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Archers,
Bowhunters may find the rolling short grass prairie and sage brush cuts to be intimidating at first. A newcomer can’t help but wonder how in the world they will ever be able to get within bow shot of a trophy animal in such sparse cover. Luckily this impression will be shattered with your first day of hunting. You will almost certainly spend your first camp supper sharing stories of multiple close encounters, close calls, and quite possibly, made shots. Our two archery guides have over 37 years of combined archery experience with both traditional and compound gear taking nearly 100 big game animals from North America and Africa. We have used this experience for your benefit to ensure that you have comfortable and successfully placed blinds and effective hunting styles available throughout your hunt.
Pronghorn antelope
hunters will find that we have placed our blinds within 15-25 yards of consistently used watering holes and existing stock salt stations. Shots like this led our 2007 archers to 100% success on antelope averaging 68 inches (Pope & Young record book minimum is 67). We were also very proud of the fact that we did not lose a single animal critically hit with an arrow this past season. Given that a majority of our archery antelope hunting is done from blinds we highly recommend the following;
- Bring a full set of dark, preferably black, light weight clothing that will help you to hide in the shadows of the blind
- Bring some desert type camouflage for the occasion that you find yourself on a stalk and/or hunting from an open blind such as a windmill or ground pit
- Practice with your shooting equipment from sitting and kneeling positions which are common with our blinds
- If at all possible during the lead up to your hunt, practice in a cross wind and be comfortable with how you and your bow shoot in this situation
Mule deer hunters will have a varied hunting experience in this environment. Mule deer are notoriously difficult to pattern and so, to be effective, a hunter and guide team must be just as versatile. Your archery mule deer hunt will likely see a combination of stand hunting, spot & stalk, and opportunistic “jump” hunting. The most consistently effective of these methods for us has been spot & stalk. Mule deer in our area bed down very tight in any cover that they can find. While this can make bucks difficult to spot initially, once found they can be surprisingly easy to sneak up on. Shot length for mule deer will vary greatly but a hunter that is prepared to shoot distances of 5-40 yards will be well suited to this hunting style. Physical conditioning that allows for covering a couple of miles a day (slowly) and occasional hunching and crawling will almost certainly lead to multiple close shots during the hunt. A Wyoming archery mule deer hunter would be well advised to;
- Wear light colored camouflage that includes colors like khaki, light browns, and dried wheat yellows. Be sure that the knees and elbows of your clothing are stout enough to take a little crawling without destroying your clothes or your joints.
- Practice shooting at distances longer than you would actually take at an animal and shoot from varying positions whenever possible. Kneeling on one knee, two knees, sitting cross-legged and taking uncomfortably angled shots along with shooting in a crosswind if at all possible will increase your odds of making successful arrow placement when the moment arrives.
- Compound shooters will benefit from practicing “snap” shots at distances under 10 yards for those “too close” muleys that refuse to budge from their beds until the last second.
By following these recommendations our 2007 archery mule deer hunters were 100% successful with an average Pope & Young score of 127 (all indications are that our ’08 average will be even higher).
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