Nevada muzzleloader pronghorn

[Scott85]

The Nevada draw this year was full of highs and lows this year. When results first came out it was all red with nothing drawn. About 30 minutes later I get an email saying that I was drawn as an alternate for a longer than the ears pronghorn muzzleloader tag!!!!



Well I have a brand new muzzleloader still in the box so it’s time to head to the range to sight the rifle in. Get to the range and the rifle would only shoot about a 12” group at 25 yards. I go out and get some different bullets to try, still the same thing. Nothing looks wrong with the rifle, and after talking it over with Paul we decide that we should send it back. I get home from the range and start looking a different muzzleloader to use. I find a cool left handed Hawkins do I order it and everything that goes along with it. The rifle comes in and it’s shooting ok at 25 yards but will not hit paper at 75 yards. Tried different patches, balls and load size. Still nothing this rifle doesn’t want to shoot either. I then get the original muzzleloader back and they said they tighten up action screws and adjusted the headspace. They sent back a target showing a cover leaf 3 round group. We go back to the range thinking we are cooking now. Go to load the rifle and the sabots will not even load. I tried some different sabots with the bullet I wanted to use and the bullet is tumbling when it hits the target. Lucky for me Paul is such a great guy and lets me borrow his muzzleloader. We make sure it’s sighted in for me and my load and I’m ready to hunt.

 

[Scott85]

A little slow to get to the unit today after playing 3 softball games in 4 hours yesterday. I was sore and wore out by the time I got home. I got everything loaded up yesterday and had to finish some homework for college this morning.

I’m now in my happy place in the sage. Got camp set up and I was scouting at 430 this afternoon. I glasses up 4 this evening with the only buck not being a legal buck. I think Randy said it you spend a couple days scouting for pronghorn to extend the hunt and that’s what I’m doing since the season doesn’t open up until the 25th.

 

[Nick87]

Good luck!

 

[Scott85]

Today was a very eventful day. I decided to sleep in and woke up around 7. After breakfast I left to go scout. It didn’t take me very long to get into pronghorns. I first spotted a buck chasing a lone doe. They went over a hill and pulled forward and parked. I eased around the hill and got a good view before the doe decided she wanted to run towards the truck. They stopped about 20 yards from the 2 track and about 60 yards from the truck. I watched them until they fed off. By this time I had to go take care of some business in the sage. As I was walking out a doe came hauling butt across the 2 track. I thought it was the same doe that I just watched but here comes 4 more does and another buck. I watched them go over the hill and followed them and caught up to them as they drank from a spring. The rest of the morning was uneventful and I went back to the camper for lunch.
After lunch I decided to go check out country to the south of me. It was about an hour driving before spotting the next group of pronghorns. It’s another buck with a doe. This buck is a lot better than the ones I spotted this morning. I watch them as they went up and over a hill. Driving down another 2 track I spot a white butt in grass near a dry creek bed, this group of pronghorn is 3 bucks and no does. I watch them for a while and then get back in the truck and drive right by them. The next pronghorn I see is the biggest buck of the trip and he is with a doe. I watch them for a while and mark their location. That was it for pronghorn for the evening until I get back to the camper and there is a small buck about 200 yards from the camper. Today was a good day scouting!

Total pronghorn: 16

 

[Scott85]

Called today a little early. Did a lot of driving and a lot of glassing. 64 pronghorn today and 14 mulies. Even some sage grouse.

 

[Scott85]

Lots of miles on the truck and show leather trying to turn up the big buck. Might have saw time but he was 400 yards and getting out of the country as I was driving.
Pronghorn count 14 and 8 mule deer does.

 

[perma]

Following!

