obssd1958
10-01-2012, 01:51 AM
Let me start by apologizing - this is not a cast boolit kill, but it was special due to the rifle used, and I figured a lot of you could appreciate it!
I have been applying for an antelope/rifle tag for somewhere near 20 years. My daughter drew one in 2001, and my wife drew one in 2010 - I had not, until this year. I have been bowhunting the same area for 10 years and have taken 3 antelope in the last 5 - 2007, 2009, and 2011.
I talked a good friend into getting the archery tag this year, because I figured that I would once again be unsuccessful in the draw for the rifle tag, and we could hunt together with the bows. He has almost no experience hunting antelope, so it was my thought to be the mentor for this hunt. When we found out that I had drawn the rifle tag, it kind of threw a wrench in the plans, but it worked out - we only changed our plans as far as the timing goes. The archery season ended the 24th of September, and the rifle season started on the 25th, so we scheduled the hunt for the 20th to the 27th.
Since this would probably be the only rifle tag that I'll ever draw, I wanted to make the rifle I used, something special. I have a Savage model 99, chambered in 250/3000, that I had never used and only shot once before. It had a scope on it (not factory drilled!) and was shooting 8 inches low and 8 inches right, at 25 yards!!! I mechanically centered the scope, but that made little difference. I used a piece of cartridge brass (annealed, so it shaped easily) to shim the rear sight base, and purchased a set of Burris Zee Signature rings, and their ***-Align insert kit, to give me the ability to zero the scope physically, before using the scopes internal adjustments. Although they say that the old Savage 1 in 14 twist won't stabilize a 100gr. bullet, I had to try it when I was working up loads. The Nosler Ballistic Tip was the proof to the point, and did it by going through the target substantially sideways with powder charges from 32.5 to 34.5 of H4895. But Speer's flat base 100gr. spitzer turned out to be just the ticket - with the sweet spot coming at 34.5 gr. of H4895. Average velocity was 3010 fps and 5 shot groups were: under one inch at 100, right at 2 inches at 200, and just over 3 inches at 300. Perfect for my self-imposed limit of 300 yards!!
We took my beat up old 5th wheel out to the desert on the 20th and started hunting. Didn't see anything the first night, but found that the water holes I had the most confidence in, were dry. The next morning we headed to another spot that I had always seen goats at. It's a small, 2 acre, reservoir with an earth dam and a huge bush out in the portion normally covered by water.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m9/obssd1958/shooting/antelope%202008/100_7512.jpg (picture I took in 2008 of the same reservoir!)
Once again, no water, but there were a few sage grouse hanging out by the bush and it was the last day of the season for them. I grabbed my shotgun and headed around the dam to come up behind them. When I was peeking over the top to make sure they would not see me, I spotted a couple of antelope that were bedded down right in front of the bush. My buddy had already spotted them too, and was coming around to me to see if he could get the bush in between them and us, for a stalk. We made it all the way to the bush without getting busted. We tried going around the right side, but there was a doe feeding at 68 yds, that we couldn't get by. So we tried the left side. Just as we were getting to where we should be able to see the other antelope, (20 yards!) they came trotting out into the open to the left. My buddy didn't draw, because he was afraid of spooking them, but they trotted out to about 80 yds., so it was a moot point anyways. What a rush, getting that close!! And of course, the sage grouse had already flown away!
We chased antelope, and sat in blinds for the next 3 days, and my buddy did get a shot off at an antelope from his blind, at what he says was 35 yds. - he shot low... (buck fever!). His hunt closed out with - lots of fun had, lots of antelope seen, several close encounters, one very close stalk, and one shot - but no antelope.
My hunt started Tuesday morning at daylight.
I went first to the little reservoir, because we had seen antelope there more consistently than anywhere else. We also knew there was more than one big buck in the valley on a regular basis. Just after legal shooting light, we heard a succession of nine shots in the distance. I told my buddy that my goal for a big one, was going to be tempered by the even more important responsibility of making a reasonable and ethical, one-shot kill. There were no antelope at the little reservoir, so I decided to hike/still hunt across the valley floor to a natural spring on the side of the bluff on the other side.
