Southern Colorado Archery Antelope wrap-up

Wow! What a season we’ve had in Southern Colorado! Our pre-season scouting and planning had us looking good coming in to the Archery opener only to have 2+ inches of rain fall on the ranch just 2 weeks before opening day. Fortunately, some high temperatures and steady winds dried things out in a hurry and we started off the season with 2 nice bucks on the ground in the first 2 days. (Congrats to Ross and Jack).

The second week of the season started off just as hot with Thetis scoring BIG on her 1st ever archery Pronghorn her 1st day in camp. Lenny put another buck on the ground the following day. Not to be outdone, Thetis’s husband Tom punched his tag the last day of the hunt.

Rain threw a bit of a wrench into things the last week we were in the field; however, Jimmy (our only traditional hunter this year), had multiple opportunities at a few smaller bucks but never connected with the “one” he was looking for.

On behalf of Leon and myself, I would like to extend a big “THANK YOU” to all of our clients this season. It was truly a pleasure meeting and getting to know each and every one of you and we are both looking forward to sharing some time in the field with each of you in the coming years.

A big thanks also to our cooks…Gayle, Steph and Wendi…you gals did an AWESOME job!

-Jason

“We are so BUSTED,” whispered Wes, and a cow that was 40 yards away barked the warning and the herd went on alert. He said, “Shoot,” at the same time the cows cleared out of the shooting lane, and a check-list went off in my head:
Safety off…check.
Shot placement. Left/right…check.
Up/down…one-third up from the bottom…check.
Pull.
BANG!
I lost sight of the bull in the mayhem of the running herd and started worrying that I hadn’t made a good shot. But as soon as it cleared out, I saw the bull lying motionless on his side, and the release of adrenaline hit me like tidal wave. He was DOWN with one shot!
After more than 4 hours of watching the herd from only 200 yards away, I finally got one chance at the bull I had chosen to be “the one” . It was a great day and a great hunt!
… by Cherine

Pat and Nicole Stretch it to the limit, But make it happen!
Hunting for trophy deer spot and stalk with a muzzle loader is as challenging enough, but add in trying to capture in all on camera, almost impossible. After scouting in near prefect weather, Pat and Nicole decided to bring winter with them from Minnesota. The first three days of the season saw freezing rain, and bitter cold temperatures. On the third day of the season the weather did not stop us from a prefect stalk, most of it belly crawling through sandy creek bottoms, to an impressive 15 yards from a great 4×4 muley. Then with the camera rolling Nicole made the opportunity count, connecting with her first Mule Deer buck ever! Great job Nicole way to set your mule deer bar high from the start.

Trying not to be outdone by Nicole it was now all about Pat, Two big muleys, and the patience to make it all come together. Two straight days of being within 40 yards of great muleys only to watch them bound away, can try the patience of any hunter even someone that does it for a living. Each time we were left with the sinking feeling that we may never see these deer again, not to mention that time was also running out. Being so close without even getting a shot, makes every subsequent stalk that much more important. When the final day of the hunt rolled around that fact was not lost on any of us. After finding the better of the two bucks we had missed an opportunity on two days earlier, we planned a true forth-quarter stalk, one that was planned down to the last detail. For the first time in three days the big deer finally fallowed the script and ended up 95 yards from the end of Pat’s muzzleloader, and when he had a shot to take, he certainly made the shot count, stopping the huge muley with a single shot.
Congrats Pat and Nicole!!! and thanks for the memories, it is definitely a hunt I will not soon forget.
JEROME

Then Saturday morning, Oct. 10th, there he was, screaming his way up and down the mountain, running the show, and when he appeared in my spotting scope for several minutes I didn’t say anything from disbelief.

The stalk went well, the herd filed by us at 150 yards, never knew we were there. He was bugling through the fog and then he appeared and I whispered, “That’s the one - wait for him to clear.” He cleared and the smack of bullet and flesh was clear and crisp. Four more of those and he fell for the last time. We just sat and watched the confused herd filter up the ridge. One 6×6 lingered too long and my other hunter took the opportunity to fill his tag. We just sat some more - watching him materialize out of that fog was perfect. That strange, eternal, weird, no-words-for-it feeling that we get happened to me. I said thank you 100 times and we sat. Then we couldn’t stand it and we slid down the mountain to wrap our hands around him. What a stud……….we sat some more. My hunter then realized how big he was and shared some of the “WOW, he’s huge.” I couldn’t help but realize how badly I blew the score, thinking he would score much higher and not accounting for his short fronts - nice work, guide. Not sure that I cared though, yeah, I cared a little - too much pride - but there he was, the ghost of my archery season, the crux of my September and we got a gift and sat some more.

The science behind it was that the broadhead made a terrible turn and stayed on the same side it entered and slammed into the onside neck, backbone and shoulder tripod area, burying itself in the vertebrae. The onside lung was a strange yellow color and was definitely not right, but not deflated either. I think to all it is a great lesson in not acting like we know what happened until we know what happened.

