Brian in Montana
Well-known member
Nice goat!
Wildly unprepared, overly ambitious: Sam's first pronghorn hunt
- Thread starter TexanSam
- Start date
ryansullivan
Member
Nice buck!
Well I suppose I'll write up how my first day went for anyone interested.
Started the morning by getting to the spot I was going to hunt well before sunlight to claim it. As the sun came up I couldn't see any antelope, except those that we're across the fence on private land. As I watch, I see that some are trickling out of a low spot on public that is hard to see what was in it. Upon further investigation, I could tell that some does we're staying in that little canyon so I make my way to the edge of it and put my eyes on a little buck that was chasing a doe. Out of no where the buck I saw yesterday comes out and runs that little guy off, and proceeds to try and mount his doe. I range him at 165 yards and standing broadside, so I put a bullet in him. All the other antelope run off but he's just standing there. So I put another in him, he's still standing... I was so worried I missed or made a bad shot so I put a third in him. After that he starts to tumble, and then drop. I'm so excited I yell for joy, and alarm the rest of the herd that didn't run off from the gun shots (weird I know).
I walk up to him, and count 3 shots to the vitals (I guess I need to trust my aim better lol). The only meat that was lost was a small portion of one of the shoulders and a portion of the heart (as seen in the picture).
I proceed to perform the gutless method of cleaning him, and then get him back to the truck. It was about a mile hike back to the truck so I got him back just in time for a propane stove tailgate lunch.
I then got to town where a game warden did a rough measurement and declared it "about 73 inches". I then dropped him off at a taxidermist, had me a quick siesta, and got back out there with the intent of filling my deer tag.
The evening hunt was interesting. I still hunted a big creek break, and at about 5 pm, I saw a rock with a twig sticking out of it that caught my attention. After staring at it for a minute I realized that rock was a mule deer head and that twig was it's 3 point antlers. He got up from his bed when I noticed him and started walking towards private land. Before I could get in range he made it across the border, but I noticed he had a pretty bad limp.
Because of this deer encounter in a unit that "has scarce mule deer on public land", I'm trying to decide if I go after that buck and hope he comes back in the morning, or if I go to another part of the region known for whitetail and try to get one of them.
Anyways stay tuned, it's just getting started I think
Started the morning by getting to the spot I was going to hunt well before sunlight to claim it. As the sun came up I couldn't see any antelope, except those that we're across the fence on private land. As I watch, I see that some are trickling out of a low spot on public that is hard to see what was in it. Upon further investigation, I could tell that some does we're staying in that little canyon so I make my way to the edge of it and put my eyes on a little buck that was chasing a doe. Out of no where the buck I saw yesterday comes out and runs that little guy off, and proceeds to try and mount his doe. I range him at 165 yards and standing broadside, so I put a bullet in him. All the other antelope run off but he's just standing there. So I put another in him, he's still standing... I was so worried I missed or made a bad shot so I put a third in him. After that he starts to tumble, and then drop. I'm so excited I yell for joy, and alarm the rest of the herd that didn't run off from the gun shots (weird I know).
I walk up to him, and count 3 shots to the vitals (I guess I need to trust my aim better lol). The only meat that was lost was a small portion of one of the shoulders and a portion of the heart (as seen in the picture).
I proceed to perform the gutless method of cleaning him, and then get him back to the truck. It was about a mile hike back to the truck so I got him back just in time for a propane stove tailgate lunch.
I then got to town where a game warden did a rough measurement and declared it "about 73 inches". I then dropped him off at a taxidermist, had me a quick siesta, and got back out there with the intent of filling my deer tag.
The evening hunt was interesting. I still hunted a big creek break, and at about 5 pm, I saw a rock with a twig sticking out of it that caught my attention. After staring at it for a minute I realized that rock was a mule deer head and that twig was it's 3 point antlers. He got up from his bed when I noticed him and started walking towards private land. Before I could get in range he made it across the border, but I noticed he had a pretty bad limp.
Because of this deer encounter in a unit that "has scarce mule deer on public land", I'm trying to decide if I go after that buck and hope he comes back in the morning, or if I go to another part of the region known for whitetail and try to get one of them.
Anyways stay tuned, it's just getting started I think
npaden
Well-known member
Congrats. Way to make it happen. Tough call on whether to go after that mule deer tomorrow or not.
Mudranger1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2010
- Messages
- 2,859
Beautiful lope. Good luck on the deer
Day two came and went. Let's just say that I almost filled my tag with my truck this morning, didn't see a mule deer buck on public, then went to an area known for whitetail, and saw nothing but mule deer does. Like a ton of them! Time to figure out a plan for tomorrow!
Sam if your still out there and got a region B, and near units 7 or 8 let me know. We must have been in the wrong spots for Antelope in 7, we filled our 4 tags and worked our asses off to do it. But, we found a crap load of 3x's and 4x's mulies on public ground in both mulie units 7&8. PM and I'll get you the pieces we found them on. Really kicking ourselves now for not getting buck tags, we could have killed multiple bucks Monday and Tuesday.
Well guys, for those following this thread, I thought I'd finish up and say I hunted a few more days with no success. Wednesday night I stalked up on a nice buck, and right as I was making the final stalk over a hill, he jumped the fence on to private. Shortly after that, I witnessed some fellows shoot a forkie buck so I went and offered them assistance with getting him out of there.
I then made the long drive to southern Arkansas to accompany the future Mrs. while she gave a speech at her Alma mater. After that I finally made it home yesterday, and today got to eat the first bite of the antelope.
Guys if you haven't eaten antelope heart, it is amazing. We used this recipe, and substituted half of the backstrap for the heart, and I'll say this: there won't be a heart from anything I shoot that won't be eaten from here on out.
https://www.nevadafoodies.com/antelope-backstrap-in-sage-butter/
I then made the long drive to southern Arkansas to accompany the future Mrs. while she gave a speech at her Alma mater. After that I finally made it home yesterday, and today got to eat the first bite of the antelope.
Guys if you haven't eaten antelope heart, it is amazing. We used this recipe, and substituted half of the backstrap for the heart, and I'll say this: there won't be a heart from anything I shoot that won't be eaten from here on out.
https://www.nevadafoodies.com/antelope-backstrap-in-sage-butter/
publichunter1
Well-known member
Congrats.
