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Antelope Hunt 2004

Here are two bucks both taken with Bucks and Bulls Guides and Outfitters this year. We hunted in August and had a great time as well as harvesting great bucks. Both bucks were taken with D�Arcy Echols Long Range Legend Rifles. Both rifles were chambered for 300 Weatherby Mag shooting 200 grain bullets at 3000 fps. My rifle has a Leupold 4.5 x 14 scope with stadia wires and Bob�s has a Lecia.

I have worked as a guide with D�Arcy for last ten years on a ranch in Utah. I swore that I would never own a rifle that heavy and that cost that much. After thirteen years of trying to find the perfect hunting rifle and buying six custom rifles and not being completely satisfied, I finally gave in and ordered a rifle from D�Arcy. I have read and researched this issue for a decade. 300 weatherby for antelope?? Yep. 200 grain bullets for goats?? Yep. I believe the goal is to dispatch the animal in a quick, efficient manner and whether the bullet is 140 grains traveling at 3600 fps or 200 grains at 3000 fps, the effect is the same. Quick and lethal.

My goat was taken at 400 yards using a 200 grain accubond. My groups at 100 yards are under .250 inches regularly. I have seen capes more damaged from a 7mm 08 than with my 300 win or 300 weatherby, both of which have taken book goats.

We had seen this goat the first day in what we call the spectacle. 60 antelope ran past us at dusk. 30 of them were bucks and we guessed four of them would book. It was quite a sight. Sunday I did not hunt by my choice, but we took a drive up through the north pasture. We saw three book goats including mine and the buck posted on this site by Bryan W. Monday morning we parked the truck and walked a mile up into this pasture. At first light we spotted this buck at about two miles. We knew he might be the one we were after.

We moved positions about 400 yards the set up to look again. To our surprise this buck had run a smaller buck (about 82) to within 800 yards of us. The smaller buck crossed in front of us at 250 yards. The big buck peeled off North. He dropped over a small nob nearly a mile away. We went right at him. The last part of the sneak was tense knowing we may bust him and never catch up to him again.

I spotted his horns over the brush at about 400 yards. We had a clear shooting lane to our left at 200 yards, and 400 yards in front of us. We sat down, set up on my Tony Diebold shooting sticks with D�Arcy (my guide for this hunt) under my right elbow. About ten minutes later the buck walked out in the flats at what we guessed was 400 yards right in front of us. We learned that laser range finders don�t work when pointed directly into the sun (which was right behind the buck). I had little lens flare and felt calm. I put my 400 yard wire just in front of his shoulder as he was quartering towards us. I squeezed off, the rifle jumped and the buck tipped over backwards, kicked once and it was over. What a buck, what a hunt, what a rifle!

The autopsy revealed I hit him about two inches higher that my aim point, taking out the top of his heart and great vessels. It was awesome. This buck is a cranker.

Bob�s buck was taken with a 200 grain nosler partition. Dangerous game? No. Big, big prarie goat? Yes. Dead goats? Yes. This rifle has provided me with the confidence of long range accuracy that I haven�t had in all my other rifles. I returned to Utah the following week and harvested another book antelope at 455 yards (story to follow).

I guess I need some instruction on how to attach a photo on this website. Anyone?

You will need to create an account and upload the pics to a website such as http://www.hunt101.com/index.php (it's free and hosted by hunters).

Then you will need to copy the link on each of the pics and place them in the 'img' '/img' tags on this site (as you've done above).

Conversly, you could e-mail them to me at gauthreau@telus.net and I will put them up for you. Either way I hope to see some pics.

Neil

you can upload the pix on my website (click the link in my signature) and then post them here at AR using the web address that is created after you upload them!