I had a chance to head to Eastern Montana to try for antelope with my Bow. My college buddy now works for Montana Decoy and he told me to come up to Montana for a weekend hunting trip and relaxation.

I bought a over the counter antelope doe tag, and a mule deer doe tag and a out of state license, packed up my bow, and gear and headed out.

I am using a Matthews Switchback XT, 30" draw with Beeman Carbon Arrows and Thunderhead 125 Broadheads. I also use a Scott Mongoose Release..

Day 1 - Leaving early and driving like hell, I managed to get from Pocatello, ID to Forsyth, Montana by 3pm. Giving me time to stop in Butte, Montana to pick up a bird hunting license so I could get some dove hunting in. Getting there early let me and my friend to get checked into some Block Management Land, and lucky for us, his High School buddy was the ranch manager and gave us a tour of some water holes and the area we could hunt.

Day 2 - Getting up a little late we managed to get out to the water hole. We borrowed a Double Bull Blind, and the first time trying to set it up was a disaster. We couldn't figure out what went where, and how the pieces "magically" folded out. After about 20 minutes of cursing we managed to set it up. We tryed to remember everything, but forgot to bring chairs. We had a 5 gallon bucket in the back of the truck and that became the "shooters" seat. My buddy had a buck tag and me with my doe tag, we had all bases covered. With the Double Bull Blind set up, and a new Montana Decoy antelope prototype set up, we were good to go. The early morning was uneventful, but by around 10 am, antelope started to move into the water hole. The problem was the tank that held the water was overflowing making a 100 yard stream. The antelope were coming into the bottom of the stream and were at least 80-90 yards away from us making it impossible for a shot. Half way through the morning we decided to move the blind lower down on the water hole. This move was the best decision we could have made. With the blind moved and the decoy set up we were ready.
Sitting in the blind in the warm weather wasn't the most exciting thing to do. While one of us sat on the 5 gallon bucket, and read Lonesome Dove, the other one of us took a nap (I mean surveying the ground for wind direction) on the ground. So while I was surveying the ground for possible wind changes, my buddy woke me up, and pointed. Getting up slow I managed to see, 2 does and 2 fawns heading into the water hole. There was one doe with 2 fawns and the second doe was just following the others into the water. The antelope coming in were very skitish throughout the day, but these seemed a bit more relaxed. The doe with two fawns moved in for a drink, and were still 55-60 yards away and still to far. The single doe moved closer to us, but was still being skittish. When she go a side view of the Montana Decoy Antelope Doe Prototype, you could tell by her body language she immediately relaxed. Walking closer she moved to 40 yards. Slowly we lifted the camo material so I could get a clean shot. The doe started drinking at the water hole, and while her head was down, I let an arrow fly. I saw the shot hit perfect right behind her shoulder getting a double lung shot. She took off at a trot, but only managed to get 50 yards before she fell over. I couldn't believe it, my first bow kill was an antelope. The only trouble was that we were suppose to be filming and with everything happening so fast we forgot to turn the camera on!! After loading everything back into the truck, we skinned and butchered the antelope. There is not much meat on them, but what there is, is very tasty.

Day 2 - Again we headed to the same spot, on the way in we spotted a Mule Deer doe. I was hoping for a 2 animals in 2 days experience. Grabbing my bow out of the case, and putting on my release, I was ready to put a stalk on. Looking down at my release I noticed that there was only the strap and half of the release. The jaws were nowhere to be found! Digging around in my case and the truck we managed to find the other half. The small allen screw that holds the jaws and female end of release to the male part fell out, rendering my release useless. By the time I realized this and found the parts, the doe was long gone. I never did find the screw, but substituted a allen wrench with some rope to hold the release together. It managed to hold up for the rest of the trip. Setting up on the same area as the afternoon from the previous day, we managed to be in the wrong spot having all of the antelope coming in to the top of the water hole. At around 3pm with strong winds that tryed to make our blind into a kite, and hot weather that wanted to bake us. We decided to give up and go bird hunting. Doves were plentiful and we managed to shoot a lot of shotgun shells. Hitting was a different story, and I was 3 for 25.


Overall the hunt was a great success. The Montana Decoy Antelope was great providing some attraction for antelope. The Double Bull blind worked well also, but some time should be taken to set up and take down the blind. It is a great invention, but you should practice setting up and taking it down sometimes. My Scott Mongoose release worked great for the first part of the hunt, but losing the screw cost me a shot at a doe Mule Deer. I contacted the company and they are sending me a new screw for the release. I will probably epoxy it in so I won't lose it again. I will also bring a second release with me on future hunts just to have a spare.

Antelope hunting with a bow was awesome. I want to do it again. I don't expect to get as lucky as I did this time, but I sure want to try. I stayed at my friends house, but there was a Guest Houst nearby that I have stayed at before for goose hunting. It is a converted farm house and buildings into a guest house. The facilities are beautiful, and are set up perfectly for hunting. The basement is for gun cleaning, putting on and taking off muddy or wet gear. There is clothes racks in the basement also and it is heated for quick drying of clothes. The rooms are spacious, and there is enough room to have 6 hunters in there comfortably. I would highly reccomend it if you are looking at heading that way to hunt. It is located on 500 acres that can be hunted on with permission, and the people who set up the house are some of the best in the world. Check out the website at www.prcountrycomforts.com