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Semi Live Colorado Pronghorn muzzleloader 2022

QELKhunter

QELKhunter

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 22, 2020
Messages
178
Location
South Central CO
Good evening Hunt Talkers!

This is my attempt at a semi live hunt thread. This year I was lucky to draw my Colorado Muzzleloader Pronghorn hunt, season starts tomorrow September 21st! This will only be my second time ever hunting Pronghorn, last year being the first. I am hoping to take what I learned from last year and apply it to this hunt.

On last year's hunt, same season and hunt as this year, I had the opportunity to stalk several rutting Pronghorn bucks, and even got a shot on opening day. What I learned is Pronghorn are fun to chase and are also very curious. The buck I got a shot at, and missed, surprised me. I had spotted him some 500+ yards off so I dropped down into a ravine to close some distance. I got within about 250 yards of him before I ran out of cover. I watched him for maybe 30 or 40 minutes before I decided to try getting closer, as he wasn't closing any distance. What surprised me was when I started to move he quickly stood up, looked directly at and basically locked eyes with me. I instantly froze, not knowing what to do to not blow all the work I just put in, to my surprise he started running straight towards me. My heart was already pounding from fear of having just blown my "stealthy approach " but his running towards me further exacerbated my adrenaline rush. My heart was pending so hard I could hear it and feel it in my ears.

That little buck cleared all of 150 yards in a few minutes and was within shooting range for me. I ranged him at 110 yards and slowly brought my muzzleloader to my shoulder, by this time he had started to do a large circle around me, staying between 110 and 125 yards out. I had to pivot to keep him in front of me, and as I brought the muzzleloader up and placed my front bead on his shoulder I wasn't just hearing and feeling my heart pounding but I was seeing it on the tip of my barrel! I held my shot placement until I felt I had steadied myself enough to squeeze the trigger....... BOOM followed by a huge cloud of black powder smoke. I dropped to a knee to get a look under the smoke ploom. I was shocked to see that buck still standing there looking back towards me through the cloud of smoke. I "quickly" start to reload but the cloud of smoke reaches him before I can get another shot cap in. He smells the smoke and darts off.

Over the next few days I attempt a stalk in this buck again and again but this time he isn't letting me close the distance past 250 yards! I had several other bucks run up on me in a similar fashion to the day one buck, but never within my shooting range. What I learned from this was that rutting bucks or bucks that have just been pushed off a herd are curious to investigate strange people standing there looking at them completely motionless.

I also learned buck fever still gets the best of us!
 
For this year's hunt I am hunting Colorado's eastern plains. To get to get to my license unit is about a 5 hour drive for me. Nothing crazy compared to the trecks that a lot of you put in for your hunts, but still a bit of an adventure for me. With all that being said today's drive has to have been the most interesting and eventful travel day I have ever had!

I had to work this morning and intended to leave by noon, but that didn't happen.... I had to put out several dumpster fires before I could leave the office which ended up pushing my departure to 3 pm instead of noon.... okay no biggie things happen, I was hoping to get some scouting in before dark but now I'm at keast 45 minutes past sundown on an arrival time. So I start to make my treck east, having been all packed and ready to leave since yesterday. An hour into the trip I see a red Toyato 4 Runner about, 200 yards off the highway on a county road. I am not familiar with this area as I've only passed though it on said highway. But this toyota is flashing its lights and honking its horn.... So being the curious first responder I am I find the closest exit and jump on the road and head back towards the 4 Runner to see what is happening and lend a hand if needed.

As I approached the 4 Runner the driver starts to flash thier lights and honk their horn even faster.... I'm thinking how bizarre is this!! As I get closer the driver just lays on their horn nonstop.... Now I am really perplexed! So I come to a complete stop about 40 feet in front of them. This big 6'2" guy with dreads jumps out of the passenger side walks to the field directly to the passenger side of the car and starts calling for a dog. He then walks towars my truck and I roll down my window. He tells me they are looking for a lost dog, as he is telling me this the driver gets out. She is a 5' tall elderly lady also with dreads, she walks up to me and he walks away. She starts out very friendly asking if I've seen a dog and when I respond no, she then begins to question me as to why I am there. Before I can get a word in the guy pops of a few rounds into the air from a revolver. They lady starts yelling at me that I shouldn't be there and people need to mind their own F'ing business.

She then asks if I'm from around there, my response "no ma'am", I'm still watching this guy thinking should I just floor it and push past their vehicle, I never took my truck out of drive. He puts the gun away in his waist line and goes and gets back in the car. The lady then tells me to get out of here and never come back, my response "yes ma'am" she walks back to the 4 Runner gets in and drives off. I turn around and got back on the highway.

When I got back on the highway I started thinking to myself, "Damn lucky you ain't dead boy!" And then "maybe I am dead and I just don't know it yet". What a strange encounter!
 
Traveling to hunting unit continued....

