Pronghorn hunting season opened on October 1 but I did not have a chance to go until October 11. I drew this buck tag as a second choice. Usually, pronghorn buck tags are not easy to get, and if the area has tags for the second or even worse the third choice applicants that usually means there is not a lot of public land or that access to public land is difficult. In this case, there was enough public land but access was challenging and the terrain was rough. Apart from that buck tag, I drew two more doe tags but in different areas. For one of those two areas, I knew it would be an easy hunt since that is one of the most populated pronghorn areas in Wyoming. For the second area, I was not sure, I did see antelopes there, but I have never hunted in that area. The idea was to go there and try to find a bigger buck. On the first day, I found does and yearling bucks but no adult bucks. The temperature was very high for that time of the year in Wyoming, mornings were in the high 30s while during the day it was over 80 degrees. Since the season started 10 days earlier, those “speed goats” were on high alert and easily spooked. It isn’t uncommon for them to spot a human at 1000 yards and fleeing the area.
For the second day, I decided to fill my easy tag in the morning and come back to look for a buck in the afternoon. I found a large herd of pronghorns soon after legal shooting light and started my stalk. My goal was to harvest one with a revolver. It happened that they noticed me, as I was crawling and finishing my stalk, and they moved to about 340 yards. Since I knew it would get hot very soon and I didn’t want to risk spoiling meat and, most importantly, the terrain wouldn’t allow for me to stalk within revolver range (150 yards and under) I decided to use my single shot pistol, Remington XP-100 in 6.5 creed, custom built by Chris Rhodes and BCG. I was in the prone already and had a good view of that herd. I got myself ready, picked a large doe and a 127-grain LRX bullet was on the way. I didn’t hear the meat report but I saw dust 50-60 yards behind the animal. “Did I miss?” I wondered… the whole herd ran and one of the does started slowing down and then collapsed about 30 yards from the spot she was standing when I shot her. Animal number one was down! The bullet hit her behind the right shoulder and exited under/ through her left shoulder breaking it in half. Monolithic bullet performed as it was expected, great wound channel and the animal expired quickly. I quartered her quickly and rushed to put her on ice.
In the afternoon I was back to glassing and looking for a nice buck. I was only able to see a few pronghorns and only a few of them were yearling bucks I was running out of ideas about where else to look and I was realizing that I can’t be picky on this hunt. The plan was to hunt it for 3 days and then move to another area to fill those tags. With all family and work obligations this year, my time for these hunts was limited.
On the third day of my hunt, I decided to go deep into that area and try to locate an adult buck. In the morning, I drove my SUV as far as I could and started hiking a little before the first light. That terrain was very different from the terrain I usually hunted pronghorns. That part of WY prairie has a lot of draws. I tried glassing those draws as I went. About 5 miles in I found a good location for glassing. I was seeing antelopes but mostly on private land or too far and again no adult bucks. I saw a lot of mule deer and a few coyotes. Unfortunately, the coyotes were too far as well, otherwise, that hunt would have turned into a coyote hunt very quickly. As for deer, the season was not opened yet. I began to think this tag was not going to be filled.
At around noon I found a group of antelopes, they were making their way towards me. And finally, there was an adult buck with them, nothing large but it was enough for me, considering it was the last day of my hunt there. It has been awhile since I had buck fever but when this group got within 150 yards of me it hit! I didn’t want to miss the opportunity but since I was shaking, the revolver was not an option. Injuring an animal is something I want even less than missing the opportunity. I used my XP100 again and got a loud meat report. The buck ran along with the rest of the herd and he collapsed after about 20 yards. It was hot and I rushed with taking photos and quartering the animal. I wanted to get to one of those draws with a north-facing rock side as soon as possible so I could take a break and try cooling down meat for an hour or so before I continued my hike out. When I started hiking, by pure accident I found the bullet in the dirt. 
Placing the meat on cold sandstones helped and I used the time to figure out the easiest route out. I decided to plan my hike through the shaded and cooler draws to help preserve the meat for the long hike out.
The next morning, I hit the road and soon after entering my next hunting area I located a decent herd of pronghorns and made a plan on how to get in revolver range. It took some time to go all around and get in position and I managed to miss. I watched animals move, especially that doe I shot at, she never gave any signs of being injured. They went over a quarter of a mile when I lost sight of them. I went to look for blood and after 20 mins I found nothing. Clean miss, nobody likes to miss but it is always good it was a clean miss. Since it was getting close to the end of the day I went to another location to look for a doe. All this time I was aware that it was the last day of deer season in that area and I was ready to give it a go if I find a legal deer there (any whitetail deer or antlered mule deer) and get in revolver range. For the evening hunt, I took my S&W 629 instead of the 44 mag BFR I used until then. Soon after hiking in I bumped a group of deer, looked real quick, and saw a spike, and after ranging it I went into prone and put the red dot of my Ultradot 30mm gen 2 behind his shoulder, cocked the gun, and slowly pressed the trigger allowing the gun to surprise me. The meat report was evident, the buck kicked and starter running, and he collapsed after 20-30 yards. The damage the Cutting Edge Raptor bullet made was perfect. Great exit wound and lungs were mashed. This is my longest revolver harvest, 150-155 yards.
In the morning, I was back to looking for my second pronghorn doe. I saw a herd soon after sunrise, about a mile from my glassing point, made a plan for my stalk, and went after them. When I got to that area the antelope had moved on. I started looking around and at the last moment, I spotted them right under me. I didn’t even realize that the slope was steeper in that section. The animals didn’t notice me but they were moving away. When I noticed them, they were in revolver range but I was not able to get stable even with a single shot. They slowly went from 130 yards away to over 500 yards away, way too far for my preference, especially if the prone position isn’t an option. I decided to wait for them to go behind the hill and then go after them. When I got there they were gone again but this time I guessed they weren’t far, probably again right under me. And there they were, coming from my right, under me, I was barely able to see their back. I moved forward enough to see the entire herd and set up my backpack upright to clear the sagebrush. My rest was not stable enough to shoot with a revolver at that distance (150ish yards again) and I decided to use my single shot, I waited for the animals to come in front of me so I could have the perfect broadside shot. I picked one doe and let 127 grain LRX fly for the third time that weekend. Again, the doe was down within 30 yards just like the previous antelope.
This were very active 5 days, a lot of hunting, a lot of animals harvested and even more lessons learned.
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3 responses to “Four animals taken in Five Days, Handgun Hunting Wyoming. by: Mladen Simovic”
Awesome shooting! Huge congrats!
Awesome hunt. I do miss that aspect of living in Wyoming.
Nice job –hunting and writing.