Before half an hour had passed, I had spotted the buck I wanted, and blown my first stalk due to a pair of does seeing me before I saw them! They took the buck with them to an open area in the sage brush, about 500 yards from the last cover that I could easily get to, and bedded down. I dropped over the other side of a rise and started to circle around them. Ran into two other small herds of goats and got stuck in place, trying not to spook them and every other animal in the area into leaving. The small herds finally drifted away (towards the big buck and his herd of eleven or twelve), and I was able to continue towards the natural spring until finally, I made it to a small copse of trees and brush at the bottom of the hill. The spring was about 380 yards above me (rangefinders are just about mandatory out here!). I snuck through the trees and spotted the buck bedded down with a big combined herd on the top of a small finger - 285 yards... but no shot, because I couldn't see his vitals. While sitting and watching him and the other antelope through my binoculars, I noticed several of them looking to my left, towards the spring. I backed out enough to see the spring, and saw a group of six or seven does and fawns already at the spring, drinking. When I looked back to the buck, he was gone. It was several minutes before I picked him up, walking towards the new group of does and fawns, who were now making there way down the hill towards him, and all the other antelope. I was shocked when he walked right past them and headed up the hill to the spring. I crawled to the last piece of sagebrush available to me, and ranged a little clump on the hill that he would be passing in just a few moments - 258 yards. On my knees, sitting on my heels, I found that if I held onto the sagebrush and pulled the sling backs towards my shoulder with my left hand, I could make the crosshairs almost stand still. The buck was walking away from me, so I hollered "Hey" at him - no reaction. I shouted "Hey!!" as loud as I could - he stopped and turned broadside. I settled the crosshairs behind his shoulder and barely squeezed the trigger... When the gun went off, I saw him hunch up, then heard the unmistakable "SMACK" of a solid hit. He went to his tiptoes for a couple of steps, then collapsed less than 5 feet from where he was standing when I shot. WhooHoo!!! One Shot and no tracking!!!!!!
The shot had hit him low in the chest and taken a chunk of his heart with it, along with puncturing the right lung. I knew he had walked past the little clump of sage before I got him to stop, but had thought it to only be a few yards. When we ranged it afterwards, it turned out to be 315 yards from me to where he stood when the bullet got there.
10:30 in the morning - only three hours after my hunt started, it was done!
We were able to drive right up to him to load him in the back of the pick-up, so we could get him cooled off right away. We did take some pictures first, and I put a tape measure to the horns after I got home. Just over 14 inches on each side - my best one so far!!
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m9/obssd1958/shooting/antelope%202008/000_0007.jpg
I have been applying for an antelope/rifle tag for somewhere near 20 years. My daughter drew one in 2001, and my wife drew one in 2010 - I had not, until this year. I have been bowhunting the same area for 10 years and have taken 3 antelope in the last 5 - 2007, 2009, and 2011.
I talked a good friend into getting the archery tag this year, because I figured that I would once again be unsuccessful in the draw for the rifle tag, and we could hunt together with the bows. He has almost no experience hunting antelope, so it was my thought to be the mentor for this hunt. When we found out that I had drawn the rifle tag, it kind of threw a wrench in the plans, but it worked out - we only changed our plans as far as the timing goes. The archery season ended the 24th of September, and the rifle season started on the 25th, so we scheduled the hunt for the 20th to the 27th.
Since this would probably be the only rifle tag that I'll ever draw, I wanted to make the rifle I used, something special. I have a Savage model 99, chambered in 250/3000, that I had never used and only shot once before. It had a scope on it (not factory drilled!) and was shooting 8 inches low and 8 inches right, at 25 yards!!! I mechanically centered the scope, but that made little difference. I used a piece of cartridge brass (annealed, so it shaped easily) to shim the rear sight base, and purchased a set of Burris Zee Signature rings, and their ***-Align insert kit, to give me the ability to zero the scope physically, before using the scopes internal adjustments. Although they say that the old Savage 1 in 14 twist won't stabilize a 100gr. bullet, I had to try it when I was working up loads. The Nosler Ballistic Tip was the proof to the point, and did it by going through the target substantially sideways with powder charges from 32.5 to 34.5 of H4895. But Speer's flat base 100gr. spitzer turned out to be just the ticket - with the sweet spot coming at 34.5 gr. of H4895. Average velocity was 3010 fps and 5 shot groups were: under one inch at 100, right at 2 inches at 200, and just over 3 inches at 300. Perfect for my self-imposed limit of 300 yards!!