From the previous incident another two hours has pasted and a lot of miles have been covered. By this time I am somewhere in eastern Colorado, far from the mountains or any vegetation taller than maybe 18 inches. The sun has already set and their is only a slight glow on the horizon. I'm moving along pretty good when I drop down in a low valley with corn fields on either side of the road. I decided to reduce my speed to well under the speed limit as I have seen white tail deer abundantly through here in the past.

I continue to travel along for sometime, the fields are either corn or some type of grain through this stretch of highway. This area tends to be very nocturnal bug dense, so I need to wash my windshield quite frequently. As I start to wash my windshield I see a flash of brown on the highway. I hit my breaks and slightly pull to the left and bearly graze the animal.... I pull to the shoulder and jump out to look at my truck to see the damage or the lack there of. I don't know what was more shocking, the fact that only the dust was brushed from my fender or that fact that it was a young bull elk that had done it! Who would have thought that elk would be living in the corn fields or Colorado's plains!

Over the next mile I saw two other bands of elk grazing the side of the road, or making their way across from one corn field to another.

But wait there is more!

I am just an hour outside my destination when I see a set of headlights sitting on the side of the road just ahead of me. I instantly know this is a State Trooper as I had just come around a bend and thought it to be a good ambush location. I wa traveling about 10 mph under the speed limit given all of the deer, elk and badgers I had seen up to this point. As I get pass the trooper two motorcycle pass me, one on the shoulder the other in the oncoming traffic lane. This whole section is a no passing zone due to all the bends and blind spots. The trooper acknowledged the bikes by quickly flashing his emergency lights, but he either knew he couldn't catch them or the risk is to high through this area to pursue. He never moved. I wasn't upset by this but did find it interesting.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful. I wa able to make it to my campsite, where I was able to write up this thread!

I will provide a follow-up sometime tomorrow. I didn't get to scout today so tomorrow may only be a scouting trip.

Goodnight all!
 
QELKhunter said:
For this year's hunt I am hunting Colorado's eastern plains. To get to get to my license unit is about a 5 hour drive for me. Nothing crazy compared to the trecks that a lot of you put in for your hunts, but still a bit of an adventure for me. With all that being said today's drive has to have been the most interesting and eventful travel day I have ever had!

I had to work this morning and intended to leave by noon, but that didn't happen.... I had to put out several dumpster fires before I could leave the office which ended up pushing my departure to 3 pm instead of noon.... okay no biggie things happen, I was hoping to get some scouting in before dark but now I'm at keast 45 minutes past sundown on an arrival time. So I start to make my treck east, having been all packed and ready to leave since yesterday. An hour into the trip I see a red Toyato 4 Runner about, 200 yards off the highway on a county road. I am not familiar with this area as I've only passed though it on said highway. But this toyota is flashing its lights and honking its horn.... So being the curious first responder I am I find the closest exit and jump on the road and head back towards the 4 Runner to see what is happening and lend a hand if needed.

As I approached the 4 Runner the driver starts to flash thier lights and honk their horn even faster.... I'm thinking how bizarre is this!! As I get closer the driver just lays on their horn nonstop.... Now I am really perplexed! So I come to a complete stop about 40 feet in front of them. This big 6'2" guy with dreads jumps out of the passenger side walks to the field directly to the passenger side of the car and starts calling for a dog. He then walks towars my truck and I roll down my window. He tells me they are looking for a lost dog, as he is telling me this the driver gets out. She is a 5' tall elderly lady also with dreads, she walks up to me and he walks away. She starts out very friendly asking if I've seen a dog and when I respond no, she then begins to question me as to why I am there. Before I can get a word in the guy pops of a few rounds into the air from a revolver. They lady starts yelling at me that I shouldn't be there and people need to mind their own F'ing business.

She then asks if I'm from around there, my response "no ma'am", I'm still watching this guy thinking should I just floor it and push past their vehicle, I never took my truck out of drive. He puts the gun away in his waist line and goes and gets back in the car. The lady then tells me to get out of here and never come back, my response "yes ma'am" she walks back to the 4 Runner gets in and drives off. I turn around and got back on the highway.

When I got back on the highway I started thinking to myself, "Damn lucky you ain't dead boy!" And then "maybe I am dead and I just don't know it yet". What a strange encounter!
Click to expand...
Heroin is a helluva drug, kids.
 
Hope you aren't in "my" spot 😂, as this is the first year I couldn't make it down before opening day.

Good luck! Following.
 
Mid morning update:

I beat the sun up this morning after getting a decent night's sleep. I headed out about 30 minutes before sunrise and wouldn't you know it not a half mile from camp I saw my first antelope. It was a lone doe but she must have been pursued during the archery hunt as she was on a dead run within seconds of spotting her. I have a buck tag so I didn't give her much of my time, only long enough to verify she didn't have any friends or better yet a suitor.

