welcome to the Eastman's hunting Journal
well today's show we're going to be talking about antelope hunting but just not any antelope hunting
we're going to be talking with my lovely wife Bertie here and how she got hooked on antelope
hunting you know there was many years ago I was filling out my antelope permit and haphazardly
I asked her if she wanted to have one too and what was your reaction Bertie I just thought
it would be funny to say yes so I filled one out for her you know I wasn't going to argue
with her okay I'll take you antelope hunting and ever since then it's been great hasn't it
it's been really fun the first year we had some bumpy times there didn't we bumpy and Bertie
did a story in the Eastman's hunting journal on how to get your wife interested in maybe
going hunting with you and you know when we were hunting antelope uh there was a couple antelope
that I remember that we hunted that really come to mind that give us a lot of memories and and one of
them was that buck flare that was an antelope one that we did that video now why did you
like that buck we scouted and saw him uh before the season what what made you want to hunt that
buck well his third real he really flared out and he was heavy and he just had a lot of character
and we'd seen him a couple years
out there haven't we yeah we saw him for several years and and chased him around yeah and
had fun with him we never did get him Flair uh finally winter killed the second year uh which
you know he lived a full life there and passed his genes on but we we really had fun now this last
one which we're going to go on this hunt with Bertie in this segment today now that book was
unbelievable most people aren't going to believe that he actually was sitting there and sleeping
wasn't he he was it was just it was just crazy I thought how much closer can we get when before he
sees us he never did he just one time he looked up and went right back to sleep didn't he and I kept
telling Bertie well get a little closer so when he runs I can get you and him in the in the frame and
she just got closer and closer and closer well Bertie tell us uh maybe three of the the things
that if I wanted to take my wife hunting three things that she should he or I should know about
a woman's perspective on hunting well because this is so new I think that there are three things the
first one is make it really fun uh a short hunt where you see a lot of of terrain a lot of game
and just make it fun and that's where antelope comes in we saw a lot of antelope you see a lot
of country and like you said you don't want me to strap a 45 pound pack on your back and head you
out into the wilderness for seven days of grueling hunting and looking at you and say man isn't this
fun after all I'm trying to see if I like it not hate it uh what's another one oh your gun that was
another thing that you had trouble with we we uh fitted her with her gun and kind of tell the people
a little bit about that well it's really important that the gun fits you if it's too big you can't
find your side pattern in this scope and also if if the gun is too powerful it shoots and it hurts
your shoulder so you start to flinch or like I did start to close your eyes that's not good and
well we what we did was we cut your stock down so it fit when you took it to a gunsmith got it to
where it fit so you could you had a sight picture with a scope the next thing I did Bertie likes to
hunt prairie dogs also and when she'd shoot that 243 that's the caliber she uses she would lose what's
called her sight picture in other words the scope would jump up and she couldn't see so I
had a muzzle break put on on the barrel and it did two things number one it cut down the recoil so it
didn't hurt her and number two it also made it to where her sight picture in other words it wouldn't
jump in the air so it it took care of two problems and made your shooting a lot more pleasurable
didn't it it really did also another thing is to not do all of your shooting just for on targets
you need to do some prairie dog shooting that for a woman that's a big issue
now the third thing that you told me that we as husbands should do is be patient now tell us a
little bit about that okay well men from the time their little boys start shooting guns and playing
army or whatever well women don't and so when I started hunting this whole concept of a gun of
of all the things I had to remember there were just so many and Mike would be real impatient
with me because I couldn't just pop my gun up and shoot within seconds it'd take me several minutes
and it was really hard for him to learn and you know getting out there being being hunting we uh
I knew how to slip around and and how to look at animals without them really feeling like they're
being intimidated by us and it was it was hard for you at first to learn how to move around where
there's animals around and stuff like that but but the husband has to be patient so many guys think
well you know what's the matter with you don't you understand this and of course not to be like
you the husband going into the sewing room and she said go ahead and sew up your pants and watch and
you fumble around so you just got to be patient with them um we'll be back here in just a minute
stay tuned Bertie and I go out hunting antelope and
watch her pass up a dozen bucks looking for a 15 incher
you know my wife has a fondness for antelope particularly fawn Antelope and we spend a lot
of time out here in May and June when these antelope are fawning now this old doe here I
sat on her for two days hoping that she would fawn out and I could film it meantime I'd be checking
