Becoming a Wyoming Wife - Step 4 Part 2

It has been exciting so far! This time of the year brings about all new changes from Mother Nature, from cooler weather to snow to hunting season! Yeah, the winter is great, except when it stays below 0 degree for too long. Then, well, it can be a bit too cold. Not the type of weather you want to be out in all day. But, this is also the time when I had my next lesson in becoming a Wyoming wife.

As you recall, I learned to shot a rifle last time. Sounded like a lot of fun right? Well it was, even though I bruised my shoulder... But it gets better. The next time I went out I learned another important lesson... Kick-back...

Yeah, there I was, all excited... I found a herd of antelope about one mile from my house... So, I did what every other female would do... I drove home as fast as I could to get my husband! After all, I can't lift the thing once I do get it, that's man work!! So, we snuck up on them, diesel truck rumbling as quietly as possible... Yeah right!!! I got my orange on, grabbed a few extra cartridges and slung the t7mm magnum over my shoulder. My loving spouse was waiting by the truck for me, as our infant son was sleeping at the time! So I started walking towards them, then past them and then back towards them... Somewhere in my mind, I thought that they would think that I was lost and just ignore me. Yeah, like I would ignore someone in hunter orange with a rifle! So they spotted me... The jig is up, right? Now most of you know that an antelope can run about 50 miles an hour in about 3 seconds. And most of us, can't run that fast even if we wanted to... So, what's a girl to do?? Well, I did what any other hunter would do... I found a deep ditch and climbed in it... Yep, I was going to do a little surprise attack!! So, I stayed in this ditch until I found the perfect place! I found an old fence post that had a notch, perfect for a rifle barrel! So, I rested my gun in there and did a little pop up to check out the situation.. Turns out, the antelope were very curious, as I was there one moment and gone the next, so they started to check out the situation... Very lucky, or so it would seem. So there I was drawing the antelope to me! Perfect!! So, I like up my site on a beautiful doe that would help to feed the masses at home. I aimed right where my spouse said would be perfect, the neck. Well, I didn't know that that's the perfect spot, but not necessarily the spot to aim for... So I squeezed off a shot.... And there they went, fast as fast can be!!

Yep, they were gone! But I tried to sneek up on them again, this time though, there was no where for me to hide... So, I crouched behind a tiny hill. Lined one up again and fired. Well the kick-back on the gun landed me on my butt! Yep, and I didn't learn the first time, so I had to try again. Yep, it had the same effect!! So I get up and go after them again. I don't even get close enough to count them, never mind take a shot at them. So I head back to the truck... My two mile walk gave me time to rehash and think about what I did wrong...

My loving spouse welcomes me back with open arms! He is so proud of me! No, I didn't get my elusive oantelope... He told me what a wonderful sit-down shooting position I had! Well, I couldn't let him continue to believe that silly nonsense any longer! I told him the truth!! Turns out he didn't see the whole thing, just me on my butt! So my proud man does the unthinkable... He begins to scold me about the fact that I could have dropped his gun while trying the crouching position and possibly knocked the sit out of whack... Yeah, it's a good thing that I have an ego built in...

Anyways, we tried a few more times after that, but we couldn't get close enough to get one for the rest of the season... And yeah, this season came and went... I didn't put in for anything as my toddler isn't keen on sitting in a truck for hours on end looking for the elusive antelope... However, as soon as hunting season got over, I just about ran into a herd of them about 4 different times!!! Can you believe that??? Or how about during hunting season, I was actually chased by a herd of 5 buck antelope for about 3 miles... Yep, they were right beside me for the longest time... I couldn't even try to get one, because my tag was for a doe!! That is typically my luck! Oh well, maybe next year! Then I'll have another funny story to tell you!