Tom’s 196 square mile lease is covered up with antelope and I mean some real dandies.

A respectable number of requests for a good Pronghorn Antelope hunt have crossed my desk and I promised to see what I could uncover. Maryland member, Ron Williams provided me with a lead for an outfitter operating out of Douglas, Wyoming and guaranteed that we would like what he has to offer based on twelve consecutive years of hunting there. I spoke with the owner, Tom White about his company, Tom’s Antelope Adventures and he invited me to come out and see what he had to offer. Ron Williams said that he would come along on the maiden voyage and when I mentioned an Antelope Roundup to ACF member Gene Strie, he said he would come along to help evaluate.

We had to apply for licenses by March 15th and received them in the mail in July. Hotel reservations were made and we headed out for the third week of Tom Whites season arriving in Douglas on the 28th of August. During the trip, we learned that Tom had been running his bowhunting-only operation for 16 years and has 196 sections in his exclusive territory. He has primitive camping available or you may stay in Douglas at a variety of good hotels at reasonable rates.

Tom’s lease is covered up with antelope in big numbers and sizes. Both Ron and Gene filled their tags within the first half-hour of their hunt. I could have filled my tag too, but spent the first day and a half in the blind snapping hundreds of photos of antelope and a wide assortment of critters that came to the water hole for refreshment; it was fantastic! Late in the afternoon of the second day, I took a respectable Billy ending the hunt for our threesome in just over twenty-four hours. Tom and his wrangler, Clark were wonderfully accommodating about helping get the carcasses into the locker plant to be taken care of. Mine was skinned and cut up right at camp and placed in a cooler as I like to have my groceries processed at home.

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by Geoffery Toye, HBM European Correspondent

With ever more states in the USA encouraging the use of the crossbow for hunting, an enormous market has opened up.Crossbow sales have increased on an unprecedented scale, so much so that crossbowyers can scarcely keep up with demand.Predictably, in a society driven by free market forces, and with material and sourcing cost increasing, the retail price of hunting crossbows has increased apace; for some of us, perhaps prohibitively so.

Canadian Crossbowyers Excalibur have responded with their new crossbow, the Axiom.This is offered as a hunting crossbow of high quality, but with costs pared where possible without compromising that quality, which has made the company a world leader.

I have previously reviewed Excalibur bows and in my personal bow collection there are two, which I often shoot.I have found them to be robust, delivering excellent and dependable performance qualities which have seen them used in some of the hardest conditions on earth, and at sea, notable for scientific work, wildlife management and whale tagging.They are uncomplicated, recurve designs which have stood the test of time and not been found wanting.The founder of the company, Bill Troubridge, accidently drove a truck over one of his bows after which he reportedly dug it out of the dirt and shot it at a target only to discover that it had not lost its zero.He thought that would be a great thing to advertise his bows so he drove over it again, this time with a camera running, and filmed it all, including the same result.Do not try this at home; but you have to be impressed.

When I asked Bill what the Axiom was like he replied, “Like the Phoenix, but without the lipstick and high-heels.Want us to send one over?”Of course I did.

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