mtlion
Well-known member
My wife and I were lucky to draw our favorite antelope tags here in MT this year after sitting last year out. The last time we had them we tagged out with two good bucks by noon and my wife took a toad of a buck with an extra prong, all with our 2 month old son in tow. This year he came along again to help out.
With temperatures forecast to be approaching 90 we were prepared with plenty of ice and coolers. We started off by starting to drive up onto my favorite glassing ridge at first light. We had only made it about halfway up when I glassed 4 or 5 antelope about a mile and a half away in the bottom of the basin below us. There was a two track passing within a couple hundred yards of them so it was a no brainer to turn around and head their way. As we got closer we could see there were two good bucks in the herd so I let my wife out with her 270 and after a couple tense minutes she squeezed off a good shot. As her buck turned to run I could see his entire shoulder turning red and knew he was done. I left her with the rig and the toddler and walked up to see if the other buck slowed down when he went over the horizon. He wasn't there but I saw her buck stone dead 75 yards from where she shot him. It ended up being a very exceptional buck for the area, over 14.5 long with good mass and cutters. I have hunted this area hard for over 20 years both archery and rifle and we may see one or two bucks a year of this caliber. Incidentally this is the same hill she killed her last big buck on.
After a quick photo session we quickly quartered and iced the meat and continued our hunt. The next several hours were very slow, I made a ton of stalks and had plenty of antelope in range but they were all does and one year old bucks. From the number of one year olds I saw I think there is a good crop coming up. Finally after driving up a rocky ridge to glass a herd I spotted we developed a flat tire which was not good as it's super rocky where we hunt and there were no tire shops nearby that could be counted on to be open the next day which was Sunday. While I was changing our tire I watched 2 other hunters shoot small bucks and spook a good buck up into some rims. So I took off after him when the tire was changed out. I wish I could tell a different story on this buck as he was very nice but after getting set up at 350 for a shot I spooked a herd of little bucks into him and they disappeared over the ridge. It turns out this was probably for the better as it was now in the high 80's, I was a mile and half from the rig with no roads to get where I was and as I discovered I somehow managed to leave my knives in the truck! If I would have killed that buck back there I would have had issues for sure. As I walked back to the rig I spied a lone buck 3/4 of a mile to a mile away, standing about 200 yards off the county road. He was standing there staring at something which turned out to be my wife and son in the truck. I watched him from afar for about 10 minutes then he slipped over the top of the ridge he was on. I marked where he had crossed in my mind and headed that way. As I hit the road there was my wife with a cooler full of cold water and after drinking my fill I went up to where the buck had disappeared. The ridge he went over parallels the county road for about 2 1/2 to 3 miles with the top of the ridge being about 300 yards from the road. On the back side is a nice little valley full of some winter wheat fields. As I peaked over the top I saw the buck walking up the bottom through the winter wheat and he was already a mile away. I quickly formed a plan and ran back to the truck. I drove way up the road thinking I would cut him off. I parked and climbed the ridge along a fence line. I looked over where I expected the buck to be and saw nothing. As I scanned the field I saw him already across the fence and past my position, 240 yards out. A solid rest on the fence, one shot and he was done. Luckily he died right in the middle of a two track and we drove right up and had him iced in minutes. I had 2 more days to hunt but with the high temps and winds forecast for the next day, having no spare tire and having an increasingly grumpy toddler along I decided this buck was good enough.
With temperatures forecast to be approaching 90 we were prepared with plenty of ice and coolers. We started off by starting to drive up onto my favorite glassing ridge at first light. We had only made it about halfway up when I glassed 4 or 5 antelope about a mile and a half away in the bottom of the basin below us. There was a two track passing within a couple hundred yards of them so it was a no brainer to turn around and head their way. As we got closer we could see there were two good bucks in the herd so I let my wife out with her 270 and after a couple tense minutes she squeezed off a good shot. As her buck turned to run I could see his entire shoulder turning red and knew he was done. I left her with the rig and the toddler and walked up to see if the other buck slowed down when he went over the horizon. He wasn't there but I saw her buck stone dead 75 yards from where she shot him. It ended up being a very exceptional buck for the area, over 14.5 long with good mass and cutters. I have hunted this area hard for over 20 years both archery and rifle and we may see one or two bucks a year of this caliber. Incidentally this is the same hill she killed her last big buck on.
After a quick photo session we quickly quartered and iced the meat and continued our hunt. The next several hours were very slow, I made a ton of stalks and had plenty of antelope in range but they were all does and one year old bucks. From the number of one year olds I saw I think there is a good crop coming up. Finally after driving up a rocky ridge to glass a herd I spotted we developed a flat tire which was not good as it's super rocky where we hunt and there were no tire shops nearby that could be counted on to be open the next day which was Sunday. While I was changing our tire I watched 2 other hunters shoot small bucks and spook a good buck up into some rims. So I took off after him when the tire was changed out. I wish I could tell a different story on this buck as he was very nice but after getting set up at 350 for a shot I spooked a herd of little bucks into him and they disappeared over the ridge. It turns out this was probably for the better as it was now in the high 80's, I was a mile and half from the rig with no roads to get where I was and as I discovered I somehow managed to leave my knives in the truck! If I would have killed that buck back there I would have had issues for sure. As I walked back to the rig I spied a lone buck 3/4 of a mile to a mile away, standing about 200 yards off the county road. He was standing there staring at something which turned out to be my wife and son in the truck. I watched him from afar for about 10 minutes then he slipped over the top of the ridge he was on. I marked where he had crossed in my mind and headed that way. As I hit the road there was my wife with a cooler full of cold water and after drinking my fill I went up to where the buck had disappeared. The ridge he went over parallels the county road for about 2 1/2 to 3 miles with the top of the ridge being about 300 yards from the road. On the back side is a nice little valley full of some winter wheat fields. As I peaked over the top I saw the buck walking up the bottom through the winter wheat and he was already a mile away. I quickly formed a plan and ran back to the truck. I drove way up the road thinking I would cut him off. I parked and climbed the ridge along a fence line. I looked over where I expected the buck to be and saw nothing. As I scanned the field I saw him already across the fence and past my position, 240 yards out. A solid rest on the fence, one shot and he was done. Luckily he died right in the middle of a two track and we drove right up and had him iced in minutes. I had 2 more days to hunt but with the high temps and winds forecast for the next day, having no spare tire and having an increasingly grumpy toddler along I decided this buck was good enough.
