Parker Mountain Antelope

[400bull]

Here are a couple pictures of my wife?s first speedgoat she shot this weekend on the Parker Mountain. There is a great story that goes with taking this buck. Elayne has asked me not to spell the beans about the hunt because she wants to put together the story. So look forward to a great story in the article section of MM. In the mean time in joy the pictures and let me know what you think he might score.

400bull

 

[DougW]

400Bull- congrats. to your wife and great pics! That's a nice one. I hunted this unit in 01 and enjoyed every minute of it. Took a comparable buck about noon on the first day. At least it's not quite so friggin hot and dusty up there as out in the desert.

Looking forward to the story....

 

[AZBuckSnort]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-09-06 AT 10:35PM (MST)[p]Congratulations to your wife on her nice pronghorn buck. She sure looks pleased with her trophy, I like her smile!

My teenaged son and I were in the same unit on the same hunt this past weekend as he had drawn a tag. He took a buck Saturday afternoon the old fashioned way of spot and stalk.

For the life of me, I can't understand why so many folks feel they need to hunt pronghorns with a pickup truck or SUV. We sat on a high point and watched the dusty road drag races as "hunters" sped up and down and across any conceivable road/trail to chase herds of antelope trying to get within rifle range. One particular hunt group of 4 outfits managed to corner a sizeable herd of antelope into a fence corner. The herd balled up into a tight pack and made an attempt to slither under a fenceline to the safety of the open sage beyond. The wire was too low and too tightly spaced so the herd made a play for the country to the south and east. That's when the shootin' started.

Rifles stuck out of pickup windows, "hunters" leaning into their rigs, haunches hunkered tightly to plush truck seats, folks standing & taking aim from the bed, shooting offhand no less, as the volleys of fire began. From my estimate of targets from 300-800+ yards, the shots rang out at the fleeing herd. I figure most of the shots were "Texas heart shot" attempts at the backsides of the departing column of pronghorns. After between 20-30 shots, a deafening roll of gunfire the likes of which I've never heard on any prior big game hunt experience, my boy and I never saw an antelope fall. Imagine that, at least 6 "hunter/shooters", all firing from pickups parked right in the road, shooting from their cabs and the bed box! As the herd found a low spot to cross the fenceline, the caravan mounted up and gave hot pursuit!

I'll say what I said then, it was pathetic, disgusting, weak, and BS. My son said he understood why I insist on hunting the "old school way" of spot & stalk, sneaking in for a well-aimed shot, even though it is a more demanding method of hunting. If the game spooks, oh well, that's hunting and you try again.

Again, congrats to your wife on her beautiful buck and I hope her story includes an exciting stalk, on foot, across that rocky sage covered ground to make a clean kill on her worthy buck.

Jim

 

[400bull]

Jim,

I don't know for sure where you were hunting at but I think my wife and I heard the gun fire that you descibed. It was funny because right after that my wife turned to me a said "There's an antelope that must have got away".

Another thing that realy got me upset about the hunting ethics that we saw out there was the number of hunters that would take a hell marry shot and not follow it up to verify that the animal was not hit. To many people think that if the aniamle does not fall where it stands they must have missed it. I'll bet we watch three or four hunters take a long shot(400+ yards) a never went out to see if they could find any sign of it being hit.

Believe me, out hunting method was the same as yours and we have the scraped bellies, bruised knees, and plenty of cactus needles still stuck in our hands to prove it.

Hope to see a a pitcure of your boy and his fine buck.

400bull

 

[AZBuckSnort]

We were hunting in the country around Pelham Knoll, Antelope Springs, and the basin around the Pollywog Lake area. In fact, your wife's pronghorn looks alot like the one my boy wanted to hunt for after our previous day's scouting efforts in the freezing rain, intermitent fog banks, and brisk wind gusts found a very similar looking buck hunkered down in the sage with a herd of does. He was a bit north and west of Pelham Knoll at the time. The way your wife's buck's prongs kinda jut upward is unique and his mass is better than most of the bucks in that unit.

There was also a buck we named "Limpy", because he had an obvious limping gait, who had an impressive set of horns that were tall and had good hooks and better than average prongs. We looked for both of these bucks in the morning but with all the shooting and harrassing going on, the herds just seemed to get so scattered it was difficult to find specific bucks.

I'll tell you a funny one...we encountered a nice enough fella out jogging across the sage chasing a herd with a buck we were stalking. He was a bit out of breath as he flagged us down, thinking we were someone from his hunting party. He was in a camo jacket, blue jeans, no cap, no blaze orange on head-back-chest, and...he had an unloaded rifle! In his haste to get after the bucks, he'd forgotten his ammo! Folks just get that ol' buck fever and it takes over their sensibilities, as hunting with an unloaded rifle will attest too.

Here's a pic of my son's buck. He made a fine one-shot kill with his .30-06 Savage rifle birthday gift he'd received from me in honor of his birthday, which is today. He hit the buck in the neck and the creature went to the ground with all life completey gone from his body. We hung him in a tree and skinned him so my son could have the hide tanned as a trophy from the hunt. We'll do a european skull mount and eat backstrap steaks and antelope burritos from the fine meat.

We saw mule deer bucks and does, 5 flocks of turkeys, a herd of elk with a 5 point bull, and lots of ducks and geese along with all the pronghorn. It was a good hunt in a handsome chuck of high country.

 

[SomeGuy]

400bull, congrats to your wife thats a great buck. I hunted out there on the earlier hunt and had a blast. I to saw a lot of people hunting from their vehicles also, but it made it better for those of us who were really hunting the old spot and stalk way i guess.

Also jim congrats to your son for taking a nice one also.