"YOU'RE NOT GOING to believe this," Brian said as he logged off of weather.com. "It's raining out there right now, and there's a tornado warning for the Gillette area."

"No way!" I said, rocking back in my chair so that I could see Assistant Editor Brian Fortenbaugh in his office across the hall. I've been waiting for years to hunt antelope again, I thought. This can't be happening.

After a short night we made the drive from Harrisburg, then the flight from Baltimore to Rapid City, South Dakota, and then the drive through the Black Hills -- and past Devils Tower -- to Gillette, Wyoming, which just might be the capital of the antelope world. Once in the city limits, Bowhunter Contributor Jeff Frey, who had arranged the hunt, called outfitter Doug Miller on the cell phone. We all awaited the verdict on the evening's hunt.

With noses full of the fresh scent of sage brush, and visions of the hundreds of pronghorns we'd seen on the drive in, we were all primed to get out there and jump-start our video hunt for Bowhunter Magazine TV. It was a beautiful mid-September day for hunting antelope, but we couldn't ignore all the water pooled in parking lots and along curbs in town. Imagine what those prairie waterholes would look like. Still, we were surprised when Jeff said, "The hunt's off for this afternoon, guys. Let's get something to eat."

When you head up the lane to Doug Miller's ranch, it's time to get serious about antelope hunting. Don't be surprised if you spot a few really nice bucks from Doug's front porch. The town of Gillette, Wyoming, is over the hill to the right. Below, senior guides Ron Mobley and Billy Hudson flank Doug Miller. While Doug's antelope outfit is fairly new, his team has many, many years' experience hunting prairie goats. And they've perfected ground-blind hunting over water.

Turns out those heavy storms, including tornadic winds, had hit a couple of the units we'd be hunting, and outfitter Doug Miller and his guides, Ron Mobley, Billy Hudson, and Drew Pearson, had to run down some of the Double Bull and Eastman Outfitters blinds that were blown off their moorings. What are the chances? Some outfitters might stick you out there prematurely, but not Doug. He and his family (wife, Mary, and daughters Sheila and Staci) have been hosting antelope hunters out of their comfortable Gillette-side ranch for about five years, and Doug and his guides have perfected ground-blind hunting over water.

Doug is an easy-going guy, but when it comes to hunting antelope he's dead serious about the details. Every hunter is expected to play by his rules. And Doug isn't shy about telling prospective hunters that ground-blind hunting for antelope isn't for everybody. If you can't stay in the blind and wait patiently until you get your opportunity, then you likely won't be successful. When Doug says it's time to go to the blind, you go to the blind. When he tells you to stay in the blind until you're picked up, you listen. Nobody walks around Doug's blind setups unless they're being dropped off or picked up. Trucks pick up downed animals and even arrows, both errant and otherwise. You see, Doug knows ground-blind hunting, and his hunters boast a phenomenal record on quality animals. Rather than list a success rate, let's just say that very, very few antelope hunters have ever left Doug's place without a buck. Besides having a team of good, dedicated, hard-working people with a keen knowledge of antelope and how to get close-range shots at them over water, one of the secrets to Miller Outfitting's success is simply limiting the number of hunters and the chances those hunters have in the field to educate antelope around the blinds. Doug's system works because he enforces a disciplined approach to ground-blind hunting.

So, as we ate at the local Golden Corral that afternoon, we fought off any uneasy feelings of anticipation -- the adrenaline was coming.