dcoryn
Well-known member
This antelope hunt started back in the application period this spring. An old co-worker of mine called me asking about a fun area to take his daughter antelope hunting in for her first goat, I told him to have her apply for the same area I have hunted the last two years. She just wanted to have a fun hunt without too much pressure and a chance at a good goat.
Fast forward a few months and luckily we both drew the tag. We made a plan to head over to the area for the first Saturday of the season to hunt it together.
As luck would have it, her and her father were in another part of the state for a soccer tournament for his other daughter but they were able to drive up from there and meet me at 6am in our hunt area.
We drove into the hunting area and for the first 45 minutes we didn't spot a single goat. I was a little worried but there was plenty of goat sign around so I figured they had to be there somewhere. As we crested a ridge we spotted a smaller buck 11-12" without much mass and two does. They were hanging out pretty close and would have been an easy shot but I knew we could do better. Further into the area we spotted 3-4 more bucks but nothing that appeared to be above average. We finally got to the far end of the unit and I spotted what appeared to be a solid buck and about 15 does on a side hill in the perfect spot to stalk. We got out of the truck and started up the hill (I should probably say that his daughter was in a walking boot from a motorcycle induced ankle injury on Wednesday of that week), as we crawled to the top of the hill we could clearly see all of the antelope and they had not spotted us yet. I ranged the buck at 334 yards and my friends daughter was plenty comfortable to take that shot with as much time as she needed to settle in for the shot. The shot was about to break when all the goats started staring back down towards the road at what I assumed was another truck full of hunters that we could not see. The buck ran about 50 more yards and ended up stopping broadside at 384 yards which is a bit of a poke for 14 year old girl but she said she was confident and could hold the cross hairs steady on the buck. She shot and we all thought she missed, the buck ran back to his original spot at about 330 yards and stopped again. Right then I noticed him wobble and before I could say that she had hit him she shot again dropping him in his tracks. She hobbled her way over to him and we were impressed with her shots and the character the buck had. He was a solid 13" goat with a double cutter on the left horn and 3-4 extra knobs on the inside and backs of the sheaths, he even had a little tiny horn on the bridge of his nose. We quickly took some photos and quartered the goat to get it back to the truck and on ice.
Driving back to the central part of the area we were flagged down by the game warden and he checked her tags, congratulated her on the hunt and took her photo with the buck. The warden aged her buck at just over 4 years old and it was a great interaction for a young hunter.
After our visit with the warden we started exploring the unit trying to find a better than average buck to put a stalk on. We probably glassed up a dozen or so nearly identical 11-12" goats that were pretty unremarkable. Hunting pressure was increasing as it got later in the morning and we decided to head deeper into the unit on a two track. I found a reservoir that I suspected might still be holding water despite the drought and we pointed the truck in that direction. It probably took close to an hour to get back to that general vicinity and we hadn't seen a goat since we left the main road. We got down in a drainage and jumped yet another average looking goat that had good height and average mass and cutters. As I was glassing him I saw a flash of another buck running over the hill and into the same drainage we were in. All I could tell is that he was quite a bit heavier than any buck we had seen all day and he had good cutter length. I got out ahead of him in the drainage and waited for him to work his way towards the point I was setup on. Both bucks appeared simultaneously and I had to quickly figure out which one was the shooter. He stopped broadside/slightly quartering away at 200-225 yards and i center punched him, he took about three steps and was dead right there. I was pleasantly surprised once I got over to him and realized how nice he was. Definitely the best buck we had seen all day. We took photos, quartered him up and got him on ice quickly. He was 14" long with good mass and ended up scoring about 72.5"
We headed back to town and enjoyed a couple good pizzas for lunch. My buddy headed back down to the soccer tournament to catch his other daughters second game of the day and I took the other back to our town to her Grandpas ranch to try and find a mule deer. Her uncle was there when we arrived and we quickly threw her meat and cape into a walk in cooler and she hopped into the truck with her uncle to find a buck. About 45 minutes later she had knocked down a solid 4x4 muley, quite a way to end a day of hunting I'd say.
Hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for reading!
