Antelope Hunt 2011

It has begun, again. This was perhaps the most challenging antelope hunt of my career, but filled with incredible moments, and as always, we learned a ton about antelope behavior.

Sept 1 dawned relatively warm for the opener of the annual ritual of chasing antilocapra americana. The third buck we spotted, which was before the sun was up was a very good goat. However, we had not had the opportunity to do a lot of scouting, and we didn't really know what was there this year. So we sized him up as 15" left horn, 14" right horn, 5" hooks, and great mass, around 38"s. That would put him right about 79 to 80". However, if his mass was 40" that would push him to 81 to 82, so we settled on 79 on the bottom to 82 at the top, but not a first day shooter, so we let him walk.

We bumped into him three more times that morning as we drifted around the hills and draws of our favorite antelope country. We got back to the truck about 1030am and started driving. By the end of the day we had looked at about 200 bucks and hadn't seen anything even in the same class as the first buck we passed. He called him HD (heavy duty) because of his exceptional mass. As we pondered on the area, and his horn configuration, I felt that this buck was a five year old, as he was in the same place as a buck that we had looked at three years ago when I killed Triceratops, but was two year old then.

So Friday, we decided we would make a play for HD. We started hiking high on a hill right at first light, and carefully picked apart every draw, and hill, and scrutinized every buck we saw. We found him finally with eight does about 830am as they fed up over a hill. The chase was on. We had to sort through a bunch of antelope and skirt a herd bedded.

We busted a buck and three does as we came over, and they blasted into this group with the bigger buck in it. We sat down to watch the show. They ran about a mile, then stood for about half an hour, then did a sharp 90 degree turn and ran back our way but to our west. We moved to cut them off, and it was a perfect intercept, but instead of having them 300 yards below us off the big hill, they had run up the hill and were sixty yards away. Nowhere for us to hide. I hate getting that close to antelope! It never turns out well for us.

So they caught a glimpse of movement or whatever, and they blasted out to 450 yards kind of wondering what just happened. They paused long enough for us to make a move behind some tall grass and set up a shooting lane through the grass. There was another buck with this group that had the same horn configuration, but was about a 74-inch goat, so I wasn't sure a little bit in the mirage. I finally manned up and called it our boy. I ranged the group three times and each reading came back 450, but those of you who hunt goats, know that shooting a range just above the grass with mirage can sometimes be wrong. Either that I misread my range finder three times. Chance lined up on his sticks, felt good, put the four hundred yard wire right at the top of his back and squeezed. The bullet went just high. So either the range finder was wrong (possible but not likely), or I misread the range three times. Anyhow, we missed.

The antelope ran right back to us and stopped at 200 yards and milled around, but they were right behind this clump of tall grass. No shot. When they decided to blow, they blew out at 40 mph. We rushed over the hill and set up again as they stopped at 400 yards below us. We just got set up and they decided they had had enough of all this commotion and blew out to 600 yards, which is a doable shot. Every time Chance was just about to squeeze one, the buck would start to walk. He was 620, then 635, then 650, then 680. We were pushing the envelope. When he hit 712, I said we're done and we watched the herd top the next ridge then hit high gear.

We sat for 20 minutes thinking they would loop over the ridge, but nothing. So we cut over the ridge hoping to find them. Nada. We dragged back to the truck and drove up the draw. Nothing. So they had to go down canyon.
As we geared back up we cut over to the canyon where we spotted him in the morning and sure enough there he was feeding in the bottom of the draw. Only problem was that he was with 70 other antelope, with 60 of them between him and us. We debated for an hour how to get to him as he moved up the side of the draw and bedded. All we could see was his head at 1200 yards. We finally took and deep breath and took an oblique line to the bottom of the draw that put a little hump between us and him. Funny how things work sometimes. There were two little yearlings blowing their nose at us so we sat down for twenty minutes and let them chill. They fed into the bottom. We dropped into the bottom and walked to within 50 yards of them. Surprise, surprise. They blew up the right hand side of the draw and stood and chirped at us.

