Hello everyone,
I have been absent from the forum for quite a while now but my interest has not waned. Life has just pulled me aside for a while. I just wanted to share my latest hunt with you. I recently went on an Antelope hunt here in Southern Idaho with my Father in Law and a good friend. We were lucky enough to draw 3 of the 70 tags the IDFG allots for Unit 47 each year in there "Primitive Muzzleloader Only Hunt". The season opened on September 25th. a Sunday. We arrived in camp on the 24th. This gave us a day t discuss animal locations with a friend of mine Sage Aslett, who is the outfitter in this area. Due to our friendship and the fact that he had no hunters coming into his camp until the 29th. he was generous enough to let us use his outfitters camp for our stay! This allowed us to focus more on hunting and not setting up or taking down tents and equiptment.
Opening day arrived and I opted to let my friend Bob sit on the waterhole that I figured the Antelope were using primarily in that area. As it turned out, I was right. Bob had no more arrived at the waterhole when he noticed a Buck about 400 yards away standing on a ridge looking towards the water. The Buck started running in Bob's direction and he had just enough time to drop his pack, put a cap on the nipple and shoot! Bob made a wonderful 88 yard shot and the buck only made it a few steps .This was about 7:30 AM on opening day. The Buck has 14" horns and scores between 74 and 75" which puts him well above the 63" minimum for Longhunters.
In the following days, I passed up shots at 5 other bucks that I did not want and one that I just wasn't sure of so I let him go. I ended up shooting my buck on a spot and stalk hunt that I initiated on 2 bucks that were rutting hard and chasing each other and 4 does around a 2 mile area. I got into position and watched the Antelope chase each other around. I moved when they ran out of site several times and put myself where I felt was a very likely travel route. I couldn't have been more right on! One of the bucks showed up at about 300 yards out and started my way. He just kept coming straight in. When he was at about 40 yards, he stopped. I was in position, sitting down backed into a sage brush with my rifle rested on my knee. I squeezed the trigger and SNAP! the powder didnt go off!! The Buck looked in my direction and I averted my eyes to avoid direct eye contact. HE JUST KEPT COMING!! Here I am with a spent cap on my nipple and the antelope standind 10 feet to my right behind the very sagebrush I was sitting in. As soon as I couldnt see him anymore out of my perifial vision, I recapped and stoop up and turned around, he was running across a small draw by than at 50 yards, I squeezed the trigger again and the gun went KAA...POOF! delayed fire and I hit him too far back, I rolled behind the sagebrush again and reloaded. He was stopped at about 110 yards broadside now and I squeezed one last time, the .58 caliber ball in front of a Stumpys Moose Milk lubed patch took the top of his heart off. He made it a couple of steps and went down for good. My buck is 13" and I have yet to score him but he will easily exceed the minimum for Longhunter's as well.
My Father in Law missed one Buck at 38 yards because he failed to notice a sagebrush in the wrong spot and lost another opportunity on a nice buck because his gun failed to fire. I think the rain we hunted in, along with the temurature range from 80 degrees to 22 degrees just did it to us. I think we will switch to real Blackpowder for the lower ignition temp and see if that reduces the ignition problem. It never happens on targets. If your interested in a hunt with Flying Spear Outfitters and my Friend Sage Aslett, you can visit his site at www.flyingspear.com. Thats me on the bottom and Bob at the top.
Happy Hunting,
Idaho PRB
I have been absent from the forum for quite a while now but my interest has not waned. Life has just pulled me aside for a while. I just wanted to share my latest hunt with you. I recently went on an Antelope hunt here in Southern Idaho with my Father in Law and a good friend. We were lucky enough to draw 3 of the 70 tags the IDFG allots for Unit 47 each year in there "Primitive Muzzleloader Only Hunt". The season opened on September 25th. a Sunday. We arrived in camp on the 24th. This gave us a day t discuss animal locations with a friend of mine Sage Aslett, who is the outfitter in this area. Due to our friendship and the fact that he had no hunters coming into his camp until the 29th. he was generous enough to let us use his outfitters camp for our stay! This allowed us to focus more on hunting and not setting up or taking down tents and equiptment.
Opening day arrived and I opted to let my friend Bob sit on the waterhole that I figured the Antelope were using primarily in that area. As it turned out, I was right. Bob had no more arrived at the waterhole when he noticed a Buck about 400 yards away standing on a ridge looking towards the water. The Buck started running in Bob's direction and he had just enough time to drop his pack, put a cap on the nipple and shoot! Bob made a wonderful 88 yard shot and the buck only made it a few steps .This was about 7:30 AM on opening day. The Buck has 14" horns and scores between 74 and 75" which puts him well above the 63" minimum for Longhunters.
In the following days, I passed up shots at 5 other bucks that I did not want and one that I just wasn't sure of so I let him go. I ended up shooting my buck on a spot and stalk hunt that I initiated on 2 bucks that were rutting hard and chasing each other and 4 does around a 2 mile area. I got into position and watched the Antelope chase each other around. I moved when they ran out of site several times and put myself where I felt was a very likely travel route. I couldn't have been more right on! One of the bucks showed up at about 300 yards out and started my way. He just kept coming straight in. When he was at about 40 yards, he stopped. I was in position, sitting down backed into a sage brush with my rifle rested on my knee. I squeezed the trigger and SNAP! the powder didnt go off!! The Buck looked in my direction and I averted my eyes to avoid direct eye contact. HE JUST KEPT COMING!! Here I am with a spent cap on my nipple and the antelope standind 10 feet to my right behind the very sagebrush I was sitting in. As soon as I couldnt see him anymore out of my perifial vision, I recapped and stoop up and turned around, he was running across a small draw by than at 50 yards, I squeezed the trigger again and the gun went KAA...POOF! delayed fire and I hit him too far back, I rolled behind the sagebrush again and reloaded. He was stopped at about 110 yards broadside now and I squeezed one last time, the .58 caliber ball in front of a Stumpys Moose Milk lubed patch took the top of his heart off. He made it a couple of steps and went down for good. My buck is 13" and I have yet to score him but he will easily exceed the minimum for Longhunter's as well.
My Father in Law missed one Buck at 38 yards because he failed to notice a sagebrush in the wrong spot and lost another opportunity on a nice buck because his gun failed to fire. I think the rain we hunted in, along with the temurature range from 80 degrees to 22 degrees just did it to us. I think we will switch to real Blackpowder for the lower ignition temp and see if that reduces the ignition problem. It never happens on targets. If your interested in a hunt with Flying Spear Outfitters and my Friend Sage Aslett, you can visit his site at www.flyingspear.com. Thats me on the bottom and Bob at the top.
Happy Hunting,
Idaho PRB
