I've been out of town and off the net for the past four days.  First thing I had to do was catch up on this thread and see whats up.   Sounds like you're still having a blast!

OK this may sound funee but here goes, Tank You Charlie & Vance, this thread is letting me live a hunting dream that I can't take. I lov to read what you both are doing from day to day. Again Thank You Both.

Salvatore.........Thanks for the encouragement. It's our pleasure to take all who wish to be part of this event along with us.

It's added a new dimension to our hunting the "TALL TALES" have to end up "short stories"

Thanks to all who keep us CHARGED.........vance

Ditto what Vance said!

I intended to put up a bunch of pictures tonight and it's just not happening for me as far as getting them uploaded. Maybe tomorrow the computer will cooperate.

Started out this morning early with varmint call in hand, my bow and a quiver of sharp broadheads.

I parked the truck in a wash where it couldn't be seen and far enough from the area I intended to call so that the noise of my arrival wouldn't mess things up.

Staying to the washes I made my way down to the creek bottom and along the willows that line the creek... out here it's pronounced "crik".
 

On the first stand 4 magpies resonded to my calling. I could see the black and white bandits coming from clear across the flat. Their black feathers shone irridescent blue in the bright morning sun.

The first one to arrive came within a few feet of my face. I'd set up in the shadow of a willow to help hide my camoflaged figure and turned my face away from the birds to keep from startling them... you never know if you frighten a bird if it will alert an approaching dog. It's better to play it safe.

But no coyotes appeared so after half an hour I left that position and eased down the "crik" a quarter mile and set up again.
 

This time my opening calls started 3 mule deer and sent them running up through the sage and rocks, no doubt looking for a quieter place to spend the day.
 

In just a few minutes I was surronded by no less than a half dozen  kestrels. These cool little hawks were pretty sure there must be something to eat in that willow and circled repeatedly.

At one point I tried for a picture, but they were much too fast for my camera skills and I gave up on the notion.

No coyotes on this stand either and after an appropriate time on stand I moved toward the truck and a hot cup of coffee.

I kicked up a jackrabbit which took off like he had afterburners and offered no shot. I started to wing one at him at around 60 yards as he paused to look back, but he was on his way before I finished my draw.

During the day Vance and I looked over many antelope. I've told everyone before that we typically see a lot of antelope. Well, we must have looked over a couple hundred today... and that's a conservative guess.

Several were very nice and shooters for sure, but never in a place where we'd have had a chance for a stalk. Stalking antelope is about as tough as it gets and I don't care what kind of camo you have.
Often they are in groups of a half dozen or more. All those 10X eyes don't miss much.

One old buck in particular amazed us. His right horn was heavy and long. We guessed him at 16"... maybe more!
His right horn was around 10 inchs and had a weird shape.

All in all, I'd have to say that this will probably be that old timers last summer. He was gaunt and rough looking. His hip bones spoke of poor nutrition and age (probably due to worn teeth). They almost seemed as if they would break through his skin at any moment.

We'd have taken him in a heart beat for the unusual trophy he was, but also to put a merciful end to his suffering and what will surely be an unpleasant end when the cold finally gets him or a pack of coyotes catches up to him, or any one of a number of other miserable ways mother nature deals with age in the wild.

Vance and I got out for an evening varmint stand in the last minutes of light.
That we jumped two jackrabbits from the very cover we were heading for seemed to bode well for the area.

With thunder rumbling to the east of us and distant flashes of lightening puntuating my squeals and screams two red fox came at us on the dead run.

But they never got close enough for an effective shot and eventually worked around down wind of us and evaporated in the waning light.

We'll be off for Rock Springs in the morning. I need a couple of new tires... hadn't planned on that!

We'll no doubt have a nice lunch in the big city and see what other adventures await.

Great stuff! Looking forward to more pics   :D

Thanks again Charlie, keep it coming.  

Your description of the sunset and moon rise really paint a beautiful pic.

3 pics added to last post... gone to town.

Gone for the weekend and had several pages to catch up. Thanks for keeping the story rolling. Keep after em boys.

Charlie & Vance,  This is kinda like the bowhunter's version of that kids book...The Never Ending Story!  What a great way to enjoy the early fall.  Thanks for taking us along...Doc

Awesome pics Charlie, Keep them coming!

Hmmm.... more than 24 hours without an update??     Maybe they were buzy all day cutting and wrapping meat or something......

Ok guys, here's the deal. It's pretty much business as usual around here and it's getting tough to write anything that's "new and unusual" (other than the fact that ANY day with Vance is new and unusual)   :D  

No doubt it's going to heat up starting tomorrow afternoon.
Until then I'm gonna give you all a little antelope decoy build along.

We started with the basic pattern transfer.
 

Then we went to work with the jig saw.
 

Great use of your time guys! I can tell from here that Vance would absolutely hate me around his shop.     Scares the hell out of me that he even has his tubes of calk in alphabetically order. Dang! That's the neatest conglomeration of lots and lots of stuff I've ever seen. Kinda like "Shop Art" or sumtin!

OK, it might be boring to you, but the rest of us who are at work are eating this up.

I've never been to Wyoming, but I'm starting to feel right at home with the pictures and stories you guys are providing.

Curtis... his shop is bigger than my house!!! And it ain't all that organized. Unless you call keeping his piles of stuff in individual corners.
 :D  
Marvin... Thanks for the encouragement. I've really been wanting to have something really exciting happen to share other than "we looked at these antelope, or saw this rabbit, blah, blah, blah".
I'm not gonna quit. Just feeling like it ain't all it could be. Guess it's a matter of perspective.  

So we got it all cut out and here's what the rough product looks like
 


From there we painted it up with our best Picasso style. (OK, so he didn't use spray paint)
   

We had scrounged around the hardware store in town looking for just the right colors for the decoy. I was pretty sure we'd found something that would work.

In the end, we decided that the painted decoy didn't look as natural as leaving the plain wood with the black and white parts painted in.

What do you think?
 

That Lope ain't anatomically correct.      Did Vance slip with the saw?  

Maybe stain in honey color would fix the paint problem. That is the best dang decoy I've ever seen. CK