Family man's 2019 season log

[jeremy.b]

WY Doe Antelope Hunt Part 1

Saturday morning O-dark-thirty I was on the road headed over to WY to fill my 2 antelope doe tags!

The morning smoke plume kept the sun from being a PITA driving east!

Plan was to get over there and spend the second half of the day figuring out where to camp and hunt the opener the next morning.

I had 6-7 different spots lined out in ONX that I wanted to drive through that afternoon. My the plan just to get a ways off the main roads and maybe put myself in a spot where I would have the wind in my favor and the sun at my back in the morning.

I hit the the unit middle of the day and headed in. I saw a number of folks tooling around on the main roads, looking to be doing the same thing I was doing (although no-one seemed to be driving the side roads or 2-tracks much).

The first area I scoped out lead into a nice remote(ish) basin a few miles from the closest main road. In a quick glance I glassed up 3 large-ish groups of antelope scattered around in the basin, some of public, some on private.

I followed a spur two-track around the basin (picked up a this-years little 4-point muley shed just sitting next to the two-track?!) and kicked up another 4-5 small bands of antelope along the way. It was super cool country (sorry no pics of this spot!) and after hitting a private property boundary I backed out to go check a second spot. I knew that spot probably wouldn't see a ton of traffic the next morning, and pinned a spot on ONX to come and park for the night if I came back.

On to the second spot! This next spot was actually across a drainage from an area Joshua and I had scouted in June and had seen quite a few different groups of animals. This two-track took me across that drainage and after crossing the creek (thank goodness it was dry!) I kicked up 2 groups of antelope of about 10 and another of 5. I found my way out to a ridge to look back over the drainage and glassed for a bit. In 5 minutes of glassing I picked up a group of 10 antelope 1/3 mile way, another group of 3 & a group of 9 that are 1/2 mile away and ANOTHER group of 10+ that were a mile away. Oh and there were a few scattered around all around too.

All of them were in a spot anyone coming from the main road would push them toward me, I would also have the prevailing wind in my favor AND the sun at my back. Decision made! I would be staying right there for the rest of the evening. I did tool around on some more of the 2-tracks and kicked up a couple loner bucks along the way:

I nailed down a spot to camp for the night (I was just sleeping in the back of my truck), parked and hiked around glassing through the evening.

And noticed I had a friend at my last glassing spot for the night

I settled on watching one band that I expected to go after in the morning that had plenty of does in the group (and in a spot I could sneak close to):

And was treated to a great sunset:

Before heading back to my truck I wandered back up the ridge I had parked on and spotted the same band of 10 antelope I had spooked driving in, only 250 yards away! In total they were only 500 yards from my truck! New plan, go after the close ones in the morning!

I eased back to the truck, QUIETLY prepped everything for the morning so I could minimize my noise and moving around when I got up.

I had a great moon rise greet me too:

I slept OK through the night, but did have a coyote pipe off not far from my truck, making me think those close antelope might not be close in the morning!

 

[jeremy.b]

WY Doe Antelope Hunt Part 2

I still am terrible at taking pictures when I'm ACTUALLY hunting!

I got up well before sun-rise (it was still plenty light because of the fairly full moon) ate some breakfast and eased up to where I had spotted the group the night before.

Even in before the sun came up much I could see the antelope were nowhere to be found now. I was able to locate the other band I had picked out earlier the night before though, about 1/2 mile away. To cover my bases I headed further up the ridge to see if maybe the close group was tucked into a little cut and out of sight.

I didn't find them, but along the way I spotted 3 other groups straight across the drainage, and closer than the other group. The sun was up, and right at my back so I just worked my way down through I little cut for some cover, toward the other groups. On my way I saw the first group that was closest (a buck and at least a couple does/fawns) kinda wander off like they saw me. I climbed up the little bank (where I last saw the first group standing ), just barely hit the top of it and noticed that it there was a old rail grade cut into the hill side on the other side. And in the cut was the buck an two does I had seen before, not 30 yards away!!

I had barely peeked my head over so they didn't bust me right away. BUT the wind was going right down the cut toward them, so I knew my time was short. I grabbed my shooting sticks sate down and tried to make out exactly what they were. Sure enough they spooked and up ran the buck, with a doe and a fawn, stopping on the other side of the grade still only 50 yards away. I had about 30 seconds of internal conflict about shooting a doe with a fawn. But eventually the saying "better is a bird in the hand than two in the bush" ran through my head enough that settled on the doe and squeezed one off!

