CO Archery Pronghorn

[SilentKid0423]

My dad and I were able to draw an archery pronghorn tag in a pretty nice unit in Colorado. I haven’t done a semi live hunt posting before, and thought why not!
We had a plan to do all public land on some national grassland in our unit. I have guided some archery pronghorn clients in the past and knew this hunt wasn’t going to be an easy one, but we were up to the challenge. I mentioned my hunt to a friend of mine and he knows someone who has some property that we could hunt on. We got in contact with him and we were able to set a blind up. Ideally, I’d love to do spot and stalk as that is what I’m used to, however, we are going to try our hand at a water hole blind sit the first few days.
Our opening day is Saturday, and the itch is getting to me finally. My bags are getting packed and truck is loaded up and clean. I’m hoping to update this daily and that you guys enjoy this as much as my dad and I plan on doing as well!
With my dad being in his mid 50’s and me in my late 20’s, it’s not lost on me that we don’t have forever together. While getting a nice buck would be great, spending time with him and making memories is what the ultimate goal is.

 

[Wyoming270]

I hope your bringing your own water hole. The pawnee grasslands are bone dry. There has been so much wildfire smoke in the air the last few weeks, sunrises are just a dark red spot in the haze. Last weekend i could not see more than 2000 yards through the smoke.

 

[adoc65]

We have gotten a little moisture in the evening as of lately. I hope the water hole you’re sitting is a water trough. Great luck to you guys on your hunt!

 

[Lmartin5]

Enjoy every minute...rooting for you!

 

[adoc65]

I’m not sure where you are hunting, the Pawnee has a lot of water…everywhere!!

 

[SilentKid0423]

Well had a late start this morning. My wife won concert tickets for late Friday night, so we didn’t get to leave until 5ish this morning.
We drove around the property to get an idea if there were any herds around, and were able to see a small herd about a mile north of our blind with a decent buck. We were able to get into the blind around 8, just in time for the heavy fog to lift.
The blind we are sitting in is about 35 yards from basically a water trough dug into the ground. It has some good water and tracks all around it. We sat in the blind all morning and early afternoon. We took a peak over a hill north of us where we had seen the herd when we pulled in. They were still there and bedded, but as we started to pull out the herd were heading for cover just as a storm started pulling overhead and dropping buckets on us. That was when we decided to go pound the roads around the public to see what we could get eyes on.
Our first stop on public brought us on a small mid 60’s buck. We don’t care for score, so we decided to have a go at it. He was grazing just above a ravine that flowed from the road and into the grasslands for about two miles. This allowed us to get below him and out of sight for most of the stalk. We covered form about 1000 yards into 300 yards very quickly. We got eyes on him at just over 300 yards and he was none the wiser and still feeding. We were on a steep embankment that we could crawl over and get down into another cut and use that as cover. As we are crawling up the next cut, I kept trying to keep some taller bushes between where I thought the buck was and us.
As we are crawling, I heard what you never want to hear, a hard snort to my right. I had misjudged where he was an he was further to my right about 200 yards. He was coming hard at us and being curious, so I knocked an arrow and sunk below a bush. He got into 150 yards, decided he was more nervous than curious, and bailed out. I watched him trot away with a doe that must’ve been bedded the whole time as I never saw her. He didn’t booger out too much, so hoping he’s still in the area tomorrow morning!

 

[adoc65]

Lope are so fun to hunt. There curiosity makes for some great scenarios.

 

[SilentKid0423]

Spent the early morning driving some roads and walking around the public access. We found a buck with two does first thing in the morning and made a plan to go after them. They were about 200 yards off the road between two hills. Perfect view from the road and they were in a good spot where we could get above them and get within 100 yards. We made our way towards them, when another truck, most likely a hunter, drove by and stopped right on them to look. This obviously spooked them and they took off. That’s public land hunting for you! Stalk #1 was a no go
We drove for a few more hours and would find a few bucks either on public or in the wide open with no way to get close. We knew coming into this that an archery hunt was not going to be easy, but getting boots on the ground was proving to be tough.
We decided around 9 to head to the blind as the herd by the blind normally comes to water between 10-2. Anyone reading this who’s in Colorado, though, knows that we have been getting some heavy monsoons in the last few days. There is a lot of water everywhere right now, so the water hole isn’t living up to what we need it to do.
We decided to head back to the road and explore all of the public land as we had only hit a little of it. We drove for a few hours, but with it being so hot and humid, many of them were bedded and we couldn’t find much. A storm came in so we took a nap and hung out for a bit.
Towards the evening we were able to find a small group of 4 bucks feeding next to a water trough. We paralleled them as they headed up a hill. We were gaining ground on them and I had a good idea of where they were heading. They were about 500 yards off a fence that led to private land, so I knew that we didn’t have a ton of time. Knowing this, I rushed it a bit and as I was paralleling them, I got too ahead and above them and got busted by the smallest buck (of course). They meandered off, not seeming too spooked. I didn’t want them to bolt across the fence so I let them go and called it a day.
I’ve been able to have some fun stalks, one of them will pan out!