I drew a little bit better tag this year than last and wanted to make sure that I had a chance at a few of the better animals in my unit.
I purposely waited until after rifle opened to chase after them though because it tends to be a circus on most of the units around here. There was a little competition but not much, and with a little work I was able to avoid the crowds.
Dad got his first Antelope on Tuesday morning and he was pretty proud of it. Better than my first for sure, even though he has helped me with every one of mine.
I was a little more picky and narrowed it down to three of them and decided whichever posed for me first get to come home in my truck. All three were of comparable size, but each had much different character.
The first had the mass, not as tall as the other two, but the mass made up for it. Second had very long curls, and good cutters, with decent mass. Only problem was that for all 15 inches of horn he had, his cutters were well below his ears. I hope he makes until next year.......
Finally, there is this guy. Has been fighting a bit, so you will see in the first picture there is a chunk gone from his base. He was the tallest, and had the most unique shape. His left kind of sticks out, which gives him a somewhat wide look. Haven't put the tape to hime yet, and don't know if I will. I am satisfied whith his unique look.
It ended up being a fairly easy hunt, after 5 days of just sorting through the little guys to find shooters. He made an appearance on a little ridge 400 yards away and started working his way down. At about 375 I took my first shot, and it was a miss. I won't make excuses, just a bad shot.
He took off like they do, and I watched pretty disappointed to say the least. He stopped quite a ways out and watched him head into a ravine and never come out.
To get to where he was I had to circle around him behind a couple of ridges and get the sun in my favor to blur my outline when i came over the top.
I expected him to be on my left, but he hadn't made it that far down the drainage. He was 200 yards to my right and one shot later he was down. Getting him out of the bottom was not fun, glad he wasn't an elk.
I purposely waited until after rifle opened to chase after them though because it tends to be a circus on most of the units around here. There was a little competition but not much, and with a little work I was able to avoid the crowds.
Dad got his first Antelope on Tuesday morning and he was pretty proud of it. Better than my first for sure, even though he has helped me with every one of mine.
I was a little more picky and narrowed it down to three of them and decided whichever posed for me first get to come home in my truck. All three were of comparable size, but each had much different character.
The first had the mass, not as tall as the other two, but the mass made up for it. Second had very long curls, and good cutters, with decent mass. Only problem was that for all 15 inches of horn he had, his cutters were well below his ears. I hope he makes until next year.......
Finally, there is this guy. Has been fighting a bit, so you will see in the first picture there is a chunk gone from his base. He was the tallest, and had the most unique shape. His left kind of sticks out, which gives him a somewhat wide look. Haven't put the tape to hime yet, and don't know if I will. I am satisfied whith his unique look.
It ended up being a fairly easy hunt, after 5 days of just sorting through the little guys to find shooters. He made an appearance on a little ridge 400 yards away and started working his way down. At about 375 I took my first shot, and it was a miss. I won't make excuses, just a bad shot.
He took off like they do, and I watched pretty disappointed to say the least. He stopped quite a ways out and watched him head into a ravine and never come out.
To get to where he was I had to circle around him behind a couple of ridges and get the sun in my favor to blur my outline when i came over the top.
I expected him to be on my left, but he hadn't made it that far down the drainage. He was 200 yards to my right and one shot later he was down. Getting him out of the bottom was not fun, glad he wasn't an elk.
