NM Pronghorn - The Rest of the Story

[Big Fin]

Sorry for the delays in my NM antelope story. We were side tracked by a WY elk hunt in the Big Horns last week and few very lucky to not still be stuck up in the high country. Drifts like I have never seen.

Anyhow, I see Lil’ Fin posted a few details of my hunt from a cryptic message I sent. Here it is on a blow-by-blow account.


View attachment 6762

 

[Big Fin]

Scouting:

Having been down a week prior, I had left my truck and all my gear in ABQ. I arrived on October 2nd, and raced to the hunting area to get an evening of scouting. The landowner took all the non-guided hunters on a tour of the ranch to show the property boundaries, etc.

For those of you who have not hunted antelope in NM, it is a strange kind of arrangement. Each landowner is assigned “X” number of public draw hunters, based on a ratio of the number of private hunter (land owner tags) he gets, and the ratio of public versus private land he enrolls in the program. Public hunters are assigned a ranch by the regional big game manager, and gets all the same access rights as the guided hunters. Public hunters are given full range of the property two days before season opens for scouting. For a gift, my wife had bought me this voucher from the landowner when he had a cancellation of one of his guided hunters and he wanted to get the voucher sold. Good wife.

This ranch would have three guided hunters and three non-guided hunters. I was non-guided and was making notes of the bucks I was seeing during the tour of the ranch. All I could say is “Holy Crap!” The landowner had warned (?) us that this was an exceptional horn growth year and not to shoot too soon. Good advice.

That first evening, I saw five bucks I estimated to be between 82” and 85”. I know this sounds stupid, but when you look at lots of really big bucks, you lose some perspective of what you are looking at. The neighboring ranch to the east also held two whoppers, and the biggest buck I saw that evening was located on the neighboring ranch.

I was excited. My Uncle Larry, who lives in Scottsdale, flew over to join me on the hunt. He could tell I was excited and offered to carry my bullets for the first day of the hunt.

The second day of scouting was unbelievably fun. At least for someone who is as much of an antelope junkie as I am. I was noting the water sources, the places bucks seemed to be using to get out of the brisk wind, and the bucks that were dominating the doe groups.

I had found two bucks that I thought might be over 85” and decided that I would make my best effort to tag one of them. One was a very tall buck, that I thought would score great, mostly based on his height. I suspected his mass was better than it appeared, as his height seemed to disguise his mass very well. I got within 125 yards of this buck and looked at him for a long time. He would be my first choice. He was easy to pick out, as his horns curved in toward each other, not in a classic heart shape, but in an ugly way. The tips almost touched. I guessed this buck to be around 17” to 17.5” tall.

The other really nice buck of that day was pushing 17” and flared wide and tall, with prongs that looked like paddles. From the side, his prongs looked very small, but when he turned and looked at you, they flared out to the side, giving him some really cool prong measurements.

Either of these bucks would do. Season started the following morning (the 4th) and I was not going to get any sleep that night.


View attachment 6763

 

[Big Fin]

Day 1 - morning:

We woke and raced the forty minutes from the motel to the ranch. The landowner, his guide, and their three hunters were already in place. They were right near where the tall ugly buck was the day before. I am sure they knew of him also.

Larry and I decided to go to the spot where we had seen the other flared prong buck. We did not find him. We did find some other really great bucks. We stalked a couple that I thought would net close to 80”. Had I not scouted the ranch for two days, I would have probably ended the hunt right away, but knowing what quality existed on this ranch, and what could get pushed from neighboring ranches, I held off.

By 10:00 am, I had heard three shots, and saw the guide and his hunter loading an antelope near where the big ugly buck had been. We stayed put and watched as many antelope moved back and forth across the property boundaries.

One very large buck that I had not seen in scouting appeared along a fence line and crossed into this ranch. We lost sight of him for about an hour, and then he mysteriously appeared across a ridge about 500 yards away. I took out the spotting scope and nearly choked. He was very tall, with huge prongs near the top of his horns. I guessed him to be close to 17”, with close to 7” prongs. He was traveling with four does. His mass did not look super great, but the mass of all bucks I was seeing, was way above average.

We watched as the buck and his does moved down into the draw and headed west. We quickly tried to close the gap. We followed him for a long time, never getting closer than 400 yards. Eventually, he slipped under the fence to the neighboring property and bedded his does a few hundred yards off the fence line. They bedded on a small rocky hill, where I would have never looked for an antelope. This buck may have been bigger than any buck I saw on this hunt, but is hard to tell, not getting to do a ground check on him.

