jbseamus83
Well-known member
Well, it's been a few weeks since the hunt and I haven't gotten around to posting even a picture, let alone a recap of the hunt. So, I guess I will go about that now. I am sitting on 5 points for antelope here in UT. My 16 yr old had 3 points. We both put in for the same unit and he drew and I didn't - go figure! Regardless, it's a blast getting out and hunting with the boys. This was going to be the first pronghorn hunt for anyone in my family. Ironically, my 12 yr old also drew the youth only bull tag for the September hunt and the 2 hunts overlapped other than 2 extra days on the end of the elk hunt (Sep 13-21 and Sep 13-23). We had a choice to make because the antelope hunt in a LE hunt (as are all antelope hunts in UT), but the elk hunt would be my 12 yr olds first big game hunt. We decided that I would take my 16 yr old out a couple days before season, scout and try and get on a buck early in the hunt and I would get home and get my younger son out for his elk hunt.
Late summer, I took my 16 yr old and 12 yr old out to the unit and we spent a couple days driving roads glassing, and looking at what areas would be the places we would want to focus in on during the hunt. We saw a good number of antelope in multiple areas and marked a lot of water sources that we thought could come in handy.
We packed things up a couple days before season and got into the unit and camp set up in an area that we hoped wouldn't have too much pressure, but where we had seen what we thought would be a good buck back in July when we were scouting. Sure enough, the first night, we spotted the buck and he was a good solid buck. There also was no one else in the area we were in. Fingers crossed that it stayed that way.
The next morning we found another truck in the unit and talked with them for a while and they let us know that they had hunted the area with their brother the year before and although it didn't seem like there was anyone in there now, by opening morning there likely would be. We continued to scout and found another good buck that was tucked a little more out of the way and not in the open like the original buck seemed to like to be. We covered a ton of miles that day and found other antelope but the mature ones were on private and the others were pretty young and small. That evening we put the buck that was tucked away to bed and made a plan to be in his zone early that next morning so that we would hopefully have a shot.
The next morning came and we snuck into his zone in the dark and got set up. Sure enough there were headlights all over the area that the original buck had been, but not many in the area we were at. Sun came up and we glassed and watched for an hour with no sightings. My son had to pee and tried to work his way out. On his way he got pinned down by a doe. She finally moved on and he got pinned down by 3 does. The buck had been wiht 3 does the night before. My son made it back and reported that he had not seen the buck. We tried to figure what direction they had come from so we could circle back that way thinking the buck would be following the does who had crested a rise into the next little draw. While we were working back the other direction, the truck we had seen the day before and talked to drove by. They drove on up to where those does had gone and sat there for a bit. They then got out of the truck with a rifle and we watched them walk up, get set up on shooting sticks and fire. We ended up going over and sure enough they shot the buck we were targeting. My son was pretty disappointed, but I told him, let's go up and just see if we can possibly find the original buck.
We drove up and there were a couple trucks but most had cleared out. No sign of that buck. We decided to cruise around some and look at some areas we had marked on our maps where we had seen other pronghorn. We came around a little bend and below us down off the cliff, there was a buck and 2 does. I said "there's a buck!". My son jumped out and I grabbed the rifle. My son got prone with the bipod and I ranged the buck at 207. I told him to just hold steady on it and he fired. I could tell right away it was a good hit with the Nosler 120 gr accubonds out of the 7mm-08, but the buck lurched and took off. He ran about 40 yards and stopped, stumbled and went down.
Another hunter stopped after we had gutted it and drug it up to the truck and congratulated him. He said that the original buck had been shot that morning, but it was a bad shot and it ran off with a bummed leg. He said it had been a rodeo circus up there were that buck had been. This buck isn't as big as those, but my son could not have been more ecstatic to have taken it.
Late summer, I took my 16 yr old and 12 yr old out to the unit and we spent a couple days driving roads glassing, and looking at what areas would be the places we would want to focus in on during the hunt. We saw a good number of antelope in multiple areas and marked a lot of water sources that we thought could come in handy.
We packed things up a couple days before season and got into the unit and camp set up in an area that we hoped wouldn't have too much pressure, but where we had seen what we thought would be a good buck back in July when we were scouting. Sure enough, the first night, we spotted the buck and he was a good solid buck. There also was no one else in the area we were in. Fingers crossed that it stayed that way.
The next morning we found another truck in the unit and talked with them for a while and they let us know that they had hunted the area with their brother the year before and although it didn't seem like there was anyone in there now, by opening morning there likely would be. We continued to scout and found another good buck that was tucked a little more out of the way and not in the open like the original buck seemed to like to be. We covered a ton of miles that day and found other antelope but the mature ones were on private and the others were pretty young and small. That evening we put the buck that was tucked away to bed and made a plan to be in his zone early that next morning so that we would hopefully have a shot.
The next morning came and we snuck into his zone in the dark and got set up. Sure enough there were headlights all over the area that the original buck had been, but not many in the area we were at. Sun came up and we glassed and watched for an hour with no sightings. My son had to pee and tried to work his way out. On his way he got pinned down by a doe. She finally moved on and he got pinned down by 3 does. The buck had been wiht 3 does the night before. My son made it back and reported that he had not seen the buck. We tried to figure what direction they had come from so we could circle back that way thinking the buck would be following the does who had crested a rise into the next little draw. While we were working back the other direction, the truck we had seen the day before and talked to drove by. They drove on up to where those does had gone and sat there for a bit. They then got out of the truck with a rifle and we watched them walk up, get set up on shooting sticks and fire. We ended up going over and sure enough they shot the buck we were targeting. My son was pretty disappointed, but I told him, let's go up and just see if we can possibly find the original buck.
We drove up and there were a couple trucks but most had cleared out. No sign of that buck. We decided to cruise around some and look at some areas we had marked on our maps where we had seen other pronghorn. We came around a little bend and below us down off the cliff, there was a buck and 2 does. I said "there's a buck!". My son jumped out and I grabbed the rifle. My son got prone with the bipod and I ranged the buck at 207. I told him to just hold steady on it and he fired. I could tell right away it was a good hit with the Nosler 120 gr accubonds out of the 7mm-08, but the buck lurched and took off. He ran about 40 yards and stopped, stumbled and went down.
Another hunter stopped after we had gutted it and drug it up to the truck and congratulated him. He said that the original buck had been shot that morning, but it was a bad shot and it ran off with a bummed leg. He said it had been a rodeo circus up there were that buck had been. This buck isn't as big as those, but my son could not have been more ecstatic to have taken it.
