As mentioned in previous blogs, last weekend was my first hunt of the season: Antelope just south of Casper Wyoming (see the pics here). There were a total of 7 guys that went on the trip–6 of use were hunting. It was a crazy weekend with 3 of us getting our first taste at the hunting gig (myself included). We had just about every kind of weather you can imagine in 3 days: Sun, wind, rain, snow (3 inches of it), and fog (hard to hunt in that stuff man)–and the temperature swings to go with it. But it was still a blast! Nothing like hanging out with the guys and doing something truly manly (keep the jokes to yourself)!

So, here’s my first hunting story…

Justin, Alex and I went out on the hunt right after getting camp set up on Friday afternoon. We spotted a couple of herds of antelope and began what has now become known as “The Death Stalk”. I’m guessing it was about a 3 mile hike in total. We work around one ridge only to find the antelope had beaten us to the next ridge…but we kept trudging on. It’s what we had expected and hoped for (we weren’t looking for the easy shot–at least not this early).

Finally we had a small herd in our sights. We crested a ridge and had several antelope ahead of us–about 200 yards away in the valley. We had decided that Justin would be the primary shooter, but he couldn’t get the 3 antelope he was tracking to stand still long enough. While we were waiting I got the angle on a nice doe–she was dead to rights. Alex told me to take the shot as Jsutin’s groups still hadn’t settled down and we were going to lose them soon.

So I lined up for the shot…got her in the cross-hairs…took a deep breath…and squeezed the trigger…

That’s when I heard the worst sound ever…”CLICK”!!!

The hammer came down just like it’s supposed to, but the gun didn’t fire! I was in complete shock! We’ve been to range numerous times and I’ve shot off over 80 rounds in preparation for this hunt–all with no issues. My first game is in my sights, I pull the trigger and get rewarded with…”CLICK”.

I couldn’t believe it! And by the time I regained my composure and was ready for the next shot the antelope were gone. Un-freaking-believable.

But at least I have a good hunting story now. And the next day both Justin and I got our first antelope (or any game for that matter)…and those shots where better than we could have planned (no more deafening “clicks” this time). Two shots on the same herd and two antelope safely in our refrigerators.

And we are heading back up next weekend to fill our second tags…here’s to more memories!