It took some schedule juggling, and an eleven hour bus ride, but I was able to sneak in a day hunt to try and fill the first antelope tag I've had in 11 years.
Got off work on ten o'clock Friday night, made the eight hour drive with my dad, brother and I taking turns driving an napping, and made it to the hunting grounds an hour or so after first light.
We spotted the first group of about a dozen antelope about two miles down a valley, right on a fenceline of some property we could hunt, and a neighboring ranch that we couldn't. I went after the herd, and about half way there I came over the rise and had a unique buck dead to rights at 350 yards. I watched him for fifteen minutes or so and decided he was too busted up, and not an animal I wanted to kill right away.
He got distracted by a group of three does up on the skyline, and took off after them. As he was marching away from me towards the does, I started to realize that I was probable being too picky for only having part of a day to hunt, and decided I should try to kill that buck.
When I got to within 500 or so yards of him and the does, the does got nervous and dropped over the rise and on to the county road that was the end of where I could hunt. I was pretty bummed, but still had the original dozen to go check out.
I got to within about four hundred yards of where I thought the herd would be, when amazingly, my buck popped over the skyline and walked directly towards me and into the little depression where the dozen should be feeding. You don't normally get this easy of a second chance on a missed opportunity.
I crawled up over the rise, and glassed the buck, who was now checking out the original dozen I spotted. He was the only mature buck in the herd and I had plenty of time to set up and wait for him to finally clear the does and give me a good 250 yard shot.
After seeing the bucks Breaksrunner and Greenhorn have already killed in this area this year, I probably set my sights too high and almost blew the chance at this really cool buck. I'm really fortunate he came back down to check out the does, and didn't follow the others out of my hunting area. He's a great buck for my first, and I couldn't be happier.
My brother and dad could watch the whole stalk from where we first spotted them, and could see the buck the whole time going between the groups of does, so that's a pretty cool bonus. They're over there until Tuesday, and hopefully will find something similar to tape their tags to.
Got off work on ten o'clock Friday night, made the eight hour drive with my dad, brother and I taking turns driving an napping, and made it to the hunting grounds an hour or so after first light.
We spotted the first group of about a dozen antelope about two miles down a valley, right on a fenceline of some property we could hunt, and a neighboring ranch that we couldn't. I went after the herd, and about half way there I came over the rise and had a unique buck dead to rights at 350 yards. I watched him for fifteen minutes or so and decided he was too busted up, and not an animal I wanted to kill right away.
He got distracted by a group of three does up on the skyline, and took off after them. As he was marching away from me towards the does, I started to realize that I was probable being too picky for only having part of a day to hunt, and decided I should try to kill that buck.
When I got to within 500 or so yards of him and the does, the does got nervous and dropped over the rise and on to the county road that was the end of where I could hunt. I was pretty bummed, but still had the original dozen to go check out.
I got to within about four hundred yards of where I thought the herd would be, when amazingly, my buck popped over the skyline and walked directly towards me and into the little depression where the dozen should be feeding. You don't normally get this easy of a second chance on a missed opportunity.
I crawled up over the rise, and glassed the buck, who was now checking out the original dozen I spotted. He was the only mature buck in the herd and I had plenty of time to set up and wait for him to finally clear the does and give me a good 250 yard shot.
After seeing the bucks Breaksrunner and Greenhorn have already killed in this area this year, I probably set my sights too high and almost blew the chance at this really cool buck. I'm really fortunate he came back down to check out the does, and didn't follow the others out of my hunting area. He's a great buck for my first, and I couldn't be happier.
My brother and dad could watch the whole stalk from where we first spotted them, and could see the buck the whole time going between the groups of does, so that's a pretty cool bonus. They're over there until Tuesday, and hopefully will find something similar to tape their tags to.
