5
5x6utehunter
Guest
Long Post:
Well i had to work the opening weekend of my Archery Antelope hunt. So me, my buddy and my dad planned on going down early saturday morning, August 22th. My old man had some stuff to take care of so he was going to join us around lunch time that day. My buddy and I set up camp and headed out to look for antelope. around 10 am we spotted a herd of twelve does feeding along a ridge. After looking them over for a bit we noticed a buck in the herd. its pre-rut and he was pushing his does a little bit. there was virtually no cover with most of the sage brush only being a foot or so tall. However there was one stand of cedars on the ridge. the game plan was to stay blow them in the wash and work my way up to those cedars. once to the cedars i would wait and see if the buck would feed over close enough for a shot. Somehow I made it to the cedars, I could see four of the does bedded at about 75 yards. But the other 8 does and the buck had moved out into the flat. The does were trying to feed while the buck pushed them around for a bit. They were about 120-130 yards out into the flat. Too far for me and my bow set up. I had been sitting in the cedars, watching them and hoping they would work there way closer to me for about 5-7 minutes when the wind switched. The does started sneezing and the jig was up. They trotted off about 300 yards before stopping to look back. Knowing that the stalk was over I trugged back to my buddy who had been watching from about 1000 yards away in the spotting scope. By then it was about 1 pm and we headed back to camp to meet my old man and grab a sandwich. After catching up with my old man and eating we headed out again. The rest of the afternoon was an exercise in futility, I attempted to stalk 3 separate bucks from 2-4 in the afternoon. 1 of these buck was an absolute monster (in my short time in field judging antelope I believe he would of went of 80) all three of these stalks ended up with the antelope spotting me from quite a ways off and blowing out of the area. I had never hunted antelope before but I had helped on several and never before had i seen them so skittish. After these failed stalks we started to discuss the idea of me sitting on a waterhole. we had found a good one and thought it might work. ( I really wanted to get one spot and stalk) but as luck would have it at about 430 it started to down pour on us. it rained hard for over an hour. there was water every where, we decided maybe a waterhole wasnt the way to go. I tried to more stalks that evening, they ended the same as the others. Once it was dark we decided to drive into town and get something to eat. During dinner we decided me needed to move into a different area. One that offered more cover for me to try and stalk them better. I had heard most antelope dont like the cover because they cant see and well as they'd like too. During the night it rained again and we woke to a cool damp morning. We loaded into our rig and headed for different country. As w headed there i couldn't help and think it looked more like deer or elk country. I have hunted desert mule deer all my life but there had always been some cover for me to work with. We stopped and glassed an open flat, nothing. We loaded up once more and headed around a ridge. It opened up into another open flat the led up to a ridge dotted with cedars and junipers. As one person we all said "theres some antelope." We glassed it quickly and found 3 does and 1 buck bedded in the flat, but there were bedded fairly close to the tree covered ridge. We took off around the other side of the ridge and made a game plan. The Game Plan: using the ridge and the trees I would sneak down to the largest juniper, if i made it to the juniper i would be close to bow range. Once there I need to locate the antelope and try to sneak in if need be. I took off along the ridge stopping to check the wind every hundred yards or so. Once I could see the big juniper I crossed over the top of the ridge and began to sneak into the juniper. 30 minutes later found me kneeling in the shadows of the big juniper, glassing the flat and lower part of the ridge I couldn't see the antelope anywhere! My mind began to race. Where did they go? did they moved? did they feed down the ridge? I took a few deep quiet breaths and began to sneak from tree to tree glassing for them. Just as I made it behind a big cedar I heard the sound of hooves below me. Peeking out behind the cedar I saw the 3 does about 60 yards down hill looking right at me! Where was the buck?! Taking 3 quiet steps I looked around the other side of the cedar. I could see the bucks black horns sticking out over the top of a small cedar. He was walking and was going to clear the cedar any second. he was downhill about 75 yards away. Once again my mind raced. Thats a long shot and youve only shot targets at that distance? Will you get another chance? Is that shot ethical? What if a gust of wind pushes my arrow of target and I hit him poorly? Even as my mind raced I was drawing my bow. I settled my 70 yard pin on his back bone and my 80 in the pocket just behind the shoulder and...........S'WACK. The does blew out to the right, at first my buck tried to follow them but veered back left and ran out into the flat at breakneck speed. Watching him run in my binos i could see blood pouring off his side and onto the ground. All of sudden he crashed to the ground. He tried to get up once and then put his head down. I sat down and waited 33 minutes until I went looking for my arrow. I found it 20 yards from where I had hit him. I was covered in bubbles and I knew I had hit him in the lungs. I radioed my dad and buddy to come on over. We walked over to him together. I couldnt be happier with him. he scores 60 even. he is not the biggest goat on the mountain but I got him with a bow Spot and Stalk style. He ran about 120-130 yards before piling up.
Thanks for reading my novel. Special Thanks to my Dad for teaching me to love the outdoors and how to bow hunt. And to my buddy Jake I couldnt ask for a better friend and hunting buddy.
Ive got your four basic food groups! Beans, Bacon, Whiskey, and Lard!