The shoot looked good and she took off at full speed over a little rise with the buck and the fawn running off too. I trucked it up over the rise and she was dead 50 yards further. There we go, one down!

I walked up to her (she was a good sized doe) and sat down to work out my plan for getting her back to the truck and on ice. While I was sitting there, to my complete surprise another doe ran out right in front of me up a little draw! She stopped to look back at me, and I ranged her at 204 yards. That'll do!

I grabbed my sticks and pack, dialed the scope, settled down, got stable and squeezed off the shot. I saw the hit right on the shoulder, she did the rear-legged dance, ran down into the draw 10 yards and piled up.

And like that, in 10 minutes I had filled both tags, before 7:15! From what I had heard, (and from the number of animals I saw) I was cautiously optimistic I would be done that fast, but it was sure nice to actually pull it off!

After dragging the 2nd doe down to the first, I gutted them both and dragged the down to the rail grade where they would be in shade for a bit. I headed back to the truck, packed it all up and was able to get really close to both does from the two-track and loaded them up.

There was a tree near a reservoir a mile or so away that I hoped to use to skin and break them down. Well turned out that tree was actually down in a 12-ft deep run-off ditch that had completely vertical sides. Not wanting to wait too long to get the does on ice, I just went straight to plan B: park the truck to give me shade but where I would have a good breeze and just break them down right there. I had them all done, in the cooler on ice and headed back out by noon.

I made it home last night made sure the meat was dry and cold used my planned PTO today to process it all but the last 2 quarters (I'm slow at processing because I try to cut it really clean and save as much as possible). Backstraps look delicious though!

I'll wrap up the rest of the processing tomorrow and the next day and then I'll turn my attention completely to the Idaho hunt coming up soon!

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Great job and excellent story.Good luck in Idaho,I;ll be looking forward to
your Pics and write up on hunt hunt as well.

 

[targetpanic]

Nice fast trip!! Congrats!

 

[ignorethefringes]

Great write up! Congrats on a successful hunt.

 

[Crossbowguy]

Congrats on a great hunt, awesome pics and good write up!!!

 

[bowhuntmontana]

Nice work! Love it when a plan comes together. Tasty rewards.

 

[Sheffield5k]

That there story has me in it, I can’t wait to read this write-up after the smoke pole hunt

 

[jeremy.b]

That there story has me in it...

Yes, it does!

 

[jeremy.b]

ID Muzzleloader Antelope Hunt: Day 1 - Scouting Day!

I headed up to Idaho Tuesday, the day before season. I would hunt through Saturday if needed.

My plan was to cover ground and see what I could turn up and to shot my muzzleloader a bit too, when I could find a good shooting spot.

I made it to the unit mid-morning and headed to the far west end of the unit (where Andy and I had scouted in August). I'd then work my way back east through the day. On the drive into the unit, not very far in, I did run across a buck with a couple does just into the neighboring unit.

I made it to the end of the unit without seeing any more antelope off the road, and hiked into a couple good glassing spots.

I didn't glass up any antelope from either of the first two spots, but I did find a food-grade muley shed.

I headed back to the truck and I worked my way back east across the unit, hitting a couple other glassing spots. I still didn't have any luck finding antelope though.

In the afternoon, I had made it back to the east side of the unit and I headed up to some higher ground where I could overlook a series of big sage/grass flats where we had found antelope before. Unfortunately, while I could see a ton of country, most of what I wanted to really look into was 2+ miles out, and hard to pick much up in. Eventually I headed back to the truck and ran into a bird hunter, we chatted for a bit and he told me where I could find antelope in the next unit over! Not super helpful but it was a fun chat at least!

There were a couple spots up near where I had glassed that I had hoped to shoot my muzzleloader. Unfortunately there were a few hunting camps (there were deer/elk archery seasons open still) and/or bird hunters in those spots. I decided to not worry about it and head down to the sage flats to see what I could find from the roads/two tracks.

I was able to drive a bit of the flats, but wasn't able to find any animals on those sage flats where I or Andy had seen them in the past. Driving back off the flats I finally find a lone buck in the middle of a private field. At least it was in my unit! I decided to head back west a few miles to glass another sage flat with the setting sun at my back to see if I could pick anything up there.

On my way I passed a couple folks on ATV's. I had noticed them unloading in the morning, and while they were wearing orange vests, they didn't have any guns. It looked like a couple were headed back to their rigs, and so half-way over to the other glassing spot I decided to turn around and see what they were up to.