We kept an eye on this buck and his does as we ate a mid-morning snack. Twice we watched hunters on the neighboring ranch drive within a few hundred yards of this buck, but none ever got out of the vehicle to glass the small rocky hillside they were bedded on. Amazing. I was wishing I had a tag that was good for that ranch, rather than this ranch.

As we ate our snacks, we watched as the other non-guided hunters drove their ATVs down the road toward a group of antelope that contained a buck I had stalked. These hunters were a pair of teenagers, who were accompanied by three adults. At about 600 yards, they stopped the ATVs; the hunters leaned across the handlebars and quickly rattled off four shots in about a 25 mph crosswind. The antelope smoked down the pasture, under the fence, and on to a neighboring ranch. The buck we were watching raised his does from their beds, and snuck around the rocky hill, further away from the ranch I was on, and I never saw him again.

We all stood there in amazement that they would shoot from that far. A couple hours earlier, we had stalked to within 180 yards of this same group and could have easily shot any of the bucks. Evidently they have good eyes and can tell from a long distance, whether or not they hit anything, as they never so much as moved off the road to check for blood, etc.

 

[Big Fin]

Day 1- Afternoon:

I then moved a couple miles away from the ATV crowd, not needing that headache. I glassed the buck with really flared prongs and decided we would go after him. He was all alone, but working the fringes of a herd of does that was being guarded by another really nice buck.

There was really no cover to hide us, so we tried my Black Angus cow decoy, which Larry named “Bessie.” What a slick trick. We walked directly toward these antelope and quickly closed the gap from 600 yards to 300 yards.

The flared buck started circling the group of bedded does. The buck with the does, looked like a slightly smaller twin of the tall ugly buck I had hoped to shoot, only to find out later, the landowner and one of his clients had already shot (and the landowner scored at 89 5/8).

The buck rose from his bed to look at the intruder. It almost seemed as if they knew each other. They live on the same ranch, so they probably do know each other. They walked in circles around the does, but instead of the normal “chase ‘em away” fashion of rutting antelope, the defender slowly walked around the intruder.

As if someone rung a bell I couldn’t hear, these two bucks locked horns. For over ten minutes, the camera rolled as these two really big bucks beat the crap out of each other. The noise was amazing. Stuff was flying – fur, dirt, plants, and you name it. The does all stood back and watched like they were at an “Ali-Frazier” fight. The younger bucks came running toward the mayhem and watched from about 100 yards. I have seen antelope get in a tussle, but never have I seem anything close to this.

The intruder won, but had a large gouge in his right flank to show for it. The loser had a bloody nose and both could hardly breath. The loser instantly went and lay down, while the winner ran toward his prize of does, who in typical female fashion started moving away from their suitor at a quick trot. He caught up to them as they mingled with a large group of other bucks and does.

Larry and I surmised the winning buck with the flared prongs had better mass and given his near 17” length and good prongs, would score better. We decided to follow that buck and try to move in on the ever-growing group of antelope among which this winning buck was lingering.

It was hard to leave the defeated buck, as he lay in his bed, two hundred yards away. On any other hunt, I would have shot him with no hesitation. He was a true trophy that I estimated to be close to 83”. Yup, I was passing this buck and have hours of video to prove my stupidity.

The flared buck had now moved about 800 yards and was mingling with a large group of bedded antelope. We turned Bessie the other direction and started toward them. Within a half hour, we were only 300 yards from the group. I withdrew my spotting scope and from underneath Bessie’s chin, glassed the entire herd, which we now estimated to be over 60, with some amazing bucks in the group.

In the middle was the flared buck, keeping very close to his group of does and posturing at any small buck that came close. To the north was another really nice buck that had three does with him. Having the luxury of resting and calm antelope, I spent the next twenty minutes glassing every one of the bucks on 60X.

When I told Larry I thought the buck to the north was the biggest buck, he looked at me like I was an idiot. An appropriate glance, given that my intelligence in always in question. I wasn’t sure, but his mass was very impressive. Larry looked at him and agreed the mass was really good, but thought he was pretty short.

I wasn’t sure. When I looked at him from the side, his horns curled back and down, making me think he may be longer than I thought. I had once passed a long buck that I thought was short and stubby, only to have a friend shoot the buck and let me inspect him. That buck grossed just over 83” and was way longer than I thought, due to the mass fooling me.

I told Larry we would leave the buck that had won the fight and try to close the gap on this heavy buck to the north. With much consternation, he agreed to tag along, but I know he thought I was making a mistake. We both thought the buck that had won the fight would be somewhere between 83” and 85”, depending upon what his mass really was. I rationalized that it was a three-day season, and we could get back on them again, if I changed my mind (again).

