marley
Very Active Member
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Well after applying for 29 tags this year and drawing 0, I had to start looking for options to be able to hunt. After talking around I got info. about a "High Plains Adventures" that guides antelope hunts on 300,000 acres in Eastern CO in a unit that had leftover muzzleloader tags. I gave him a call and he had the last 4 days available. I just got back and can say that it was one of the most fun hunts I've been on.
On the first morning we saw hundreds of antelope but one in particular that I named "Flare". The problem with this buck was that he hung out in the middle of a 2-3 square mile pasture with 2 inch grass throughout the entire thing with no hills to approach from. We saw him for 3 days straight and every time we even stopped the truck to see him from a mile away he would bolt in the opposite direction. I had pretty much decided that Flare was impossible to kill with a muzzleloader and had avoided the 20 or so rifle hunters already.
Well tonight Flare screwed up. He and his 3 buddies looked like they were feeding toward a small ditch out in middle. From 1300 yards away we started creeping down the ditch toward them. After about 800 yards or so a coyote came walking down the same ditch right toward us and I just knew this sucker was going to blow out the back side and take the antelope with him. We sat as still as we could and at about 20 yards he saw us and luckily bolted out of the ditch to our left. We peeked our heads up and saw one of the bucks still in the same spot so we continued down the ditch. At about 200 yards from where we thought they would be the ditch started getting smaller and smaller. It became a belly crawl through the 12 inch deep and shoulder width ditch. I looked up ahead of me and the ditch completely peetered out to nothing about 50 yards up. I crawled up there, peeked my head up to see that Flare was now exactly in front of me at 153 yards. I slid the muzzleloader out in front of me and took the shot. It seemed like forever before we heard the whop. He bolted about 100 yards and tumbled over. I thought this buck would be impossible to kill with a muzzleloader but we got it done. He was pretty broken and rubbed off on the tips but a cool buck. Sorry for the long story. I'm off to pull the cactus quills from my chest and arms!!
....If you find a message from myself offensive, inappropriate or disruptive, please ignore it. If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to me and I will demonstrate.....
On the first morning we saw hundreds of antelope but one in particular that I named "Flare". The problem with this buck was that he hung out in the middle of a 2-3 square mile pasture with 2 inch grass throughout the entire thing with no hills to approach from. We saw him for 3 days straight and every time we even stopped the truck to see him from a mile away he would bolt in the opposite direction. I had pretty much decided that Flare was impossible to kill with a muzzleloader and had avoided the 20 or so rifle hunters already.
Well tonight Flare screwed up. He and his 3 buddies looked like they were feeding toward a small ditch out in middle. From 1300 yards away we started creeping down the ditch toward them. After about 800 yards or so a coyote came walking down the same ditch right toward us and I just knew this sucker was going to blow out the back side and take the antelope with him. We sat as still as we could and at about 20 yards he saw us and luckily bolted out of the ditch to our left. We peeked our heads up and saw one of the bucks still in the same spot so we continued down the ditch. At about 200 yards from where we thought they would be the ditch started getting smaller and smaller. It became a belly crawl through the 12 inch deep and shoulder width ditch. I looked up ahead of me and the ditch completely peetered out to nothing about 50 yards up. I crawled up there, peeked my head up to see that Flare was now exactly in front of me at 153 yards. I slid the muzzleloader out in front of me and took the shot. It seemed like forever before we heard the whop. He bolted about 100 yards and tumbled over. I thought this buck would be impossible to kill with a muzzleloader but we got it done. He was pretty broken and rubbed off on the tips but a cool buck. Sorry for the long story. I'm off to pull the cactus quills from my chest and arms!!
....If you find a message from myself offensive, inappropriate or disruptive, please ignore it. If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to me and I will demonstrate.....
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