Turns out it was a survey crew. There was 6 of them checking points in the area. I hung out and chatted for a bit, but none of them had seen any antelope in my unit. But, they would be in the area again the next day and they were happy to let me know if they say anything then. Contact info was exchanged and I headed off to the last glassing spot

Still no luck finding antelope from that last glassing spot. It was the end of the day so I headed up to a ridge where I could park and sleep for the night. This spot offered access to glass part of the eastern sage flats and a portion of one further west to try in the morning.

I do have to say, not finding much in the way animals was pretty discouraging at times that day. But I had been keeping Andy up-to-date through the day and we were going to meet up in the morning to hunt, which really improved my morale going into the next morning.

 

[jeremy.b]

ID Muzzleloader Antelope Hunt: Day 2 - Opening Day - Part 1

Andy made up to my camp spot a bit before daylight. We finished prepping our gear and decided to go glass the sage flat to the west. This is the same area I had seen the buck and does the day before (in the neighboring unit) with the road that defines the border runs through northern edge of the flat. Andy had also seen several antelope out there the Saturday prior.

We parked the rigs and had an amazing sunrise great us over the ridge.

We hiked over to a little mesa for a better glassing vantage. Now, I am NOT the worlds most patient glasser, a fact I had told Andy a number of times. Around 20 minutes into glassing I was ready to bail and move on. Andy totally called out my my lack of patience, and so I cooled my jets and kept at it. Eventually we turned up a small band of antelope on the opposing rim of the sage flat, across the border road in the other unit.

Not long after that we heard a shot over there and the antelope take off! There is a rifle season in that unit that opened up that morning too. There was a second shot, but neither sounded like it connected. I found the hunters and they looked to be a LONG ways from those antelope. I checked OnX, and it looked like they were at LEAST 700 yards away from those antelope when they shot. They never did go and see if they hit anything (again, neither shot sounded like it connected, but still) and eventually they made their way back to their truck.

We watched the antelope drop down into the sage flat, still in the other unit and decided to head out. We chatted about coming back sometime later to see if they got pushed into our unit.

After we made it back to the rigs we drove down to the eastern sage flats, parked my truck piled into Andy's rig and headed down into the eastern sage flats. It was edging toward mid-morning now. We didn't turn up any antelope on our way down the main road, but did see a few other folks out in that area. We knew it was, by far, the most popular area (it was easily drive-able and had relatively little topography, making it easy to glass).

Further south the topography changed a bit and there were some ridges/basins we decided to check out. We crawled Andy's rig up on a good glassing knob overlooking one of the better basins. We got out to glass and immediately noticed a side-by-side a ways over on another 2-track (did I mention this was a popular place?). Not getting too phased, we spend a while covering the country (and eventually the side-by-side took off). After we felt we had glassed enough, we dropped back out to the main road and headed north back up out of the area. Andy's dad was coming down (he had a tag too) and we figured we'd meet up with him and figure out something.

Driving up the road, we round a corner and Andy slams on the breaks!

There's a buck standing 100 yards off the road and we're smack in the middle of BLM. I grab my gun and shooting sticks, Andy basically kicks me out of the FJ and he takes off. I trot up off the road a bit and get setup. I don't have a great shot, so I wait, the buck trots for a few yards and stops broadside. Prefect, I settle, pull the trigger, nothing! Gah, stupid safety! Safety off, try to resettle, pull the trigger, BOOM! Off goes the antelope at a dead run. At the shot I heard the bullet snap something, but it wasn't the THWAP that you get on a hit on an animal.

Andy backs up back to me. We are tracking the buck and he just keeps running... And running... I try to reload, end up dumping the powder from my quickloader into my pocket, then I put the bullet & sub base in BEFORE redoing my powder... Crap! So out comes the breach plug wrench, I pull the plug, knock out the bullet + sub base, put the gun BACK together and this time properly load it... Anyone who has hunted muzzle loader can probably relate!

We're talking over the shot, and based on how the buck is acting we don't think its a hit. There was a sage brush right below and in front of him, so if I missed low I guess I could have hit it, making the snapping sound. We're still going to pursue to confirm that I did miss. That and because its the only antelope we've seen on public ground and in our unit so far!

We pick the buck up and by now he's WAY off down on a sage flat to the east (at least 1 1/2 miles out). We drive our way to a two-track that we get us closer and let us hide the rig from his view. We park and work our way up to a little rise, finally picking the buck up. He was headed to the end of the sage flat, which is a series of draws and canyons that break off into a big reservoir. He's slowed down a bit now and he hits the end of a ridge right over one of the finger draws and seems to stop. It looked like he might be bluffed out on that ridge so we make plans to stalk where he's at now (about 1/2 mile from our position), each of us taking a little different track.