on her I'd go and find other fawns and film them I want you to look here I've got two does up on a
hillside looking down at me and what I've done is I found the fawn but we'll play a little game here
you see if you can see the fawn now I'm going to zoom back here those old does are watching me like
what are you doing down there by our fawn and can you see the fawn yet I'll zoom in a little closer
how about now how about right now see it right underneath the sagebrush right there there she
is just laying right there hiding just hide and look at her now let me set this next thing up for
you I was filming a fawn and I had a white T-shirt on and what happened was that the fawn's mother left
and the fawn looked up and saw my white T-shirt and here she comes right towards me see this
little fawn and went right between my legs and went right over here and laid down trying to hide
from me got right up on me and said oh you're not my mother now we have a little cloud cover right
here so it's it's a little peekaboo day we call it when we video him but the sun finally came out and
when I walked right up snuck right up there she is right there isn't she cute I took some stills of her
right here you notice I have that white t-shirt on I look just like the rump of her mother that's
why she keyed in on she keyed in on that white thinking I was her mother and come running right
towards me now watch this she'll get up and run to her mother and watch what happens time after
time I've watched these little fawns they'll run with her mother for maybe a hundred yards there
she goes and lay flat down right there she goes and hides right there in her mother drifts off
well I'm gonna leave him alone I'm not going to harass him I took some good photos meanwhile I go
back to our old doe and guess what I didn't get it she just fawned out it couldn't have been an
hour and a half ago look at these little fellows they're not more than an hour old look at them
and they're already up and walking around not real good but they are up and walking around
look at him he says oh there's my mother he keys right in on that white now she's going to lick him
and try to get the scent off of them and look at the one he says hey it's uh it's time to eat mom
he doesn't have to be shown where the groceries are in this outfit
you know this is great to be able to see this I don't know if you realize this but does after
their first year of adulthood will have double fawns every year after that and they're really
prolific out there and after a bad winter and have a die off of antelope they come back real quick
congratulations mother you got two real nice antelope that maybe someday will grow up and
be big nice trophy buck antelope congratulations gal you're doing a good job with them right there
stay tuned as my wife Bertie and I go out on public land in Wyoming and watch
her as she hunts a 15-inch trophy antelope you don't want to miss this hunt
birdie let's go on your hunt that you took that that buck was sleeping you know and we'll take
the folks with us and we'll go out there and in this particular hunt is in uh antelope too and
uh let's go and watch you slip up on uh 15-inch antelope okay all right this is a Eastmans journal and
my wife called the article hunting with a grouch it was uh several years ago now my wife loves to
hunt antelope in October why because it'll get they're gathering up just before the winter and
sometimes you can see as many as 200 antelope in a bunch and she loves hunting at this time because
there's plenty of action one thing to remember though you've got to know where these antelope will
come to winter they're not everywhere they come to places where they can get away from that wind
and that snow and right here along this lake is one of those areas and this is in in antelope too
her and I are hunting for a trophy antelope and we come up on these uh antelope there's
bucks and does here and you can see they're scattered out here they will winter right here
they winter together in a bunch to help fend off coyotes now we spot some some antelope here in a
little pocket there's about 25 of them they're away from the wind they're out of the wind and
you notice here the wind's blowing really hard we sneak right up here low call right up to where you
can look over heck they're no more than 300 yards away when we get up there on this little ridge
and where they're at there's no wind they're protected they know where to go when the wind
blows to get away from that wind here they are you can see the wind blowing but it isn't blowing down
there they're very protected well we didn't see a buck we wanted she's looking for something over 15
inches and just wasn't one in there that really was a good trophy buck there they go they got
our scent and off they go well that afternoon finds us in another spot and we look over and
there's about oh I'd say about 20 bucks in here in about 10 does and we're sitting here and we're
glassing all these different antelope then again we aren't being able to find the quality of buck
she's looking for sometimes you'll hunt two or three days or four days before you even see one
you're interested in but here in a minute we'll pop up and you can see she throws her gun up I
said just kind of look down there how far away is that Bertie says oh it's about 300 yards and
I said yep there's one there 14 inches see him laying right there but they're just not the quality of
bucks we're looking for and they haven't seen us yet uh we have the wind coming into our face
so they uh they don't smell us uh but they do kind of see us and here in a minute we'll get
up and walk off and of course they're going to take off and go right here they suddenly see
