Kansas 2026 Pronghorn
- Thread starter kansasdad
- Start date
Friday afternoon hunt tale
Getting back to the SUV and quenching my thirst, I decided to drive back to a place I had pinned with dove possibilities. As I drive past 40+ of them took off from the electrical line. That’s almost the entirety of roosting place for doves as there are almost no trees out here.
Buttering up slices of Cheesecake Factory dark bread I decided that I would head towards the private ranch where I saw my first unit 17 antelope, but planned to keep my eyes open for antelope on the drive there. As I drive past a farm hq complex with three large silos I looked south and thought I saw two white dots in a grass field a long ways off.
Binos out and find the white dots, and watch those white dots morph into two antelope. Now consult with OnX. How big is this Wiha? Big enough that these guys are on publically accessible land. Heat shimmers are strong this afternoon but I can tell that there is a buck/doe pair and measuring tool says 1200 yards to get there.
Consult with app and there is a gully, arroyo, or wadi as we called them in Kenya. It looked like I would be out of sight of the antelope for a long safe walk, and I would try to figure it out from there.
As the wadi started to turn towards the east, I slowed my pace and kept scanning the new territory opened up with every few steps. Antelope!
They were descending from the bedding flat and feeding northwards, which was partially correct for me as I needed NW movement.
I backed up the arroyo and prepared to crawl to a yucca grove to observe their movements. Walking in my knees, I recalled Tim Conway’s character Dorf, as it must have looked like is was a penguin limbering along.
Finally getting to the yucca clumps I set up my glassing seat and had an amazingly frustrating good time watching. She was in the lead. Like other bucks this week, when he saw her squat, he was there to check it in no time. As nice of a buck as he is, she seems to be equal or larger in rump size. Equal or taller in shoulder height.
Watching them duck the fencing wire and again commence feeding, I tried to work out a way to close distance. It felt like I was stuck, but a morning attack plan was developing.
Finally the sunset time was approaching. These antelope were grazing uphill as fast as the final rays of light were traveling up the hillside. Finally after sunset they returned to the bottom of the bowl and looked like they were going to nestle down for the night as true darkness was
moments away.
Moving out of sight I shouldered my pack and rifle and started back up the wadi and the car.
My plan for Saturday morning was to come in from the east and get to the edge of the bowl, and be ready to tak a shot if presented. Either one of them.
Getting back to the SUV and quenching my thirst, I decided to drive back to a place I had pinned with dove possibilities. As I drive past 40+ of them took off from the electrical line. That’s almost the entirety of roosting place for doves as there are almost no trees out here.
Buttering up slices of Cheesecake Factory dark bread I decided that I would head towards the private ranch where I saw my first unit 17 antelope, but planned to keep my eyes open for antelope on the drive there. As I drive past a farm hq complex with three large silos I looked south and thought I saw two white dots in a grass field a long ways off.
Binos out and find the white dots, and watch those white dots morph into two antelope. Now consult with OnX. How big is this Wiha? Big enough that these guys are on publically accessible land. Heat shimmers are strong this afternoon but I can tell that there is a buck/doe pair and measuring tool says 1200 yards to get there.
Consult with app and there is a gully, arroyo, or wadi as we called them in Kenya. It looked like I would be out of sight of the antelope for a long safe walk, and I would try to figure it out from there.
As the wadi started to turn towards the east, I slowed my pace and kept scanning the new territory opened up with every few steps. Antelope!
They were descending from the bedding flat and feeding northwards, which was partially correct for me as I needed NW movement.
I backed up the arroyo and prepared to crawl to a yucca grove to observe their movements. Walking in my knees, I recalled Tim Conway’s character Dorf, as it must have looked like is was a penguin limbering along.
Finally getting to the yucca clumps I set up my glassing seat and had an amazingly frustrating good time watching. She was in the lead. Like other bucks this week, when he saw her squat, he was there to check it in no time. As nice of a buck as he is, she seems to be equal or larger in rump size. Equal or taller in shoulder height.
Watching them duck the fencing wire and again commence feeding, I tried to work out a way to close distance. It felt like I was stuck, but a morning attack plan was developing.
Finally the sunset time was approaching. These antelope were grazing uphill as fast as the final rays of light were traveling up the hillside. Finally after sunset they returned to the bottom of the bowl and looked like they were going to nestle down for the night as true darkness was
moments away.
Moving out of sight I shouldered my pack and rifle and started back up the wadi and the car.
My plan for Saturday morning was to come in from the east and get to the edge of the bowl, and be ready to tak a shot if presented. Either one of them.
Instead of sleeping in my car, I got a hotel room to shower, charge thee batteries and sleep on a comfy bed. I went to Syracuse and got a room. Fortunately my feet and brain remembered that the bed frame had no toe room underneath the box spring, and so I only stubbed my toes twice.
While checking in I learned that
the Syracuse football game had to be postponed, because parts of the field were still under water.
