wmm and I went hunted private land tags on a DIY hunt in New Mexico. On Thursday night, we survived a monster thunderstorm. Thankfully, the ranch manager, Dean, had cleaned out an old stone barn complete with concrete floor to camp in. If not for that barn, we'd still be bailing water out of our tent. After visiting us at camp, Dean decided to hunt the first morning with us. Since this was our first antelope hunt, we really appreciated his field judging skills. After watching a nice buck bed down, we made a stalk around some hills. wmm had won the coin flip and his chance came as the buck had joined up with 14 others. It appeared that the herd was drifting further away, so wmm made the most of his chance at 416 yards (top pic). His new custom 300 WSM performed to perfection and a nice buck was on the ground. My turn came as we returned to camp to process the first buck. wmm dropped Dean and I off for a stalk on a lone buck well off the road. At 400 yards, we ran out of cover. All we could see were the bucks horns on occasion because he was in a low spot. I began to crawl to a point where I could get a shot that was clear of the grass. At 150 yards, I was able to sit up and get the snipe pod legs out. My 257 WBY spoke and it was picture time again (bottom pic). We could not have enjoyed our first antelope hunt more.