We worked down to about 500 yards from where we thought he would be and just as we were easing over the hump, fifty does and few bucks busted us and off to the races they went. We moved over the hump just in time to see the last butt disappear. We took a hard left hand turn and pounded up over the top of the canyon hoping to cut them off. Nothing. So we looped back over and started to glass. We found them, all 70 of them milling around the fence a mile and half away. They would all run up the fence, then stop, and then run back down the fence. We just sat down and watched. We could see our guy and he was definitely easy to find. Lots of mass and good prongs, heads and shoulders above any of the other five bucks with the group.

There was no way we were going to make a move as the sun was going down and we were about three miles from the truck. So we called it day. They next morning we were back. We found them all together half an hour after the sun came up. They were out an area that had no apparent contour and no cover bigger than ankle high grass.

We took half an hour to debate what to do, planned our stalk and were off. We went back the exact same line we took the night before dropping into the draw. We topped out about 900 yards from them, and moved bent over to about 800. Then it was crawling through the thorns and stickers for another 400 yards. Ouch. We sat up and started glassing just in time to see the buck go over a nob chasing the second best buck in the group. We figured he would come back and it would be lights out. Five minutes later the other buck drifts back of the hill, and we see our buck walking away from us at 800 yards. He went out to 1050 and bedded on the hill by the fence.

The herd stirred, then calmed down and bedded. The sun was starting to get hot. Two hours later we decided to try and make a move, but as soon as we started, the herd saw us, and blew. 50 sets of eyes, ears and noses are tough to compete with. So we sat down as the herd raced to corner of the fence and milled around. Interestingly, our buck stood, but just watched the frenzied race. The does and smaller bucks calmed down over the next hour and started drifting back towards us. The whole herd came past us in bits and pieces over the next hour. We sat still and the wind was right.

Our buck finally stood up and started feeding towards us. We set Chance up on the packs prone as I thought at 700 we would take a crack at him. As he got to 780 he took a hard turn and dropped off the hill to the bottom. I could see him at 680 yards, but Chance could not. So the sun kept cooking us. About a half hour later we decided to try and make another move. We got to about 500 yards before we saw him and he saw us. He took three other bucks and they ran back out to 850 yards and watched us. We sat down again to wait. They bedded and took turns watching.

So we got radical. I left Chance sitting, I stood up, and walked like I was leaving the country. They watched me go. As soon as I was out of sight, I took a hard line right to the hillside where they were bedded. I eased up the side of the hill half way and started tippy toeing back towards them. I was heading towards a large rock that would get me about 400 yards from them. As I neared the rock, I saw then come out in the bottom. I got my sticks set up; a round chambered and ranged them at 419 yards. I put my 400 yards wire a little high on his chest and squeezed. He jumped and then started limping forward. I had hit his front foot. I fired two more times, but they were in the grass and I couldn’t see where I was hitting.

I ranged him again, and now it read 519!! That’s the frustration of ranging just over the top of the grass when it’s hot. They had turned and were trotting back up the hill away from me. I got myself together, ranged him again and now he was at 580. I put my 600 yards wire on his chest and fired. He went down, but his head was still up. Chance started down and I moved into 200 yards and ended it. My knock down shot had broken his back, but not killed him.

So it was quite the rodeo. That’s antelope hunting for you though. He scored 81 and change with 44 inches of mass!! He had 7 ½ inches of mass above the prong. It was quite the chase.

Gear used:

Rifle: D’Arcy Echols Long Range Legend 300 WBY
Bullet: 200-grain accubond
Binoculars: Leica Ultravid 10 x 42
Spotting Scope: Swarovski 65 mm HD
Rifle Scope: Leupold Vari X III with stadia wires


Good Hunting


[/IMG]

One more photo

Awesome! You guys sure earned that one.