Off we go, I drop across a little draw and on the way I can see down to the edge of the reservoir. And there's the buck! Apparently he wasn't bluffed out on the ridge, and it looked like he was headed over to one of two finger draws, now to the north. I hustle back to Andy, and we talk about the fact the buck could be circling back to roughly where he came from. Andy decides to head back to the rig just in case and I'll work the draws he's headed towards.

I make it to the first draw and don't see him. On down through that draw and up the other side. I eased my way across the connecting ridge looking into the next draw. Soon I spot the buck coming up the other side, ~300 yards away. I get down and glass him a bit. He's walking normal, stopping to feed, and doing normal (slightly spooked) antelope things and clearly not hit. I check my phone and Andy had sent me a text. I call him and we decide its a loosing battle to keep chasing this buck (since he's obviously not hit and still a bit spooky). So I head back to the rig and we go to connect with Andy's dad.

 

[WildWill]

Great write up! Keep after them looking forward to the next update.

 

[jeremy.b]

ID Muzzleloader Antelope Hunt: Day 2 - Opening Day - Part 2

Andy and I, now that it was becoming glarringly apparent that getting on animals would be hard, were discussing that we might have to seriously consider shooting a doe if given the chance. Neither of us were completely there yet, but neither of us were at all opposed to the idea if push came to shove. Shooting any antelope with a muzzleloader would be plenty challenging after all!

Not long after that we met up with Andy's dad (Rod) and chat our options. Rod decided to head back down the sage flats we just came off of since that was where he had seen the most antelope scouting. Andy & I decided to go glass the sage flat just to the west to try to pick up the group of antelope we had seen early in the morning (if they had crossed into our unit).

We didn't turn anything up in our glassing session and went back to where my truck was parked from that morning. Shortly afterwards Rod rode up on his ATV, having seen how many people were pounding the eastern sage flats. We made plans to drop my rig at a near-by gas station and head to the far east edge of the unit. Rod had seen a few antelope over there, and there was a lot more varied topography that would force people to get out and hike to properly cover ground, which suited us just fine. The plan was to simply cruise a few of the 2-tracks over there through the afternoon as a starting point.

We loaded up Rod's ATV, drop my truck and get over to the area, where Rod then unloaded his ATV so he could jump around as needed. We found some antelope sign just on one of the main roads into the area, and no other hunters, which was encouraging. A couple miles in, Andy and I managed to miss a turn off the main road onto a 2-track that would lead us into a series of rolling draws we wanted to check out. We went to turn around and just as Andy finished his turn he tells me "Don't do anything, don't freak out!". Me, being completely confused (and not paying attention), looked up the hill, and not 200 yards above us in a grassy basin was a herd of 10 or so antelope!

The didn't seem very bothered by the rig and we drove off around the corner, go far enough away they shouldn't hear us and parked, hopping out with our guns and gear. We looked over the topography and with the wind, decided to approach from the side of the little grass basin, just below the herds level. We sent a text to Rod (who had taken a side 2-track to check out) not to go past Andy's rig if he came down our way, and started up the hill. When we were about half-way up the hill Rod showed up, and we explained to situation to him. He put himself just up to the edge of the bend in the road in case we spooked the herd down that way.

Up we go, and as we approach the side of the little grassy basin we drop our packs and start crawling. Within another 20 yards we spot ears of the bedded does, and they are within 120 yards. Unfortunately we are out of easy cover, are tucked into the grassy basin (so hard to see well) and they are just far enough away we don't consider trying to stand for a quick off-hand shot. As we ponder our options Rod decided they animals must have bailed and headed down the road (he didn't know exactly where they were after all)! To his credit, when he spotted them he just kept on going and they, again, didn't even flinch as he drove on through.

Andy and I were still waffling on our options and I was getting nervous that the wind (which was pretty swirly on the edge of that basin) might mess us up. Sure enough, Andy says "one of them is up!", and I peek up to see the whole herd on their feet. Within 15 seconds off they go up and over the ridge! We haul it up to the ridge as well to see if they might have just stopped right there. When we hit the ridge we see the herd about 300 yards out and take decent look at the buck in the group and watch them head over the next rise, bummer! But man that was fun!

Here's the view of where they were bedded from the top of the ridge (we had tried to sneak in from the left in this picture):

We drop back down to the rig, and head down the road, meet up with Rod and share what we saw, all agreeing that encounter pretty much made that day a success (my wiffing it at the buck earlier didn't completely count ).

On back up the road we go, to resume our planned drive up to the rolling ridges, and wouldn't you know it but the same group of antelope was standing 400 yards beyond the turn we needed. Of course they didn't stick around and we just let them be.

We spent the rest of the afternoon crawling through the last 2-track, but didn't turn up any more animals, and headed back to the gas station where I had parked my truck. When we got back to my truck there was still about and hour or so of light left. I decided to go find a spot to shot my gun a bit and park it for the night. Andy and Rod were going to check out some of the private land they had permission to hunt, and we parted ways for the evening.

I found a nice little basin a few miles from where we had been on the antelope that afternoon, parked and did a bit of shooting. I found that at least my elevation, and possibly my windage were off (I was consistently 6" low at 100 yards, which explained my miss earlier that day) from the last time I shot. Not sure what was up, and running out of day light I got everything fairly close to where I thought it might need to be and made the call that I'd need to spend some more time shooting in the morning to finish sorting everything out.

I texted Andy that I'd need some time in daylight the next day to shoot, got my camp settled, talked with Hope a bit and called it a night. Oh, and I did hear back from the survey crew with a spot they had found a small group of antelope in our unit, which I forwarded on to Andy.

 

[jeremy.b]

ID Muzzleloader Antelope Hunt: Day 3

Since I was planning to shoot a bit the next morning I wasn't in a hurry to crawl out of the truck that morning. Andy sent me a text and he had decided he'd head down to the far west end of the unit and work his way back in the early morning light to see what he could turn up. We'd connect a little bit later in the morning unless he found animals to chase after.

Daylight hit, and I started shooting again. I confirmed that the elevation was indeed off, so I fixed that. I was also getting quite a more of left-to-right variation at 100 yards off my sticks than I liked. Without my bench setup I didn't think I could diagnose how much of that was me or if any of it was the gun. I eventually settled as well as I could and decided to keep my range down to 125 or less, which still had me well within an 8" plate @ 100 yards. I still don't know what the deal is with the gun and how the elevation was so off to start. It had been 3 weeks since I last shot it and it did go with me to WY (in case I wanted to take some time to shoot it), so there is a chance it got bumped on that trip.

By the time I was done shooting it was past 9 AM (shooting muzzleloaders isn't all that 'fast' of an experience after all!) and had not heard back from Andy yet. I decided to back down toward the spot we had seen the antelope the night before and hike a big loop around the area to see what I could turn up.

I parked about 2 miles from where the antelope were initially bedded and started hiking a large flat that was north and slightly west of the rim where we had found the antelope. I worked over to the edge of the flat which overlooks a big shallow bowl of a draw. The very southern end of this draw is the rim where the antelope were the day prior.

Getting close to the edge I noticed something along a fence line cutting east/west through the bowl. Sure enough it was a band of antelope about 700 yards out!

I didn't have much in the way of topography to work with, but it looked like I could get within 200 yards using a gentle rise in the bottom of the draw for cover with the wind in my face coming down the draw. Off I went, dropping off the rim out of sight and got down behind the rise without issue. I eased up to the rise eventually getting to where I had to crouch, then crawl. I made it within 300 yards of the fence line and then spotted the antelope slowly working their way south, up the draw and away from me.

The ridges to the right of the antelope looked to give good cover so I crawled back up and over the little rise I was on and started hoofing it that way.

I was able to keep tabs on the antelope and close a little distance, but they did keep working on up the draw, back towards the rim where they were the day before. Eventually (after ~ 1 1/2 miles of hiking) the antelope had reached the top of the rim, right above where their bedding location from the day before and seemed to settle down. I snuck to the edge of the last knob and watched them from around 500 yards. Now that we were at the south end of the area, I had more topography to work with and made plans to drop off the knob, work a little canyon rim, and sneak up as close as I could, which looked to be between 100 - 200 yards from where they were at.

As I worked all that out I noticed I had a text from Andy, something about blowing it that morning (it was edging toward noon by then). Well, this is what he meant by blowing it:

Obviously he had some success!

We exchanged texts a bit and then I started my final approach on the antelope over on the rim edge. I dropped off the back of the knob I was on, worked down through and back up through another little basin and crept back up behind the rise that would get me my last approach to the antelope. I dropped the pack and crawled the last little bit until I could see the antelope through the grass on the rise.

Unfortunately they were still ~200 yards out and I was pretty well out of cover. They also seemed to have heard me a bit and a few of them were watching the rise closely. On top of that, the wind, which had been pretty consistent on my approach was now really swirly and light in that spot, leaving me zero cover noise and a chance I could get busted any minute if it swirled their way.

