G
Guest
Guest
Well, Gentleman we have returned very tired but very happy if I do say so myself.
PICS will follow.... Give us a few days to get caught up....
Myself, Chris, my buddy Steve with help from his buddy Skip ... turned 10 empty Antelope Buck tags into 10 filled Antelope buck tags! We did this in 4 days!
Since we had a few hunters from this board on the hunt I will let them tell their own stories.
We also had 4 Mulie tags and killed two very respectable bucks, with a bit more time I have no doubt there would have been 4 mulies taken.
I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Rimfire, JWP475, and the rest of you guys.. ( you know who you are...!! )
Also, a personal thanks to Chris Matthews... I know this was dream come true for you Chris, well me too... I have always wanted to make a TV show. You deserve all the publicity you get from these 3 shows. You are truly a talented smith that puts his heart into each rifle built. I know this and now so does everyone one on our hunt that used rifles built by you. Let me say I feel we have our foot in the door and ya know what buddy. The producer thinks we have our $&%t together and is already talking about more TV shows for mulies and Elk.
Thank you Chris! ( Clip)
The rifles we had on hand to use were...
3-7mmWSM's , 260 Rem, 223WSSM, 300RUM
Since I started the post I'll tell you about my goat and mulie adventure...
This was Rimfires hunt...
Midnight on the 5th after work I was packing for Wyoming. Up four hour later and off the the airport, 11:30am I arrived in Wyoming. Ric Horst and Steve met me at the airport and less than an hour later I was at the hotel and changed. Off to the hunting area to meet Chris Matthews. Less than two hours later I was belly down in the dirt low crawling up along side Chris glassing a bedded doe on the next hill at 370 yards. A quick dial up and Ric and Chris got front row seats when her nose hit the dirt. When I got to her my first words were OH SH..! The .30 175 SMK exited with most of her belongings Day one over.
Day two up at 5:30 and off to the area we were hunting bucks. At 9:30am we were glassing some goats when a nice one came out of no where. As Chris alerted us the goat kicked it in overdrive. Another voice (Steve/Ric?) yelled get your gun. I don't know much about goats but I figured it out quick! Seconds later I was on my belly again with Chris along side calling out yardage. As the goat approached 550 yards and a drop off it stopped and looked back, a few more clicks and the SMK was off and my hunt was over. The Goat went a touch over 15", and to make things better it was on video. Ric caught great trace and I hope the video did also. Ric, Chris,and Steve were awesome! as where the other hunters. It was a great time and anoter great buck was taken that day. I'll let the shooter tell that story. I cant wait to hear from the rest of the guys and see how things went after I left.
Oh yeah the airline lost my checked bag and my LSR 300WSM!!! after a day of searching they were loacated. My gun and luggage have been to the west coast and more states than I have. A delivery service just dropped them off ten minutes ago. Hope to have pics soon.
Derek ... man you don't give yourself enough credit ... here's the real story...
Derek almost didn't make it. He's building a new house for his lovely wife. and as imagined. He has enormous stresses and almost didn't make the hunt ... well after some convincing and a reality check by Mr. Matthews, Derek agreed to come. and we are all glad he did!
As promised we had him in the dirt and stalking the first goat the day he got there...but as a lot of you seasoned LR hunters know. It isn't easy the first time out ... well it is for this gentleman! You would have thought he had been hunting LR all his life... if he was nervous you couldn't tell. He simply took all the information we fed him dialed his dope and precisely placed a bullet into his first LR Antelope!
On his second hunt he again showed very little nervousness as the excitement meter pegged when a potential B&C goat literally appeared from nowhere with his jets in overdrive! Now keep in mind these things run at over 60 mph when they need to... and this one was doing at least 58 mph! ( LOL ) as this blur passed in front t of me all I could think was, Derek needs his rifle NOW! I yelled to Derek get your gun! Chris was already in the dirt getting ranges. I grabbed the $4000 dollar camera like it was a disposable Walmart one. Nick our producer was a bit flustered by this. I honestly didn't care. This goat had all the making of B&C and at beyond normal ranges. I wasn't going to miss it! I got set up behind Derek and Chris as I heard Chris barking ranges to Derek as he prepared. I don't remember the distances' but I do remember the goat putting A LOT of real-estate between us and in an awful hurry! I checked on Derek and saw him calmly dialing dope. I wondered if he realized the potential of this goat? All of this took place in a matter of 10 seconds. With my final words of "camera is rolling" Chris barked the final range and I saw Derek ( what seemed like routine to him ) make a few minor corrections on his dope and then I heard Chris say "send it" from the corner of my right eye saw the tell tail sign, bullet wash! As the arc lengthened, I could easily tell the wind call was on the money. A quick forward check of the anticipated path told me moments before that Derek's shot was on the money. Milliseconds later the distinguishable sound of contact and the images of a majestic buck crumbling told me Derek was just that good!
