I recently got back from hunting in MT. It was an incredible time capped off by filling tags. This was my first time hunting pronghorn, and I can't wait to do it again!
We must have seen over 400 animals in the 4 days we were there. I could have filled my tag the first day but chose to hold off so I could continue to hunt. I had spent several months
planning and anticipating the trip. It was like the build up to Christmas. I didn't want it to end on the first day!
Weather was great the first two days. 50 degrees and sunny. The weather turned south thereafter. I purchased an OTC mule deer doe tag and filled that Saturday morning. Monday morning comes and I'm starting to feel regret for not filling my pronghorn tag when I had the chance. Knowing I should be going home within the next day gave me an uneasy feeling. I started to consider that I had missed my opportunity. I was lucky enough to draw a non-resident either sex tag my first time applying and decided I wasn't going to let a small thing like work get in my way. I was determined to not leave Big Sky Country without cutting two small triangles in my tag, regardless of how much vacation time I had to use.
Luckily, Monday was my day. I set out about a mile and a half from the road on some BLM land. I'll spare the long version of the story...
After the field care came the task of getting him back to the truck. This being my first pronghorn, I was hoping to bring it to a taxidermist so I didn't want to damage the hide. I was also told of the white tips at the end of the antlers and that it is somewhat uncommon. He's not the biggest but he's special to me.
I chose to wrap it in my hunting coat for the drag out, which actually worked quite well. The shoulder hide remained completely intact.
The mile and a half walk in meant, you guessed it, the same walk out.
2.5 hours and countless rest stops later I got to the truck. It was the most physically demanding thing I've ever done in my life, and I'm a firefighter. It was the best and hardest moment of my hunting life at the same time!
I came out of this with new experiences which I'm grateful for. I've learned what to do next time to make it better, but equally important, I've learned what not to do.
We must have seen over 400 animals in the 4 days we were there. I could have filled my tag the first day but chose to hold off so I could continue to hunt. I had spent several months
planning and anticipating the trip. It was like the build up to Christmas. I didn't want it to end on the first day!
Weather was great the first two days. 50 degrees and sunny. The weather turned south thereafter. I purchased an OTC mule deer doe tag and filled that Saturday morning. Monday morning comes and I'm starting to feel regret for not filling my pronghorn tag when I had the chance. Knowing I should be going home within the next day gave me an uneasy feeling. I started to consider that I had missed my opportunity. I was lucky enough to draw a non-resident either sex tag my first time applying and decided I wasn't going to let a small thing like work get in my way. I was determined to not leave Big Sky Country without cutting two small triangles in my tag, regardless of how much vacation time I had to use.
Luckily, Monday was my day. I set out about a mile and a half from the road on some BLM land. I'll spare the long version of the story...
After the field care came the task of getting him back to the truck. This being my first pronghorn, I was hoping to bring it to a taxidermist so I didn't want to damage the hide. I was also told of the white tips at the end of the antlers and that it is somewhat uncommon. He's not the biggest but he's special to me.
I chose to wrap it in my hunting coat for the drag out, which actually worked quite well. The shoulder hide remained completely intact.
The mile and a half walk in meant, you guessed it, the same walk out.
2.5 hours and countless rest stops later I got to the truck. It was the most physically demanding thing I've ever done in my life, and I'm a firefighter. It was the best and hardest moment of my hunting life at the same time!
I came out of this with new experiences which I'm grateful for. I've learned what to do next time to make it better, but equally important, I've learned what not to do.
