BuzzH
Well-known member
Never quite had an antelope hunt like this one.
Started out on Friday and the weather was absolute crap for hunting antelope...fog and no visibility. Pat and I saw some good bucks but never got any shooting during the couple hour window we had to hunt.
So, we decided to not hunt antelope on Saturday, so I went deer hunting and saw a bunch of deer and even more elk. I passed on a couple bucks in the 140-150 range, hoping my remaining day of deer hunting tomorrow will pay off. I did manage to take 2 mule deer does on my type 6 tags, so that worked out.
Today we decided to try antelope again and from daylight until about 9 a.m. the weather was again rough. Temperature was 14 degrees, snow and fog. The fog lifted and almost immediately Patricia and I started seeing a lot of antelope. While we were glassing a buck walked right past us and Pat decided it was a good buck. She got a good rest and made a great shot at 279 yards with her ruger #1 in 25/06, breaking the shoulder and anchoring him right on the spot.
A photo with Pat and I with her buck, not your typical antelope hunting weather.
After we took care of Pats buck we continued to look over a bunch more right before another snow storm set in. I found one buck that looked promising so I decided to make a run at him. They bedded at the top of a sage brush draw and I slipped into about 60 yards. I could see 3 decent bucks, including the one I wanted to shoot. The trouble was I couldnt get high enough to shoot over the sage at the bedded buck, so I took a chance and raised up just a bit and let him see me. A doe to his left stood up, and he stood up just a second later. I quickly took the shot at 60 yards off-hand and hit him just right. He ran a short ways and I could see blood pouring out of him. A second later he pitched over.
I'm happy with this buck, one of the better bucks I've ever shot. His circumference is 6 5/8 his second mass measurement is 6 7/8...despite being only 14 inches long. I scored him at 80 5/8 gross. If you measure the mass just above the prong, its 5 1/8...but where the actual measurement is taken its only 4 3/8. Shows the importance of having the prong higher on the horn. Story of my antelope hunting life...close but not close enough.
Still I'm wayyyy happy with this buck, and way better than I expected on a second choice tag.
Another look:
One last one of Patricia and I with my buck:
Started out on Friday and the weather was absolute crap for hunting antelope...fog and no visibility. Pat and I saw some good bucks but never got any shooting during the couple hour window we had to hunt.
So, we decided to not hunt antelope on Saturday, so I went deer hunting and saw a bunch of deer and even more elk. I passed on a couple bucks in the 140-150 range, hoping my remaining day of deer hunting tomorrow will pay off. I did manage to take 2 mule deer does on my type 6 tags, so that worked out.
Today we decided to try antelope again and from daylight until about 9 a.m. the weather was again rough. Temperature was 14 degrees, snow and fog. The fog lifted and almost immediately Patricia and I started seeing a lot of antelope. While we were glassing a buck walked right past us and Pat decided it was a good buck. She got a good rest and made a great shot at 279 yards with her ruger #1 in 25/06, breaking the shoulder and anchoring him right on the spot.
A photo with Pat and I with her buck, not your typical antelope hunting weather.
After we took care of Pats buck we continued to look over a bunch more right before another snow storm set in. I found one buck that looked promising so I decided to make a run at him. They bedded at the top of a sage brush draw and I slipped into about 60 yards. I could see 3 decent bucks, including the one I wanted to shoot. The trouble was I couldnt get high enough to shoot over the sage at the bedded buck, so I took a chance and raised up just a bit and let him see me. A doe to his left stood up, and he stood up just a second later. I quickly took the shot at 60 yards off-hand and hit him just right. He ran a short ways and I could see blood pouring out of him. A second later he pitched over.
I'm happy with this buck, one of the better bucks I've ever shot. His circumference is 6 5/8 his second mass measurement is 6 7/8...despite being only 14 inches long. I scored him at 80 5/8 gross. If you measure the mass just above the prong, its 5 1/8...but where the actual measurement is taken its only 4 3/8. Shows the importance of having the prong higher on the horn. Story of my antelope hunting life...close but not close enough.
Still I'm wayyyy happy with this buck, and way better than I expected on a second choice tag.
Another look:
One last one of Patricia and I with my buck:
