Fella's;
I wasn't able to make the opener of antelope season last Sunday because I had the on-call duty for the weekend. Had to work the shop Saturday , so headed out in the morning for the first time this year on the 15th.
I parked the truck around 8:00 AM & just sat for a bit. Then I got geared up & walked south on a watercourse I was parked by. I went about a half mile south & scared up 7 ducks off the stockpond when I topped the earth dam. No antelope to be seen though. Well I then circled to the east & back to the truck. Just before I got to the truck, I looked due west across the bottom of the watercourse & up on the low rounded ridgeline. Goat! I walked to the nearby stocktank & got in the cover of its protector boards & glassed the antelope. It was over 1000 yards off in my estimation. I walked the 50 yards to the truck & sat back to watch. Pretty soon, a second buck came at the first one from the west. He popped out of a dry wash & met the first buck about 100 yards to the east of where he first appeared. The two started to play young buck games & could be seen to be two second year bucks. They then disappeared over the ridgeline moving generally south.
I gave 'em about 5 minutes & then headed for the lower end of the dry wash the second buck had come from. It took me about a half hour to hit the top of the dry wash & really start to creep along expecting to see the pair at any step. No bucks. I continued south figuring that they'd just moved faster than I'd thought & were over the next rise. I stepped out & continued another half mile south. No goats. More south. I finally got to the north rim of a large open basin that headed the first watercourse I'd parked by. No nuthin. Not even cattle, totally empty of visible wild or tame life.
OK, then. They must have gone to the stockpond that I'd raised the ducks from. So I turned from south & headed northeast to check the pond. I figured I'd stay higher on the side & just peek into the pond, if they weren't there, I'd go northwest to a rockytop & spy out the pasture land to its west. No animals at the pond, not even ducks this time. So, uphill to the rockytop. Got there & crept over the top, using the rocks for cover. No animals on the pasture. Scroot!! Back to the truck.
On the return I tried to get to the place on the ridge I'd first seen the pair of bucks. I wanted to range the truck & get an idea just how far off they were. The answer is, beyond the ability of my Bushnell yardage pro 800 to laze a Chevy pickup. I continued towards the truck triggering the rangefinder every so often. About the time I got a return, I noticed an ATV approaching me from the northwest. I continued to the truck & about a hundred yards from it, I met up with the guy on the ATV. He was a neighboring rancher checking salt & cows. We talked for about 10 minutes & I got back to the truck & skinned out of my backpack & sat & had lunch. This was about 11:30 AM.
As I sat in the truck I just scanned the surrounding open high plains country. It's all open cattle pasture at about 4500 feet of elevation. Then BINGO! The two bucks came over a ridgeline to the east-south-east of me. The two S.O.B.'s hadn't gone south when they'd gone over the ridgeline hours earlier, they'd dropped over & then turned due east. Commie free-thinking rat-bastard goats! They showed for about 2 minutes & then drifted back across the ridgeline headed south.
I jumped out of the truck with the gun, but not the backpack, & headed south rapidly up the same watercourse as I'd traveled in the morning. I got to the dam for the stockpond & had a decision to make. They weren't in sight, but could reappear over the ridge at any time. If they did, I was busted. No cover, in the bottom of an open bowl. But staying put didn't do any good really, pretty thin bet that they'd come to water mid-day.
I headed southeast uphill on a cattle track leading away from the pond. As I approached the military crest, I got a real zinger. Looked like a pair of horns, just the horns, in sight. I raised the gun & glassed with the scope. Brush! Dammed if it wasn't some scrub that looked just like pronghorns. Well, I looked all around & didn't see squat, so continued carefully up the cattle track. I then decided to head due east, leaving the track, as I thought I might have overrun their pace. They weren't spooked, just grazing on the move as antelope do. I'd been pushing the pace pretty good.
I continued another 20 yards east & scanned the area with the mark 1 eyeball. Thought I got a glimpse of horn to my right & retreated two steps. Got the gun ready & put my full attention on the area & took three steps up. There they were! The closer had seen me & the further had his head down.
Put the Zeiss on the near buck, dropped the center to mid neck just in front of the shoulder & squeezed. BANG-THWOP. I walked up & I'd hit him a little high, he was closer than I'd thought. The bullet took all the meat & hide off his neck above the vertebrae without breaking the neck. I think the shock probably killed him before he hit the ground.
I cut his neck & laid him neck downhill to drain, & went to the truck, 'bout a mile away. Fifteen-twenty minutes later I drove to the carcass & field dressed him, washed him out with the 5 gallons of water I carried in the truck. The hunt was over & the antelope in the truck at 1:00PM this afternoon. This is a nice heavy-bodied animal, good sized. Not much for horns, being a second-year, but lotsa meat.
The best part is that I was able to get home in time to watch the Bronco's whop the snot out of the (deleted)(deleted) raiders Sunday evening.
Life is good & the beer is cold.
900F
I wasn't able to make the opener of antelope season last Sunday because I had the on-call duty for the weekend. Had to work the shop Saturday , so headed out in the morning for the first time this year on the 15th.
I parked the truck around 8:00 AM & just sat for a bit. Then I got geared up & walked south on a watercourse I was parked by. I went about a half mile south & scared up 7 ducks off the stockpond when I topped the earth dam. No antelope to be seen though. Well I then circled to the east & back to the truck. Just before I got to the truck, I looked due west across the bottom of the watercourse & up on the low rounded ridgeline. Goat! I walked to the nearby stocktank & got in the cover of its protector boards & glassed the antelope. It was over 1000 yards off in my estimation. I walked the 50 yards to the truck & sat back to watch. Pretty soon, a second buck came at the first one from the west. He popped out of a dry wash & met the first buck about 100 yards to the east of where he first appeared. The two started to play young buck games & could be seen to be two second year bucks. They then disappeared over the ridgeline moving generally south.
I gave 'em about 5 minutes & then headed for the lower end of the dry wash the second buck had come from. It took me about a half hour to hit the top of the dry wash & really start to creep along expecting to see the pair at any step. No bucks. I continued south figuring that they'd just moved faster than I'd thought & were over the next rise. I stepped out & continued another half mile south. No goats. More south. I finally got to the north rim of a large open basin that headed the first watercourse I'd parked by. No nuthin. Not even cattle, totally empty of visible wild or tame life.
OK, then. They must have gone to the stockpond that I'd raised the ducks from. So I turned from south & headed northeast to check the pond. I figured I'd stay higher on the side & just peek into the pond, if they weren't there, I'd go northwest to a rockytop & spy out the pasture land to its west. No animals at the pond, not even ducks this time. So, uphill to the rockytop. Got there & crept over the top, using the rocks for cover. No animals on the pasture. Scroot!! Back to the truck.
On the return I tried to get to the place on the ridge I'd first seen the pair of bucks. I wanted to range the truck & get an idea just how far off they were. The answer is, beyond the ability of my Bushnell yardage pro 800 to laze a Chevy pickup. I continued towards the truck triggering the rangefinder every so often. About the time I got a return, I noticed an ATV approaching me from the northwest. I continued to the truck & about a hundred yards from it, I met up with the guy on the ATV. He was a neighboring rancher checking salt & cows. We talked for about 10 minutes & I got back to the truck & skinned out of my backpack & sat & had lunch. This was about 11:30 AM.
As I sat in the truck I just scanned the surrounding open high plains country. It's all open cattle pasture at about 4500 feet of elevation. Then BINGO! The two bucks came over a ridgeline to the east-south-east of me. The two S.O.B.'s hadn't gone south when they'd gone over the ridgeline hours earlier, they'd dropped over & then turned due east. Commie free-thinking rat-bastard goats! They showed for about 2 minutes & then drifted back across the ridgeline headed south.
I jumped out of the truck with the gun, but not the backpack, & headed south rapidly up the same watercourse as I'd traveled in the morning. I got to the dam for the stockpond & had a decision to make. They weren't in sight, but could reappear over the ridge at any time. If they did, I was busted. No cover, in the bottom of an open bowl. But staying put didn't do any good really, pretty thin bet that they'd come to water mid-day.
I headed southeast uphill on a cattle track leading away from the pond. As I approached the military crest, I got a real zinger. Looked like a pair of horns, just the horns, in sight. I raised the gun & glassed with the scope. Brush! Dammed if it wasn't some scrub that looked just like pronghorns. Well, I looked all around & didn't see squat, so continued carefully up the cattle track. I then decided to head due east, leaving the track, as I thought I might have overrun their pace. They weren't spooked, just grazing on the move as antelope do. I'd been pushing the pace pretty good.
I continued another 20 yards east & scanned the area with the mark 1 eyeball. Thought I got a glimpse of horn to my right & retreated two steps. Got the gun ready & put my full attention on the area & took three steps up. There they were! The closer had seen me & the further had his head down.
Put the Zeiss on the near buck, dropped the center to mid neck just in front of the shoulder & squeezed. BANG-THWOP. I walked up & I'd hit him a little high, he was closer than I'd thought. The bullet took all the meat & hide off his neck above the vertebrae without breaking the neck. I think the shock probably killed him before he hit the ground.
I cut his neck & laid him neck downhill to drain, & went to the truck, 'bout a mile away. Fifteen-twenty minutes later I drove to the carcass & field dressed him, washed him out with the 5 gallons of water I carried in the truck. The hunt was over & the antelope in the truck at 1:00PM this afternoon. This is a nice heavy-bodied animal, good sized. Not much for horns, being a second-year, but lotsa meat.
The best part is that I was able to get home in time to watch the Bronco's whop the snot out of the (deleted)(deleted) raiders Sunday evening.
Life is good & the beer is cold.
900F