Setting my alarm for 4, I barely remembered that I hadn’t done my Wordle yet that day. Old Testament scholars and bankers know that word, thankfully I paid attention in Bible
101 class and kept the streak alive.
While checking in I learned that
the Syracuse football game had to be postponed, because parts of the field were still under water.
Setting my alarm for 4, I barely remembered that I hadn’t done my Wordle yet that day. Old Testament scholars and bankers know that word, thankfully I paid attention in Bible
101 class and kept the streak alive.
treydfoster
Member
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2024
- Messages
- 33
Yes?
Saturday morning
The alarm went off way too early, and yet I was already awake. Exciting hunting plans tend to make me a much lighter sleeper.
Driving towards the WIHA I had been at the afternoon/evening before, my plan was to use darkness to cross some of the more open areas and sneak in close to where I had put the buck/doe to bed the night before. Driving along I saw two more swift foxes. One was in a new location a couple of miles from the first sighting, the other was at the same road intersection as before.
It was going to be a fair weather day all day, but it was staring off quite crisp for a Kansan who had lived through lots of high 90's and low 100's all summer long. Layers to be removed later if needed, water bottle added to the pack, and it's go time.
Walking in I used a two track and with moonlight I needed no artificial lighting to make my way safely towards my intended location. Getting deep into the WIHA I slowed my pace for noise reduction, but also to put my brain in ninja hunting mode.
The antelope had headed towards the top of the bowl at last light last night, so my goal was to get to the base of the bowl that had seen them trading back and forth all afternoon. Turning off the road into the bunch grass CRP, I found a game trail that was heading the same direction that I wanted to be moving.
The sides of the bowl were terraced, which I presume was done to slow water runoff in those irregular rain/snow events that happen out here. Cresting the top of the terrace gives the opportunity for sky-lining at the upper elevations, or simply more exposure to any game animal on the lookout for trouble approaching. Each terrace on this hillside was around 30 yards wide. Weeds were prominent on the crests of the terrace, while the downslopes were a mix of forbs/grass, and the flats more grass than other plant life.
Descending past the 5th of 6th terraces, I turned around and could see the eastern sky was in the first moments of lightening up. My time to move freely was gone. I found a section of terrace that had a bunch of yucca plants, and decided to sit down there to watch the morning awake.
Close to where they were last seen light, already on their feet and grazing, there was the pair of beautiful antelope hanging out close to each other. They were at the furthest south of the bowl, in a location that had me pinned down in my hideyhole for now. If they shifted easterly, they would be behind a hill that could allow me to advance, if they stayed or went westerly I couldn't move, if they moved into the base of the bowl I might be able to use the terracing to hide movement and close the distance.
As sunrise was promised by the first direct light touching the west crest of the tall hill to the west, I saw the antelope staring to the south. The buck was stock still, she was eating/staring simultaneously. A chorus of howling started from the direction they had been staring, and then there were howling locations east and west of where we were in the bowl. The sounds of the west, and I couldn't not sing in my head a couple of lines from "Home on the range".
For the next hour or so the antelope moved randomly on the south hillside of the bowl. The flat that they were bedded on when I saw them the day before was about 200 yards away from where they grazed. I imagined a scenario where they fed, and then would move to the flat for a mid morning rest, which meant that if they bedded in the back half of the flat I would have enough cover to move into position, and launch a crawling approach. I had already mapped out in my head how I might use the little gully to my right to get to the bottom of the bowl, and then using the WIHA lone tree as a guide on where they had bedded, work my way into an acceptable shooting distance, raise myself over the lip of the bedding flat and have a go.
Ahhh, the best laid plans of mice and man.
Around 8 am I heard the first truck of the day. He was up on the main road, and he stopped for a second where I had left my SUV. He then turned down the two track I had used to walk in this morning, and he continued further south.
I could here car doors slamming as the wind was from the south, and then within 5 minutes the first shots rang out. While I was watching the antelope, I had glassed through the arroyo, past the WIHA signs, and had seen the neighbors shooting range tables and elevated shooting platforms. Hundreds of yards away there was a series of shooting targets.
BOOM!....clang. Shot and hit steel a couple of moments after the shot.
The buck was already quite on edge just by having the truck drive by 5 minutes earlier picked up his head and headed away from the human generated noises. All day yesterday it was the doe in charge of where the pair of them would be. Up until this moment this morning she had been in charge of where they were going/grazing.
Mind made up, he turned WSW and started to gain elevation towards the far crest of the bowl. At first it didn't seem like she was aware of his exit plans.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.
He wasn't just strolling now. Purposeful ground eating fast walking, he was picking up the pace. By now she had realized what was happening. She was going to be left behind. Now it was her turn to walk, then canter, and finally doe a short spring to close the distance.
It didn't take him long to crest the (false) crest and disappear. She followed within 60 seconds, and those last 60 seconds you could feel her panic that she couldn't see him.
BOOM BOOM
five minutes, more booms, more waiting and then more shooting.
