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When my oldest was young, doe antelope tags could be had with zero or one point. I like taking young kids after doe antelope, no one ever yelled at a kid because they missed a shot at a trophy doe antelope. I killed one or two myself but never a buck. Kids got older, deer then elk took my passion, and I didn't even apply for antelope for many years.
I started applying and getting points again six years ago, and in a fluke I got a Buck antelope licence that normally needs 11-13 years to get. But I got after only 6.
So this last Friday I packed up I headed to Maybell Co for the week,
with my Rocky Mountain Hawken in .54 and my 30/06.
The plan was to hunt 3 days with the .54 then switch to the center fire if I could not get it done. This is regular rifle season and the sage would be (and was) full of guys shooting centerfire rifles at 3,4,and 500 yards. My hunting partner came along even though he did not have a tag. We used his camper and after setting up camp, we started scouting the area for my hunt that started the next day
We found an area to start in. got some sleep and were where we wanted to be half an hour before sun up.
The way it worked was we would drive the roads until we spotted a herd (3-5 miles away) , plan out a stalk. This often entailed Bill driving by the herd getting as close as a mile. I would bail out at a given moment (behind a ridge or in a gully) and start my stalk. Bill would drive off 3-4 miles until the Antelope disregarded his truck.
I wanted a shot of 110 yards or less in a land where it seems table top flat. My first stalk I was busted by a doe at 300 yards! Next attempt at an ambush something like 70 antelope passed right in front of me, at 200 yards, with only open ground between us and no way to advance the 100 yards I needed.
Next try I had a buck at 140 or so, but three does at 60 between us. I tried to gain another yard and the girls busted me.
Next we found two groups, 3 does and 5 does with a nice buck. The 3 does lead by about 100 yards and both groups were crossing a hillside with gullies every few hundred yards. By way of an undignified shambling run up a creek bed I was able to be in the last gully ahead of the 1st group. I found a bit of rabbit brush that would hide my silhouette and was half sitting half lying down in it, with the .54 balance on my knee when the 3 does in the lead topped the rim at 35 yards :grin: They thought there was something damn funny about that rabbit brush, but only quickened their step a bit and did not bust out.
Now all I had to do was wait for the next bunch! .... and wait . . . . . . .and wait, Did they pass behind me? Worried I waited another minute while craning around to see up the gully. Then I slowly crept over the rim. . . nothing I crossed that opening and gully and looked into the next opening Buck! 154 yards. For what ever reason this group stopped following the other and was slowly feeding up the hill. I backed out moved up 200 yards where their flat was skinnier and I would be closer. Again I crept to the rim :shocked2: eye to eye with the lead doe at 100 yards Busted. At this point I had been hunting about 5 hours walked every bit of 10-12 miles and been in 30/06 range of many nice bucks. My resolve was waning.
We had planned to go back to camp for lunch, but decided to tough it out as we could see more herds.
Next there were two does and a tiny buck headed to a water tank with a nice buck on the prod coming up quick behind them. I moved fast to get within 80 yards of the tank while Bill stayed about 3/4 of a mile back at the truck. The two does and the tiny buck came in behind the tank at 180 yards or so and dropped from my sight. About a minute later they busted out hard!!! What had I done?? I never moved. I waited and the buck showed, and I liked him fine! He was at a different angle from the first group but was also walking in on the far side of the tank. I watch him at about 185 take steps right at me, with each step I saw less and less until at 180 he went from view just as the 1st group had. I wait, nothing!! I finely stand There is a pool of water in a depression 90 yards down from the tank. He is standing at the pool watching me :cursing: Busted!! As I watch him run off he goes 150 yards and drops to a walk. He turns behind a ridge (just a rise in the sage brush about 5 feet higher then what surrounds it and maybe 300 yard long) and walks up my way but behind the ridge and 200 yards parallel to where I am. I take off for the top point of the ridges length. I get set and like a dream he walks out at 125 yards and stops. "OK" I think "125 about an 8-10" drop aim at the top of his back, you got this." He takes a step, I aim right at his heart and the ball (dropping as I knew it would) passed just behind his front legs and 3" under his chest! :barf: I was happy to have that 3/4 of a mile walk back up to Bill, I needed it to compose myself. it turns out it was a badger that spooked the 1st group not me. Bill could see it all from where he was I took the chiding for a bad shot as best I could. He asked if it might not be time to get the 06 out? I said I was muzzle loader hunting for 3 days! He said "then stop missing" Man I was low.
There were 3 more stalks that afternoon, one I can't even get the details clear in my mind and the last that involved 2 1/2 miles walk in soft deep sand only to arrive at a tank with a small herd at it, and flat grazed ground 250 yards around and no stalk possible. Busted in the first 10 yards of belly crawl.
I got back to the truck (5:30 pm) I had legs of rubber,and was dehydrated and dejected.
Rather then make another stalk I opted to go back to the tank where I missed the shot earlier and "sit stand" until dark. Bill dropped me off and I walked the 3/4 miles down to the tank. Half way I was busted by a group of 40 or so at 300-400 yards.
To hell with it! I'll sit the stand anyway. This time I sit so I am 90 yards from the pool they drank at rather than the tank the spurned. I was there 10 minutes when he walked over the rise. The buck I had missed! walked head on strait to the pool's far side.
I remember thinking "that's 90 yards" and "wait till he drinks to move the gun" the bank was steep and as he drank I found I was pointing my rifle at an angle that would pass just behind the shoulders, through the spine, lungs and maybe the arteries above the heart. I set the set trigger, let out half a breath and shot.