We took my beat up old 5th wheel out to the desert on the 20th and started hunting. Didn't see anything the first night, but found that the water holes I had the most confidence in, were dry. The next morning we headed to another spot that I had always seen goats at. It's a small, 2 acre, reservoir with an earth dam and a huge bush out in the portion normally covered by water.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m9/obssd1958/shooting/antelope%202008/100_7512.jpg (picture I took in 2008 of the same reservoir!)
Once again, no water, but there were a few sage grouse hanging out by the bush and it was the last day of the season for them. I grabbed my shotgun and headed around the dam to come up behind them. When I was peeking over the top to make sure they would not see me, I spotted a couple of antelope that were bedded down right in front of the bush. My buddy had already spotted them too, and was coming around to me to see if he could get the bush in between them and us, for a stalk. We made it all the way to the bush without getting busted. We tried going around the right side, but there was a doe feeding at 68 yds, that we couldn't get by. So we tried the left side. Just as we were getting to where we should be able to see the other antelope, (20 yards!) they came trotting out into the open to the left. My buddy didn't draw, because he was afraid of spooking them, but they trotted out to about 80 yds., so it was a moot point anyways. What a rush, getting that close!! And of course, the sage grouse had already flown away!
We chased antelope, and sat in blinds for the next 3 days, and my buddy did get a shot off at an antelope from his blind, at what he says was 35 yds. - he shot low... (buck fever!). His hunt closed out with - lots of fun had, lots of antelope seen, several close encounters, one very close stalk, and one shot - but no antelope.
My hunt started Tuesday morning at daylight.
I went first to the little reservoir, because we had seen antelope there more consistently than anywhere else. We also knew there was more than one big buck in the valley on a regular basis. Just after legal shooting light, we heard a succession of nine shots in the distance. I told my buddy that my goal for a big one, was going to be tempered by the even more important responsibility of making a reasonable and ethical, one-shot kill. There were no antelope at the little reservoir, so I decided to hike/still hunt across the valley floor to a natural spring on the side of the bluff on the other side.
Before half an hour had passed, I had spotted the buck I wanted, and blown my first stalk due to a pair of does seeing me before I saw them! They took the buck with them to an open area in the sage brush, about 500 yards from the last cover that I could easily get to, and bedded down. I dropped over the other side of a rise and started to circle around them. Ran into two other small herds of goats and got stuck in place, trying not to spook them and every other animal in the area into leaving. The small herds finally drifted away (towards the big buck and his herd of eleven or twelve), and I was able to continue towards the natural spring until finally, I made it to a small copse of trees and brush at the bottom of the hill. The spring was about 380 yards above me (rangefinders are just about mandatory out here!). I snuck through the trees and spotted the buck bedded down with a big combined herd on the top of a small finger - 285 yards... but no shot, because I couldn't see his vitals. While sitting and watching him and the other antelope through my binoculars, I noticed several of them looking to my left, towards the spring. I backed out enough to see the spring, and saw a group of six or seven does and fawns already at the spring, drinking. When I looked back to the buck, he was gone. It was several minutes before I picked him up, walking towards the new group of does and fawns, who were now making there way down the hill towards him, and all the other antelope. I was shocked when he walked right past them and headed up the hill to the spring. I crawled to the last piece of sagebrush available to me, and ranged a little clump on the hill that he would be passing in just a few moments - 258 yards. On my knees, sitting on my heels, I found that if I held onto the sagebrush and pulled the sling backs towards my shoulder with my left hand, I could make the crosshairs almost stand still. The buck was walking away from me, so I hollered "Hey" at him - no reaction. I shouted "Hey!!" as loud as I could - he stopped and turned broadside. I settled the crosshairs behind his shoulder and barely squeezed the trigger... When the gun went off, I saw him hunch up, then heard the unmistakable "SMACK" of a solid hit. He went to his tiptoes for a couple of steps, then collapsed less than 5 feet from where he was standing when I shot. WhooHoo!!! One Shot and no tracking!!!!!!
The shot had hit him low in the chest and taken a chunk of his heart with it, along with puncturing the right lung. I knew he had walked past the little clump of sage before I got him to stop, but had thought it to only be a few yards. When we ranged it afterwards, it turned out to be 315 yards from me to where he stood when the bullet got there.
10:30 in the morning - only three hours after my hunt started, it was done!
We were able to drive right up to him to load him in the back of the pick-up, so we could get him cooled off right away. We did take some pictures first, and I put a tape measure to the horns after I got home. Just over 14 inches on each side - my best one so far!!
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m9/obssd1958/shooting/antelope%202008/000_0007.jpg