BuzzH
Well-known member
Just got back from New Mexico and had a pretty good time.
I'll start off for the sake of others that may be thinking of hunting pronghorn in New Mexico and what to expect.
I'll go on record and say I'm not really all that impressed with the way the system works down there (at least for the rifle tags). You apply for a series of units and if you draw, you then get assigned a ranch in a particular unit. Apparently some tags you can ask to be re-assigned a ranch if the one you're hunting doesnt have many antelope, some tags you cant. As my buddy Monty pointed out, really theres a drawing within a drawing for these hunts as you have NO way of knowing even what specific unit you'll be hunting. You also cant hunt any of the abundant public lands, other than those found on the ranch in question. I'm not complaining as my wife and I knew all the specifics before we applied and knew how it works there.
That said, we still had a great time. We met with the landowner a couple days before the season started. He was very helpful and very open to have us on the place scouting the couple days before the season opened. There were a total of 6 hunters on the ranch we were assigned...4 paying hunters and my wife and I who drew tags in the public draw. The 4 guys that bought tags from the landowner didnt even show up to scout, so we had the run of the place for 2 days. I would say there were around 100-125 total antelope on the place...probably 15 maturish bucks, with another 20 or so that were 12+ inches. We quickly narrowed the choices of bucks down to the 2 best on the ranch, and I have no problem saying that we very likely saw every buck on that place in 2 days. There were maybe 6 that were over 70 inches. So, we just figured we'd try to take the highest scoring buck on opening day and then kind of wing it from there. Thats about all we could do and to tell the truth, it was fun, challenging, and rewarding in its own sort of way to be hunting the best buck available.
The night before opening day I watched my buck until about 2 hours before dark. The next morning, from a high glassing point, I found him within a few minutes of glassing. I quickly closed the distance to about 450 yards. I was pretty confident I could make the shot from there as it was dead calm. But, I figured since it was unlikely anyone would interfere with the hunt, I just waited for him to move closer. After about an hour of watching him, he finally made his way to 331 yards. I had a rock solid rest and was 100% sure I could make the shot. I put the dot right in the middle of the body tight behind the shoulder and slowly pressed the trigger. The shot was nothing short of perfect and he slowly turned took a few stumbling steps and that was it.
The surprising part was when I walked up and found that he had about a 2 inch horn growing from the bridge of his nose. You can see it in the photo. I've shot another antelope that had a small horn growing behind one of the horns, but never one growing from the nose.
I was pretty excited about the way the hunt went and also about the buck. He's just a really nice respectable pronghorn.
One with the rifle:
Dog was excited to see a dead antelope!
We spent the rest of the day looking for the second best buck and found him about 3 in the afternoon. He was bedded with 5 other bucks and several does in a big flat area. We used the montana cow decoy to try to close the distance. It worked well and all the antelope stayed pretty calm until we got to right at 300 yards. A doe got nervous and they all stood up. Pat was trying to get a good rest with her shooting sticks, but just couldnt get steady enough to make the shot. With the grass being pretty tall, it wasnt possible to shoot prone either. So, she just flat said, "I cant make the shot for sure, I'll pass". Absolutely 100% the ethical thing to do, and frankly theres been a time or two I wish I would have showed the same good judgement.
We continued on and just about an hour before dark we spotted a buck drop into a draw. We started to walk out toward him and before we could close the distance he popped out on our side of the draw. He didnt see us, so we just stopped and sat down. He just kept getting closer and closer coming right toward us like he was on a string. Finally at about 100 yards he stopped and Pat made a nice shot.
The photos really dont do the evening justice with the thunderstorms off in the distance. It was pretty neat with the colors and the setting sun watching the lightning from those big storms.
Pats buck:
Another look:
I'll start off for the sake of others that may be thinking of hunting pronghorn in New Mexico and what to expect.
I'll go on record and say I'm not really all that impressed with the way the system works down there (at least for the rifle tags). You apply for a series of units and if you draw, you then get assigned a ranch in a particular unit. Apparently some tags you can ask to be re-assigned a ranch if the one you're hunting doesnt have many antelope, some tags you cant. As my buddy Monty pointed out, really theres a drawing within a drawing for these hunts as you have NO way of knowing even what specific unit you'll be hunting. You also cant hunt any of the abundant public lands, other than those found on the ranch in question. I'm not complaining as my wife and I knew all the specifics before we applied and knew how it works there.
That said, we still had a great time. We met with the landowner a couple days before the season started. He was very helpful and very open to have us on the place scouting the couple days before the season opened. There were a total of 6 hunters on the ranch we were assigned...4 paying hunters and my wife and I who drew tags in the public draw. The 4 guys that bought tags from the landowner didnt even show up to scout, so we had the run of the place for 2 days. I would say there were around 100-125 total antelope on the place...probably 15 maturish bucks, with another 20 or so that were 12+ inches. We quickly narrowed the choices of bucks down to the 2 best on the ranch, and I have no problem saying that we very likely saw every buck on that place in 2 days. There were maybe 6 that were over 70 inches. So, we just figured we'd try to take the highest scoring buck on opening day and then kind of wing it from there. Thats about all we could do and to tell the truth, it was fun, challenging, and rewarding in its own sort of way to be hunting the best buck available.
The night before opening day I watched my buck until about 2 hours before dark. The next morning, from a high glassing point, I found him within a few minutes of glassing. I quickly closed the distance to about 450 yards. I was pretty confident I could make the shot from there as it was dead calm. But, I figured since it was unlikely anyone would interfere with the hunt, I just waited for him to move closer. After about an hour of watching him, he finally made his way to 331 yards. I had a rock solid rest and was 100% sure I could make the shot. I put the dot right in the middle of the body tight behind the shoulder and slowly pressed the trigger. The shot was nothing short of perfect and he slowly turned took a few stumbling steps and that was it.
The surprising part was when I walked up and found that he had about a 2 inch horn growing from the bridge of his nose. You can see it in the photo. I've shot another antelope that had a small horn growing behind one of the horns, but never one growing from the nose.
I was pretty excited about the way the hunt went and also about the buck. He's just a really nice respectable pronghorn.
One with the rifle:
Dog was excited to see a dead antelope!
We spent the rest of the day looking for the second best buck and found him about 3 in the afternoon. He was bedded with 5 other bucks and several does in a big flat area. We used the montana cow decoy to try to close the distance. It worked well and all the antelope stayed pretty calm until we got to right at 300 yards. A doe got nervous and they all stood up. Pat was trying to get a good rest with her shooting sticks, but just couldnt get steady enough to make the shot. With the grass being pretty tall, it wasnt possible to shoot prone either. So, she just flat said, "I cant make the shot for sure, I'll pass". Absolutely 100% the ethical thing to do, and frankly theres been a time or two I wish I would have showed the same good judgement.
We continued on and just about an hour before dark we spotted a buck drop into a draw. We started to walk out toward him and before we could close the distance he popped out on our side of the draw. He didnt see us, so we just stopped and sat down. He just kept getting closer and closer coming right toward us like he was on a string. Finally at about 100 yards he stopped and Pat made a nice shot.
The photos really dont do the evening justice with the thunderstorms off in the distance. It was pretty neat with the colors and the setting sun watching the lightning from those big storms.
Pats buck:
Another look:
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