In spite of the weather forecast that predicted a weekend of heavy rains, I ventured out to 18A to scout for antelope again. Perhaps a big buck had come out of hiding to steal the harem away from a delusional youngster.
Saturday morning greeted to antelope plains with a lightning show at sunrise. Of course the rain upon the camper shell meant a few extra winks of sleep. Fortunately, the rain was light and did not turn the roads to a mucky mess. CWT.com member "Butters" and his daughter were out archery hunting antelope. He had located a nice buck, but it was just the viewable kind as it was behind a posted fence. He had moved his Jeep further down the road, and that is where I met him glassing. We drove and checked two other bucks a mile away. I left Butters at 10:15 AM to put a stalk on one of them, as I had to meet a friend and we were going to check a well used fence crossing in another part of the unit.
After checking the fence crossing, I stayed to scout that part of the unit. Shortly after the friend and I separated ways, the clouds unleashed their pent up moisture for and hour of heavy rain. National Weather Service had issued a flash flood warning for the area. After the rain stopped, I tried to venture out, but a flowing wash had left only part of the clay road, so I let discretion stop my crossing of the slick clay roadbed, as I did not want to slide off into the 2' deep drop the running wash created.
Thus I went back to where I had met Butters earlier that morning. I did see one nice buck across a wide draw. Another solitary buck was tucked up in the head of that draw, whose horn configuration reminded me of a court jester. I stood in front of a tree, and Rica moved around within 30 yards of me. The buck closed the distance from his bed at 200 yards and slowly walked towards us until about 100 yards out. After I got enough pictures, we gathered the tripod, camera and spotting scope, and headed back to the truck. The buck slowly trotted away.
Court Jester
That evening, another sunset pulled down a colorful curtain on the day.
Sunday morning brought a line of low clouds and a light sprinkle, but they passed overhead to the north . The first nice buck seen yesterday was now chasing his harem around the middle of the flat. A second group of antelope with an undetermined buck was watched heading into the cedars, presumable to escape the warm sun. Headed back down the two-track and found this buck with about a dozen does. (I will get the hang of digiscoping through the 15X binos yet. Seems better to use a large lens aperture for higher shutter speed, and zoom in to reduce vignetting and get a larger field of view.)
This is the rearward hooking buck and his herd. I had not seen this buck on the two previous scouting trips.
Sunday afternoon, the truck headed west to check out the western edge of the unit along Hackberry Wash. Rather a brushy desert more suitable to Gambels quail.
As I drove north towards Valentine, more grass appeared and looked more antelope-ish, but so did the no trespassing/no hunting signs of the local ranch. Valentine is set in a scenic area along old Route 66, with granite boulder mountains and buttes along Truxton Wash.
With that venture crossing Hackberry Wash off the list of places to hunt, I ventured back towards Seligman to go back into wher the prvious rains had stopped my progress. The gully was no longer flowing and the clay no longer slick after a day. Wide expanses of held grazing bovines, and 4 buckless antelope does fed in a shallow basin. My route out was stopped by a wide mud flat left behind by yesterday's flowing water. Before turning around, a coyote replete with summer hide was dispatched at the edge of the mud flat. Stopping on the retrace of the drive in for the evening allowed the view of another sunset.
Labor Day Monday morning awoke with the 20MPH winds that plagued yesterday. Sunflowers danced along the roadside as I headed to a spot where a buck rumored to be 18" tall has been seen. He must be playing Houdini still, as I only saw these three lesser bucks.
One of two bucks that kept tabs on a dozen does.
This was the last buck seen during the weekend. A young buck hiding in the cedars until he grows old and large enough to have a harem of his own.
Less than two weeks before the rifle season opens on the 12th. Let's hope the big boy remains unseen and out of range during the upcoming muzzleloader season that opens this Friday.
Doug~RR
