Carl 9.3x62
Well-known member
Looks like fun country to hunt.
Nevada Antelope hunt 2025 - Semi-live
- Thread starter npaden
- Start date
Pahoundsman
Well-known member
Congrats to you and your son. Great looking buck.
npaden
Well-known member
I think the guides take classes now on how to take pictures.
We still haven’t put a tape to him but we caped him out for a shoulder mount.
We still haven’t put a tape to him but we caped him out for a shoulder mount.
David Gough
Well-known member
Looks like he will push that 80" mark gross. Congrats!
duckhunt
Well-known member
Dang that's a great buck.
kiwi hunter
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2013
- Messages
- 1,424
And here i thought those antilope lived on the plains. Great shot.
Sask hunter
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2016
- Messages
- 3,735
Congrats!
seeth07
Well-known member
Congrats! Any lope with those pretty ivory tips is a great buck in my book!
npaden
Well-known member
Thanks for the replies everyone.
Just got back to the hotel after getting him cut up and in the freezer.
Still haven’t put a tape on him, I think this is one of those bucks that looks better than he scores. For sure a mature buck and he had the largest group of does rounded up of any in the area, but not sure that’s going to really correlate into score. For sure don’t think he’s going to make the 80” mark.
The important thing is that he looks good and my son is very happy with him!
Just got back to the hotel after getting him cut up and in the freezer.
Still haven’t put a tape on him, I think this is one of those bucks that looks better than he scores. For sure a mature buck and he had the largest group of does rounded up of any in the area, but not sure that’s going to really correlate into score. For sure don’t think he’s going to make the 80” mark.
The important thing is that he looks good and my son is very happy with him!
Bowkill1978
Active member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2016
- Messages
- 24
GREAT buck!! Great story, even if it is a short story!
mevertsen
Well-known member
Thats a very nice buck
npaden
Well-known member
So I guess I have time to write this up.
We got picked up at the hotel at 4:00 am and headed over to the maverick gas station for breakfast. Some breakfast tacos and hostess donuts.
Our guide is driving a Tacoma and his wife is along to help and as our good luck charm since she was there last night when they spotted the buck we are going after today. We make it to where we wanted to be a little earlier than expected. Wait for about 5 minutes or so and then continue on.
We get to a lookout glassing spot right at first light and start glassing. Don’t see anything. They tells where the 2 groups of antelope were the night before but we are still looking and not seeing anything. We shift around and the guides wife spots some antelope right where I had been looking earlier. They are right on the ridgeline and I don’t think I missed them, they just popped over onto our side now.
This is the group with the buck with the big curl. We are just over 1,000 yards away and they don’t seem bothered by us at all. Watch them for a bit, but the guides thinks the other buck they had seen the night before was better so we are still looking for him.
We decide to drive that way and as we get in the truck and start heading that was we spot some does crest the ridge right where we were about to go. That is right where they had left them the night before so they are pretty confident that if the dies are still there that the buck is too. We decide to drive the other direction and gain some elevation in the vehicle to then put a stalk on them.
We drive quite a way the other direction to gain the elevation and then load up and start heading to where they think they are going to be.
That’s this picture as we were hiking out.
Pretty easy hiking and I’m not even carrying a backpack. This hiring a guide stuff is kind of nice.
A couple other sunrise pictures from this morning.
We got picked up at the hotel at 4:00 am and headed over to the maverick gas station for breakfast. Some breakfast tacos and hostess donuts.
Our guide is driving a Tacoma and his wife is along to help and as our good luck charm since she was there last night when they spotted the buck we are going after today. We make it to where we wanted to be a little earlier than expected. Wait for about 5 minutes or so and then continue on.
We get to a lookout glassing spot right at first light and start glassing. Don’t see anything. They tells where the 2 groups of antelope were the night before but we are still looking and not seeing anything. We shift around and the guides wife spots some antelope right where I had been looking earlier. They are right on the ridgeline and I don’t think I missed them, they just popped over onto our side now.
This is the group with the buck with the big curl. We are just over 1,000 yards away and they don’t seem bothered by us at all. Watch them for a bit, but the guides thinks the other buck they had seen the night before was better so we are still looking for him.
We decide to drive that way and as we get in the truck and start heading that was we spot some does crest the ridge right where we were about to go. That is right where they had left them the night before so they are pretty confident that if the dies are still there that the buck is too. We decide to drive the other direction and gain some elevation in the vehicle to then put a stalk on them.
We drive quite a way the other direction to gain the elevation and then load up and start heading to where they think they are going to be.
That’s this picture as we were hiking out.