Ive been fortunate the last three years to knock down some great goats on 3 quick one day hunts in this area. Helping my friends daughter get her first was just icing on the cake for this years hunt.
Fast forward a few months and luckily we both drew the tag. We made a plan to head over to the area for the first Saturday of the season to hunt it together.
As luck would have it, her and her father were in another part of the state for a soccer tournament for his other daughter but they were able to drive up from there and meet me at 6am in our hunt area.
We drove into the hunting area and for the first 45 minutes we didn't spot a single goat. I was a little worried but there was plenty of goat sign around so I figured they had to be there somewhere. As we crested a ridge we spotted a smaller buck 11-12" without much mass and two does. They were hanging out pretty close and would have been an easy shot but I knew we could do better. Further into the area we spotted 3-4 more bucks but nothing that appeared to be above average. We finally got to the far end of the unit and I spotted what appeared to be a solid buck and about 15 does on a side hill in the perfect spot to stalk. We got out of the truck and started up the hill (I should probably say that his daughter was in a walking boot from a motorcycle induced ankle injury on Wednesday of that week), as we crawled to the top of the hill we could clearly see all of the antelope and they had not spotted us yet. I ranged the buck at 334 yards and my friends daughter was plenty comfortable to take that shot with as much time as she needed to settle in for the shot. The shot was about to break when all the goats started staring back down towards the road at what I assumed was another truck full of hunters that we could not see. The buck ran about 50 more yards and ended up stopping broadside at 384 yards which is a bit of a poke for 14 year old girl but she said she was confident and could hold the cross hairs steady on the buck. She shot and we all thought she missed, the buck ran back to his original spot at about 330 yards and stopped again. Right then I noticed him wobble and before I could say that she had hit him she shot again dropping him in his tracks. She hobbled her way over to him and we were impressed with her shots and the character the buck had. He was a solid 13" goat with a double cutter on the left horn and 3-4 extra knobs on the inside and backs of the sheaths, he even had a little tiny horn on the bridge of his nose. We quickly took some photos and quartered the goat to get it back to the truck and on ice.
Driving back to the central part of the area we were flagged down by the game warden and he checked her tags, congratulated her on the hunt and took her photo with the buck. The warden aged her buck at just over 4 years old and it was a great interaction for a young hunter.
After our visit with the warden we started exploring the unit trying to find a better than average buck to put a stalk on. We probably glassed up a dozen or so nearly identical 11-12" goats that were pretty unremarkable. Hunting pressure was increasing as it got later in the morning and we decided to head deeper into the unit on a two track. I found a reservoir that I suspected might still be holding water despite the drought and we pointed the truck in that direction. It probably took close to an hour to get back to that general vicinity and we hadn't seen a goat since we left the main road. We got down in a drainage and jumped yet another average looking goat that had good height and average mass and cutters. As I was glassing him I saw a flash of another buck running over the hill and into the same drainage we were in. All I could tell is that he was quite a bit heavier than any buck we had seen all day and he had good cutter length. I got out ahead of him in the drainage and waited for him to work his way towards the point I was setup on. Both bucks appeared simultaneously and I had to quickly figure out which one was the shooter. He stopped broadside/slightly quartering away at 200-225 yards and i center punched him, he took about three steps and was dead right there. I was pleasantly surprised once I got over to him and realized how nice he was. Definitely the best buck we had seen all day. We took photos, quartered him up and got him on ice quickly. He was 14" long with good mass and ended up scoring about 72.5"
We headed back to town and enjoyed a couple good pizzas for lunch. My buddy headed back down to the soccer tournament to catch his other daughters second game of the day and I took the other back to our town to her Grandpas ranch to try and find a mule deer. Her uncle was there when we arrived and we quickly threw her meat and cape into a walk in cooler and she hopped into the truck with her uncle to find a buck. About 45 minutes later she had knocked down a solid 4x4 muley, quite a way to end a day of hunting I'd say.
Hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for reading!
Ive been fortunate the last three years to knock down some great goats on 3 quick one day hunts in this area. Helping my friends daughter get her first was just icing on the cake for this years hunt.