We followed this heavy buck and his three does for twenty minutes, getting within 136 yards. I was almost sure this was a whopper buck, but he would never give me that definitive look where I could gauge his mass, relative to his length. Larry told me he liked the flared buck better. I agreed that the flared buck was very cool, but being a sucker for mass, I wanted to spend more time with this one.

Finally, I told Larry I was going to shoot this buck. After all, we were really close and the footage would be phenomenal. I readied the tripod and loaded the chamber. I sat there watching the buck, still not sure if he was what I thought he was.

In the five minutes I wasted trying to make up my mind, a red ATV showed up immediately behind this group of antelope. The ATV went to the west, circling the antelope, and started pushing the antelope to his hunters who were to our east. WTF does not sound very good on audio, but I think I said it more than once.

We stood up and watched in disbelief as the antelope ran east. We walked to the truck, cussing the entire way. Oh well, I had two and a half more days to hunt,

When I reached the truck, I could see two hunters sitting under a post near the south end of a pasture, maybe 100 yards off a fence line. In complete amazement, I watched as the three ATV guarded the east, north, and west boundaries of the pasture, herding the antelope toward the hunters. I saw them shoot one buck, and did so by shooting directly toward a group of the landowner’s cows that were huddled together as the ATV’s raced back and forth. Video was rolling the entire time, from less than five hundred yards.

I told Larry I was going to walk out to the hunters and find out WTF was going on. As I walked toward them, the ATVs continued herding antelope. One of the hunters saw me coming and not having binos, glassed me with his rifle scope. That was it. I trotted back to the truck and decided a safer route would be to confront the guys on the ATVs.

I called the landowner and left a message that he may want to come to this part of the ranch and see what the hell was going on. I had really hoped to reach him, but figured he was out with his hunters.

As I reach the truck, one of the ATVs came down the road toward me, not knowing I was parked in the gully. Upon seeing my truck, he turned around and headed straight away from me. I jumped in the truck and we followed him, while filming the chaos. Eventually, he hit a dead-end, pulled off to the side, and asked, “How’s it going?”

I replied, “Not very F&*^ing well.” He looked surprised at how pissed I was. I told him we saw what they were doing and had it all on film. He told me he was just out riding around looking for his partners. I laughed, as I pointed to his partners continuing to chase antelope with their ATVs.

I left, as I was on the verge of throttling this fat assed dipshit. I know when I am at my breaking point, and I was there. Upon my leaving, he raced to his buddies; they loaded the one small buck they had whacked, and headed to their rig. Knowing that part of the ranch was now a waste of time, we moved to the opposite end of the ranch.

As a side note, the landowner called G&F that evening, and I spent the following morning with five game wardens, as they reviewed the footage, took affidavits, and interviewed the guys on the ATVs. I am not sure what will come of it, but I hope they bust them. I offered my footage anything else they need to hammer these jerks, but knowing how low game violations are on the list of cases a DA has, I don’t expect much to come of it.

I digress.

 

[Big Fin]

Day 1 – Evening:

On this other side of the ranch, it started raining, making the roads nearly impassible. Now what to do. I didn’t want to tear up the rancher’s roads, and combined with the fact that this was not where I had seen the bigger bucks, decided I had to go look elsewhere.

As quickly as it rained, it cleared off for a while, making some amazing footage. We traveled to an area about 1.5 miles from where the ATV incident occurred. Like most spots on the ranch, antelope abounded.

We stopped for a sandwich and glassed the groups of antelope in front of us. We were too far away to make positive ID, but a couple of them looked very good. After eating, we decided to head closer and see if these bucks warranted pursuit.

I was amazed when I looked through the spotting scope and saw the loser of the fight bedded about 500 yards away. Even more amazing was that the big hooked horn buck was now with a much larger group, another 200 yards to the NW of the bedded loser.

With sporadic rain and gloomy clouds on the horizon, we figured we had better get behind Bessie and move without hesitation. We left the truck in a big hurry and quickly had the bedded buck within 150 yards. He rose from his bed and it was all I could do to not shoot him.

Fortunately for me, this buck moved off to the SE, putting us exactly between him and the group that had the heavy hooked horn buck. We moved quickly and were within 145 yards. I wanted one last confirmation that this buck was what I had hoped for. I scoped him at 60X from that distance and realized what a mistake I had made by hesitating earlier in the day.

This buck had great length and mass like I had never seen before. He postured and looked in many directions, giving me great views that I had not gotten earlier. He was also with another buck I had glassed earlier than had though to be around 15”. This heavy buck was taller than the 15-incher, so he must be even heavier than I thought.

In my time of glassing, the herd got nervous and started moving off. I was worried I had messed up another chance. Light was getting short, clouds were moving in fast, and video was going to be impossible within the next half hour.

