Well, I just got back last night from Medicine Bow, Wyoming with a cut and wrapped antelope in the cooler. We were hunting a private ranch of a good friend (300,000 acres) so we had a lot of ground to choose from.



How to get two antelope on one tag:



On opening morning, I jumped a medium sized buck with a hot doe at about 400 yards off the side of a hill and they both ran down to the flats where two guys in a pickup decided that 600 yard running shots were the way to hunt goats. On the fourth shot one of these guys hit the buck in the rear leg, breaking it. The buck then circled back toward me up on the hill and the guys in the truck started following it. I set up my 7 Mag on the bipod and started watching the buck run toward me. I figured that the truck would never catch the buck before it made the top of the hill and into the tall sagebrush where it would lay up and die so I decided to put it down. It passed me at about 250 yards at a shuffling trot and I put the cross hairs a foot in front of it and dumped a 140 grain Barnes Triple Shock through its ribs. The buck went right down so I walked up to check it dead then waited for the truck to show up. Within 5 minutes the truck came over the hill and I pointed to the downed buck. When they got to it, I told them I finished it and they just said "thanks" and heaved it into the back of the truck and drove off. (I don't even pretend to understand some people.)

We saw a couple of hundred antelope that day but nothing that I wanted to shoot on the first day. One of my partners shot a nice 15" buck at a lasered 504 yards using a Nosler Ballistic tip. This is a bit longer than I would shoot (especially with a varmint caliber) but he shoots this gun regularily at 500 yards for prarie dogs and knows exactly where it hits.



The second day one of our group met us late for lunch saying that he had a buck down but couldn't find him in the tall sage. We loaded a pickup and two ATV's and went out to help him. We found where he shot from and he said that the buck ran to the left before he saw it fall over in his scope. We spread out on the hill side and I took the highest position and just as I neared the top I heard one guy yell and saw that they had found the dead buck. I decided not to waste the opportunity and continued over the hill and down the next valley up to the rocks on the next ridge. As I crested the hill I saw a buck standing facing away on the next hill top. Looking through the binoculars I could see that he was a young 12" buck facing away from me with blood running down its front left leg. I lasered him at 284 yards quartering away from me, so I put a Barnes 140 grain TSX up through his last rib and it exited through his throat. I walked back to the first hill and told my friends to bring up one of the ATV and then turned back to finish cleaning it. Back at camp we had quite a spirited debate, everyone agreed that the wounded goat had to be put down but a few weren't too keen on putting their only buck tag on it. I have a wall hanger already so it didn't break my heart but half of our group were on the first 'lope hunt.



I spent the next two days shooting prairie dogs while the rest of our group were trying to tag out. On one trip, after shooting up a town we had a little contest on a group of dogs way out there. On my fourth shot I dropped a dog with my 22.250 and beat my buddy's 220 Swift. We walked out to the mounds and lasered back to the truck and measured 692 yards, which is my personal best with that 22.250.

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

I would have shot both of those goats too. He may not be trophy calss by weight but he is still a trophy morally. Besides it makes for one heck of a good story.

I just finished my first Antelope hunt and was fortunate to tag a big one but I still would have shot a smaller wounded one. Have done that many time with deer. I have never regreted shooting and taging a lesser animal when it was wounded.

Glad you had a good time. I hunted area 52 last year and though the antelope were not big they were spooky enough to give us a good hunt.

Thanks Rick, I did so.

Fjold, what is your load with the 140 TSX ? If you don't mind sharing what Powder. I tried RL 19 but didn't like the group size in my 7mm Rem Mag.Thanks

Rob, I'm using 66 grains of IMR4831 to get right at 3220 fps. It shoots right at .8" for 3 rounds and anymore powder than that opens up the groups quickly. I'm going to try H4831SC in it next just for kicks.