A kid's first pronghorn

[Gut Shot]

Some of you probably got in on the thread I posted in the elk hunting forum about my daughter's first elk hunt. This one will be about my son's first antelope hunt. We will be heading to Wyoming tomorrow, to a unit we have hunted several times in the past.

My son has been on a couple of antelope hunts before but he was always too young to hold a tag. Wyoming's utterly stupid age restriction law has prevented him from actually pulling the trigger until now. We should be back middle of next week and I'll post an update then (I don't do social media on vacation).

 

[bts09]

Good luck! Hope it goes well.

 

[7mm08mo]

Good luck, have fun!!

 

[bowhuntmontana]

Good luck!

 

[LCH]

Should be a great time with your son, good luck!

 

[SticksMcKinley]

Good luck!

 

[cahunter805]

Good luck! Have a good hunt with your son!

 

[Addicting]

Wishing you and him the best of trips. It’s a memorable experience hunting with your Dad.

 

[Gut Shot]

Made it back to base with a cooler full of meat and learned that hard work isn't always rewarded how you think it will be.

We drove into the hunting area late Sunday morning and went to some BLM with no vehicle access. After a day and a half in the truck we were ready to stretch our legs. I glassed up some antelope about a mile away and we went after them. They wouldn't let us get within 3/4 of a mile of them. We hiked in anyway and saw a couple of decent mule deer bucks and some antelope on the wrong side of the fence.

We hiked out and drove over to some state land that would require a lot of walking. We hiked about a mile in without seeing anything. We were about to cross a ranch road when a truck pulled up. It was the ranch manager. We introduced ourselves to Casey. He congratulated us on "doing it right" by hiking in and working for our animals and said they had chased off a ton of trespassers this year. I told him we were out for my son's first antelope and asked if he had seen any. He told us that for the past couple of years public land was getting hit really hard in the unit and that it was going to be tough getting anything after opening weekend.

"We like helping out kids who are after their first animal. How would you like to hunt on some private land? I've got an antelope honey hole not far from here."

"Sounds good to me." I replied.

We jumped in his truck and got a ride back to our vehicle then followed him down the road a couple of miles. We pulled over on a hill with a view. He pointed out a few groups of antelope and told us to take our pick! I told him we wouldn't be too picky about what we shot.

We blew one stalk then drove around behind a herd and stalked in from above. We set up about 225 yards out from a buck and got set up. My son was about to learn a lesson about shooting in the wind. He missed...twice. I asked what was wrong and he said the wind was blowing him and the gun around too much. "Lean into the bipod and grab you right wrist with your left hand" (Thanks Big Finn for that tip). The third shot worked. The herd ran over the hill and we followed. His buck was laying on the other side.

Our primary goal was done. Thank you Casey, if you are reading this you are a Saint amongst the wretched.
We met Casey on the way out and thanked him and gave him the land-owner voucher from my son's tag.


I was up next and had two days to tag one. We got in several stalks the next day but couldn't pull it off. I had a buck in my sights the that morning and should have shot him. Instead I tried to get a little closer, stupid, but we had plenty of time right? Problem was, Casey was right, the antelope had been chased hard and were really skittish. We had animals that were spooked by deer, spooked by cattle, ran off just seeing the truck pull off the road a mile away.

The last couple of hours of the day we crept within 220 yards of a herd with four bucks in it, all I had to do was sit up to get above the grass and shoot one. Problem was, after consulting the GPS, they were about 50 yards into private land. We waited them out and about a half an hour before last light they got up to move. They moved the wrong direction and ended our day.

The last day was windy. Pretty much stable 40-50mph winds. I knew another place with difficult access and tried it. We saw antelope but it was the same story, they were really paranoid and after hiking a few miles we just didn't have the cover to get close enough.

We spotted a herd on a sliver of BLM near the road and got a stalk in but they were all does. So we headed to an area that we hunted the day before, where the cattle ran off and spooked the antelope.

There were antelope in the same place as the day before so we dropped into a washout and headed after them. The damned cows were in the same water hole as the day before and ran out scaring off all of the antelope again. We started the long walk back to the truck. We were both beat and I asked my son if he wanted to walk all the way back or wait here and I would get the truck and pick him up. He didn't say a word, just stepped off the track and sat down. I've never had to work so hard for an antelope.

I picked up the boy and drove down to the creek where the cattle were when we spooked them. I parked the truck under a hill to hide it from view and we sat and had lunch. We were both tired of walking, tired of the wind, and tired of the damned antelope. I told him that after lunch we would find a nice spot out of the wind and sit. The antelope were in here and they would come back some time that afternoon.

We hiked up the stream a ways and I was eyeing a spot on the hill above us that would make a nice place to sit when I saw an antelope upstream from us. We sat right there and watched. It wasn't a long wait before a few more walked out with one buck in their midst. He wasn't big, but then we hadn't seen a single "big" pronghorn the whole trip. I ranged them at 200 and settled in behind the rifle. At the shot the does all ran away, while the buck ran towards us and to our right. I tried to get on him for another shot but with the bipod, scope cranked to 8x and him on my right side I only had him in the scope for an instant before he turned and ran over the hill.

What happened? The shot felt good, the cross hairs were steady, I didn't jerk the trigger. I didn't see any blood on him when he ran past and my son didn't either. I crept up the hill slowly. There he was, standing, looking from me to the truck. I crawled up and got the gun set up for another shot as he ran off. He pulled up somewhere between 350-400 yards. I now had an animal that appeared unwounded, at an unknown range, in a 40mph crosswind.

I grabbed the binocular and looked him over again. There wasn't a mark on him. And I wasn't going to follow up an easy miss with a difficult hit. I watched him walk away over the hill.

I was pissed. How did I miss such an easy shot? Was the sight knocked off zero? I walked back down the hill and grabbed my pack and laid down on the bank of the creek. "I'm going to catch up on some sleep, let me know if you see any pronghorn." I told the boy. I pulled my hat over my eyes to take a hate nap. I laid there for a couple of minutes wondering what went wrong. Then I had an idea. What if the buck that walked off unwounded wasn't my buck. I grabbed the binocular and hiked to the crest of the hill above us. I glassed back and forth in the sage and there he was, laying dead. He went over 250 yards after a perfect double lung shot.

 

[elkrchr]

Those tenderloins were well earned! Congrats!

 

[Jape]

Congrats to both of you! Great rewards for doing it the right way.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Congrats!

 

[MT_elk]

Congrats!

 

[Pucky Freak]

Congrats on your hunt and glad you took the time to make sure you hit an animal. I've been fooled before by an animal I didn't see at first running off because I thought I missed

 

[Focus]

That’s a great story!! Lots of learning moments for your son too. Nice work dad!!