p_ham
Well-known member
Score doesn't mean much to me. He's a good mature ram and I'm sure you earned him. I'd be tickled pink with that one!
Nevada Antelope Unit 33 Late Rifle - Help Please!
- Thread starter Aerosith
- Start date
ovis2
Well-known member
You shouldn't have trouble finding a good buck - especially if you look over the next ridge away from the roads. Also as mentioned, take at least two spare tires. That country eats up tires.
2rocky
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2010
- Messages
- 5,137
I remember your hunt report. You worked your ass off.
dan.kirkpatrick
Well-known member
i had a fair amount of pre-scouting and prepared as best i could,,already had alot of miles put on learning the unit,working the road access,ect,as well as as much research i could find on that unit ahead of time.
Bluffgruff
Well-known member
Well? @Aerosith
Aerosith
Well-known member
Aerosith
Well-known member
Day 2- My dad stayed in California on this day, I decided to try a new area with an supposed water hole just in side unit 33 outside of 11. The hike was 3/4 mile of a really rough road. Almost as soon as I jumped the fence into 33. Out of the corner of my eye I saw dust and something running away. It took me 30 mins today to spot them again and it was a group of deer and herd of antelope. Almost immediately I saw a buck and knew he was a shooter right away 78-82 inches, 15.5-16 inch horns. Unfortunately they were 50 yards from the unit 11 boundary and crossed over before I could get set up. After this I made the decision to get further away from the boundary so this wouldn’t happen again. This time I hiked about 800 yards away from my truck and saw a new herd of antelope 150yds away not spooked. Realized there was just a small buck and passed. I then did a hike loop that would get me about a mile from where I saw the big one earlier. And just as I would have it they came back to the same spot. I couldn’t get any pictures with my spotter because of 40-50 mph winds and being 1.25 miles away. I watched them for an hour to see what they were doing then decided to stalk. Once I got within rifle range, the antelope has fed over the fence again unspooked. I got to 175yds from the big one but yet again wrong side of the fence.
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Aerosith
Well-known member
Day 3- My dad had rejoined me for this day, we went to back to the area to where the big one was on day 2 and they had disappeared. On our way out of unit 11 on the road we saw that same group about 3 miles outside our area on a canyon rim top.
We moved much further into the unit in a new area around catnip mountain. Almost right as we got there we saw a young buck run 50 yards in front of the truck. I hiked up that entire mountain there after and saw many does with young bucks but no shooters. After that I wanted to try a new remote spot in 33. As we were driving through lil Sheldon I saw a big buck in the spotter, but unfortunately not legal. After hiking for an hour around water in our new area I found a group of 3 bucks all mature in sight. I stalked them to 300 yards back and forth for nearly and hour trying to get a shot, because I forgot my shooting sticks and could not tell which was the biggest one. I eventually gave it a shot on the lead buck and dropped him in his place.
We moved much further into the unit in a new area around catnip mountain. Almost right as we got there we saw a young buck run 50 yards in front of the truck. I hiked up that entire mountain there after and saw many does with young bucks but no shooters. After that I wanted to try a new remote spot in 33. As we were driving through lil Sheldon I saw a big buck in the spotter, but unfortunately not legal. After hiking for an hour around water in our new area I found a group of 3 bucks all mature in sight. I stalked them to 300 yards back and forth for nearly and hour trying to get a shot, because I forgot my shooting sticks and could not tell which was the biggest one. I eventually gave it a shot on the lead buck and dropped him in his place.
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Aerosith
Well-known member
Last Journal- at the end of the day I may not have killed the biggest buck in the unit , but I tried my best with my circumstances to have a great hunt. It was a great experience to hunt antelope for the first time with my dad. And I appreciate the help and advice from everyone
dan.kirkpatrick
Well-known member
glad you had a good time,congrats
Congrats on your first pronghorn buck. As mentioned by others previously, quite the tag to draw for your first pronghorn hunt. Sounds like you did the tag justice!Last Journal- at the end of the day I may not have killed the biggest buck in the unit , but I tried my best with my circumstances to have a great hunt. It was a great experience to hunt antelope for the first time with my dad. And I appreciate the help and advice from everyone
Not finding much online info concerning 033 pronghorn. So joined hunttalk in hopes of chatting with some previous 033 hunters as this was the most active discussion I located.