Man this man can shoot. Later in the week one of the other hunters took Derek out to some sand stone rocks and called out various rocks at various distances and Derek never missed! Well, beyond 1K.
I was the last one to fill my buck tag...on purpose. I was so intent on making sure that we had all the footage we needed for the TV program that I waited until the last day to make my mark on the show. Although we don't have footage of it (the camera was with our host right where it should have been)! I saw several bucks off in the distance and a quick check of the maturity of these bucks told me there was one unique one in the group. Steve and I set off on a long walk/sneak for a closer look. When we approached 900 yards I saw that there was one buck that had almost full hooks up top and I was intrigued by this. At that moment I made my decision that this was my intended target. As the group milled around feeding I prepared myself for a tough shot in a 10 mph crosswind. The group we were watching became a bit nervous and split into several smaller groups. It just so happened that the buck I was after decided to feed and walk a bit closer. This was a good but bad thing as the ranges were ever changing, so was my dope. For the next 25 min. Steve and I ranged and re-ranged this buck several hundred times. Now this may appear easy but we were totally exposed in the middle of a HUGE grass flat with only 6" of grass as cover! The buck made a few trots off in the direction of the big group...this was bad. He was beyond my comfort zone of 900 yards now. The decision was mad to literally sniper crawl to a closer range. After all we are in the middle of about 4 square miles of grass with only small rolling hills of a few feet as cover. For the next 30 min. with our faces in the dirt we inched our way to within 810 yards. Let me say this. I can tell you were just about where every prickly pear cactus is in south central Wyoming. Matter of fact I brought several pieces of them back to Cody with me!
At 810 yards I said this is it we shoot from here or we don't shoot at all. Steve got set up with his chin in the dirt. We had my Steiner Big Eyes and the new Swaro laser range finder so I knew we couldn't do better for his optics. I set up twin 1, thoughts of weeks of shooting and practice made me wonder if all the information I had was right. Self doubt in hard on ya when it is crunch time. Extending the bipod placing the rear bag I snuggled into the check weld I have come to be familiar with. This rifle Chris built just plain fits. There was no mistake of my positioning, it was like putting n your favorite pair of old boots they just plain fit.
I peered through the Nikon 4-16 tactical and saw the buck the first time up close in the past 2 hours. A quick check of his maturity and mass made me sure he was the one. I slowly chambered a round. Steve whispered the yardage's. The buck is at 810, the sage behind him is 930, the PD mount to his right is 785, the PD mound in front of him is 798. I dial in 17MOA and 3.5MOA of left wind. Steve said "send it when you are ready." Deep breath, exhale... deep breath, exhale... "wait!" Steve said, at the moment I saw the buck take a trot quartering to my left. 780, 775, 760, 740, 730, 710, closer he came. Checking and rechecking, redialing my dope every other second. The stress level is building. 700, 690, 685, 680, 670, 665... Steve was continually ranging and barking in a whisper his ever-changing ranges.
As I watched the buck now became calm again. Browsing on prairie grass again. "Steve, range him again I whispered." 660, 665, 662, 659, 659, 658, 663. "Call it 660 I whispered?" "Affirmative, Steve said!" Checking my dope, I dialed in 12.5MOA and 3MOA of left wind. racing through my mind was all the calculations I made over the past weeks. Was I right? I said to myself. Then I heard the voice of reason. I heard Chris saying. "660 yards you dumb *** that's a chip shot with that rifle. You know that, you idiot!" "I'm going hot, I said" "Roger that, Steve said."deep breath ... exhale, deep breath...exhale. Deep breath...half out. The trigger engaged, the pin dropped. with a small puff of white smoke in just visible in the Nikon, the 162 grain Amax was now in supersonic flight for.78 seconds. With a heavy loud "whaaap!!!!" I saw the bullet sink into the lower chest of this tremendous buck not more than an 1" from my intended aiming point. I knew it was over. With one great leap and a kick of the legs this majestic Antelope slid face first into a clump of sage. The on set of a ton of emotions hit me in waves. As we approached the buck I new he was extraordinary, big, heavy horned with great mass! The tops make a full curl like fishhooks 5 1/2" cutters and a total length of just over 15" when he dries we'll see how close I came. As I admired my buck the wave of sadness hits, like I think it does for most hunters who truly appreciate and respect the animals they hunt. I thank the spirits of this truly amazing creature and shed a tear. My hunt is a success! One more chapter is complete in my book of life.
Thank you Chris Matthews.