 

[Scott85]

He was a fighter…

 

[Scott85]

Opening morning opened clear and cold. Sunrise found me over looking a big basin with a couple of springs. I spotted a group of pronghorns that had a pretty good buck in the group. I watched and waited thinking they would make their way to the spring. While I waited I watched a group of 14 mule deer make their way through the sage. The group was mostly does and fawns with a couple of spikes and forkies in the group. I also spotted a bigger 4x4 feeding the sage a ways off.
While I was watching the deer the pronghorn had fed into a fold in the landscape and I waited for about an hour for them to reappear but the never did. I decided to head to the fold they disappeared. When I got closer to the spring I bumped 2 does and a smaller buck but this wasn’t the group I saw earlier. I creeped up the and looked into every fold and couldn’t turn them up. As I approached the last fold a 6x6 bull went crashing out of his bed and stopped about 100 yards away. I knew there was no way I could pass him off as a pronghorn so I watched as he hightailed it out of the country. I decided to head back to the truck and try some different spots. As I made my way back to the truck I came across the same group of pronghorn I bumped from the spring.

After I got back to the truck I decided to try some areas I’ve seen pronghorn before. I will not bore with details but I had a failed stalk on an average buck. It was almost 1 and I hadn’t ate lunch so I decided I would go back to camp and have a sandwich. I was almost back to the camper when I spotted a group of pronghorns feeding at the base of a big hill. I guess there isn’t going to be any lunch for me….

 

[Scott85]

I park the truck and load up. I will have to gain some elevation to get into position. The wind isn’t the greatest blowing towards the pronghorn but blowing at least 15mph. I climb above them and get into position but the closest I can get is almost 300 yards. I watch as the bed down and I know that to get into a better position I will have have to backtrack and climb up and over and the wind will be better and it looks like I can closer.
I backtrack and start to climb and the ground is getting steeper and more rocky. As I turned the corner I realize that it’s kinda of a rocky cliff so I’m cliffed out pronghorn hunting. As I get to the top of the mountain I realize that I’m a big idiot because I could have effectively got to the position I’m headed by going back to truck and backtrack down the road. I keep on peeking over and making sure they haven’t got up or moved. I get around them and drop down to their level and start to close the gap. As I dropped down I kinda lost track of them and as I crested the last ridge before them I see a doe looking right at me!!! She starts to run and takes the group with her. I forgot to mention there are 9 pronghorns in this group. 5 does and fawns and 4 bucks. 2 of the bucks are the biggest with one buck that was clearly the dominate buck. As the run they are running towards the road and 2 does and a buck cross the road and the rest are hanging out on my side or in the road. As luck would have it a rancher pulling a horse trailer is coming down the road at the same time. This pushes the group with the 2 big bucks back towards me. They stop and feed in some green grass. I look at onx and see they are close to 900 yards off. I start to cover the ground using the landscape to get closer. I get to a point where the land flattens out and I only have small sage to hide me. I drop my pack and my tripod and mark the location and start to crawl on my hands and knees. I crawl 200 yards and get into position. I pull out my binos a couple of times to confirm the bigger buck because there is only a couple of inches separating the big buck. I pick out the larger buck and keeping tabs on him I inch closer and closer. I’m now on my belly low crawling to get into position where there is nothing obstructing the pronghorn. I get the rifle ready as the big buck walks into my shooting lane, a quick glance with the binos confirm he is the bigger buck. He turns broadside and I squeeze the trigger and I see the buck fall and the rest of pronghorn takes off. I was able to sneak to about 80 yards of the pronghorn and I hit him high because I forgot the muzzleloader was shooting 2-3” high at 100 yards.

 

[Scott85]

Now it’s onto New Mexico and Arizona next month for a multi state deer hunting extravaganza!!!

 

[p_ham]

Great job and write up!

 

[Sask hunter]

Congrats!

 

[Scott85]

I would also like to send out a big thank you to @p_ham for letting me use his muzzleloader and helping me judge bucks every evening and @BackofBeyond for also helping me judge bucks every evening as this was my first buck pronghorn hunt.

 

[BackofBeyond]

Well done Scott. Easy to help a homie pick through photos and judge when he does all the hard work of being there for 5 days ahead of time.

 

[Big Slick]

Excellent work!

 

[perma]

That buck looks like he’s seen a Model T in his lifetime. Congrats again, what a tough looking animal.

 

[CouesKelly]

Congrats on a great goat and a fun adventure! Good luck on your deer hunts.