Post scriptHe dropped right into the pool stumbled out and died withing a minute, 15 feet from where he was shot, How he lasted that long I will never know.
The lungs were just gone! replaced by what looked like a gallon of raspberry jello
I started applying and getting points again six years ago, and in a fluke I got a Buck antelope licence that normally needs 11-13 years to get. But I got after only 6.
So this last Friday I packed up I headed to Maybell Co for the week,
with my Rocky Mountain Hawken in .54 and my 30/06.
The plan was to hunt 3 days with the .54 then switch to the center fire if I could not get it done. This is regular rifle season and the sage would be (and was) full of guys shooting centerfire rifles at 3,4,and 500 yards. My hunting partner came along even though he did not have a tag. We used his camper and after setting up camp, we started scouting the area for my hunt that started the next day
We found an area to start in. got some sleep and were where we wanted to be half an hour before sun up.
The way it worked was we would drive the roads until we spotted a herd (3-5 miles away) , plan out a stalk. This often entailed Bill driving by the herd getting as close as a mile. I would bail out at a given moment (behind a ridge or in a gully) and start my stalk. Bill would drive off 3-4 miles until the Antelope disregarded his truck.
I wanted a shot of 110 yards or less in a land where it seems table top flat. My first stalk I was busted by a doe at 300 yards! Next attempt at an ambush something like 70 antelope passed right in front of me, at 200 yards, with only open ground between us and no way to advance the 100 yards I needed.
Next try I had a buck at 140 or so, but three does at 60 between us. I tried to gain another yard and the girls busted me.
Next we found two groups, 3 does and 5 does with a nice buck. The 3 does lead by about 100 yards and both groups were crossing a hillside with gullies every few hundred yards. By way of an undignified shambling run up a creek bed I was able to be in the last gully ahead of the 1st group. I found a bit of rabbit brush that would hide my silhouette and was half sitting half lying down in it, with the .54 balance on my knee when the 3 does in the lead topped the rim at 35 yards :grin: They thought there was something damn funny about that rabbit brush, but only quickened their step a bit and did not bust out.
Now all I had to do was wait for the next bunch! .... and wait . . . . . . .and wait, Did they pass behind me? Worried I waited another minute while craning around to see up the gully. Then I slowly crept over the rim. . . nothing I crossed that opening and gully and looked into the next opening Buck! 154 yards. For what ever reason this group stopped following the other and was slowly feeding up the hill. I backed out moved up 200 yards where their flat was skinnier and I would be closer. Again I crept to the rim :shocked2: eye to eye with the lead doe at 100 yards Busted. At this point I had been hunting about 5 hours walked every bit of 10-12 miles and been in 30/06 range of many nice bucks. My resolve was waning.
We had planned to go back to camp for lunch, but decided to tough it out as we could see more herds.
Next there were two does and a tiny buck headed to a water tank with a nice buck on the prod coming up quick behind them. I moved fast to get within 80 yards of the tank while Bill stayed about 3/4 of a mile back at the truck. The two does and the tiny buck came in behind the tank at 180 yards or so and dropped from my sight. About a minute later they busted out hard!!! What had I done?? I never moved. I waited and the buck showed, and I liked him fine! He was at a different angle from the first group but was also walking in on the far side of the tank. I watch him at about 185 take steps right at me, with each step I saw less and less until at 180 he went from view just as the 1st group had. I wait, nothing!! I finely stand
There is a pool of water in a depression 90 yards down from the tank. He is standing at the pool watching me :cursing: Busted!! As I watch him run off he goes 150 yards and drops to a walk. He turns behind a ridge (just a rise in the sage brush about 5 feet higher then what surrounds it and maybe 300 yard long) and walks up my way but behind the ridge and 200 yards parallel to where I am. I take off for the top point of the ridges length. I get set and like a dream he walks out at 125 yards and stops. "OK" I think "125 about an 8-10" drop aim at the top of his back, you got this." He takes a step, I aim right at his heart and the ball (dropping as I knew it would) passed just behind his front legs and 3" under his chest! :barf: I was happy to have that 3/4 of a mile walk back up to Bill, I needed it to compose myself. it turns out it was a badger that spooked the 1st group not me. Bill could see it all from where he was I took the chiding for a bad shot as best I could. He asked if it might not be time to get the 06 out? I said I was muzzle loader hunting for 3 days! He said "then stop missing" Man I was low.There were 3 more stalks that afternoon, one I can't even get the details clear in my mind and the last that involved 2 1/2 miles walk in soft deep sand only to arrive at a tank with a small herd at it, and flat grazed ground 250 yards around and no stalk possible. Busted in the first 10 yards of belly crawl.
I got back to the truck (5:30 pm) I had legs of rubber,and was dehydrated and dejected.
Rather then make another stalk I opted to go back to the tank where I missed the shot earlier and "sit stand" until dark. Bill dropped me off and I walked the 3/4 miles down to the tank. Half way I was busted by a group of 40 or so at 300-400 yards.
To hell with it! I'll sit the stand anyway. This time I sit so I am 90 yards from the pool they drank at rather than the tank the spurned. I was there 10 minutes when he walked over the rise. The buck I had missed! walked head on strait to the pool's far side.
I remember thinking "that's 90 yards" and "wait till he drinks to move the gun" the bank was steep and as he drank I found I was pointing my rifle at an angle that would pass just behind the shoulders, through the spine, lungs and maybe the arteries above the heart. I set the set trigger, let out half a breath and shot.
Post scriptHe dropped right into the pool stumbled out and died withing a minute, 15 feet from where he was shot, How he lasted that long I will never know.
The lungs were just gone! replaced by what looked like a gallon of raspberry jello
