My younger brother and one of my best friends from high school, met me up in Northern California and we drove to a friend's place outside of Medicine Bow, Wyoming, where two other friends from Oregon met us for a long weekend of antelope hunting. We arrived Saturday morning for opening day on Sunday and saw more antelope on the drive in than we had seen in the last 5 years. We didn't get started hunting until 8:30 in the morning and an hour and half later had 4 mature bucks on the ground in less than a square mile.



I got one that was more than 5 years old and had an odd secondary prong on his right horn, a pretty unique old guy. A buddy of mine had shot a buck and I walked over to see it on the ground and spotted my old guy about 800 yards to the north. I walked toward him until I got a low spot about 600 yards from him and used that to flank him and get down to about 350 yards. He spotted me looking at him from between two rocks and started walking off. I just put my backpack down for a rest and went prone behind my Ruger No. 1 .270 Win. and lasered him at 387 yards. The wide part of the duplex reticle on my Leupold 3-9X spans 4" at 100 yards so that's 16" at 400 yards. My handloads are 15.7" low at 400 yards when I'm zeroed at 200 yards so that wide part of the duplex is almost perfect for a 400 yard shot. He was quartering away from me so when he stopped and stretched his neck out, I put the thick part of the reticle on his last rib and squeezed the trigger. He went down like lightening struck him so I knew that I spined him. A gust of wind must have got me as I hit him in the neck about 4-6" downwind of my point of aim. He actually had his head turned back toward me when the bullet hit him.



Here's a closer look at his horns:



I spent the next two days helping my brother try to get a freak buck with long heavy horns that jut out forward of his face. The local government trapper has been trying to get him during archery season for the last two years and calls him "Paddles". My brother blew two chances at him during the next two days and shot an ancient, older buck instead on the last afternoon of the hunt

I did pull one of my better stalks on a mule deer buck that I found while my brother was chasing Paddles. I got within 25 yards of this 3 year old. His G3s were probably close to 20" long. He's only a 3x3 but he will make a hell of a trophy for someone with a muley tag in a couple of years.

Looks like a great hunt. I love your buck.

.

nice, would love to hunt them some day

Just out of curiosity, how do you know he was more than 5 years old?

Looks like you guys have a heck of a vacation every year! Congrats!

quote:

Originally posted by COYOTE HUNTER:
Just out of curiosity, how do you know he was more than 5 years old?

Looks like you guys have a heck of a vacation every year! Congrats!

I didn't know in the field, I just look for the big older looking bucks.
When took the carcasses into town to get them cut and wrapped, the WY Dept of Game & Fish had a check station set up. The Biologist there checked all the antelope coming in for research purposes. He said mine was at least 5 years old and my brother's was so old that he couldn't even guess. But from the teeth condition, it was the oldest one that he had ever seen.

Sounds like a great hunt, and a good shot at that distance!

quote:

I didn't know in the field, I just look for the big older looking bucks.
When took the carcasses into town to get them cut and wrapped, the WY Dept of Game & Fish had a check station set up. The Biologist there checked all the antelope coming in for research purposes. He said mine was at least 5 years old and my brother's was so old that he couldn't even guess. But from the teeth condition, it was the oldest one that he had ever seen.

Dang it.
I was hoping you had a reliable way to judge them in the field. I have never heard of any method that is consistent and have never been able to come up with anything on my own.

Every study I have read basically says that an antelope buck could make B&C at 2 years old or 6 years old. Feed, genetics and conditions matter more than age but I still like shooting older animals as opposed to younger ones.

Great pics and story. I sure love antelope hunting, but haven't been in a few years! I need to correct that!

Z

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
His G3s were probably close to 20" long. He's only a 3x3 but he will make a hell of a trophy for someone with a muley tag in a couple of years.

Oh hell yes he will.

Looks like a fun trip.

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
His G3s were probably close to 20" long. He's only a 3x3 but he will make a hell of a trophy for someone with a muley tag in a couple of years.

Oh hell yes he will.

Looks like a fun trip.

This what I saw when I started sneeking up on him. He was with another 24" wide 3x4 that had a small kicker additionally on the 4 side, so he was actually a 3x5.

good shot

Nice!

Sweet,
Nice old buck. Do have a picture of your brothers?

Congrats to you and your party Frank!
Thanks for the report from one of my favorite places in the West.
Carbon County has been good to my brother and me too.


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