Wifes Wyoming hunt

Rackmastr · Sep 30, 2022

Hey all

Thought I'd post up a few pics and a bit of a story to track our hunt. Have had some great members here help us with unit choice and some research. Great place to ask a question and have really enjoyed the conversation along the way!!

Took a lot of figuring to pick a zone, after building points for so long. We made a choice and rolled the dice! We drove 14 hours to get down to Rock Springs on the 28th. Weather forecast looked crappy for mud and rain so we hit it hard on the 29th hoping to cover ground before any serious amounts of rain came.

We probably looked at 50-70 bucks in the first day, including a buck I posted on the 'unit 57' thread that gave us a bit of pause seeing him so early in the hunt.

Also ran into an absolutely great guy who we had a chat with. He gave us a bit of intel on the zone and what he'd been seeing. Truly great guy.

Few pics from the first day....

Rackmastr · Sep 30, 2022

Few more.....

LIK2HNT · Sep 30, 2022

Looks like fun. Hope to be in 92 soon if my son can get off work

Gunnihunter · Sep 30, 2022

Looks like fun. Interesting gate, I haven’t seen that one before.

Homer · Sep 30, 2022

Gunnihunter said:
Looks like fun. Interesting gate, I haven’t seen that one before.

interesting gate with no fence on either side......

Rackmastr · Sep 30, 2022

Today we slept in. It rained quite a bit last night and I knew the roads would be hell. We ran into 2 great guys in the parking lot of the hotel and chatted for a while. They'd killed two really nice bucks Ina neighboring zone so we looked them over as well.

We got out mid-morning, which was still mud morning on most roads haha. After tooling down one spot with no luck, I decided we had better go drive an easier spot and play it safe. Also wanted to check a spot that a buck we were told about was hanging out. I didn't figure he would have made it to day 9 of the season but it was a nice firm road so we decided to play it safe and smart.

Spotted this guy late morning

Rackmastr · Sep 30, 2022

This guy was 250 yards from the truck, with a herd of does. We took a bunch of pics and really started to try and figure him out a bit. Being so short and stumpy he was hard to figure out.

At one point he chased a doe up on a flat right where we were parked. He was at 140 yards for about 10 mins while we looked him over and even did the math of a short heavy buck vs an average buck.

I guessed him at 12-13 in length with possibly 7.5" bases. Doing the math up quick it wasn't hard to imagine how he might end up at 80". Still, being so short made it feel weird guessing him that high. Kim made the call and decided he was the one, even only on Day 2. We hopped out and figured it would be a quick easy shot.

Rackmastr · Sep 30, 2022

Kim gets out of the truck for what's going to be a pretty anti climatic shot and hunt. She gets set up and just before flipping thr safety off at 140, he dips back down to get to his does.

We grab a few things and sneak out on the flats. As we get to a spot where we can see the buck over the ridge, he spots 3 does way off in the distance. He takes off, and soon he's at 900+. Another buck shows up at 900 yards and he chases him. We are set up with the does at 210 yards.

About 20 mins pass and he starts making his way back. No clear shot and he beds at 220 yards. We continue to wait and he stands up and moves to check his does. Pretty much textbook.....

Kim settles in and puts a 120gr BT right behind his shoulder. He jogs 30 yards and piles up. 15 years of points built, a ton of research, and hoping and wondering how the hunt would turn up and it's done!

Rackmastr · Sep 30, 2022

Again, I can't say thanks enough to the contacts I've made on here, and to new friends met in the field. More than thrilled in this experience. About the only negative part was not getting to spend more time exploring the zone!!!

Homer · Sep 30, 2022

uh....does she have really small hands??

Rackmastr · Sep 30, 2022

Homer said:
uh....does she have really small hands??

Haha not unusually small nope!

Homer · Sep 30, 2022

Then those are clubs........7.5 at least?

wweaver79 · Sep 30, 2022

Great job and awesome heavy buck. Mass gets four measures !!

goforbroke · Sep 30, 2022

cool goat. And I enjoyed the write up. Post up the measurements.

Rackmastr · Sep 30, 2022

Homer said:
Then those are clubs........7.5 at least?

Yep! Quickly taped at 7.5 and 7 3/8

tailchasers · Sep 30, 2022

Great buck!!!! Mass for days.

PleaseDear · Oct 1, 2022

Y'all did great.

Congrats Mrs. Rackmastr

Robb

hornkiller · Oct 1, 2022

Wow look at that mass congrats to the lady!

Phantom Hunter · Oct 1, 2022

Congrats to your wife. Great looking buck! Mass, mass, mass.

