Ollin Magnetic Digiscoping System

My biggest/longest road trip yet.

I spent Sunday night somewhere in Colorado. I don’t even really know where. I was getting tired. I looked on the map and there were some public land so pulled in, parked and went to sleep. Monday was a travel day. A friend of my wife and I lives in Cody Wyoming now. I hadn’t seen her in years so I texted her and I was able to stop and get dinner with her. She’s doing great and it was good to see her.

I arrived at my unit in Montana between 9 and 10pm. I found somewhere to park and went to sleep. I slept in on Tuesday morning. Well, I woke up at 5:15 but the sun wasn’t close to coming up and I really wanted to be able to see so I just laid around for 2 1/2 hours until the sun came up. I got my gear organized and ready and headed out to look for antelope. The first piece of property I looked at was not a large piece of BLM and I did not see anything except cows grazing. I moved a few miles up and went into the next piece of BLM. After about 15-20 minutes of riding, I spotted a white pick up truck stopped in the road a mile or so in front of me. I scanned with my binoculars and there was a group of 8 antelope about 400 yards from them staring them down. The truck turned around and headed off as the antelope ran away. There was a good buck in the group that I knew I would be happy with him.

I parked my truck and headed in in their direction. I worked my way around the backside of a mound to stay out of sight and as I came around the backside the antelope either saw me or they were still spooked from the truck earlier. This was definitely an area that was hunted a good bit and this buck was smart. I got up on top of the little mound and the antelope kept moving away from me. Finally, I saw them join up with another group making them 19 in total. One good buck and 18 does. I watch them for a while until they bedded down and then decided I would try to use the terrain to move in on them. There were lots of little rolls in the terrain. I tried and tried to range them, but I couldnt getting a reading. My rangefinder would not pick them up. I started my move when I was about 800 yards from my glassing point, I dropped my pack and my trekking poles because I thought I was getting close. I was wrong. I kept moving crawling from little ridge to little ridge every time stopping and glassing when I could get a decent bush in front of me. After an hour and a half or so of this, I thought they had given me the slip at some point when I was out of sight. Finally came up over another ridge and a few antelope were standing and the rest bedded. At this point, i moved up slowly from bush to bush. Finally I got to 433 yards and got set up. There was wind, but it was in my face, so I felt like it would not have that much effect on my shot. All of a sudden, all the antelope jumped up when a crow flew by, but the buck was covered up by some of his harem and eventually they all laid back down. The waiting continue another hour and a half and they all got up again and started moving around. I could not get a clear shot, they were acting skittish and all of a sudden I saw a coyote and I knew why they had gotten up. They started slowly moving away from me. I finally got a shot at the buck but it was over 600 yards away. I didn’t want to shoot that far with wind. The antelope continued to moved away. I crawled from bush the bus trying to stay within eyesight and maybe even gain some ground on them because they were just feeding. Finally they got up on a higher ridge and I knew I could not shoot them there and they were still about 700 yards away, but I was hoping they would feed over the backside and I could make up some serious ground. I sat and waited and waited and waited. It took over an hour and a half or two hours until those last few does went over the backside of the ridge. I took off as quick as I could after them. When I got to 50 yards from the ridge, I slowed down and crawled up to peak over. Even with me crawling up one or two of them picked me out from about 70 yards as I came over the top of the ridge through the grass. I froze laying down flat for about five minutes. They stared and all I could see was lay still in the grass. They began to relax a little bit, so I lifted up my binoculars, looking through the grass. I was able to pick out the buck. I could hear other antelope close to me within 20 yards walking on the backside of the ridge. The antelope began to move off at a quick walk. They knew something was up and I could tell they were not going to stay around. I sat up in the grass putting the gun on my knee. The buck began to walk away from my right to left. I tracked him in the group waiting for him to clear. Finally I had an opening with no dow in front or behind him and I shot. Immediately he dropped while the rest of the group bolted.

It had been 6.5 hours since I first saw the antelope, but I finally got him. He’s a nice buck and I’m happy to have him. I apply for antelope in plenty of states and have points all over but this was my first time ever having a tag. This is also my 7th animal in my pursuit of my super 10 leaving me with mountain lion, bison/muskox, and a ram. It was a fun hunt and leg 2 out of 4 is now complete.

Now I’m on the road. Headed to Idaho.