We followed as the herd fed away from us. I had decided that we needed to get to 150 yards for the video to be top shelf. That was our goal. We were losing ground as they fed away faster than we could close the gap.

Finally, they stopped in a small depression and we closed to 164 yards. I told Larry this was it. As if on queue, the herd dispersed, leaving the big buck in the middle. He turned broadside. I don’t really remember much else, other than hearing the smack of a great hit and watching the buck run off, then stopping, rearing up, and landing on his back.

Light was closing fast, so we walked up to him immediately. As we covered those final steps, I was worried that in haste, I may have pushed the edge and convinced myself this buck was something more than he was. As I reached to pull his head out of the sage, I almost fainted. He was more massive than I had thought. He was longer than I thought.

After some prayers of thanks, a lot of jumping up and down, and a lot of hollering, I stood there in disbelief that I had questioned whether or not I should shoot the buck earlier that day.

What a truly amazing hunt. Antelope are my favorite animal to hunt. To say I felt like I was in paradise would be an understatement. To spend it with my Uncle Larry made it that much better. And get twelve hours of some of the best antelope footage I have ever seen, almost makes me feel guilty for having such a great time.

The landowner had a walk-in cooler that he offered to me. I took him up on the offer and quickly removed the hide. During that time, the landowner gave me his measurements. Those are the measurements Lil’ Fin posted in the other thread. Those numbers were off, but not by much.

Very cool photo and filming light.
View attachment 6764


Did I mention that it rained?
View attachment 6765


Two happy guys!
View attachment 6766


I'm a lucky man.

 

[Big Fin]

Now that I am home, I have measured and re-measured this buck about ten times. Here is what I am coming up with as a conservative numbers.

Length – 16 2/8 and 16 6/8
Bases – 7 2/8 and 7 3/8
C2 – 7 6/8 and 7 6/8
C3 – 4 5/8 and 4 5/8
C4 – 2 5/8 and 2 6/8
Prongs – 5 4/8 and 5 4/8

Gross Green Score– 88 6/8, with a net of 88.

I am not an official scorer, and to be honest, don’t care what this buck nets out at, after the 60-day drying period.

I do know a few guys who are better at it than I am, and if I can roust them up this week, will get a second opinion to my score. I am curious to get an official green score to which I can compare an official 60-day score, just so I know what the true shrinkage is on an antelope.

Didn’t mean to leave this story hanging for so long, but we had a WY elk hunt to take care of in the mean time.

Great job on all the critters you guys hammered in the last two weeks. Some amazing pics and stories in my “New Posts” box.

A few pics for perspective.

What was I thinking?
View attachment 6768


A little mass, eh?
View attachment 6769


Pretty buck, ugly hunter.
View attachment 6770


A different view.
View attachment 6771

 

[elk_hunter]

He's a friggin' monster, Randy! WTG! Many congrats and thanks for sharing the story and pics!

 

[mtmiller]

Nice work Randy. Sounds like you were on an awesome ranch and had a high quaility hunt. Too bad for the "hunters" that would rather herd the 'lopes. Thanks for sharing your hunts with us.

 

[TheTone]

Awesome story and buck Randy, congrats. Sorry to hear all the other crap you had to deal with, you would think people would be somewhat responsible when they are on private land and people have their names. You did right on that part as well. Again, big congrats. When do we get an elk story?

 

[JoseCuervo]

Great pictures and great story to go with an amazing animal.

congrats!!!!

 

[AZ402]

So,so awesome!! Well done Randy..........

 

[BuzzH]

Wow, what a hunt and what a buck!

Congratulations!

 

[Oak]

Incredible buck, Randy. I can't even imagine seeing a buck like that.

I hope I can share a speedgoat hunt with you some day, but remind me to take your field judging with a grain of salt. Congrats on a great trophy.

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

Can't believe I missed this thread! Very good story and a hell of a buck to show for it! Reading this thread makes me want to hunt antelope in NM so badly....

Congrats!

 

[Spitz]

Great story and incredible buck Randy! Can't wait to see the video.

 

[1_pointer]

Big congrats!! Great animal and a great retelling along with the pics! If you get a chance, I wouldn't hate it to see some footage of the two bucks fighting!

 

[JB]

Wow!, incredible Buck....Congrats Big-Fin!

 

[sreekers]

Good buck and good story. Looks like the herd will continue to expand in the Fin household.

 

[Bwana]

Thanks for sharing the story and pics Big Fin, that is one stellar goat!

 

[ashersdad]

Holy crap, that is a huge buck. I'll bet the video is outstanding. That is awesome you got to watch a great fight like that. Thanks for sharing such a great hunt.