More stories to follow... as guys get home and back into the swing of things.
PICS will follow.... Give us a few days to get caught up....
Myself, Chris, my buddy Steve with help from his buddy Skip ... turned 10 empty Antelope Buck tags into 10 filled Antelope buck tags! We did this in 4 days!
Since we had a few hunters from this board on the hunt I will let them tell their own stories.
We also had 4 Mulie tags and killed two very respectable bucks, with a bit more time I have no doubt there would have been 4 mulies taken.
I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Rimfire, JWP475, and the rest of you guys.. ( you know who you are...!! )
Also, a personal thanks to Chris Matthews... I know this was dream come true for you Chris, well me too... I have always wanted to make a TV show. You deserve all the publicity you get from these 3 shows. You are truly a talented smith that puts his heart into each rifle built. I know this and now so does everyone one on our hunt that used rifles built by you. Let me say I feel we have our foot in the door and ya know what buddy. The producer thinks we have our $&%t together and is already talking about more TV shows for mulies and Elk.
Thank you Chris! ( Clip)
The rifles we had on hand to use were...
3-7mmWSM's , 260 Rem, 223WSSM, 300RUM
Since I started the post I'll tell you about my goat and mulie adventure...
This was Rimfires hunt...
Midnight on the 5th after work I was packing for Wyoming. Up four hour later and off the the airport, 11:30am I arrived in Wyoming. Ric Horst and Steve met me at the airport and less than an hour later I was at the hotel and changed. Off to the hunting area to meet Chris Matthews. Less than two hours later I was belly down in the dirt low crawling up along side Chris glassing a bedded doe on the next hill at 370 yards. A quick dial up and Ric and Chris got front row seats when her nose hit the dirt. When I got to her my first words were OH SH..! The .30 175 SMK exited with most of her belongings Day one over.
Day two up at 5:30 and off to the area we were hunting bucks. At 9:30am we were glassing some goats when a nice one came out of no where. As Chris alerted us the goat kicked it in overdrive. Another voice (Steve/Ric?) yelled get your gun. I don't know much about goats but I figured it out quick! Seconds later I was on my belly again with Chris along side calling out yardage. As the goat approached 550 yards and a drop off it stopped and looked back, a few more clicks and the SMK was off and my hunt was over. The Goat went a touch over 15", and to make things better it was on video. Ric caught great trace and I hope the video did also. Ric, Chris,and Steve were awesome! as where the other hunters. It was a great time and anoter great buck was taken that day. I'll let the shooter tell that story. I cant wait to hear from the rest of the guys and see how things went after I left.
Oh yeah the airline lost my checked bag and my LSR 300WSM!!! after a day of searching they were loacated. My gun and luggage have been to the west coast and more states than I have. A delivery service just dropped them off ten minutes ago. Hope to have pics soon.
Derek ... man you don't give yourself enough credit ... here's the real story...
Derek almost didn't make it. He's building a new house for his lovely wife. and as imagined. He has enormous stresses and almost didn't make the hunt ... well after some convincing and a reality check by Mr. Matthews, Derek agreed to come. and we are all glad he did!
As promised we had him in the dirt and stalking the first goat the day he got there...but as a lot of you seasoned LR hunters know. It isn't easy the first time out ... well it is for this gentleman! You would have thought he had been hunting LR all his life... if he was nervous you couldn't tell. He simply took all the information we fed him dialed his dope and precisely placed a bullet into his first LR Antelope!
On his second hunt he again showed very little nervousness as the excitement meter pegged when a potential B&C goat literally appeared from nowhere with his jets in overdrive! Now keep in mind these things run at over 60 mph when they need to... and this one was doing at least 58 mph! ( LOL ) as this blur passed in front t of me all I could think was, Derek needs his rifle NOW! I yelled to Derek get your gun! Chris was already in the dirt getting ranges. I grabbed the $4000 dollar camera like it was a disposable Walmart one. Nick our producer was a bit flustered by this. I honestly didn't care. This goat had all the making of B&C and at beyond normal ranges. I wasn't going to miss it! I got set up behind Derek and Chris as I heard Chris barking ranges to Derek as he prepared. I don't remember the distances' but I do remember the goat putting A LOT of real-estate between us and in an awful hurry! I checked on Derek and saw him calmly dialing dope. I wondered if he realized the potential of this goat? All of this took place in a matter of 10 seconds. With my final words of "camera is rolling" Chris barked the final range and I saw Derek ( what seemed like routine to him ) make a few minor corrections on his dope and then I heard Chris say "send it" from the corner of my right eye saw the tell tail sign, bullet wash! As the arc lengthened, I could easily tell the wind call was on the money. A quick forward check of the anticipated path told me moments before that Derek's shot was on the money. Milliseconds later the distinguishable sound of contact and the images of a majestic buck crumbling told me Derek was just that good!
