Well, I got my first antelope yesterday. A rather small buck but still a buck. We figured out quick that we'd lost our BLM map and had no idea what was private or public. So, we found a rancher's place near Casper and paid $25 to hunt their land which was infested with antelope. Every draw had a group hanging out.

The first stalk was blown from 800 yards or more. I missed the second one right over it's shoulder at about 300. My buddy told me to take a rest over a bush but I couldn't see the antelope from there. I definitely should have waited and used the rest. He was a pretty decent-sized animal.

We found the lone buck a little further down the road and I was able to hit it at about 200 - 250 yards. I hit lower than I wanted but it only ran 80 yards before piling up. The .264 went in about 2 inches behind the front leg and 4 inches up. The 140 grain partition left a softball size hole for an exit wound. There was no heart or lungs left.

This was my first big game animal in over 10 years and my first antelope. I'm certainly glad I did this before my elk/deer hunt in two weeks. I feel pathetic about a misplaced shot and a miss. Thankfully, the animal went down quick.

[ 10-07-2002, 19:22: Message edited by: parshal ]

it doesn't sound like you misplaced your shot at all. the bullet completely destroyed the heart and lungs - you can't expect it to fall over and drop in place unless you hit the spine - otherwise, high strung game like an antelope or deer will run for a ways before expiring.

Hey, sounds like you had fun and that was not a bad shot I don't think.

I just got back from Rawlins where my buddy and I got a couple of real nice antelope. Both were about 14.5 inches in length, but really heavy horned bucks that darned near made Boone and Crockett. I am having mine mounted and my buddy is having a European mount, we cannot wait till they show up.

Now you can go back and look for a bigger buck. I really like hunting antelope, they are fun. We looked over a fair number of bucks and were still done before noon on the first day. (We were on a guided hunt on a HUGE ranch.)

R F

Nice story, any pics/