I had a tiny bit more topography to work with alone the side of the rise so I tried working my way over that way but then wind did swirl their way and the whole herd jumped up and trotted over the rim. I ran over and was able to spot them down across the road and basin. I sat down, took a drink from my pack and it ran dry. It was already hot, and there was no way I was going to chase after the antelope without water so I called it and hiked the 2 miles back to the truck. That had been a great stalk (covering over 5 miles) and I was sure glad to have found animals and no other people!

At the truck I re-hydrated, ate some food and called Andy for his story. Its a good one and Andy plans to drop in the tail in this thread.

We chatted about what he had seen that morning and I decided to head back to the far west end of the unit and work my way back east again through the afternoon, planning to stop and check out the location where the survey crew had seen antelope the day before.

Once I made it back down the west end of the unit I parked and glass for a while, tried taking a nap and basically decompressing a bit. I did turn up some very antelope looking rocks way out in some sage flats, but no antelope. I worked both all sides of the knob I was on.

And turned up a decent muley shed.

That spot proved to be a bust so I worked on back east to the spot where the survey crew found antelope for the last hour of light. That spot is known to have antelope, so other folks had been hitting it that day, including Rod (who I saw driving out when I was heading back in that afternoon).

No one was there when I got there and I hiked in to check it out but didn't turn up anything as the sun set and it started to get dark. I made my way back to the truck and I decided head back out to the east and camp on the same ridge I had my first night in the area. Its a fairly central location where it would be easy for me to head east or west as needed the next morning.

Making it to my spot I got settled in for the night. Andy checked in and he had some things to button up in the morning but was going to come down and give me a hand mid-day the next day. Overall, I was getting frustrated (again) that I wasn't seeing much (both Andy and I agree that Montana and Wyoming had spoiled me!). But the saying "it only takes one" kept running through my head, and while frustrated, I wasn't going to give up just yet!

I did check the forecast again and it looked like Saturday might be pretty nasty with much colder temps and possibly snow starting the next evening. I did seriously consider heading home later the next day, depending on how the day went.

 

[jeremy.b]

ID Muzzleloader Antelope Hunt: Day 4 - It only takes one...

Some weather blew in that night and it rained a little bit early the next morning. As the sun rose I gathered my stuff up for the day and decided to go glass the big sage flat Andy and I had watched on opening morning. It was also considerably cooler and I had to bust out my shell to keep warm.

Glassing the flat as it got light enough (it was nice and cloudy that morning) didn't turn up anything. I had decided to head back to the east end of the unit and check out some of the sage flats just east and south of where I had worked the antelope the day before.

After making it over to the area I tooled around on a couple 2-tracks until I found a spot to park it. I planned to hike out through some rolling sage flats toward the draws where the antelope from yesterday had gone. If I got lucky maybe I could turn that herd up again in a better stalking location.

Hiking out through the rolling sage flat I was really enjoying the change in weather in some super cool county.

I worked my way south, with the wind in my face. The sage is fairly big in this area (waist high or better) and there are quite a few little hidden draws where animals could be out of sight. With that in mind I kept my head on a swivel and was ready just in case something popped up right in front of me. At some point I had the odd thought run through my head of "just let it happen". No idea where it came from, but I did relax a bit and continue to enjoy the walk through the sage.

I eventually spotted a little grassy knob a bit further south and worked my way toward it to get a better glassing vantage.

As I started cresting the knob I saw a face and horns staring at me over a sage brush not more than 100 yards out! I hit the dirt and was able to see the buck through a patch of sage between us. I threw up my hood and tried to work out a plan. I could try to sneak up to some sage 10 yards in front of me ,but that wouldn't really help me with a shot angle. I check the buck again and he had moved. I poked up a touch and spotted him, and another, smaller buck. They had shifted toward the top of the knob. I knew they were going to pop out in the open soon so I tucked behind a sage brush with my shooting sticks and setup.

Sure enough the bigger buck popped out. I ranged him at 91 yards, that'll do. He trotted out a few steps, followed by the smaller buck and stopped again. The bigger buck gave a better shot, I settled, pulled the trigger and the safety was on again! That trigger pull was a mess so this time I slowed WAY down mentally, safety off, settled, squeeze, BOOM - TWAP! Solid hit!

The bucks took of up and over the rise. With the shot and hit feeling good (and after the yard sale of trying to reload on Wednesday) I took my time and went though my full reloading cycle.

I grabbed my stuff and hustled up to where the bucks ran over the rise. In hind-sight I probably should have ran up there first just so I could have seen where they went and THEN reloaded.