us and goodbye antelope here they go they're off and running they love to run and there they go
you know the next day we're out there hunting antelope and we find this buck out in a flat
all by himself this is after the rut and these bucks are kind of beat up here he is right here
and I told Bertie I says why don't you just kind of sneak up on him just walk up on him I'll get
you and him in the same uh picture here and it'll be a good cutaway when he jumps and runs but he
doesn't he just stands there you know this reminds me back several years ago when we hunted Flair
this kind of flashed back to that time and we'll go on that hunt with Bertie as she tries to get
get on Flair this is Flair right here we scouted him that year and here he is this is a Boone and
Crockett antelope probably scores 83 net uh he's got six and a half inch diggers probably he's
probably seven inches at the base here's Bertie we're pre-scouting the buck before the hunting
season we finally find Flair the last week of the hunting season like the 15th of October the rut's
all over and here he is he's laying there with a bunch of other bucks and does and Bertie and
I slip right up on the buck here you can see us a little crawling Flair doesn't even know we're
there he's actually sleeping uh having a whole month of rutting he's pretty pooped out right here
now I want to tell you this is a very good antelope this is a public land buck this isn't
on some ranch somewhere and I you notice I get Bertie all set up and she likes to use
those sticks to put her gun in for a rest I set it up for her right there and ole Flair they're about 350
yards away sleeping she likes using her 243 I get it kind of set up for her there and she says leave me
alone Mike I know what I'm doing I said okay okay aim right above his back Bertie oh geez you know
what happened folks I told her to aim above his back she thought I meant below his back and at
350 yards that bullet dropped and she missed him she was really disappointed and there goes flare
coming up watch my wife Bertie walk right up on a sleeping antelope he's over 15 inches tall
you don't want to miss this
well here we are again hunting this buck I told Bertie keep walking keep walking you notice
he's sleeping there he's got his head down in a minute he'll raise his head and look at Bertie and
just fall right back to sleep again and she's getting closer and closer there is raises his
head and looks right at her and then he lowers it and goes right back to sleep I said Bertie
that's a pretty good buck antelope he's over 15 she says yeah so she sits right down and
takes aim right here now watch her she's she takes a dead rest on her knees take your time
wow one shot way to go Bertie she hit him right in the heart
what do you think I knew I could do it I know you could too Bertie what a great antelope
well that's a nice antelope you got this year Bertie thanks you know people aren't going to
believe that we walked right up on him I know it's just like he was sitting there dozing away
I think he was sleeping you know it's after the rut and they're pretty uh docile and they're beat
up pretty bad and they're just trying to recoup before the winter and you made a heck of a good
shot on him didn't you yeah one shot that's the best part well that uh being able to come out
here and and hunt uh prairie dogs really helped doesn't it it really did a lot of practice in the
field this year that made a big difference I think Arizona is considered by many to be
the top trophy producing antelope state in the west now there's a couple things that Arizona
does that you should be aware of number one of course you're on a draw number two they give out
preference points so you want to put in every year year after year to build your preference
points up and if you notice here your odds aren't real good the reason is because Arizona doesn't
have a lot of trophy antelope areas but they do consistently take good quality trophy antelope so
look for Arizona as being one of the top producers of trophy antelope in the West
Wyoming has more antelope than it does people and let me tell you I've hunted antelope
in Wyoming since I was 14 years old and one of our Eastman's journals magazines I did a whole article
on trophy hunting antelope uh in the Eastman's Journal we have at least one section on antelope
a year that we devote half the magazine to because you know antelope hunting can be a great sport
one thing about antelope is you want to be able to hunt an area that produces good antelope
and also an area that has a lot of antelope and what comes to mind is Wyoming you know Wyoming has two
types of draws the expensive draw which cost uh twice as much sometimes is a better draw in
other words there's less people putting in for it now a lot of people ask me well what areas
produce good antelope in Wyoming well one of the key indicators is you want to find an area that
has a lot of public land and people tell me well if I do that there's going to be a lot of hunters
out there not necessarily a game official in Wyoming manage each area individually so when you pick an
area even if it's public land they only allow so many antelope to be taken and if you get the
Eastman's Journal we have the MRS in it that will give you good solid information on areas
that produce good quality antelope I want you to look at this next antelope I filmed this buck it
looks like the wind blew his horn over he's a non-typical there's a look at he's a freak
kind of a rare piece of footage here I hope you enjoyed today's show
and remember fair chase is the only way to hunt and take big game