hi I'm Mike and today we wrap up hunting season well for this group of hunters
hopefully as I get a chance to go out and do a little hunting with them so
today we're gonna join Jeff our mechanic and we're gonna figure out if he's a
better mechanic or a better hunter on our wyoming life
welcome back and thanks for joining us once again on our wyoming life as we
continue to explore the ranch life and escape the ordinary this is my buddy
Jeff here you may know him as a mechanic but honestly he came out here to hunt I
think well today we get a chance to go out with Jeff and look at the hunting
prowess that I've been hearing about for the last week so we're gonna give him a
chance to show his chops but first let's talk a little bit about what you bring
with you to hunt antelope here in Northeast Wyoming what what equipment is
required yeah there's some pretty basic stuff that you got to have first of all
you got to have a tag so that's step one that's get your tag yeah so what what is
the rest of your stuff that you saw the rest of the stuff is also important to
my rifle here is a is a Ruger model 77 chambered in 270 Winchester it it'll
shoot there's four hundred yards really really accurately then I got a pair of
binoculars that I can that I can put up and look for you know almost a thousand
yards I also have a laser rangefinder so when I get when I get out there I can
put it on the put it on the antelope push a little button on the top here and
then it will tell me how far away it is so sometimes hunts are long and
drawn-out sometimes yes and occasionally they're not and this morning we're
actually pretty lucky because we have a small herd of antelope that are
literally only a few hundred yards away from us as we stand here yeah now that's
almost in your front yard yeah exactly so and we're probably gonna go to my
back yard to find out where right where they're at and what they're doing so
we're gonna head over there and take a look and we'll we'll see if we can get
you wrapped up today excellent alright let's talk about safety thing really
quick what are the rigs on orange for hunting yeah you have to have in Wyoming
you have to have the amount of the amount of orange that just happens to be
this cat and it's got to be on top of your head at all times when you're out
so that is so that is you can be seen by other hunters because the last thing you
want to do is to shoot one of your buddies or even somebody that you don't
know in Wyoming we call that pulling a Chaney
hahaha exactly we also choose to wear our right orange shirts because it does
make it a lot safer I can see that I can see the Hat from you know of two or
three hundred yards I can see the shirt for a thousand yards mhm and then it's
got a really nice logo on the back here saying pronghorn posse and that's your
group of samsara and that's our group of six alright
yeah well today I'm part of that group we're gonna go out and and see how this
whole thing works cool let's do it let's do it
our first stop is literally in my backyard there's a herd of a few
pronghorn antelope only a couple hundred yards away
these doz are bedded down and although it's tempting to take a shot I'm sure
Jeff decides that it's not the most sporting way to end his season so it's
off to the Gator and down the road to make the hunt just a little bit more
challenging yeah when they're sitting like that it's just not sporting the
shoot and while they're sitting if they if they just stood up either taking them
right then because then at least they got a chance to run right but sitting on
the ground and everything like that that's just not it's not very fair I
myself have never been much of a hunter when people ask me why I don't hunt much
I tell them it's because I have freezers full of beef but in reality I really
just don't have the time hunting season for us is an extremely busy time on the
ranch we're moving cows this month we'll be sorting and selling calves
preg checking and just getting ready for winter if I had time to hunt I'm
right but it's almost more fun to live through the hunters that visit the ranch
and today marks the very first time that I've actually accompanied one for a hunt
you want to know why I don't hunt my own land No
because this is like being at work I really feel like I should be like
checking fencers like hope there's defense I gotta fix
that these bitches yeah you know that make that makes perfect sense
I hunted some as a kid but one thing I learned that surprised me about hunters
in general is that it's not always about the hunt or the kill there's a lot more
to it than that the opportunity to spend time with family to make new friends
with Mike and Aaron we do it because we're in the outdoors in the wild and
it's a tradition in our family has you know passed down to us and something
that I want to pass on to my grandchild
as Jeff and I continued through the ranch it's not long until we find more
pronghorn and Jeff can begin moving in closer and closer
pronghorn well not an actual antelope are known as American antelope pronghorn
antelope or simply antelope because they closely resemble the antelope of Africa
and Asia pronghorn were one of the many species
of animals that were discovered by the Lewis and Clark expedition z-- who found
them in what is now South Dakota their territory extends from Alberta Canada to
the Midwest as far south as Mexico and west into California the pronghorns eyes
are on the side of its head and they have almost a 360-degree field of view
they have a pretty good sense of smell but they rely on their vision for
protection and it's exactly the reason that they gather and live on the Great
Plains there isn't much out here to block their
view and very little for predators to hide behind and once a pronghorn catches
sight of a threat they are gone the pronghorn is the fastest land mammal
in the Western Hemisphere and it can run at speeds of over 55 miles per hour or
almost 90 kilometers per hour and once they start running they won't stop until
they're out of sight
this makes hunting them an extremely tricky task and when Jeff catches sight
of his next view high up on the hill he begins a long and slow trek to get
within shooting distance starting from over five hundred yards away Jeff moves
up through the low areas of the pasture creeping along and trying to stay on a
site until they can get to the perfect spot and distance eventually he gets
bring wants to be with a distance about 320 yards between him and the pronghorn
nice shot my friend that's why we hunt that wasn't easy I put my hand on one of
them damn cactus I was crawl and I stuck my hand right in the middle of a patch
of crosswind really right in the pumper 350 yards with a little bit of a
crosswind I waited until the wind she's just standing there with her sight to me
like that and it's like I saw the wind drop a little bit and it's like job and
it's like all right baby I let it fly I heard the thump and it's like I got her
thank you thank you
thank you for feeding my family so with that another hunting seat hunting
seasons in the books you've got your last year last antelope how do you feel
I feel great great it feels good to have a real
successful hunt and to close the deal out here with everybody getting all
their tags folks and everybody get in a nice Korres life no sponsorship there
but there could be possibly thank you very much for letting us hunt here like
we appreciate it you letting us do that I would kiss you but you still have
sight
thanks for joining us today we still a lot more coming up from hunting season
as I think we are gonna go and what the hell is wrong with you we are gonna go
and we are going to do something that we usually do every single year and that is
destroy this hat which I should put back on and this hat will be going here we
will have that video for you on Tuesday so be sure to subscribe make sure you
follow us as we explore the ranch life and escape the ordinary and have a beer
thanks a lot have a great week we'll see you next time
on our Wyoming life
job done
you