Five antelope, seven days

[Pucky Freak]

Where do you get fake documentation ? Asking for a friend .....

I may or may not have packed my shovel carefully out of view so as to avoid suspicion…

 

[Bowmannate2000]

We stalked into a group of 4, but they semi spooked before we were setup. We spooked a coyote that went the other way and they ran off a ways, but are working back towards us. Pucky is about 30 yards away from me, I can just see his orange. I'm prone in the sage waiting for the boom...

 

[Pucky Freak]

Waited an hour, but antelope never crossed back to public. We did a ton more hiking, but pretty uneventful. 20 antelope in an island of private…if they move they cross on public and are fair game. We guess where they will cross and drive a huge loop around to intercept them. They ended up crossing where we started from

Warm today and 7” snow tomorrow.

 

[Elktrack]

Waited an hour, but antelope never crossed back to public. We did a ton more hiking, but pretty uneventful. 20 antelope in an island of private…if they move they cross on public and are fair game. We guess where they will cross and drive a huge loop around to intercept them. They ended up crossing where we started from

Warm today and 7” snow tomorrow.
View attachment 346780

Damn bro!
That’s quite the outfit. Those Sitka shorts?

 

[Wyhunter]

Bro just out here hunting is his skivies... id stay on private too if I saw a crazy guy running through the sage, chasing me in his underwear

 

[Pucky Freak]

Damn bro!
That’s quite the outfit. Those Sitka shorts?

$1 Walmart clearance bin! Nate’s over here w/ 2 layers on head to toe, and I’m about a shirt away from an OnlyFans link.

 

[vanish]

Warm today and 7” snow tomorrow.
View attachment 346780

Shredded Jackrabbit Recipe - A Simple Jackrabbit Recipe | Hank Shaw

Shredded jackrabbit is a simple jackrabbit recipe that works with any species. Basically this is Mexican barbacoa with jackrabbits.

honest-food.net

 

[Pucky Freak]

With the storm rolling in Monday night we packed up camp and headed to Nate’s unit. Got to bed late and slept hard, and woke up to a blanket of wet snow this morning.

The first half of the day we spent scouting, checking off wet/impassible roads and making notes of where to glass once the fog lifted. We saw one group of antelope by the road, which had one good buck and one really nice buck. They were on public, but about 75 yards out of the unit boundary.

Snow/rain continued through the day, but by noon visibility had improved to about 200 yards. We decided to hike around the area where the antelope were spotted to locate other animals, or possibly the big buck if he had crossed the unit boundary. We located 2 different groups of antelope for a morning ambush, and otherwise managed to get all our gear soaking wet.

 

[cgasner1]

Think I would back track to the other unit that looks more enjoyable

 

[Deez Nutz]

You really were hunting in your underwear? lol

 

[Bowmannate2000]

Think I would back track to the other unit that looks more enjoyable

Same situation there. It's almost done snowing!

 

[Bowmannate2000]

9.5 mile hike through the blizzard yesterday, and the only Pronghorn we saw were right by the road! Setup near where we have seen them crossing. Hoping they keep up their routine today.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Bucks spotted, uwah ha ha! Still snowing and foggy but I got up high to glass, and found them headed into our unit. Time to put a plan together.

Here’s Nate hoping to intercept them this AM - animals decided to move up the next valley over.

 

[LuketheDog]

She is very friendly, but also asks for some documentation to prove that I am not a serial killer, and I gladly oblige.

Um, has she seen this picture? Might raise doubts...

 

[NEWHunter]

Um, has she seen this picture? Might raise doubts...

I think it’s a trend thing. Cam maybe? There was some live hunt on here with dudes elk hunting shirtless. I’m not judging.

 

[HONEYBADGER]

Sun AM no alarm set, so we can catch up on sleep. I got up before sunrise to catch a little walk.
View attachment 346633

I got several panorama photos that are better, but the file size is too large to upload.

Sun AM slow start as planned. About 9 AM we leave camp to try and relocate the group of animals from the night before. Upon arrival they had crossed the unit boundary. We later determined that they were likely pushed there by a deer hunter - this would become a theme for the rest of the day.

Throughout the entire day two rigs hunting deer repeatedly drove up and down seemingly every road within a few miles of us. The hunters would drive and glass, or get out and walk a few hundred yards. One truck hunter took the same roads a half a dozen times, and the other hunter at least ten times. This had the effect of bouncing around the antelope over and over again until they all piled up in one giant herd deep on private ground.

We were genuinely puzzled by their tactics. The areas they were hunting were full of mulie does, but the bucks were further up in elevation, away from roads, and tucked into secluded cuts or similar less accessible terrain. Apparently they thought hiking 200 yards through knee-high sage would result in deer-zilla springing up out of nowhere. Or that a mature buck was going to wander down to the does in the middle of the day in 70-degree heat in October.

In any event, our day was mostly unproductive. After relocating the displaced group of antelope we drove a finger of BLM and located a dozen more antelope on a flat. The closest were 300 yards, and walking or trotting nervously away. The wind was intense, so no way I was attempting a 350 yard shot. We turned around and let this group alone. There was a dry creek bed that we could loop around and crawl up to get closer, but it crossed private property. We stopped by the ranch house to try and get permission to cross, but no one was home at the time.

Next up, we parked and hiked some bluffs to glass. About a half hour in I spotted 3 antelope down a bluff towards a road. We slowly descended elevation out of their view and got set up for a shot. 200 yards, a buck, doe, and fawn.

Just as I was selecting a steady rest one of the deer hunters drove by and spooked them. Then the other rig did the same thing a few minutes later. The animals were then lost from our view and we tried slowly hiking around to relocate them. The now high-alert doe pegged us first at 200 yards, and they took off.

The entire rest of the day we spent hiking and glassing. We found a lot of deer but no antelope in a huntable spot. Tomorrow we would check out new terrain.

View attachment 346635
Inactive raptor nest made entirely of dead sagebrush.

Never seen anything like that, what raptor made that?

 

[Pucky Freak]

I foolishly took my eyes off the herd and it took us several hours to relocate them. Getting ready to put on a stalk!

Sun shining, wind died down - back to “base layer” hunting.

 

[Deez Nutz]

I foolishly took my eyes off the herd and it took us several hours to relocate them. Getting ready to put on a stalk!

Sun shining, wind died down - back to “base layer” hunting.
View attachment 347043

On behalf of everyone here, thank you for not showing the bottom half.

 

[Bowmannate2000]

I made my way to @Pucky Freak and together we made the approach. After about 30 minutes we see the first doe walking from left to right. We sat down and I readied my rifle. He ranges her at 200 yards. Pretty soon another doe is following, then two more. I practice my aim from a seated shooting position, and feel pretty comfortable. We are waiting for a buck, as we know there are a couple in the group. Sure enough, antelope number 5 is a mature buck. He steps into the clear and stops broadside. I steady my aim and fire. The buck jumps, takes a few steps and turns straight away. He stands there for several minutes looking sick. Finally he turns again and I give another shot. Still standing. Third shot and he stumbles and tips over backwards. Not the one shot I was hoping for, but he's down and we celebrate with some pictures, ans then get to work.

Big thanks to @Pucky Freak for all the help on this one! Back to his unit for the last day of the season tomorrow.

 

[Wyhunter]

Nice job!