I entertained thoughts. Should have I high tailed after them when they left my sight? Will they possibly come back for an afternoon bedding time?
BOOM BOOM.
No end in shooting promised.
I picked up my shooting sticks, glassing seat, pack and headed up the hill to follow.
The alarm went off way too early, and yet I was already awake. Exciting hunting plans tend to make me a much lighter sleeper.
Driving towards the WIHA I had been at the afternoon/evening before, my plan was to use darkness to cross some of the more open areas and sneak in close to where I had put the buck/doe to bed the night before. Driving along I saw two more swift foxes. One was in a new location a couple of miles from the first sighting, the other was at the same road intersection as before.
It was going to be a fair weather day all day, but it was staring off quite crisp for a Kansan who had lived through lots of high 90's and low 100's all summer long. Layers to be removed later if needed, water bottle added to the pack, and it's go time.
Walking in I used a two track and with moonlight I needed no artificial lighting to make my way safely towards my intended location. Getting deep into the WIHA I slowed my pace for noise reduction, but also to put my brain in ninja hunting mode.
The antelope had headed towards the top of the bowl at last light last night, so my goal was to get to the base of the bowl that had seen them trading back and forth all afternoon. Turning off the road into the bunch grass CRP, I found a game trail that was heading the same direction that I wanted to be moving.
The sides of the bowl were terraced, which I presume was done to slow water runoff in those irregular rain/snow events that happen out here. Cresting the top of the terrace gives the opportunity for sky-lining at the upper elevations, or simply more exposure to any game animal on the lookout for trouble approaching. Each terrace on this hillside was around 30 yards wide. Weeds were prominent on the crests of the terrace, while the downslopes were a mix of forbs/grass, and the flats more grass than other plant life.
Descending past the 5th of 6th terraces, I turned around and could see the eastern sky was in the first moments of lightening up. My time to move freely was gone. I found a section of terrace that had a bunch of yucca plants, and decided to sit down there to watch the morning awake.
Close to where they were last seen light, already on their feet and grazing, there was the pair of beautiful antelope hanging out close to each other. They were at the furthest south of the bowl, in a location that had me pinned down in my hideyhole for now. If they shifted easterly, they would be behind a hill that could allow me to advance, if they stayed or went westerly I couldn't move, if they moved into the base of the bowl I might be able to use the terracing to hide movement and close the distance.
As sunrise was promised by the first direct light touching the west crest of the tall hill to the west, I saw the antelope staring to the south. The buck was stock still, she was eating/staring simultaneously. A chorus of howling started from the direction they had been staring, and then there were howling locations east and west of where we were in the bowl. The sounds of the west, and I couldn't not sing in my head a couple of lines from "Home on the range".
For the next hour or so the antelope moved randomly on the south hillside of the bowl. The flat that they were bedded on when I saw them the day before was about 200 yards away from where they grazed. I imagined a scenario where they fed, and then would move to the flat for a mid morning rest, which meant that if they bedded in the back half of the flat I would have enough cover to move into position, and launch a crawling approach. I had already mapped out in my head how I might use the little gully to my right to get to the bottom of the bowl, and then using the WIHA lone tree as a guide on where they had bedded, work my way into an acceptable shooting distance, raise myself over the lip of the bedding flat and have a go.
Ahhh, the best laid plans of mice and man.
Around 8 am I heard the first truck of the day. He was up on the main road, and he stopped for a second where I had left my SUV. He then turned down the two track I had used to walk in this morning, and he continued further south.
I could here car doors slamming as the wind was from the south, and then within 5 minutes the first shots rang out. While I was watching the antelope, I had glassed through the arroyo, past the WIHA signs, and had seen the neighbors shooting range tables and elevated shooting platforms. Hundreds of yards away there was a series of shooting targets.
BOOM!....clang. Shot and hit steel a couple of moments after the shot.
The buck was already quite on edge just by having the truck drive by 5 minutes earlier picked up his head and headed away from the human generated noises. All day yesterday it was the doe in charge of where the pair of them would be. Up until this moment this morning she had been in charge of where they were going/grazing.
Mind made up, he turned WSW and started to gain elevation towards the far crest of the bowl. At first it didn't seem like she was aware of his exit plans.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.
He wasn't just strolling now. Purposeful ground eating fast walking, he was picking up the pace. By now she had realized what was happening. She was going to be left behind. Now it was her turn to walk, then canter, and finally doe a short spring to close the distance.
It didn't take him long to crest the (false) crest and disappear. She followed within 60 seconds, and those last 60 seconds you could feel her panic that she couldn't see him.
BOOM BOOM
five minutes, more booms, more waiting and then more shooting.
I entertained thoughts. Should have I high tailed after them when they left my sight? Will they possibly come back for an afternoon bedding time?
BOOM BOOM.
No end in shooting promised.
I picked up my shooting sticks, glassing seat, pack and headed up the hill to follow.
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