Hunt Talk Radio - Look for it on your favorite Podcast platform

Successfull Idaho Antelope.

Firedude

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 2, 2015
Messages
432
It's been a while since I shot this but am just getting around to posting it. So here goes.

I've been trying to get an antelope for a while now. Years in fact. However every year I have some close calls without success. I'd tried everything but somehow managed to never connect. In fact I had discovered that if it were ever needed to avoid antelope entirely I would be expert as I had even avoided accidently running into them in all the miles I had walked and driven. You can't teach that skill level of evasion.

So this year started as usual. Without drawing any rifle tags however I had Drawn the Unlimited Archery tag in my home state of Idaho. After a while of scouting I had plotted my water holes to sit and hoped for success. It had a multitude of antelope around it coming in from every direction. It was the only water for miles. There where days that antelope had to take numbers to partake. Opening day came and after a mile or so of walking came to the finest dirt patch where water had once been. Nuts...

So I went to the old reliable water tanks and waited. Of course I saw antelope but they always decided to go the other water troughs 1/4 mile away. I'd in turn switch to the next water tank where they had previously been and following suit, they went to the one I was at the day before. So on and so forth. This proceeded for a few days. I then decided when they left I would follow them. Perhaps finding a good ambush spot on their way to and from water. As luck would have it I did just that. After over 2 miles of walking following antelope in the heat and sagebrush of the Idaho desert I found a spot where hundreds of antelope funnel through on 20 yard across area. AH HA! This would be my spot from now on. As luck would have it I was not the first one to find this spot. A previous occupant had dug a small depression to hide in but from the looks of it he had not been there for years.

The spot was perfect. Just enough of a depression to hide myself. Sage brush just high enough to shade in. Trails all around. It was only now 3 miles from where I parked my truck! The best part was people only stopped there pickup from the highway about every hour to lean out the window and ask if I was O.K. It seamed PERFECT! Yes, I was literally 30 yards off the highway. Sitting in a natural funnel to a hay field. Well at this point it's been 2 weeks in 98 degree weather with no luck, so my shame has quickly dissipated to nothing and my standards at this point said being able to sit 200 yards from the YETI of ice water and sandwiches is totally ok. The farmer was much agreeable at this point also and asked if I would in fact shoot some of the Antelope that where eating his crops. However he asked that I stay on the sagebrush side of the fence. Ok.

I love that my wife goes on adventures with me and as luck would have it I was fortunate to find this particular spot. As unsporting as some may see it. My wife wasn't feeling well at all on day 2 of this trip. In fact she was miserable. She was very sick however felt very comfortable laying in the truck napping sipping ice water. So she agreed to give me one more day as long as I didn't venture to far from her for to long and we would head home that night. So sitting 30 yards from the road and 200 from the pickup was agreeable to both of us. If she needed me one horn blast and I was on my way.

As luck would have it a bunch of antelope came by about 30 minutes after I sat down. A young buck gave me a decent broadside shot at 40 yards and I took it. Much to my dismay he jumped the second the arrow was released. I saw the arrow sticking out at about his last rib back. OH NO!!! I did something I only would do in these circumstances and took an 80 yard shot he gave me in the hopes of easing his suffering and ending this quickly. I missed him just under his chest. Turns out he was 85ish yards. How do I know that? Because he tipped over dead right there as I was reloading to shoot again. I thought I had hit him with shot 2. It turns out that he not only jumped on shot 1 but turned quartering away. The arrow went in far back but went into his chest. I should have bought a lotto ticket.

My lovely wife mustered enough strength to come over and take a picture for me. I didn't ask but she knew I would want one. I love her for stuff like that. But of course if Wifely form the first thing she said was, "That's little compared to mine." with a coy smile.

25346342_10212907442178519_882029016_o.jpg
 
Back
Top