My wife and I went out for opener, and she tagged this buck. I had remounted the scope on her 308 (she insists I mention its name--"W") and didn't get a chance to sight it in (went out, but scope moved around a bit and I didn't have the right allen head!). She used my 300 rum, which she doesn't like to shoot but loves to hunt with. With a 200 gr Accubond, it's a bit overkill for speed goats, but it did the job.

We located these goats from the road by glassing, and judged their direction and probable route. We ended up putting a good stalk on the herd he was in, getting to where we wanted to head them off just barely in time. As usual, the antelope had covered more ground than expected. As the bucks always seem to follow the does, we had to hunker on a very slight hillside while the herd came into view angling towards us. By the time the bucks came into 300 yds, we were in plain view of the does. They were skittish, and she hit him as he was in a fast walk. She followed up with a rear leg clip !?! as he tried to run, but the effort was unneccesary. In the mean time, I managed to miss his identical brother cleanly. Can't really explain that one. Her buck was 13 1/2 on the side that wasn't broken off. He also had a broken cutter on the good side. With the breaks it grossed 73.



The buck I'm with was taken this last weekend in the same area. A huge herd sat all day in a very difficult spot to get to without blowing them out of the county. We ate lunch and discussed how to reach the massive buck in the middle group of three groups. It would be a tough task to get within even long rifle range. When we came back, we noticed another truck moving in from a closed-to-driving area. He didn't seem to care, and used the back route to get to the goats (it would have been about 3.5 mi walk--too far for such a low percentage stalk for me). We decided to try our agreed upon plan anyhow. The other folks blew the antelope out about 10 min before we would have intercepted them. If we had left that much earlier, we would have had to beat them back. The savvy hunters had walked in in plain veiw. Antelope are not the smartest of God's creatures, but they won't tolerate such arrogance. After glassing and not finding them, and having made a long, useless walk, we moved on to bird hunting. On the way to some Sharp tails we had an appointment with, this buck from the herd ran up over a rise and stopped 260 yds from the ranch road we were on. They had moved about 4 miles north. He was not one of the biggest two in the herd, but that was my next to last day to hunt goats. That buck was 12 1/2 in, grossing 70 1/2. After an easy finish, we went on to limit out on grouse in record fashion. By the way, mixing the two (antelope and bird) was a breakthrough. It was an absolute blast to put down the rifles a couple of times and shoot pheasants, huns, and grouse.





This sums up antelope hunting. Sometimes you work hard and smart and get your goal. Often you work harder and get tag soup. And then other times they practically run you over, and you simply get lucky.

A good looking lady with a gun.........Doesnt get any better than that.

Nice report and pics

Nice goats. It is fun to be able to go with your wife and enjoy the hunt together--not in the cards for me!

It's amazing how blatantly some folks flaunt the law. I see folks in big 4 WD vehicles in no driving areas and it pisses me off. If I ever did that John Law would be right there, but it seems like a few inconsiderate idiots do it, foul up good hunters like you guys, and make the good hunters look like they are abusing the rules.

I'm glad it worked out for you to get a buck later, and it sounds like a lot of fun throwing in the bird hunting in between.

Good pics--thanks.

Tell your wife congrats on a fine shot on her speed goat.

Congrats to your wife on a good hunt and better shooting than her husband. You are fortunate that she enjoys hunting. My wife looks at my hunt photos and says...that's nice...but she doesn't mind me going so that puts me in better shape than some.

congratulations to your wife on a very fine buck!

a great story for a great hunt!

Your definately a lucky man, beautiful wife who likes to hunt. I wish I could be so lucky. Those are some nice looking bucks though where did ya take them. Was it some place close to Bozeman?

Good job both of you!!!
Keep your wife interested in hunting.

Don

Thanks all.

George,
We hunt public land (and BMA) around Roundup. It works, b/c we were able to drop off the baby with her grandmother in Billings (as well as a couple of does on the way home).

Having the wife hunt is fun--she's my best hunting partner for a number of valid reasons. Yet, it's still fun to go out with the boys some times.

I'm still working on her elk she shot sunday night. I hope it doesn't get too warm today--I've got the quarters hanging in my garage now. Can't get to them until tonight! I'll post about her bull soon.