My understanding is I have to post 10x’s before I can PM, so here goes, and hopefully more interesting than replying “interesting” or cheese posts (see threat about PMing!).
I drew the sole NR 033 late rifle tag. I grew up in WY, so really enjoy hunting pronghorn in the high sagebrush deserts of the West. I had planned to turkey hunt UT the last week in May, but after being informed I drew the Sheldon pronghorn tag, I decided to change my plans and go scout the Sheldon instead. That’s a pretty good haul from CO, but hope it was worth it to get a feel for the unit/refuge, access, road systems, etc. Clearly the pronghorn aren’t in there yet. I saw 3 does and a single buck around Swan Lake, and that was it. The habitat looks in excellent shape. Only saw 1 horse. With the wet winter/spring, and good fawn recruitment the past couple years, I’m hoping to find a big buck hiding in a pocket at some point during the 2nd season this year.
I’ll type some more highlights from my Sheldon scout and ask a few questions in working toward my 10 posts needed to PM!
One observation is… some of those primitive roads are pretty mild. Others are brutal. No surprise I guess. I will definitely be hauling my Rokon with me on the hunt so I don’t have to beat up my truck/camper on some of those roads.
I had truck issues on HW 120 in a spot without cell reception. Fortunately I was able to hitch a ride into Denio Junction and arrange a tow to Winnemucca. Expensive tow! Not sure how that would have worked out if I had been miles in on a rough 2 track dirt road!? That fear will be alleviated a bit by bringing/using Rokon, but am also thinking strongly on adding StarLink internet to the gear kit. Starlink would allow for easier vehicle recovery arrangement if/when necessary. Would be much easier than trying to make contact and arrangements using InReach and would provide some additional piece of mind.
I will be contacting biologist this week to better understand when the pronghorn migrate into 033. From what I can gather, that area is more of a late summer/early fall range? Seems strange, but that is what I think I am reading.
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You have a PM.
They might migrate in there, but there are plenty of bucks during the seasons, prior to any migration that might happen.
They might migrate in there, but there are plenty of bucks during the seasons, prior to any migration that might happen.
The stats show licenses being reduced over past 5 years and success rates decreasing. 2nd season 033 had a 35% success rate last year/2023. How is that possible? Are there years where the pronghorn haven’t migrated into the unit by end of Aug/beginning of Sep? The habitat looks excellent, and the “wild” horses/burros were removed by 2014. So am unclear what could possibly cause a low harvest, unless the winter range is poor (is limiting factor)?
Well....you can read about my "newbie tries antelope hunting for the first time experience" last year in Unit 33 in this thread:
www.hunttalk.com
Was my experience normal...or did I somehow F&#K up?
I would say Keep Hammering, but does not seem to apply. Keep Trolling
www.hunttalk.com
Yeah I wouldn't put too much stock in DoveEater's "hunt".Well....you can read about my "newbie tries antelope hunting for the first time experience" last year in Unit 33 in this thread:
Was my experience normal...or did I somehow F&#K up?
I would say Keep Hammering, but does not seem to apply. Keep Trolling
Don't use it as a barometer of the hunting there.
Aerosith
Well-known member
Looking at back at having the tag I definitely did not do the tag justice in my opinion, I only hunted 3 days and in that time had a legitimate opportunity at a 82"-84" buck but he jumped units. Based off of historic knowledge, drought, and past hunters experience as well as my own time in 33 the population was really down in 2022. But the past couple winters have brought the unit and area out of drought conditions, so water and pronghorn populations might have improved a bit. There is so much country to cover in the unit it was very overwhelming trying to figure out where to start. It sounds like you already did some scouting, but I would highly recommend doing more preseason scouting on the ground. Figuring out where the water is and plan your hunt that way. Pronghorn will alway be relatively close to water, many tanks/ponds on ONX will be dry that is why it is important to scout before hand. I would also highly recommend bringing spare tires and water, there is a ton of lava rock and it will eat up your tires. The populations and density IMO were very low/spotty, they are either there or not. This should be a great year to have the tag, and based off of what I saw. If you put in the work an 80" buck is very reasonable IMO.
David Gough
Well-known member
I have never hunted 33, but Nevada bucks can be higher in elevation than one may think. Whether it's to catch a breeze during the hottest part of the day, better food, or a little seclusion from the prior hunting seasons.
I've also seen pronghorn in a rocky avalanche shoot in Idaho to escape hunting pressure from the neighboring unit.
