Idaho Rabbit down and an antelope!

[IdahoBugler]

I wanted to post a little something about my little man before I got to my boring stuff. I'll get to my part of the story later. Ever since last year we have been practicing shooting his single shot .22. He was getting better everytime we went out shooting. After blowing up a few hundred water bottles I felt he was ready for a real hunt.

Last year we tried unsuccessfully to take a rabbit but it just never happened. This year he was determined to get it done. We went for a little scouting/rabbit hunting trip. We headed out to the unknown and about 2 hours into our trip we finally saw what we were after. A beautiful representative of the long eared variety. He was about 30 yards out and broad side. He steadied for the shot and missed him 4 times. |oo He was shattered and after he finally bounded off he broke down and cried. I had to teach him the part of how this is normal and that these will not be his last tears on a miss. Anyway I was really determined to find him one so we headed out again. Less then 10 minutes later we got a break. One jumps up and stops about 15 yards just under a juniper. He tries an off hand shot and misses him. Oh no not again, but luckily he stops and gives him a broadside shot at 20 yards. My quick thinking wife leans over and tells my son to use her back as a rest. He steadied for the shot and smoked him. My son comes unglued yelling and jumping around he was so stoked and I couldn't have been more proud of him. He had the biggest grin on his face the rest of the night and until he finally closed his eyes for bed. Here are a couple of hero shots.

A picture with his proud old man.

Telling me where I need to shot them to drop them in there tracks.

I was content on leaving the rabbit there after the pics but he had nothing to do with that. He grabbed it and threw it on the 4 wheeler and said that he wanted it mounted. So I took care of it and just got done caping him for a rug mount.

 

[IdahoBugler]

Now to my part of the story. With so much going on I wasn't sure how much antelope hunting I was going to do. I put up a trail cam on the watering hole that captain hook hung out at too see if anything was coming in. I went and checked it the day before the opener and no antelope had hit the water for over a week. I bagged opening day and finally decided to go up this last weekend with the family. Kind of a hunting/camping weekend with the fam. We hiked into the watering hole and glassed to see if we could find any antelope, nothing. I pulled the memory card and I left a little disappointed. We headed back to camp and started doing the normal camping routine, fire, hotdogs, marshmellows, etc... About 10:00pm I decided I better look to see if anything was on the memory card. Plugged it into my camera and boom from the day I left it, there were antelope pics every day. Sorry I had to blurr out some of the pic to save the inoccent.

A monster doe and a non-tyipical.

It wasn't hook but a decent 12" buck with about 9 does. Not being picky because of the short time I decided I was going in to take him if he showed up. I huried and readed my stuff for the morning sit. Woke up at 4:45 to give me ample time to setup and wait.
The first two hours were pretty slow except for a bunch of quail coming to water.

At 8:30 I looked up and saw a pretty nice loner buck running the ridge about 150 yards out. I grabbed the bow and got ready. He stayed his course and never came in. Just kept running along the ridge until he was gone. I was bummed because I knew he was better then the buck on the trail cam. It started getting hot and I told my wife that I would be back at camp around 11:00 so I texted her and asked if I could stay until 12:00 since I just saw the buck. It was ok'ed and I waited. About 10:30 just after I started my Primos elk video I looked up and saw a buck under a juniper tree staring down the water. He bolted towards it and I threw my stuff down and got ready for the shot. He came in on a line and walked in front of me (15 yards) but learning from last year I waited until his head was down watering. It was a bad angle, quartering too me and neck down. I went to full draw and decided to take the shot just in the crease between his neck and shoulder. The release was good and so was the arrow. It didn't get great penetration but I knew it was good enough to do the job. He took off like a bullet and I flew out of my blind to see where he went. Just as I got out, I saw him falter 80 yards away and go down. I dropped all my crap and headed up the mountain to get the rest of the family to help with the tracking job. When we got back to the blind I wanted to share a few things with my son about the shot and how it all played out from the blind. We started the tracking job but since we could see the antelope he didn't understand why we were tracking him. About 40 yards into my tracking job I let him take off to see the prize. I really didn't know how good he was until I walked up on him. I was plesently surprised even though he was broken.

I'll wait and post the score later to let you guys give a guess on what he will score.

P.S. When I started hacking away on the goat I found out that I had blown through the shoulder blade and a rib. When he took off he broke the arrow and when I went in to retrieve the rest of the arrow, I found the broadhead in the middle of his heart. I guess with him squating down to drink, it brought his shoulder a little farther forward then I expected. The Magnus Stingers performed well and I couldn't be happier with the performance.

 

[noharleyyet]

Good stuff...the undie shootin' is classic.

 

[justdada]

That's awesome IDB!
It's great that you get to spend time with the family out in the field.
Good job on a great buck and a trophy bugs!

 

[sreekers]

That is great stuff! Thanks for sharing.

 

[1_pointer]

Very nice!!! I'm really looking forward to that kind of weekend in a year or two!! Congrats.

 

[AZ402]

That rabbit is a beast!! Oh ya, congrats on a great P&Y buck as well..........

 

[smalls]

Dude, your boy's smile is WAY bigger than yours!

Both chapters of that story are phenomenal. I can not wait to take my daughter out in a few years and have the same type of experience. Again, way cool.

 

[T Bone]

great bunny and buck!

 

[jabber]

Congrats, I loved the smile on your son's face after bagging the bunny. I imagine you were probably more excited about him than you were about your success.

 

[Nut]

Great stories and pics. I liked the rabbit story better though


Congrats on the goat

 

[browtine]

Congrats to both of you. That "hero" shot is classic!!!!

 

[TheTone]

Darn good Idaho pronghorn IB, congrats.

 

[Oak]

Congrats to you and Kawika! Sounds like you had a fun family weekend.

 

[Big Fin]

Whatever your day job Bugler, writing cool hunting stories with great pics and video clips could be your other job.

Very cool and fun to read. Telling your son's story first tells us your priorities, which are dead on. This will be one of the top threads of the year.

Thanks for a great share and congrats to your son, and to you and wife for taking the time to make his outdoor experiences a priority.

Oh, congrats on a great pronghorn.

 

[IdahoBugler]

Thanks guys for all the compliments. My son thanks you too. He keeps asking me if anyone else has replied.

I just got done cutting up his front shoulder. When I thought I blew through the shoulder blade I was wrong. It blew through the shoulder jount and then a rib and then ended up in his heart. I love these broadheads and the cool thing is I'll send it back to Magnus with a hero shot and I'll get a shirt or a hat and a new broadhead.

 

[Oak]

Wow! That's impressive performance!

 

[ERSS]

Bugler-
Best post I have seen in a long time...Congrats on both parts of it. Can wait to hit the hills with my boy in November.

You can't buy memories and smiles like that.

 

[elk_hunter]

Outstanding, IB! Thanks for sharing the pics and stories! WTG both you and your son!

 

[Ridge Runner]

Great stories IB. the pics are awesome as usual. Congrats to little B on a first kill and hats off to mom for the quick thinking rest. What a team.