegal deer, and 1 more day to punch the tag. At dinner, Barney gave me 2 options: Head to the top of Deadman Mountain (10,000') and hunt down into the timber pockets from the knife ridge above or head to the area where the 10-day hunter tried unsuccessfully to find the buck they scouted before the season. At this point, I was tired and sore and the ride up the additional 2000' just wasn't what I was interested in so we went north.
Day 7 (last day): I didn't sleep well and was preparing myself for the trip home for some tag soup. We left out early and arrived at the glassing spot under a full moon which had yet to set. Barney and I decided a little power nap was in order. After about 15 minutes, I couldn't stand it any longer so I began to glass well before I could really see clearly. I did notice some elk moving about 600 yards away. Then, I saw this very large body on the far hillside. I woke Barney up and told him to get his spotter on him and….he was the buck everyone had been looking for. He was 975 yards away. He was with a smaller forkie and they were moving downhill and south (to our left).
The plan was for Barney to stay put and keep eyes on the deer. I was to leave most of my gear up top. Take my rifle, range finder, and shooting sticks and head down to close some distance. I bailed off the top and worked my way down through the aspens as quietly and quickly as I could. The deer moved further south. I had glass on them at 750 yards and then 411 yards. Once at the 400 yard range, I sat down with my back against an aspen tree and put my rifle up on the sticks. My pack was under the buttstock. Solid. I was so hot and sweaty that I fogged up my binoculars. I was unable to make the transition from binos to rifle scope and find the deer. I was getting really frustrated by this point. I went from "he's a dead deer" to "welp that's it" in a few seconds. Barney comes on the radio "You gotta hurry up. He's further south and headed downhill and will be out of sight soon!". I hopped up and began to jog south through the aspens. I could see a clearing coming up and exited the aspens. I was standing in waist high bushes and began scanning the timber in the bottom below by the creek. Then….there he was. Standing broadside lat 258 yards looking up at me from a small clearing between 2 clumps of pines about 100 yards uphill from the creek bottom. In the span of about 10 seconds, I ranged him, set my turret, dropped my pack, moved over to a burned out pine tree stump which I grabbed with my right hand. I placed my rifle over my right wrist, put the crosshairs on the shoulder and pulled the trigger.
My heart was pounding and I was out of breath. I radioed Barney and asked how the shot sounded. "You shot? I didn't hear a shot" was his reply. Between the angle, direction, and the suppressor, Barney had no idea I'd taken the 258 yard shot. I asked him to get over above me and keep eyes out for any movement. We both watched the young forkie loitering around the area which gave me some optimism that my shot was true. I marked my location and waited about 10 more minutes before heading down to the ravine below. Once on the other side, I spent several long minutes trying to find the clearing where the buck was last seen. Then, I saw a piece of deadfall timber with several drops of blood and I began to feel relief! Just around the corner, there he was.
I radioed Barney "Big Buck Down!!" and he replied with a hearty congratulations and said he would gather my gear and bring the horses down. Might take him an hour. With that, I went over to the massive grey bodied buck and put my hands on him and felt a wave of emotion come over me. I broke down for a few minutes. The last 1.5 hours, the last 6 days of short nights, the years of anticipation all got to me.
Barney met me with the horses and gave me a big bear hug of congratulations. We took a few pictures then tag-teamed the quartering and caping. We loaded the pans on his horse with equal amounts of meat and packs. Put the head and cape on the horse's back. We then walked the horses out of the area working downhill and out to the main trail which took over 2 hours.
Once back at camp, I packed up all my gear, loaded my truck and headed for Cheyenne. From there I spent an evening with my parents in northern NM. Finally made it home Tuesday evening concluding a 3700-mile round trip and a hunt that I'll cherish to my final days.
While not official, I placed some tape on the buck and get a B&C gross of 197. I've been hunting Mule Deer for 20 years now. This was the hardest and most rewarding hunt of them all.
TX COWDOC
Headed Northwest!
Picked up a Terry Black's BBQ 6# brisket for BQ CO '67 in Mora County, NM.
Delicious!
Rocky Mountain High!
Billy (from Missouri) took the buck on the left on Day 1 of our hunt.
Incredible colors....
Breakfast in the cook tent @ 0415.
Barney and me
Stump where I took my shot
Looking back uphill where I took my shot
Deadfall with fresh blood!
Wyoming Region G Trophy Muley
Walk back to camp. Horses worked their tails off. I was obliged to let them have an easy trip back.
Arapahoe was an incredible horse.
Barney Helton and another successfully guided Wyoming Muley!
www.southpawprecision.com
Type 07 FFL / Class 2 SOT
Nightforce Optics Dealer
AGM Night Vision Dealer
Type 07 FFL / Class 2 SOT
Nightforce Optics Dealer
AGM Night Vision Dealer