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I spent Sunday night somewhere in Colorado. I don’t even really know where. I was getting tired. I looked on the map and there were some public land so pulled in, parked and went to sleep. Monday was a travel day. A friend of my wife and I lives in Cody Wyoming now. I hadn’t seen her in years so I texted her and I was able to stop and get dinner with her. She’s doing great and it was good to see her.

I arrived at my unit in Montana between 9 and 10pm. I found somewhere to park and went to sleep. I slept in on Tuesday morning. Well, I woke up at 5:15 but the sun wasn’t close to coming up and I really wanted to be able to see so I just laid around for 2 1/2 hours until the sun came up. I got my gear organized and ready and headed out to look for antelope. The first piece of property I looked at was not a large piece of BLM and I did not see anything except cows grazing. I moved a few miles up and went into the next piece of BLM. After about 15-20 minutes of riding, I spotted a white pick up truck stopped in the road a mile or so in front of me. I scanned with my binoculars and there was a group of 8 antelope about 400 yards from them staring them down. The truck turned around and headed off as the antelope ran away. There was a good buck in the group that I knew I would be happy with him.

I parked my truck and headed in in their direction. I worked my way around the backside of a mound to stay out of sight and as I came around the backside the antelope either saw me or they were still spooked from the truck earlier. This was definitely an area that was hunted a good bit and this buck was smart. I got up on top of the little mound and the antelope kept moving away from me. Finally, I saw them join up with another group making them 19 in total. One good buck and 18 does. I watch them for a while until they bedded down and then decided I would try to use the terrain to move in on them. There were lots of little rolls in the terrain. I tried and tried to range them, but I couldnt getting a reading. My rangefinder would not pick them up. I started my move when I was about 800 yards from my glassing point, I dropped my pack and my trekking poles because I thought I was getting close. I was wrong. I kept moving crawling from little ridge to little ridge every time stopping and glassing when I could get a decent bush in front of me. After an hour and a half or so of this, I thought they had given me the slip at some point when I was out of sight. Finally came up over another ridge and a few antelope were standing and the rest bedded. At this point, i moved up slowly from bush to bush. Finally I got to 433 yards and got set up. There was wind, but it was in my face, so I felt like it would not have that much effect on my shot. All of a sudden, all the antelope jumped up when a crow flew by, but the buck was covered up by some of his harem and eventually they all laid back down. The waiting continue another hour and a half and they all got up again and started moving around. I could not get a clear shot, they were acting skittish and all of a sudden I saw a coyote and I knew why they had gotten up. They started slowly moving away from me. I finally got a shot at the buck but it was over 600 yards away. I didn’t want to shoot that far with wind. The antelope continued to moved away. I crawled from bush the bus trying to stay within eyesight and maybe even gain some ground on them because they were just feeding. Finally they got up on a higher ridge and I knew I could not shoot them there and they were still about 700 yards away, but I was hoping they would feed over the backside and I could make up some serious ground. I sat and waited and waited and waited. It took over an hour and a half or two hours until those last few does went over the backside of the ridge. I took off as quick as I could after them. When I got to 50 yards from the ridge, I slowed down and crawled up to peak over. Even with me crawling up one or two of them picked me out from about 70 yards as I came over the top of the ridge through the grass. I froze laying down flat for about five minutes. They stared and all I could see was lay still in the grass. They began to relax a little bit, so I lifted up my binoculars, looking through the grass. I was able to pick out the buck. I could hear other antelope close to me within 20 yards walking on the backside of the ridge. The antelope began to move off at a quick walk. They knew something was up and I could tell they were not going to stay around. I sat up in the grass putting the gun on my knee. The buck began to walk away from my right to left. I tracked him in the group waiting for him to clear. Finally I had an opening with no dow in front or behind him and I shot. Immediately he dropped while the rest of the group bolted.

It had been 6.5 hours since I first saw the antelope, but I finally got him. He’s a nice buck and I’m happy to have him. I apply for antelope in plenty of states and have points all over but this was my first time ever having a tag. This is also my 7th animal in my pursuit of my super 10 leaving me with mountain lion, bison/muskox, and a ram. It was a fun hunt and leg 2 out of 4 is now complete.

Now I’m on the road. Headed to Idaho.

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Drive a little faster so we can get our next update! 🤣 Living vicariously through your adventure is making me get through this day at my desk. Safe travels and thanks for sharing your adventures with us.
 
Man this is a fun one to follow! One of the MANY great threads this year! Congrats on a great first pronghorn!
 
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