Pretty easy hiking and I’m not even carrying a backpack. This hiring a guide stuff is kind of nice.
A couple other sunrise pictures from this morning.
MtnTrooper
Member
Great buck! Congrats
npaden
Well-known member
We get about 1/2 mile closer and I’m also keeping tabs on the group off to our south with the buck that curls in. They are less than a mile over there but they still don’t seem too concerned. After a while they feed back over the ridge and occasionally I see them back on the ridge line. A good back up plan for sure.
As we get closer the guide (Randolph) starts creeping up and looking to see if he can see anything. He ends up spotting the group of does again and this time there are more. They mentioned that they were really starting to rut and they were really working on gathering up does and this buck seemed to be doing a really good job of it.
We keep getting closer, dropping lower on our side of the ridge to stay out of eye shot and ear shot as we get closer.
A couple more checks and we are getting pretty close. We move down and over one more time and this time when he checks he seems to think we are close enough. He gets the spotter and says he can see the buck and that he is a good one. He ranges him at 323 yards which is a bit further than we would like but there is zero wind and Eli has been practicing out to 390 yards.
They decide to back out and see if we can find a better place to set up for the shot. We move down and right about 50 yards and peek up and he decides that’s not any better. We move up and to the left about 50 yards of the original spot and he decides that’s not any better either. We end up right back at the original spot and move to get it place. I’m gong to try to see if I can edit the video I took of them getting setup for the shot and possibly add it in here.
By now I’m the only one that hasn’t laid eyes on the buck. I’m purposely hanging back and letting this be Eli’s hunt and adding another person in the ridge line isn’t going to make it a less likely for the antelope to see one of us.
They get up and Randolph calls out a range of 302 and Eli dials his scope to 13 clicks up. (We had been discussing different ranges and how much to click the scope). They get setup and Randolph hands his wife his phone to video through the spotter and it looks like this is going to happen. Eli asks Randolph if he can shoot and Randolph says whenever you are ready and about a second later the gun goes off and a very clear thump is heard as it is definitely a hit and the buck drops dead in its tracks.
Only negative is that it happened too fast for it to get on video through the spotting scope. Oh well, Eli said that the buck was standing perfectly broadside and seemed like he might be about to move so he went ahead and took the shot. No need to revisit the footage to guess where he hit him since he dropped in his tracks.
Congratulations all around as the buck isn’t even twitching. He was up to 12 does gathered up and they are just standing around trying to figure out what is up. We are standing skylined 300 yards away and finally after a couple minutes they run off.
The buck is obviously dead so we decide not to wait around and head over to him. On the ground he looks just as good as he did thought the scope, really good mass and prongs and nice ivory tips. Very pretty buck.
It’s been a while since I’ve been involved in a pronghorn kill and I’ve forgotten how small they are. We end up just picking him up and moving him around 30 yards to a better spot for pictures. Lots of pictures are taken. He is actually wet in the middle of his back down near his tail and both his throat patches are wet with the wonderful aroma of antelope musk! The way Eli has to hold him for the pictures is right on one of the throat patches and his hands are wet with antelope musk scent!
We took our time with the pictures, the sun is already coming up and throwing shadows and causing contrast issues but it isn’t hot yet. Pictures done and we start breaking down the animal. This is a hard thing for me to watch because that’s my job but I watch and try to at least be helpful. The shot hit the closest scapula directly and blew chunks of bone everywhere which is no doubt why he dropped like a rock at the shot. I at least grab the shoulders after they are off and do my best to cut off the worst of the bloodshot meat and tissue and bone fragments before putting the quarters in the game bags. Also I cut the leg bones off at the knee joints to keep any hair out of the game bags.
Danelle ends up heading back to get the truck while Randolph goes ahead and capes the head. It’s a solid mile back to the truck so it takes a bit but before long she’s back and we grab everything and haul it then whooping 300 yard pack out back up to the road.
It over almost before it began. Everything went nearly exactly according to the plan. Eli is starting to think that’s how things work when you hire a guide. We all tell him that isn’t the case and that he needs to be happy that things went so smoothly but that is not always the way things work just because you hire a guide.
For sure the scouting and local knowledge of the area what a HUGE benefit and there is no way we could have zeroed in on 2 nice bucks just over a mile apart on opening morning without them. They were very friendly and nice and fun to hang out with for the very short time we spent with them!
I think that’s about it. Hoping that the flight home tomorrow goes smoothly and it will be nice to spend one night at home in my own bed before heading to Colorado on Monday for my sheep hunt. Eli isn’t going to miss a single class at college and will even get to enjoy spending Labor Day at the house before going back to school on Tuesday.