Man this man can shoot. Later in the week one of the other hunters took Derek out to some sand stone rocks and called out various rocks at various distances and Derek never missed! Well, beyond 1K.
I was the last one to fill my buck tag...on purpose. I was so intent on making sure that we had all the footage we needed for the TV program that I waited until the last day to make my mark on the show. Although we don't have footage of it (the camera was with our host right where it should have been)! I saw several bucks off in the distance and a quick check of the maturity of these bucks told me there was one unique one in the group. Steve and I set off on a long walk/sneak for a closer look. When we approached 900 yards I saw that there was one buck that had almost full hooks up top and I was intrigued by this. At that moment I made my decision that this was my intended target. As the group milled around feeding I prepared myself for a tough shot in a 10 mph crosswind. The group we were watching became a bit nervous and split into several smaller groups. It just so happened that the buck I was after decided to feed and walk a bit closer. This was a good but bad thing as the ranges were ever changing, so was my dope. For the next 25 min. Steve and I ranged and re-ranged this buck several hundred times. Now this may appear easy but we were totally exposed in the middle of a HUGE grass flat with only 6" of grass as cover! The buck made a few trots off in the direction of the big group...this was bad. He was beyond my comfort zone of 900 yards now. The decision was mad to literally sniper crawl to a closer range. After all we are in the middle of about 4 square miles of grass with only small rolling hills of a few feet as cover. For the next 30 min. with our faces in the dirt we inched our way to within 810 yards. Let me say this. I can tell you were just about where every prickly pear cactus is in south central Wyoming. Matter of fact I brought several pieces of them back to Cody with me!
At 810 yards I said this is it we shoot from here or we don't shoot at all. Steve got set up with his chin in the dirt. We had my Steiner Big Eyes and the new Swaro laser range finder so I knew we couldn't do better for his optics. I set up twin 1, thoughts of weeks of shooting and practice made me wonder if all the information I had was right. Self doubt in hard on ya when it is crunch time. Extending the bipod placing the rear bag I snuggled into the check weld I have come to be familiar with. This rifle Chris built just plain fits. There was no mistake of my positioning, it was like putting n your favorite pair of old boots they just plain fit.
I peered through the Nikon 4-16 tactical and saw the buck the first time up close in the past 2 hours. A quick check of his maturity and mass made me sure he was the one. I slowly chambered a round. Steve whispered the yardage's. The buck is at 810, the sage behind him is 930, the PD mount to his right is 785, the PD mound in front of him is 798. I dial in 17MOA and 3.5MOA of left wind. Steve said "send it when you are ready." Deep breath, exhale... deep breath, exhale... "wait!" Steve said, at the moment I saw the buck take a trot quartering to my left. 780, 775, 760, 740, 730, 710, closer he came. Checking and rechecking, redialing my dope every other second. The stress level is building. 700, 690, 685, 680, 670, 665... Steve was continually ranging and barking in a whisper his ever-changing ranges.
As I watched the buck now became calm again. Browsing on prairie grass again. "Steve, range him again I whispered." 660, 665, 662, 659, 659, 658, 663. "Call it 660 I whispered?" "Affirmative, Steve said!" Checking my dope, I dialed in 12.5MOA and 3MOA of left wind. racing through my mind was all the calculations I made over the past weeks. Was I right? I said to myself. Then I heard the voice of reason. I heard Chris saying. "660 yards you dumb *** that's a chip shot with that rifle. You know that, you idiot!" "I'm going hot, I said" "Roger that, Steve said."deep breath ... exhale, deep breath...exhale. Deep breath...half out. The trigger engaged, the pin dropped. with a small puff of white smoke in just visible in the Nikon, the 162 grain Amax was now in supersonic flight for.78 seconds. With a heavy loud "whaaap!!!!" I saw the bullet sink into the lower chest of this tremendous buck not more than an 1" from my intended aiming point. I knew it was over. With one great leap and a kick of the legs this majestic Antelope slid face first into a clump of sage. The on set of a ton of emotions hit me in waves. As we approached the buck I new he was extraordinary, big, heavy horned with great mass! The tops make a full curl like fishhooks 5 1/2" cutters and a total length of just over 15" when he dries we'll see how close I came. As I admired my buck the wave of sadness hits, like I think it does for most hunters who truly appreciate and respect the animals they hunt. I thank the spirits of this truly amazing creature and shed a tear. My hunt is a success! One more chapter is complete in my book of life.
Thank you Chris Matthews.
More stories to follow... as guys get home and back into the swing of things.