Well i had to work the opening weekend of my Archery Antelope hunt. So me, my buddy and my dad planned on going down early saturday morning, August 22th. My old man had some stuff to take care of so he was going to join us around lunch time that day. My buddy and I set up camp and headed out to look for antelope. around 10 am we spotted a herd of twelve does feeding along a ridge. After looking them over for a bit we noticed a buck in the herd. its pre-rut and he was pushing his does a little bit. there was virtually no cover with most of the sage brush only being a foot or so tall. However there was one stand of cedars on the ridge. the game plan was to stay blow them in the wash and work my way up to those cedars. once to the cedars i would wait and see if the buck would feed over close enough for a shot. Somehow I made it to the cedars, I could see four of the does bedded at about 75 yards. But the other 8 does and the buck had moved out into the flat. The does were trying to feed while the buck pushed them around for a bit. They were about 120-130 yards out into the flat. Too far for me and my bow set up. I had been sitting in the cedars, watching them and hoping they would work there way closer to me for about 5-7 minutes when the wind switched. The does started sneezing and the jig was up. They trotted off about 300 yards before stopping to look back. Knowing that the stalk was over I trugged back to my buddy who had been watching from about 1000 yards away in the spotting scope. By then it was about 1 pm and we headed back to camp to meet my old man and grab a sandwich. After catching up with my old man and eating we headed out again. The rest of the afternoon was an exercise in futility, I attempted to stalk 3 separate bucks from 2-4 in the afternoon. 1 of these buck was an absolute monster (in my short time in field judging antelope I believe he would of went of 80) all three of these stalks ended up with the antelope spotting me from quite a ways off and blowing out of the area. I had never hunted antelope before but I had helped on several and never before had i seen them so skittish. After these failed stalks we started to discuss the idea of me sitting on a waterhole. we had found a good one and thought it might work. ( I really wanted to get one spot and stalk) but as luck would have it at about 430 it started to down pour on us. it rained hard for over an hour. there was water every where, we decided maybe a waterhole wasnt the way to go. I tried to more stalks that evening, they ended the same as the others. Once it was dark we decided to drive into town and get something to eat. During dinner we decided me needed to move into a different area. One that offered more cover for me to try and stalk them better. I had heard most antelope dont like the cover because they cant see and well as they'd like too. During the night it rained again and we woke to a cool damp morning. We loaded into our rig and headed for different country. As w headed there i couldn't help and think it looked more like deer or elk country. I have hunted desert mule deer all my life but there had always been some cover for me to work with. We stopped and glassed an open flat, nothing. We loaded up once more and headed around a ridge. It opened up into another open flat the led up to a ridge dotted with cedars and junipers. As one person we all said "theres some antelope." We glassed it quickly and found 3 does and 1 buck bedded in the flat, but there were bedded fairly close to the tree covered ridge. We took off around the other side of the ridge and made a game plan. The Game Plan: using the ridge and the trees I would sneak down to the largest juniper, if i made it to the juniper i would be close to bow range. Once there I need to locate the antelope and try to sneak in if need be. I took off along the ridge stopping to check the wind every hundred yards or so. Once I could see the big juniper I crossed over the top of the ridge and began to sneak into the juniper. 30 minutes later found me kneeling in the shadows of the big juniper, glassing the flat and lower part of the ridge I couldn't see the antelope anywhere! My mind began to race. Where did they go? did they moved? did they feed down the ridge? I took a few deep quiet breaths and began to sneak from tree to tree glassing for them. Just as I made it behind a big cedar I heard the sound of hooves below me. Peeking out behind the cedar I saw the 3 does about 60 yards down hill looking right at me! Where was the buck?! Taking 3 quiet steps I looked around the other side of the cedar. I could see the bucks black horns sticking out over the top of a small cedar. He was walking and was going to clear the cedar any second. he was downhill about 75 yards away. Once again my mind raced. Thats a long shot and youve only shot targets at that distance? Will you get another chance? Is that shot ethical? What if a gust of wind pushes my arrow of target and I hit him poorly? Even as my mind raced I was drawing my bow. I settled my 70 yard pin on his back bone and my 80 in the pocket just behind the shoulder and...........S'WACK. The does blew out to the right, at first my buck tried to follow them but veered back left and ran out into the flat at breakneck speed. Watching him run in my binos i could see blood pouring off his side and onto the ground. All of sudden he crashed to the ground. He tried to get up once and then put his head down. I sat down and waited 33 minutes until I went looking for my arrow. I found it 20 yards from where I had hit him. I was covered in bubbles and I knew I had hit him in the lungs. I radioed my dad and buddy to come on over. We walked over to him together. I couldnt be happier with him. he scores 60 even. he is not the biggest goat on the mountain but I got him with a bow Spot and Stalk style. He ran about 120-130 yards before piling up.
Thanks for reading my novel. Special Thanks to my Dad for teaching me to love the outdoors and how to bow hunt. And to my buddy Jake I couldnt ask for a better friend and hunting buddy.
Ive got your four basic food groups! Beans, Bacon, Whiskey, and Lard!
