Women's Lead-Free Antelope Hunt
Recently our outreach coordinator, Hannah, had the honor of being a mentor at the Beyond Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) Pronghorn Hunt which is held in partnership with Wyoming Game & Fish, the Safari Club International Foundation, and the First Hunt Foundation, in the Bridger-Teton National Forest between Jackson and Pinedale.
Mentee, Pam Malone-Walker successfully drew an antelope tag and spent the week preparing for the hunt, including sighting in her own rifle with copper bullets. Pam, Hannah, and shadow mentee Ashley spent Saturday belly crawling across a turnip field in the rain to stalk several antelope herds, only to be busted every time.
Finally, after the rain stopped and the women spotted a better approach, they hid behind a hay bale and waited for the herds to return. Ashley (aka Sharp Eye) spotted two does and a buck moving into the field. Pam quickly and quietly got into a prone position for a shot. Hannah ranged them in as the two does leapfrogged, “front doe is at 116 yards, back doe is at 115. Front doe is at 126, back doe at 130.” At 143 yards, Pam took the shot and the doe dropped immediately and the team jumped and shouted with excitement!
Pam and Ashley worked together to field dress the doe and brought her back to camp to butcher and process, creating many meals, each one filled with the memory of this hunt. Well done Pam and Ashley!
Everyone felt great knowing that no lead fragments were left behind in the field and that the meat Pam brought home could be shared with friends and family safely. Pam shares her story:
“I was lucky enough to have drawn a doe/fawn tag in Area 89 in Wyoming and participated in an actual hunt where I harvested my doe from 143 yards with a single shot! Our cohort did the field dressing, skinning and processing, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to harvest my own meat for the winter. No more store-bought meat for me for a while.
Part of ethically hunting is using copper ammo which expands but doesn’t shatter upon impact. What does that mean? Your meat nor leftover carcass meat won’t contain lead shrapnel. This protects you as well as raptors and other animals from getting lead poisoning! Thanks to my mentor, Hannah Leonard with Sporting Lead-Free, I was able to use Barnes .270 copper bullets.”
Huge thank you to Wyoming Game & Fish, Becoming an Outdoors-Woman, and First Hunt Foundation and for putting on this event and to Safari Club International for hosting. And thank you to Rob, our senior mentor, and the landowners for graciously allowing us to have this opportunity and foster landowner/hunter relationships.
