Year of the Antelope

[Taxidermynut]

Our little hunting group hit the jackpot this year. New Mexico: 3 ant-2--106 tags, 1 ant-3-100 tag. Utah 1 San Rafel North tag. Wyoming: 1 60-1 tag, 2 64-1 tags, 4 48-1 tags. Going to be a real busy year. Got a South San Rafel Sheep tag also.

 

[Spitz]

Wow! You guys are going to have some great goats hit the dirt this year. Congrats!

 

[JohnCushman]

nice!!! Enjoy!!

 

[Oak]

Got a South San Rafel Sheep tag also.

That's what I'm talking about! A sheep tag as an afterthought!

 

[Grady]

I'm afraid, for me, the sheep hunt would take priority over any antelope hunt in any area, anywhere....

I'm sure you'll have fun. Hope you have some vacation time saved up!

 

[Big Fin]

Hey, you got my UT tag. Congrats on that batch of great tags. Any antelope tag is a great tag. And, you have a pretty good sheep tag to go along with those pronghorns. Have great hunts and post the stories and pics.

I am down to three pronghorn tags this year. Guess it will have to do.

 

[Taxidermynut]

Update

Well the year turned out great. We started out archery hunting in New Mexico. Long hot days, with rain mixed in left for hard hunting. The bucks weren't hitting the water holes with any consistancy. We finaly tagged out on day 4, going 3 for 3 with the tough conditions felt great.

 

[Taxidermynut]

Update

Living right next to the Utah unit provided lots of scouting oppertinuity. Between 6 of us scouting, we still hadn't turned anything up great in 40 days in the field. Don't get me wrong, we found 3-5 that will break 80, but nothing that will break 82. Grandma thought we were spending too much time on her tag though. Her hunt started on Sept. 18th, but so did 3 tags in Wyoming. 4 of them headed to Wyoming while 2 of us stayed to hunt with her in utah. We didn't find anything better in utah opening weekend, but they filled up in Wyoming the first 4 days. 2 mid 70's bucks out of 64 that I don't have pics of yet, and this 81.5 buck out of 60. They seen 2 other bucks that were about the same size as the big buck, but nothing bigger. Maybe 60 isn't as good as some people would have you beleive.

 

[Taxidermynut]

Update

Second week of Grandma's hunt comes without us finding anything bigger that what we found scouting. We split up again Saterday morning and head our different ways. We all get a call from Yory telling us he found a new buck that we need to come look at. We all agree that it is the best buck we have seen and the mile + hike starts. Normaly the hike wouldn't be a big deal, but grandma is in her early 70's so we realy only have one chance because she wouldn't be up for it again. We finally get her in position, but she know's we are excited and that means it's big, which makes her nervous. One great shot later and she is sitting smiling next to an 86 in. buck.

 

[Taxidermynut]

Update

More Pics :hump:

 

[Taxidermynut]

Update

To finish off the year we had 3 second season 48 tags. We didn't make it up for opening day, but were there during the second week. We had one first time antelope hunter with us. He was going to shot the first low 70's buck we seen. We were only in the unit for about 20 minutes before we found a buck he liked. We talked him out of shooting it and went to set up camp. After we got camp set up, we went back and looked at him again. After hunting for really only about 10 miuntes he tells us he is shooting him. 10 minutes later he has his first 76 in antelope.

 

[Taxidermynut]

We hunted the rest of the day and the next morning, mostly just checking out the country and what type of antelope it held. Most of the bucks were low 70's and smaller, but we were seeing a couple upper 70's bucks. My little brother and I still had tags and about 2 pm we found a realy pretty upper 70's buck. He gave me first shot as he said it was my turn to shoot first since he has the last couple years. I called my wife to see if she was going to make it out with the kids later in the day. I really wanted my oldest daughter to be there. She had been looking forward to it all year, but had gotten in a little trouble with her mom, so she had to wait untill she was out of trouble before she could come. My wife decided she had done enough to come out so I gave my brother the go ahead. He was speechless that I decided to pass. He made a great shot and had a beautiful 78 in. buck down in a matter of seconds.

 

[Taxidermynut]

Update

My wife got there with the kids around 4 pm. We drove around showing the kids antelope. One little buck came within about 30 yards of me and the girls, which the thought was awesome. After looking at around 30 bucks that evening we finally found one worth getting a better look at. The 3 of us along with my little girl hiked about 3/4 of a mile and set up the spotting scope. We looked for about 20 minutes and could not turn up the buck. We couldn't figure out how he got away without us seeing him. We did happen to find a coyote wandering around about 600 yds. Out. We talked about it and I set up on the coyote. The other 2 were going to watch and see if me shooting at the coyote would happen to get the buck to stand up or something. After the shot about 30 seconds Travis looks over and at about 400 yds, a buck show himself. I hurry and get set up on him while they are getting the spotting scope set up. He stares at us for what felt like forever, before he turns and gives us a side profile. One look at him from the side was all I needed and they felt the same. One shot latter and I had a 83 in buck on the ground and to top it off my little girl was there.

 

[Taxidermynut]

Update

Well I forgot the New Mexico Muzzleloader unit 11 hunt. Seth got assigned the Association Ranch. In talking to the guy over the ranch he informed us that he had only seen 1 buck on the ranch and not to expect much. Which goes against everything I could find on Unit 11. So we didn't quite know what to expect when we got there. We arrived 2 days early to scout, and in those 2 days we were only able to find 3 bucks. 2 of which were on the ranch and the other 1 was going on and off. We decided to try for the buck that was going on and off as we thought he was over 82. Opening morning found us with in 200 yds of the fence between the ranches and the buck happened to be on our side. He got set up between were the buck was and where he was headed to bed. It was working out great, until a herd of elk came out of the flats and ran right into the antelope. They ran the antelope for about 500 yds, and headed for the cedars. He circled around and got in front of them again. It's now about 7:30. He is still lying in the grass at 9:30 and the antelope are starting to lay down at about 250 yds. Finally at about 10:30 they get up and head his way again. At about 150 yds he makes a 1 shot kill and our trip is over. The buck wasn't quit as long as we expected, but was every bit as heavy as we thought. He ended up at 81.75.

 

[Taxidermynut]

Update

I ended up missing out on the sheep hunt. I had been gone hunting almost every weekend for 2 months along with a couple weeks hunting inbetween. So I took my wife on the opening of her deer hunt. They ended up finding a big ram the same day and ended a 3 month excersion. Not many sheep were found scouting and this was realy the first ram we found that was over half curl. He ended up being the second best sheep ever off the unit according the DWR, tapping out at 158". Wish I could have been there as we didn't see any big deer, but spending the day hunting with a loving wife that is so understanding about my addiction is great also.

 

[van franke]

Man thats one heck of a year and some awesome bucks. Grandma taking that buck is just too cool. Thanks for sharing

 

[Terry aka Coydog]

An awesome season for sure. Hope you are able to top that next year. I really enjoyed the pics and stories. Good job

 

[Duck-Slayer]

crazy sick season.... jealous....
Matt

 

[Big Fin]

Great stuff, Nut. You and yours are having one hell of a season. Congrats.

 

[Doug in Idaho]

Wow! What a season on the antelope. Thanks for sharing.