Anyway, I couldn't see either buck over the rise. I continued to work my way further over the rise and within 20 yards noticed a white patch that sure looked like an antelope belly!

Yep, there he is!

The shot was perfect and I had managed to kill my first ANYTHING with a muzzleloader!

I shot a text to Hope and to Andy with the above picture and grabbed another picture or two.

He's a great buck and it was SO satisfying to actually fill that tag. I could not have been happier!

Andy called and was going to come down to give me a hand (I was about a mile from my truck). I wasn't going to drag him back to the truck, and once Andy offered to help I had decided to quarter him out.

I sent him directions, called Hope as well and got to work. I was really glad it was cooler that day, and up on that knob the wind kept the bugs off the meat.

Also, I did the gutless method for the first time, and like everyone says, it sure is a cleaner way to process an animal!

It took Andy around an hour and a half to get to me, and I was just finishing the last backstrap and tenderloins. We chatted for a bit, I ran him through the hunt and shot, packed up the meat and headed back to his truck, then on back to mine.

It was noon at this point, I got the meat on ice and we headed backup to the local cafe and grabbed a burger and chatted for a bit. We had already been talking about future hunt plans, and we absolutely will be making that happen in the coming years! We parted ways and I headed down the road home.

The hunt was hard, but at the end of the day, it did come down to "it takes just one" and I managed to find myself in the perfect spot at the perfect time for that to happen. I had the most satisfied feeling on the drive back home that afternoon. Having filled 3 of my 4 tags was so nice!

Andy should be dropping in again on this thread to tell the story on getting his buck at some point as well!

I still have my extended archery season for my Utah deer tag that I might spend some time hunting later in October, we'll see on that one, I'll keep updates coming in as they happen.

Thanks for following guys!

 

[Sheffield5k]

Andy here, ready to add some thoughts to the Idaho hunt:

1st Day:
Personally I was so excited the night before I barely slept. Everything went well, however by the time we stopped glassing the first spot both of us were suffering from loss of morale. The Saturday previous I had seen 3 good little groups just driving up the road that his camp was on, even before getting to his camp site. Since we left to find greener pastures I wasn't sure what to do, I definitely wanted to try and make sure he got an opportunity since he came from out of state and I could do day trips and possibly catch them changing habits with the weather and whatnot. After rock crawling a bit and getting up high, I'm still irritated we didn't see anything in that spot we stopped at even if there was somebody else glassing it. The area was freaking HUGE.

So being rejected twice to us both feeling like we were doing what you're supposed to do driving down the road and being surprised by one just off the road was an incredible surprise. Not being prepared at all times was definitely a mistake driving down a road or not we both should have been properly prepared and like good demoralized hunters we weren't. The follow up stalk/check for damage didn't really help our morale much either, it didn't seem to matter what we did that buck was not going to let us close the distance on him. Letting him go was definitely a good call.

Back to the drawing board after talking to my dad, he said the local hunter highway was receiving too much traffic for him to even consider trying to find something so moving out of the immediate area seemed like a good decision. I asked some guys who were at the parking area if they'd seen anything but weren't real nice about telling me they'd been scouting for 3 weeks and hadn't seen anything (If they'd been nice I might have given them info after we started filling tags or everyone was burnt out). So making the decision to move was easy and it was right to where those fellows said they started in the morning and hadn't seen anything!

After looking at maps and coming up with our plan of attack it pretty much felt like we were just scouting for the next day. The fact that on the way to how we wanted to go about it, somebody was paying far too much attention to his phone or just not enough attention in general that when I stopped. Pulled forward. Backed up. There was antelope on the hilltop not 250-300 yards off the road. My passenger definitely need to pay more attention. Us actually executing a stalk, within range of antelope (sub 100 yards) is still something I'm just tickled pink about and smile about every time I think about it. Us sitting there both looking at each other trying to figure out what to do next would have probably made an excellent film.

2nd Day:
I had called my dad and asked him if he had a camouflage ball-cap I could borrow because that was the only thing I wished for the whole day before, So I stopped by his place and grabbed that and his antelope buck hat thinking: Why the hell not?. I had already made up my mind to take back roads to our unit so I could start at the far end, I knew shooting his gun and whatnot was gonna take a while so I headed out early enough I could hit a good glassing spot where we'd seen them on one of our scouting trips. I got distracted a number of times along the way (So sue me Jeremy!) by mule deer, and it was just about shooting light as I made it closer to the spot I had decided on.

