The 2022 pronghorn fiasco.
By 2021 I had something like 9 or 10 points for antelope in Wyoming. I knew I wanted to hunt a certain unit, and had been given bad advice multiple times from my father on a unit he wanted to hunt in. His unit was one of those Red Desert units that have been all the buzz in Wyoming since the 1960s. He lives in Wyoming and every couple of years he draws a tag there . So to him, this is the unit.
I didn't think I could draw a tag there and I relayed this though process to my then 82 year father and he said, no you are good do it. So I listened to him and of course did not draw a tag.
In 2022 I now had another point, and I knew that I could "probably" draw a tag in another unit outside of the Red Desert that had a lot of public land. Populations were way down, there was a drought and of course why wait another year. So I applied and drew my unit in 2022.
Funny thing on that draw, I actually drew the only tag at my point level in that unit. So my odds were not 100%, they were 5%. The 9 of the 10 non-resident standard tags went to the highest point holders, and they all had 12 points. I drew mine with 11, and another 20 people did not draw.
My sister called me on my drive from New Mexico to Wyoming and told me that parents were both sick, and she thought it was Covid. I got to Cheyenne and my phone rang, with me thinking I was driving to my destination alone. The old man told me he was fine, and he was going hunting with me. So I overnighted at their house and we spent the next day driving from their house to the location. We stopped in the unit and found a couple of bucks in the 14 inch range.
He was visibly sick when we got up in the morning. We stayed with my aunt and uncle with the plan to hunt the next morning, as they live in the unit.
The next morning Dad was ok, I was feeling something growing inside of me with sinus pressure. We took off for the area, and drove in about 2 miles and saw our first group. Nothing great, drove another couple of miles and my dad and uncle decide I am going to shoot the one in front of us. He was your typical 12 inch buck with nice cutters. He stood up from his bed, I shot him from 105 yards, he walked about 40 yards and fell over.
New Mexico is big antelope country, we have antelope in the 18-20 inch range. Wyoming has lots of antelope and this unit should have been possible even in a drought to get a 14 or 15 inch buck with good cutters. I am a disabled veteran and Wyoming has a 5 day extension for those with disabilities, and I had all the proper paperwork from the state. So having a 5 day advantage on the place we could had have a hell of a time looking for Mr. Right.
We drove back to Cheyenne that night. I drove back to New Mexico the next morning and gave my entire family covid. Everyone survived. My aunt and uncle did not get covid. Or at least they did not admit to it.
At 50 years old I look at this hunt as a fiasco. Dad is still alive and maybe we will hunt together again. Maybe we won't. Either way it paints of picture for me of these high odds points programs situations and how much they suck, they cause you to put a lot of pressure on a tag you have been waiting for for 10 years. I have the memory of hunting in the same unit with my Dad as I did in the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's until I left Wyoming as a kid and joined the military, so far never to return.
