I was only able to spend a weekend hunting antelope his year. I kept hearing about how bad the drought in central Montana was, and I went in with low expectations. The first day was pretty uneventful. The only antelope I saw were running before I noticed them. On the second day, I got a tip from a rancher. There was a herd hanging out near a reservoir on the opposite side of the BMA. I hiked in and found the herd of about 15 bedded on top of a gently rounding ridge. I stalked up a coulee and relocated them.
I was only 100 yards away, but the hill's contour didn't give me any way to get a solid rest. If I stood up, I could see them (and they could see me), and when I was kneeling, they were blocked by the top of the hill. I opted to crawl closer and try to get a kneeling shot. At about 75 yards, I could see the tips of ears and horns when I was on my stomach, so I decided to try to get a shot. I switched to a kneeling position, found a buck in my scope, and flicked off the safety. Then, they bolted. They only ran about 50 yards, and they turned back to face me. Once again, their bodies were obscured by the hilltop, but I could see the buck's head and neck clearly.
I'm not proud of my shooting on this one. I aimed right at the base of the head and started to squeeze the trigger. I shot, and he dropped. He only laid on the ground for a split second before he regained his feet and took off with the rest of the herd. I figured that I had hit him in the nose or the jaw, so I kept shooting at him, hitting him twice in the stomach and once low in the hind leg. He ran to the bottom of a sandstone coulee and laid down. I was walked to 30 yards and killed him with a shot in the neck. The first shot had hit him in the base of the prong, stunning him momentarily.
Even though I made some poor shots, I'm happy with the hunt. I recovered the animal, the meat was fine (thanks gutless method), and I filled a tag in the two days I had this year. I might reconsider taking neck shots in the future based on how this one played out.
What are all of your thoughts on head and neck shots?