Pop over the last hill heading to the gate off-road, and there's antelope! I didn't even hit the brakes this time I just kept going looking in my mirror to see what the ground looked like behind me and around trying to figure out how I was going to attempt a play. I kept driving until I knew for sure I was out of site and stopped, calmed my nerves a bit and realized I absolutely was not prepared for this (see above). I had to load my gun (I had shot at a coyote the night before to relieve some bloodlust and disappointment.), put my boots on, pull my binocular harness on make sure the range finder is in it's pouch, get my sweatshirt on cause it was way colder than I expected, fiddle fart around with my binoculars to make them work with my sweatshirt and I'm ready!


Parking spot view

During my planning/makeup session I had decided driving back to the top of the hill and using it as cover to make my stalk was by far the best plan, so off we go! Looking right where I had seen them before.... nothing. So I keep going and low and behold across the road and way out into the neighboring unit there's two bucks wandering away from the road. Plan busted, I turn around and head back to my glassing spot.

Such is life, poor planning never scored anybody a trophy. Passing by the previous spot I had seen them, I just glanced knowing they were gone, when I saw a buck standing there 1/4 mile off the road. How'd I miss him when I went the other way?! The turn around and work from hill for cover is out of the question I'm not doing that again. So I keep my wits about me and head to where I turned around at previously and I couldn't see him so he couldn't see me. This it. Game on! Face-mask on, borrowed camo hat and off I go to bumble my way up on this dude and hopefully get a shot.

Where I'm at it's incredibly flat, I'm honestly surprised I didn't have to go even further to be beyond sight. There's not but a 6-7 foot rise between me and the hole I last saw him in. Making a little bowl the rise had a just a small lower area that I suspected was the direction he would go if spooked, So making the decision I checked the wind, Nothing (thank you Lord above since I'm already doubting my stalking skills). I circled without gaining any elevation to the point where I was past the point where he was feeding and started working that way. I keep peaking real slow, Cursing my face mask for fogging up my glasses every breath, working my way to where I last saw him. Slowly I make it to where I can see plumb into the hole he was in and nothing, nada zip zilch. So hoping he had bedded or something and not caring anymore I took the mask off and start stomping down through the brush to make sure he wasn't there. Once again, Nothing. So turn my hat around so I can just flip my glasses up and look through my binoculars and start walking out into the open desert hoping my thoughts about his escape route were right. 200 yards into my not caring hike to get to where I can see everything, There's an antelope! Staring at me. Not knowing really what to do in the situation I just stopped.

I could barely see anything but his face he was downhill from me, still staring so I took the moment to reflect on what an idiot I am and how I should have circled further because this guy has me busted and dead to rights. He turns and starts walking, without my binoculars up I can't hardly tell which way but I'm not moving until he's out of sight, and he immediately dropped from view. I drop down to my knees and grab my rangefinder and range a bush that he was by and 350 yards out. I started crouch, walk, running that way since I couldn't tell which way he was going when he left my sight. Bee-lining it to my last visual I stop after 50 yards or so when I see ears. Kneel, wait, he steps to where I can see his face. Range: 250. He's coming at me? This is new, I'm not sure what to think So I just hold still. He walks about 20 steps parallel to me, turns and stares. Walks straight at me for me a minute, stops. Stares. Turns 90 degrees, Walks for a bit. Stops stares. Walks straight at me, stops stares. I haven't moved, When he goes to turn this time I take the opportunity to get the range finder up as he passes behind a sage brush. 50 yards. He stops on the other side of the bush, stops stares. He turns and starts walking back in the other direction still coming closer. I raise my smoke pole up real slow like and just wait. He stops again. I can't get my heart to stop, gotta calm down. put the sight where I want the bullet to go. Attempt to squeeze the trigger and breathe at the same time and BOOM, Thwack. YES. Stand up properly and watch as he takes off. Did I not hit him good? Crap. Watching him go, I know I hit him but I don't know how well. Woops! All I can see are hooves in the air! PARTY ON. Anyone in the area that heard my cursing and or yelling I'm sorry. But YES!

So begins the work, I'd call my dad or Jeremy to come help me, but I'm legit 40 miles from cell phone service, so buck up buttercup you're on your own.

 

[bowhuntmontana]

Great buck and great experience. Great job sticking with it and trusting your scouting. That has to be a satisfying feeling.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Great stories from both of you. Congrats on filling those tags.

 

[Crossbowguy]

Awesome stories, great memories made, very nice trophies! I love those sheds that you found too!!!!

 

[LCH]

I need to try to fill a season with antelope hunts one of these years. Congrats to all your success so far!