After a little time away from the forum, I have finally righted myself and am going to make time to do a short post about my hunt on the Durham Ranch in Wyoming with my daughter. Her photo, though not done with a handgun, will be at the end of the post just so that I can put them together due to time constraints.

In a nutshell, I arrived on Wednesday, a day and half ahead of my daughter, and had about 3 hours to scout before dark. My hunt was to start on Thursday as they were driving out and wouldn't make it until after dark. My plan was to plot as many good bucks for my daughter and her now EX-boyfriend (thanks to all who prayed with me for this favorable outcome) so that they could be assured of an opportunity for a good buck. My daughter, Taylor, wanted to hold out for a buck that would look great on the wall, dumdum just wanted a buck, and I wanted a good buck, but not a giant, unless it worked out well because my self-imposed limit was 100 yards with my baby, also my namesake on here. (Please don't judge yet, I shoot this gun a ton in the off-season and know the ballistics and my capabilities well.)

Thursday morning rolled around and I spotted from the highway as best as I could with the Leica spotting scope, and I felt good about our opportunities. Once I was able to get on the ranch, I had about 12 bucks plotted that I thought we good enough for me and dumdum, but nothing earth-shattering for Taylor. No worries, I was just starting and I felt confident to say the least. (Gregg had another hunter on the ranch with him, so I was solo) About 4:15, I spotted this buck milling with a couple of other similar sized bucks about 1480 yards away on a side hill that looked like I could come in on top of him to get to within my prescribed distance. Then, the start of the magic, he bedded. So, in an effort to wear out my boots, I started circling around and by GPS, 1.75 miles later, I was on the wrong hill. Good news, I only had to back track about 1/4 mile to get onto his hill, and he was still bedded. Woohoo!

Now that I was on the same hill, I set my pack down at about 100 yards from my buck to lighten the load. Spare gun, ammo, spotting scope, blah blah blah. Over the next couple days, the load got lightened. Anyway, I snuck to 77 yards as low as I could get and was able to find the buck still bedded. God was looking out for me. I wanted to cut the distance more, so I continued until I saw the buck stand, the gig was up. While still crouched, I cocked the hammer back and eased up with the Python at eye level. As I came up to my knees, I cleared all the grass and the sights found his chest quartering slightly to me. Again, God is good, perfect angle for the 180 grain JSP. Unconsciously, the Python erupted, and I say erupted because I forgot to put my plugs in, and the distinct "WHOP" came back to me. He wheeled around and ran down the hill towards a two track (insert my belief that God was looking out for me) when I thumbed that hammer back again and took a second shot even though I knew the first was plenty good. (This is from my taxidermist telling me he can fix holes in hides, but can't help me recover a lost animal.) PUFF, the dust behind him. One more time I thumb the hammer back leading him a little more, and WHACK, I hit him again at 130 yards on a full run and he rolls. Now, as the saying goes, the work begins.

I retrieve my pack, take this one cheesy hands completely full cell selfie, and get to work. I struggle to not smile the rest of the night. Supper that night with Don and Ardith, Gregg, Joe and Barbara tastes better than ever. Gregg tells me during supper that this is probably the first antelope buck taken on a Lil-Gun hunt with iron sights. Not sure if that's braggable or I'm half a moron.

On to Taylor. The weather turned rough on Saturday, 32 degrees, 30 mph winds and snow. An antelope hunters worst nightmare. But her little bullheadedness prevailed. After passing a tremendous number of what I thought we 68-72" bucks, we finally located a better antelope tucked away with a group of does with at least one hot one in the bunch. So, after a mile stalk, a lay in wait on an open hill side into a fierce, now 40 mph wind, Taylor made the shot at 433 yards with her .243 on this great buck. She is a better shot than me, no doubt.



I'm happier now than I was with my buck and her smile says it all. Thanks Gregg and thanks to the Durham for making our hunt fantastic.

Nice! Both of y'all did great! 433 yard rifle shot for her? Get that girl a handgun!

Great story - thanks for sharing. And congrats to you both!

Nice job!

No dout, Dad taught the girl to SHOOT and shoot well. Nice going young lady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Outstanding!

Congrats and great shooting!

Great story, and great shooting,the boyfriend, well bye!

Congrats to you both!

Very nicely done! Taking a Pronghorn with an iron sighted sixgun is some great stuff, not many have done it, I tip my hat to you. Also your daughter "bucking" the wind out to 430 yds to nail a dandy buck is a great story & very fine shooting in heavy winds. Her X boyfriend needs to be very careful! Great write up.

Dick

SPOT AND STALK WITH AN OS REVOLVER, A REAL HUNT, CONGRATS!

Good on y'all!

The Durham Buffalo Ranch antelope herds (numbers) "have come back with a vengeance."

2016 saw a marked improvement since the die-off several years ago; 2017 was amazing, and 2018 promises to be even better, like the "good ol' days" of the nineties, when 100 to 200 animals were commonly seen in a herd. (I will be getting an "antelope numbers report" from Shark in the spring, but so far the winter has not been bad at all.) BTW I did see a herd of well over 100 animals on this 2017 hunt.

As Greg stated (Python Hunter) he is the first of my antelope hunters to kill his buck with iron sights, and the first with a .357, and the first with a 4" barrel! Great shooting, Greg, I'm sure that you probably do your fellow SWAT team members proud at work, also.

My son Joe and my daughter-in-law Barbara hopefully will post here soon. Barb posted her buck on Bragging Board already.

I have a few openings for 2018 Little Gun Invitational Antelope; PM if interested.

Gregg

PS: Greg, I also am glad that "dum-dum" is out of her life now; I was appalled when he shot the first buck instead of giving her the chance!

PPS: Good pic Greg, I like it!

Thank you all for the compliments and well wishes. I will get Taylor into the handgun hunting before long, she loves the challenge.

To back Gregg's points, we were there the last week of hunting and the numbers of animals seen was incredible. A great time as always and I would recommend the hunt to anyone.

As for Taylor, she said it best when she said that she is happy now, and that's the most important thing. He left a lot to be desired for sure.

absolutely excellent........

I forgot to mention that Taylor's buck goes into the top ten largest bucks I have ever seen taken on the Durham. Congratulations and great shooting, young lady!

Wow. An antelope with a 4? revolver. You are hardcore. What a great trophy to be proud of! Your daughter made a fantastic shot on a wonderful antelope. Excellent write up. Thanks for sharing.

PH,

Fantastic hunt and story! Great shooting with the short gun and kudos to Taylor on a super shot and goat!