I am thankful to know now. That was grinding pretty heavy inside for over a month, closure is so healthy, and so welcome when it comes to the world of bowhunting. My thanks to Pat for letting me tag along the through the saga - sorry I complained through so much of it.
Later, Wes

As you can see, it was a marathon of successes this week. Rifle antelope season opened one week ago today, and by Wednesday, all hunters had headed home happy. We love that as much as you do!

Our friend Ricardo from Culiacan, Mexico, started it all off Saturday morning. Ricardo’s big game quests took him to Africa and Canada this year, so we were glad to welcome him back to Colorado for his first antelope! Another long-time friend from Kansas, Jason, and his newlywed wife Nicole, joined Ricardo along with guide Rob and were quick to harvest their beautiful buck that first morning as well. Thanks for choosing us for your first guided hunt together, Jason and Nicole!

Buddies from Nebraska and Iowa, Jason and Mike hit it right off with guide Steve, and after a fun weekend we’re looking forward to seeing them plus more Nebraskan/Iowans again next year!

We enjoyed the good company of this trio from Georgia as they hunted an eastern Plains trophy unit with Wes. Congrats to Richard on his unusual, wide shooter, to Clay on taking a buck with a bow from a blind in rifle season!, and to Austin for hunting hard and making it happen in tough conditions.

And then, waayyyy out east with guide Casey, Mike, joined by his family from Oklahoma, seized the day and harvested this long, beautiful buck. Later, Wes teamed up with Colorado local Phil and they hunted several great bucks together. Thanks for joining us for the ride, Mike and Phil!

Meanwhile down in south central Colorado, Leon was back from New York for his third antelope buck with Atkinson Expeditions. And finally, to end the season on a perfect note, Jeff got his second 15″ buck of the season, a sweet complement to the Wyoming stud he harvested just days earlier.

I’m still waiting on pictures for Bill and Wayne and MarySue - thanks for coming to Colorado guys! Also, congrats are in order for successful goat hunter Chock Chapple who brought his young son along for a first-time experience of the fun of hunting!

With rifle antelope season under wraps and 12″ of snow on the ground here in Colorado for the rifle elk opener, you can bet our guides and hunters are stoked! It’s bound to be a good season … 300 head of elk and screaming bulls in the snow … we’ll keep you posted!

With three preference points for Wyoming antelope in my pocket my ambition was to harvest a Boone and Crockett buck. Last year I talked to Wes about how to possibly do this and he informed me of a new property he had leased in central Wyoming and told me it would be a great place to use my preference points to fulfill my quest. Knowing how hard Wes works to exceed hunters’ goals and the trust I have in him I applied for my tag. After the results came out this past spring I checked to see if I drew and I did. The hunt was on!!!

I rode to Wyoming with Wes the day before the rifle opener to find our buck. We scouted out some real good bucks but couldn’t find our book buck. The next day we hunted hard and located several bucks that were bordering on 80 inches. We passed on many great looking bucks that were borderline shooters. We even stalked a couple bucks to get a better look but after we got close we decided to pass. We knew if we were patient we would find a shooter. The second day was just like the first. We covered about 500 miles and spotted tons of great bucks but not the Boone and Crockett buck we were looking for. Thinking a shooter might move in due to the heavy rut activity, we decided to give it a couple of days and come back a little later.

A week later we were back in Wyoming hunting hard. We found a buck with at least six inch cutters and great mass but decided to pass again because he wasn’t long enough. We checked out a group of does in the lower alfalfa field on the property and found our buck. He was long and had great mass and good cutters. Seeing how hard the rut was kicking in we decided to look around a little longer before we put on a stalk to harvest this buck. After looking around and even looking at the big cutter buck we discussed our options. Wes and I both agreed that we had a great buck to harvest so we went back to find him. We found him fairly quickly and the sneak was on. We got to within 125 yards and set up. I asked Wes if he had him on film and he said yeah. About four seconds later my .257 Weatherby barked and my first antelope was on the ground. As a hunter it was important to me to make a quick and humane kill and I did. We walked up to our buck and he got bigger and bigger. We were pumped!!!

We got the tape out to score this great buck and had Rachelle add up the score. After Wes and I guessed how big he was, Rachelle told us he scored 84 5/8 inches. Wes and I slapped hands and were thrilled knowing how hard it was to kill a Boone and Crockett animal and realizing we just did it. We had a goal in mind and we accomplished our goal. It was a great hunt because I am the type of hunter that wants to hunt hard and then kill a big one. It worked out just like I hoped. Finally I would like to thank Wes for working as hard as he does to help his friend and fellow hunter fulfill his goal. Thanks Wes!!!!

Story by Jeff Rossiter