429421Cowboy
10-07-2012, 01:41 AM
As many of you already know, i love to antelope hunt! I always love the team effort and family aspect of hunting them.
Today felt like a true blessing, sometimes you just get days where everybody is having a great time and life seems to be going your way. My brother had a buck and a doe tag, and i had a doe tag this morning as we set out. Sadly, pheasant hunters caused us a but of heartburn at first light by scaring the herd we were sneaking on that held the old buck my brother wanted, causing them to head onto the trap club's rifle range and amongst the traps. DARN! We decided to get onto our own private property and see what we could do. After spotting a coyote and four Golden Eagles feeding on a dead antelope, we decided to check our spring tank for an antelope. A very dry summer and fall, combined with the well being shut off for winter once the cows had been moved off meant the spring fed tank is the only water for a long ways around. Popping over the rims, we didn't see a single antelope... We saw 200! In trying to figure out the biggest buck, as well as a true ballistic range for the very steep angle, the herd moved out on us. Luckily my father, with 50 years of hunting goats in this county knew they weren't spooked bad, and exactly where they would come out. After circling around, my brother and i got set up on a fenceline, and in a matter of minutes antelope started pouring our of the coulee in front of us. I ranged them at 375, and my brother took a doe with a single 130 Nosler Accubond out of his 1942 M70 .270, which was our great- grandfather's hunting rifle, then i took my doe with one Berger 168 VLD as they milled around his doe. GREAT! Two tags filled, and it's only 9 o'clock! After hanging the does up in the shop, we went after the buck we wanted again. On our way up there, i spotted a $5 bill in the ditch, so i told my brother, "this is a good luck bill, and something good is gonna happen soon!" As it turned out, the buck had come back on our property, and was beded down on a flat spot we had hayed this summer, meaning it had about as much cover as a golf course. By crawling up a hill behind him, we got within 250 yards, but directly upwind. Still, he refused to leave his bed! So we began to slowly belly-crawl towards him, stopping when he looked like he finally caught our wind. As it turned out, we got to 150 yards before he finally decided to stand up! Once again, a single Nosler put him down after a 40 yard sprint. He had several patches of hide missing as large as your hand on his right side, as well as missing a prong, which makes us think he may have been hit by a car a month or so ago. You can see the black scab on one of them just under the doe's chin in the picture.
My twin brother on the left, our little (younger, not very little) brother in the middle and me on the right. We took both our parents, my girlfriend, the ever steady miss K taking the picture, and our little brother. Sorry for the long post, but i am still wound up by what a great day we had! It wasn't that we filled our tags that made it a special day, but more about a day in God's country with the ones i love the most just enjoying life! If there was any way i could have, i'd have invited each of you guy's along too. I must thank my savior, our Lord God, for giving me my family, the animals to feed us this winter, and for allowing us to make three clean, swift kills on them.
Today felt like a true blessing, sometimes you just get days where everybody is having a great time and life seems to be going your way. My brother had a buck and a doe tag, and i had a doe tag this morning as we set out. Sadly, pheasant hunters caused us a but of heartburn at first light by scaring the herd we were sneaking on that held the old buck my brother wanted, causing them to head onto the trap club's rifle range and amongst the traps. DARN! We decided to get onto our own private property and see what we could do. After spotting a coyote and four Golden Eagles feeding on a dead antelope, we decided to check our spring tank for an antelope. A very dry summer and fall, combined with the well being shut off for winter once the cows had been moved off meant the spring fed tank is the only water for a long ways around. Popping over the rims, we didn't see a single antelope... We saw 200! In trying to figure out the biggest buck, as well as a true ballistic range for the very steep angle, the herd moved out on us. Luckily my father, with 50 years of hunting goats in this county knew they weren't spooked bad, and exactly where they would come out. After circling around, my brother and i got set up on a fenceline, and in a matter of minutes antelope started pouring our of the coulee in front of us. I ranged them at 375, and my brother took a doe with a single 130 Nosler Accubond out of his 1942 M70 .270, which was our great- grandfather's hunting rifle, then i took my doe with one Berger 168 VLD as they milled around his doe. GREAT! Two tags filled, and it's only 9 o'clock! After hanging the does up in the shop, we went after the buck we wanted again. On our way up there, i spotted a $5 bill in the ditch, so i told my brother, "this is a good luck bill, and something good is gonna happen soon!" As it turned out, the buck had come back on our property, and was beded down on a flat spot we had hayed this summer, meaning it had about as much cover as a golf course. By crawling up a hill behind him, we got within 250 yards, but directly upwind. Still, he refused to leave his bed! So we began to slowly belly-crawl towards him, stopping when he looked like he finally caught our wind. As it turned out, we got to 150 yards before he finally decided to stand up! Once again, a single Nosler put him down after a 40 yard sprint. He had several patches of hide missing as large as your hand on his right side, as well as missing a prong, which makes us think he may have been hit by a car a month or so ago. You can see the black scab on one of them just under the doe's chin in the picture.
My twin brother on the left, our little (younger, not very little) brother in the middle and me on the right. We took both our parents, my girlfriend, the ever steady miss K taking the picture, and our little brother. Sorry for the long post, but i am still wound up by what a great day we had! It wasn't that we filled our tags that made it a special day, but more about a day in God's country with the ones i love the most just enjoying life! If there was any way i could have, i'd have invited each of you guy's along too. I must thank my savior, our Lord God, for giving me my family, the animals to feed us this winter, and for allowing us to make three clean, swift kills on them.