It was 9:30pm lights-out our first night, with agreement to meet for breakfast at 6:45 before heading out. As you might assume, anticipation controlled our sleep and we were saddled-up and eating breakfast by 6:20, and on the road by 7:00am. Destination Newcastle, Wyoming.
At Rapid City, SD, we headed south then west and took the scenic route through Custer State Park. We saw well over 100 turkey, a few deer, and even some big horn sheep...good stuff to get the excitement level raised. Coming out of the Park we had a short 25+ miles to Newcastle.
After stopping by our hotel and picking up our room keys, we headed out to our hunting grounds for the week...the Barton Ranch. Proprietor Verne Barton settled the land over 50 years ago, and now owns over 20,000 acres. That's 31+ square miles! After discussing our hunts plans, the 86 year old Mr. Barton reaffirmed his approval to allow us to hunt his land. We headed out on one of the "two-tracks" (a unimproved ranch road) to do a bit of scouting and get the lay of the land. After seering countless prairie dogs, finally about a mile north of the Barton Ranch driveway we jumped a small herd of antelope. We saw one good buck in the group, so plan to return to the same area in the morning to start our hunt.
We finished out the day with a number of preparations including grocery shopping, gear checks, and map studying. And now we close the day after a quick dinner and a couple games of horseshoes at the motel. Tomorrow will be our first day hunting, and we plan to hit the field by around 7:30am. I hope to be reporting our successes tomorrow evening.
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