Hunting Wyoming with Dad

Birthday Surprise!

I just turned 15 about a week ago and I got a new Weatherby 6.5 Creedmoor and a TRACT scope from dad for my birthday. As a bonus, we planned on hunting Wyoming in the coming weeks. Two years ago, on the same property, just north of Rawlins, Wyoming, I shot my first mule deer buck. This year I drew a deer tag again to have another opportunity at a great buck. After 5 hours of driving and listening to podcasts, my dad and I finally got to the Split Rock Ranch and we got settled in.

Hunting Wyoming

The next morning, we got up early and planned for our morning hunt and where we were going to go glass for bucks. We left before dark and saw one small buck before the sun had even come up. We parked at the top of a small ridge over an open draw and a large sage brush flat and waited for the sun to rise to start glassing. It was not long, and we found another small buck and practiced getting my new rifle set up, with my crosshairs on the young mule deer. Even though we had no plans to actually shoot this young buck and I didn’t even have a round chambered, it was good practice to run through the motions of quickly getting the buck in the scope in preparation for a shot on an older buck.

Dad’s help to teach me the “How-to” of shouldering the gun and seeing the full image was a difference maker.  

Hunting Wyoming means a lot of time behind the binoculars. After glassing from the ridge for about 2 hours we drove around some more looking for more deer stopping occasionally, along the way. Finally, we spotted a nice whitetail buck, as my deer license is good for either whitetail or mule deer, in a small group bedded up against some brush from a two-track road. Unfortunately, we were too far away and could not get a good shot from the ridge we were on. We backed up and drove all the way around and came up on the back side a small hill out of the view of the bedded deer. We parked and stalked up to a spot where we could belly crawl up and maybe get a shot. By the time we did, the nice 10-point buck we had been looking at was gone. It was disappointing but I knew we would get another opportunity.

Our Plan

We all met back up for lunch at the lodge and hung out until about 5pm. For the evening hunt, we came up with a plan. We would set up on the edge of a large field where we had seen some deer feeding that morning. Hopefully we’d catch the big whitetail buck we saw earlier moving from his bedding area and feed. We got settled in next to some taller grass with my dad running the video camera. I set my rifle up on a tripod, ready to make a shot if the opportunity presented itself. We did not have to wait long. We saw deer starting to feed out of the willows where they bed. A few small bucks and a ton of does filed out into the field within 200 yards. Unfortunately, none of the bigger bucks came into range. It eventually got too dark and we had to call it a day.

New Day. New Opportunities.

As the sun rose the next morning, we found ourselves parked at the top of a small rise on the edge of the field glassing. We saw a group of bucks about 200 yards away in the creek bottom. They were too far for a shot. So we drove around to the other side and hid behind a large tractor and snuck up behind some irrigation tubes and settled in and got ready. We set up the BOG shooting tripod so I could clearly see the 3 bucks in the bushes on the creek edge.

The BOG Shooting Tripod really helped me stabilize the gun so I could make the shot

After finally choosing which one I wanted to shoot, I waited for them to spread out a little and for him to turn broadside. I steadied the crosshairs on the buck 169 yards away and slowly started to squeeze the trigger. The 6.5 Creedmoor fired, and the shot hit him right where I wanted, right behind the shoulder. The buck hunched up and ran back into the willows. We waited about 45 minutes to go look for him. When we did, I found him lying in the bushes only 18 yards from where I shot him. I could not have been happier to have just shot my first whitetail buck. Not to mention while hunting Wyoming, one of my favorite states! This was one of the best hunting trips I have been on with my dad. Hunting with him is one of the things we get to do to really connect. I could not be more thankful for this experience!