On my way to public land I passed a dandy of of buck with about a dozen does on private. I would have liked to get a better look at him but there was no shoulder room on that county road and the semi trucks were already up and at it as well. So on I went. I passed quite a few small bands of antelope all on private, heck within the first 20 minutes of NY morning I had already seen at least 50 antelope, only one of which was on public thus far but........ wouldn't you know it antelope on public land! What I was most excited about is the first band of antelope I found on public land were in the same spot I made my stalk and missed on that curious buck last year. There stands a buck with three does, not sure how to field judge antelope but his horns are at least twice as tall as his ears, and that's a shooter for me! They are about 800 yards off.
20220921_075051.jpg
I continue down the road and not a half mile I spot what I think is a massive buck, at least he looks a lot taller than the one with the does. He is gorgeous and has the cutters and curl I've dreamed of, but unfortunately someone else has already spotted him and started their stalk, so down the road I continue.... And you wouldn't believe it but more lone bucks are found. Two to be exact, just 20 or 30 yards off the road. But these guys are small bodied with horns not much l
Taller than their ears, so they are a pass.

There is one more spot I want to check before I go back and make a stalk on the first group. When I get to the other spot I find a massive herd of antelope, there has to be 20-30 does all being pushed by one buck. He has them on the run in the opposite direction of me so I just sit and watch them as they dissappear over the hill. He was comparable to the buck with the three does.

With that I decided the first group in the area I've previously hunted are my best options. A lot fewer eyes to bust me and a comparable buck to chase. So here I sit about 500 yards off that first group waiting for the rain to stop to start my pursuit.

Wish me luck! 🤞
 
Get after them... antelope hunting is so much fun. Never chased them with a ML but next weekend some trophy doe is coming home with me.
 
Day 1 Recap:

We will chalk day one up as a scouting day as that is what most of the day ended up being.

To pick up from where the morning update left off. After scouting the better part of the morning and having put eyes on at least 50 Pronghorn Antelope I decide my best setup was on the morning buck with three does. I returned to where I had left them and they hand only moved about 300 yards farther south than where I had last seen them.

The buck must have convinced the doe he was chasing all morning that it's best for her to just give in already. He wasn't chasing her anymore if you catch my drift. After watching him mount her no less than three times I decided to make the stalk. The setup is they are about 850 yards to the south of my walkin point. To either side of them there are small hills, and when I say small I mean you gain 5-10 feet at best. The wind and light rain are blowing at a west by northwest direction. The hill to the west of them has a small divit or saddle about even with them and a water tank directly west of it on the west sloping side.

I decide my play is to walk the fence line to the west, drop down behind the hill and walk in 850-900 yards to be directly parallel with them. By this time the wind is really starting to rip but the rain has let up and their is a break in the clouds. So I execute the plan and head on out. Being on the west slope of the hill gave me really good wind protection and allowed me to cover the distance in a stealthy amount of time. When I get to the saddle in the hill I start the army crawl to the ridge.

As I make the ridge I find that there is a ditch that has been cut to lay a waterline to the tank about 100 yards directly behind me. There is also a well worn cattle train leading to the tank right through the saddle in the hill. I decide this is the best place to setup as it's about 2pm and my thoughts were the antelope would need a drink sooner rather than later given their morning activities.

So it setup behind the burn of the ditch, in the saddle of the hill, dead center in the cow path. The burn gives me perfect cover and the cow path gives me a clear vantage point clear of grass or weeds. The buck and his does are still lying where they were when I started to walk in. The buck is farthest from me and laying with the wind to his back, basically facing me. I pull the range finder out and try to get a range, first reading was 506 and the second 610. So he's in that range give or take 100 yards.
20220921_124657.jpg

From a prone position I watched and waited for about 35 minutes before he stood up. He walked around checking his does, taking a pee and then returning to his bedding spot. I watched him for another 15 minutes before he decided to stand. This time he chased his does from their beds and started them in my direction.... water time!
20220921_131500.jpg
In the span of 10 minutes him and his does are within about 250 yards of me and heading directly for me! Over the next few minutes the does decide they want to head my way a bit faster than he does. Turns out there is another buck to the south of him, and he is being sure to keep the does ahead of him. The does close the distance on me and before I know it they are at 40, 30, 20....10 yards from me. The problem is they left the buck some 150 yards behind them! He is still 160+ yards out. What to do, what to do.

I was trapped..... absolutely stuck. Does at 30 feet or less walking right to me, straight down the cow path nowhere for me to go. The lead down busted me trying to get a range on the buck as it was the only thing I couldn't think to do. As soon as she saw my arm move to bring the range finder up she was booking it to the south. The other does didn't wait to see what she was running from and took off right behind her. Mean while the buck is too busy looking back at the other buck. When he sees his ladies on a dead run in the direction of the other buck he cuts then off, or tries to at least. They end of doing a 45 degree south by south west loop. The buck never got closer than 150 yards and that's well past my muzzleloader skills.
20220921_130407.jpg
Still think he was a dandy of a buck, and I had a blast making that stalk!

I spent the rest of the day scouting up other herds but was never able to find a setup that would work in the remaining day light I had. I ended up marking 3 herds to check in the morning along with 2 lone bucks.

Till tomorrow folks!
 
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