Would be awesome if my sheep hunt goes as well as this did and getting there in time to be on the mountain where the sheep have been hanging out for the season opening morning sure might get it at least started in the right direction!
As we get closer the guide (Randolph) starts creeping up and looking to see if he can see anything. He ends up spotting the group of does again and this time there are more. They mentioned that they were really starting to rut and they were really working on gathering up does and this buck seemed to be doing a really good job of it.
We keep getting closer, dropping lower on our side of the ridge to stay out of eye shot and ear shot as we get closer.
A couple more checks and we are getting pretty close. We move down and over one more time and this time when he checks he seems to think we are close enough. He gets the spotter and says he can see the buck and that he is a good one. He ranges him at 323 yards which is a bit further than we would like but there is zero wind and Eli has been practicing out to 390 yards.
They decide to back out and see if we can find a better place to set up for the shot. We move down and right about 50 yards and peek up and he decides that’s not any better. We move up and to the left about 50 yards of the original spot and he decides that’s not any better either. We end up right back at the original spot and move to get it place. I’m gong to try to see if I can edit the video I took of them getting setup for the shot and possibly add it in here.
By now I’m the only one that hasn’t laid eyes on the buck. I’m purposely hanging back and letting this be Eli’s hunt and adding another person in the ridge line isn’t going to make it a less likely for the antelope to see one of us.
They get up and Randolph calls out a range of 302 and Eli dials his scope to 13 clicks up. (We had been discussing different ranges and how much to click the scope). They get setup and Randolph hands his wife his phone to video through the spotter and it looks like this is going to happen. Eli asks Randolph if he can shoot and Randolph says whenever you are ready and about a second later the gun goes off and a very clear thump is heard as it is definitely a hit and the buck drops dead in its tracks.
Only negative is that it happened too fast for it to get on video through the spotting scope. Oh well, Eli said that the buck was standing perfectly broadside and seemed like he might be about to move so he went ahead and took the shot. No need to revisit the footage to guess where he hit him since he dropped in his tracks.
Congratulations all around as the buck isn’t even twitching. He was up to 12 does gathered up and they are just standing around trying to figure out what is up. We are standing skylined 300 yards away and finally after a couple minutes they run off.
The buck is obviously dead so we decide not to wait around and head over to him. On the ground he looks just as good as he did thought the scope, really good mass and prongs and nice ivory tips. Very pretty buck.
It’s been a while since I’ve been involved in a pronghorn kill and I’ve forgotten how small they are. We end up just picking him up and moving him around 30 yards to a better spot for pictures. Lots of pictures are taken. He is actually wet in the middle of his back down near his tail and both his throat patches are wet with the wonderful aroma of antelope musk! The way Eli has to hold him for the pictures is right on one of the throat patches and his hands are wet with antelope musk scent!
We took our time with the pictures, the sun is already coming up and throwing shadows and causing contrast issues but it isn’t hot yet. Pictures done and we start breaking down the animal. This is a hard thing for me to watch because that’s my job but I watch and try to at least be helpful. The shot hit the closest scapula directly and blew chunks of bone everywhere which is no doubt why he dropped like a rock at the shot. I at least grab the shoulders after they are off and do my best to cut off the worst of the bloodshot meat and tissue and bone fragments before putting the quarters in the game bags. Also I cut the leg bones off at the knee joints to keep any hair out of the game bags.
Danelle ends up heading back to get the truck while Randolph goes ahead and capes the head. It’s a solid mile back to the truck so it takes a bit but before long she’s back and we grab everything and haul it then whooping 300 yard pack out back up to the road.
It over almost before it began. Everything went nearly exactly according to the plan. Eli is starting to think that’s how things work when you hire a guide. We all tell him that isn’t the case and that he needs to be happy that things went so smoothly but that is not always the way things work just because you hire a guide.
For sure the scouting and local knowledge of the area what a HUGE benefit and there is no way we could have zeroed in on 2 nice bucks just over a mile apart on opening morning without them. They were very friendly and nice and fun to hang out with for the very short time we spent with them!
I think that’s about it. Hoping that the flight home tomorrow goes smoothly and it will be nice to spend one night at home in my own bed before heading to Colorado on Monday for my sheep hunt. Eli isn’t going to miss a single class at college and will even get to enjoy spending Labor Day at the house before going back to school on Tuesday.
Would be awesome if my sheep hunt goes as well as this did and getting there in time to be on the mountain where the sheep have been hanging out for the season opening morning sure might get it at least started in the right direction!
Last edited:
WNC2500
Well-known member
Congrats on that goat!
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