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On September 3, I loaded all the essentials into my truck and hit the highway for Wyoming. I was on my way to a 6-day antelope hunt near Gillette, an event which I had been excited about for several months. In mid afternoon on the second day of driving, I finally exited Montana and entered The Cowboy State.

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The eastern part of the state is pretty much wide open, with relatively flat land truncated by low hills in some locations. Trees are scarce and we joked that this one was the only tree in the county - almost true. The antelope had a clear view of any disturbances, such as hunters trying stalk after stalk.

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For the first two days, all the bucks were generally in bachelor groups of from 4 to 20 individuals. This bunch had a couple nice, mature bucks in it but I couldn't get any closer than 100 yards. On day three, the bucks suddenly separated and began gathering personal harems, usually of 6 or fewer does. By day four, all the collecting seemed to be done. The dominant bucks had their little entourages and the unsuccessful boys were sulking and spying individually from various hilltops.

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We, too, used the hills to our advantage. Here, my hunting buddy does some serious scouting. There was actually an eagle's nest on this dome.

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Having spent some time both in a waterhole blind and in making numerous unsuccessful stalks, I finally managed to get within range of this guy on day three. He was with 3 does and was paying attention to them as I made my approach. After the shot, he labored only about 50 yards before going down. I still had 3 more days to hunt for a doe, but all the many stalking attempts were unsuccessful.

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Of course, once I had shot my buck, I had several good opportunities at others, had I been allowed more than one. This guy put on quite a show at only 25 yards from me. He had lost out on the doe gathering but was determined to show he was, nonetheless, tough. He raked the sagebrush over vigorously and spent much time rubbing his preorbital scent glands on the vegetation.

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And so the hunt came to a very satisfactory conclusion and we drifted off into the sunset. Actually, my hunting buddy is very handy with a camera and he took many good shots. Here, we took a bit of time out one evening to play around with the last sun rays of the day.

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Of all the big game animals I've hunted, I have to say that antelope are the most fun. In the wide open country, you are seeing animals all day and are constantly trying to figure out a strategy as to how you can get close. Just as soon as one stalk is blown, you're on to another bunch and attempting to execute a new plan. I highly recommend to anyone that they go antelope hunting at least once, if at all possible. And by the way - the meat is second to none.

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