The veil has been opened! 1/11

[perma]

I put a lot of pressure on myself on this hunt. I made myself sick the past few days just preparing. Physically and gear-wise I’m ready. Trying to prep mentally but it’s tough. I have a lot of expectations for myself to make this work. So much that I had to resight in my gun once more to make sure. I overlapped two shots so I’m good. Just need to put the pieces together and get on the board.

Tomorrow I leave, and Thursday is opening day. Time to go.

 

[SwaggyD]

You got this!!

 

[Wyhunter]

Get it!

 

[Deleted member 52098]

I put a lot of pressure on myself on this hunt. I made myself sick the past few days just preparing. Physically and gear-wise I’m ready. Trying to prep mentally but it’s tough. I have a lot of expectations for myself to make this work. So much that I had to resight in my gun once more to make sure. I overlapped two shots so I’m good. Just need to put the pieces together and get on the board.

Tomorrow I leave, and Thursday is opening day. Time to go.

 

[perma]

I got to the ranch after supper. Odd enough that there was some rain and a pretty tough windstorm that came through. I chatted with my uncle and aunt for a bit and decided to go scouting right at sunset. It got dark so fast that I luckily was able to see 4 pronghorn.

Here’s the curveball. To my ignorance, I assumed I’d be the only one here. There is another hunter in the adjacent land. Those pronghorn are over where he’s hunting. My uncle also said that there’s only been one buck wandering around the valley. So it’s basically a rat race for the one buck and it’s either mine or his…. Let’s hope he’s a poor shot.

 

[BoulderBulls]

You got this!!

 

[Wyhunter]

Well???

 

[perma]

Well???

A punishing day.

Morning was super productive. In fact, I had sights on a buck ready to pull the trigger. The issue is he was rutting so he would not sit still long enough. Got to the point where he ran off. I stalked him for 2 hours.

The real gut punch came this evening. We drove to the end of the ranch and found a buck where we normally glass at. Tried to make a move but only got within 500 yards. When I got back to the truck, my wife noticed the other hunter I mentioned. The dude had a 75” buck run in front of his face and didn’t shoot at him. He stalked another buck for a few minutes and finally took a shot. I didn’t hear the thwack and the pronghorn didn’t react to the shot, so he loaded again and nailed him on the second one. He walked up to it flinching and took the 3rd and final shot at point blank.

I made a lot of stupid mistakes this evening so watching him kill it was my punishment. Don’t leave pronghorn to find pronghorn!

Tomorrow is another day.

 

[Wyhunter]

A punishing day.

Morning was super productive. In fact, I had sights on a buck ready to pull the trigger. The issue is he was rutting so he would not sit still long enough. Got to the point where he ran off. I stalked him for 2 hours.

The real gut punch came this evening. We drove to the end of the ranch and found a buck where we normally glass at. Tried to make a move but only got within 500 yards. When I got back to the truck, my wife noticed the other hunter I mentioned. The dude had a 75” buck run in front of his face and didn’t shoot at him. He stalked another buck for a few minutes and finally took a shot. I didn’t hear the thwack and the pronghorn didn’t react to the shot, so he loaded again and nailed him on the second one. He walked up to it flinching and took the 3rd and final shot at point blank.

I made a lot of stupid mistakes this evening so watching him kill it was my punishment. Don’t leave pronghorn to find pronghorn!

Tomorrow is another day.

Good luck Tomorrow! Sounds like there are a few bucks in the area. Looking forward to your pictures!

 

[Trevlist]

Following

 

[perma]

!!!!!!!

 

[SwaggyD]

!!!!!!!

Yes!!!!’ Can’t wait to hear!!!

 

[steveshuntn1]

!!!!!!!

 

[perma]

I should preface this post by stating that this was ugly. Not at all what I pictured in my head.

But the streak is over. Pronghorn is down.

So we go out to our glassing spot in the morning. I needed to go to the bathroom and I don’t defile private land, so back to the house I go. My wife told me to take the truck but I wanted to walk. I walk a half mile and do what I gotta do.

On the way back I look to my right and I see a pronghorn. I can’t make out if it’s a buck so I get to the truck and glass it, head down I saw the horns. I load the gun and off I go.

He’s feeding away from me so I hustle and get prone off my backpack. I fired at him. Hit him and he went down, but his back leg buckled. I start to reload as he got up. He wasn’t walking fast so I ran up and took a shot. Missed.

I run back to the truck to get more powder and run back to him, got prone again and shot, bucked again but couldn’t get up now. He was by a fence so he was pinned. I walked up to him and he unfortunately was still alive. I loaded my final bullet to send him off.

I won’t post the grip and grin because of how bad the shot was but here’s the collateral. Not the biggest buck, but that means I can’t go anywhere but up!

Changing post title. I am now a big game hunter.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Way to stick with it. Now you know it is possible. Go do it again.

 

[Flatbrimmer]

On the board baby!!! You’ll only get smarter, better, more intuitive, more patient, more selective, and so on. Proud to get to see your first big game tag filled. What an accomplishment. Now let’s see a couple more this season!!!

 

[BackofBeyond]

Broke the seal now... no going back.

Congrats, I'm happy for you bud.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Congrats on the punched tag. Your perseverance paid off! Not giving up is probably the single biggest factor in being successful. Way to stick with it.

They aren’t all pretty, even when you’ve got plenty under your belt. You will forever be learning things you can do better, and just when you think you’ve got it all figured out one comes along and humbles you. Take your lessons and keep going.

Hope you have many more successful hunts in the future!

 

[Valley1320]

Congrats!!!!!

 

[kansasdad]

Cherry popped!!

Congratulations and happy eating. My wife says the backstrap from the sous vide and seared is the best steak she’s ever had.