2020 MT Pronghorn

[badlander]

My 15yo son and I both drew 007 antelope tags this year. I've deer hunted the area we decided to hunt for several years and have been seeing antelope there so decided to start there. Deer hunting in this area, we've always seen a fair number of people but have never had any trouble finding spots to look for deer and being from Minnesota the pressure we see out there is quite a bit less than we would see on public land at home. Imagine my surprise when we realized that all 8500 007 tag holders apparently also were hunting opening weekend in exactly the same area?!

Opening morning, we drove to the first area that we had planned and the two track access road looked like I-94 with trucks road hunting along spaced out about 200y apart and camps everywhere. We still somehow managed to find a couple of 11-12" antelope bucks that my son said "weren't 1st day shooters", I had to laugh a bit at him being super picky but both of the bucks we spotted from the truck and would have been glorified ditch - bangs which weren't what we'd driven 1000 miles for anyways. We pulled out OnX and started driving to all of the access points on to state and BLM that I had marked just looking for one without a vehicle parked at it, it took a while but eventually we did find one. After a bit of hiking, we spotted a lone doe on a side hill above a cut a mile or so distant right on the edge of the BLM piece we were on. Assuming she wasn't alone we started her direction and soon could see the rest of the herd and a pretty decent buck in the group. We managed to close within 250 yards, but the sage and brush was too tall to set up on bipods and we had left our shooting sticks and spotting scope several hundred yards back where we started crawling. My son never quite felt comfortable with the shot and eventually the herd noticed us moving around trying to get a shot and spooked.

The next AM we tried a different area and quickly spotted a good buck bedded all alone in the middle of a big flat. We crouched, crawled and slithered our way as close as we could, but when we ran out of cover we were still 360y away. Sunday AM the wind was howling 35-40mph and at those distances my son was not comfortable taking that shot. The buck was the biggest we'd seen so far and I still had my tag in pocket as well so, after verifying everything on Strelok I settled in and took the shot putting the buck down.

 

[badlander]

Sunday afternoon we made a 2 mile hike back around some private where we had seen a group of antelope earlier in the day hoping road traffic had pushed them back on to the state piece behind it. Once back there we quickly located a pair of bucks bedded in a small bowl out of the wind. Once again crawling through the grasslands we found ourselves 200y from the bedded bucks but all we had were butt-on shots so we settled in a waited for them to stand. The wind was quartering toward the bucks so it didnt take long for them to get a swirl of our wind and get on their feet. Unfortunately, they jumped up, took one look at us and high tailed back off of the state property.

Monday morning we wound up back in the same area, the crowds of people had mostly dispersed, but largely so had the antelope. We made one stalk Monday AM on the biggest buck we wound up seeing the entire trip but could only get within 400y. We tried the "big red cow" decoy just for fun but apparently those Montana antelope are keen to the red angus decoy. Around lunch time, we spotted a buck with 3 does trying to sneak in to a water hole and took off after them. We had one tough spot to cross where we were going to be in view of the antelope at 500y or so, we snuck thru and thought we'd made it unseen but apparently that high powered antelope vision picked us off. Thankfully, the buck must have still been rutting a bit because instead of running off, he charged us and surprised us by popping over the hill only 90y in front of us. My son set up quickly and made a great shot off of our shooting sticks and he had his first antelope!

 

[badlander]

My son is 15, so this was the last year that he was eligible to take part in MT's youth deer season so, going in to the hunt we had also picked up a youth deer combo tag. With both antelope tags filled, we spent Tuesday in camp resting, pulling cactus thorns and cleaning up meat. Wednesday, we made a 2hr drive down to Heulett, WY and took in the Devils Tower National Monument.

Thursday AM sunrise found us set up on one of my favorite BMAs glassing for mule deer. The first couple of hours were slow, but eventually we located a herd of mule deer with 3 really good bucks. The stalk wasn't the best but we managed to stay upwind and out of sight and worked within range. We had to set up a couple of times to find the kid a comfortable, solid shooting position but eventually he felt solid and took the 300y shot. His 7mm-08 did the job and the buck mule kicked and started running right to us. It stopped broadside and he took one more shot that put the buck down for the last time.

It was a whirlwind of a trip, and a great time for me. My son was super excited with the mule deer buck because it was quite a bit bigger than what we'd really expected to find with only 2 days to hunt a month ahead of the rut. Thanks to all from Montana for sharing your state with a couple of filthy Minnesotans, and to anyone who actually took the time read all of my ramblings!!

 

[Sask hunter]

Congrats looks like a fun time!

 

[Pahoundsman]

Great times and great bucks!

 

[fallfreak]

Congrats!! Chasing speed goats is always fun.

 

[Wildabeest]

Awesome!

 

[NEWHunter]

Trophy bucks to go with trophy memories. Congrats.

 

[stonegraham]

My 15yo son and I both drew 007 antelope tags this year. I've deer hunted the area we decided to hunt for several years and have been seeing antelope there so decided to start there. Deer hunting in this area, we've always seen a fair number of people but have never had any trouble finding spots to look for deer and being from Minnesota the pressure we see out there is quite a bit less than we would see on public land at home. Imagine my surprise when we realized that all 8500 007 tag holders apparently also were hunting opening weekend in exactly the same area?!

Opening morning, we drove to the first area that we had planned and the two track access road looked like I-94 with trucks road hunting along spaced out about 200y apart and camps everywhere. We still somehow managed to find a couple of 11-12" antelope bucks that my son said "weren't 1st day shooters", I had to laugh a bit at him being super picky but both of the bucks we spotted from the truck and would have been glorified ditch - bangs which weren't what we'd driven 1000 miles for anyways. We pulled out OnX and started driving to all of the access points on to state and BLM that I had marked just looking for one without a vehicle parked at it, it took a while but eventually we did find one. After a bit of hiking, we spotted a lone doe on a side hill above a cut a mile or so distant right on the edge of the BLM piece we were on. Assuming she wasn't alone we started her direction and soon could see the rest of the herd and a pretty decent buck in the group. We managed to close within 250 yards, but the sage and brush was too tall to set up on bipods and we had left our shooting sticks and spotting scope several hundred yards back where we started crawling. My son never quite felt comfortable with the shot and eventually the herd noticed us moving around trying to get a shot and spooked.

The next AM we tried a different area and quickly spotted a good buck bedded all alone in the middle of a big flat. We crouched, crawled and slithered our way as close as we could, but when we ran out of cover we were still 360y away. Sunday AM the wind was howling 35-40mph and at those distances my son was not comfortable taking that shot. The buck was the biggest we'd seen so far and I still had my tag in pocket as well so, after verifying everything on Strelok I settled in and took the shot putting the buck down.

guess he had loit of fun

 

[Hunting Wife]

Nice job! Sounds like a great father/son adventure. Congrats to you both.

 

[kansasdad]

Super father/son adventure. Congratulations

 

[EastTNHunter]

Sounds like a great hunt. That muley is outstanding!