Bookhead · Oct 1, 2022

He's a cool buck! Great job

twdjr · Oct 1, 2022

Congrats to your wife on a fine antelope!

tazmaniac · Oct 1, 2022

HEAVY buck! Congrats!

Chesterwyo · Oct 1, 2022

Nice work. Heavy buck!

Tikka · Oct 1, 2022

Fantastic buck, congrats to the two of you!

junior · Oct 1, 2022

Wow! You picked a good one! Congrats.

DanMan · Oct 1, 2022

That's awsome and congrats to the wife!.
A lot of bone for sure.

oregonmuley · Oct 2, 2022

Congrats - I probably couldn't of passed that one up either, really a great buck

Ranger1 · Oct 2, 2022

Awesome heavy goat with great character!

Deercy · Oct 2, 2022

That is a great buck. Thank you for the post.

BradA · Oct 2, 2022

That’s an awesome buck, congratulations. Did you score it? I’m curious because I’m trying to get better at scoring them.

DoubleDropMuley · Oct 2, 2022

Well done congrats !!

marburg · Oct 2, 2022

Nice buck that wavy bumpy one you posted was nice as well.

pauns08 · Oct 2, 2022

Good lord that's a heavy buck, congrats guys he's gotta go mid 80's don't he?

Rackmastr · Oct 2, 2022

Some numbers for those who've asked....

13 1/8 length
7 3/8 and 7 2/8 bases
7 6/8 and 7 2/8 2nd
4 6/8 and 5 5/8 3rd
3 1/8" 4th
Prongs 4 7/8 and 5 2/8

Gross 82.5

Still pretty stunned what a big buck this is!!

BradA · Oct 3, 2022

Rackmastr said:
Some numbers for those who've asked....

13 1/8 length
7 3/8 and 7 2/8 bases
7 6/8 and 7 2/8 2nd
4 6/8 and 5 5/8 3rd
3 1/8" 4th
Prongs 4 7/8 and 5 2/8

Gross 82.5

Still pretty stunned what a big buck this is!!

Wow awesome buck I thought he would be right at that 80 inch mark I wasn’t to far off

Bookhead · Oct 3, 2022

Rackmastr said:
Some numbers for those who've asked....

13 1/8 length
7 3/8 and 7 2/8 bases
7 6/8 and 7 2/8 2nd
4 6/8 and 5 5/8 3rd
3 1/8" 4th
Prongs 4 7/8 and 5 2/8

Gross 82.5

Still pretty stunned what a big buck this is!!

Good job field judging. I bet several people drove passed that buck not knowing what he truly was

wweaver79 · Oct 3, 2022

Bookhead said:
Good job field judging. I bet several people drove passed that buck not knowing what he truly was

" keep driving he is only 13 I bet ".............

Rackmastr · Oct 3, 2022

Bookhead said:
Good job field judging. I bet several people drove passed that buck not knowing what he truly was

Ya, I actually wrote out numbers on a sheet when my wife and I were analyzing him a bit. I guessed him at 13, 7.5, 7.5, 4.5, 3.5, 5.75 prong

Was shocked how close I was...

littlebighorn · Oct 3, 2022

Amazing buckl!
I knew you could find a dandy.
His mass is almost identical to my son's buck from there and if you want score, mass is KING!
Well done and congrats to your wife.
Hopefully you were able to find some other adventures to take up your time.

nontypical · Oct 6, 2022

Congrats to you guys! That's a super buck regardless of score. Love the mass and bumps. Gnarly.

Zeke · Oct 6, 2022

I've learned the point well from a couple of my Wyoming buds that MASS is KING and her buck show that in the score.
He's a beaut! Congratulations to her ...and you.

Zeke

rmanwill · Oct 6, 2022

Congrats. Well done. Great memories made there.

Scrillznac · Oct 7, 2022

Awesome buck man well done! Congrats to you and your wife!

elkhunterUT · Oct 7, 2022

Really good looking massive buck - congrats to you and her both!!

littlebighorn · Oct 7, 2022

It's easy to get fooled by bucks like that. If you look at his head in the pic with your wife he looks massive. I'm guessing his body was also really big, but if he is not with other bucks his big head and body also make his horns look smaller than they are. Length can also get swallowed up by an big head and body.
We passed on my son's 85" buck for a while until he got next to a couple of other bucks. His body and head dwarfed the others and that suddenly had us scrambling to uncase the gun.
Antelope can be way hard to judge, but you guys definitely figured it out.
Impressive indeed!