A day on the high plains
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Snake River Marksman
- 3 point
- Posts: 382
- Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:52 am
- Location: Etna, Wyoming
A day on the high plains
First Antelope Doe ‘07
One of the things I like best about hunting antelope is that it doesn’t have to be high adventure or particularly strenuous. It can be a very relaxed, easy hunt. Today’s hunt was just that. I’ve been working quite a bit, and hunting deer and elk, which involves a great deal of climbing. I had two doe antelope tags that had yet to be filled, and the weather in the areas where the deer and elk seasons are open was pretty miserable, so I decided to chase some sun and take a “working” vacation, and try and get in a nice easy antelope hunt.
I slept in till six and made coffee, read a chapter of a Ken Follet novel while I drank the coffee then threw some minimal gear in the truck and started the two hour drive to my doe/fawn unit. I arrived at the near edge of my unit at 0958. There were half a dozen muley does and a fork horned buck standing 50yds off the road. The deer season for this unit was safely closed two days behind them.
I drove to a high point and looked out over the basin. Amazingly there was nothing in sight. I put the 8x glasses to my eyes and began to scan. Almost immediately I started seeing small bands of antelope. I removed the glasses and confirmed that without them, even knowing exactly where to look, I couldn’t see the antelope that were grazing and bedded out across the basin. I don’t know why I keep having to learn this lesson: Just because you can’t see it with the naked eye, doesn’t mean it isn’t out there. I found a couple of does down by the creek that snakes its way through the bottom of the basin. There were several two tracks farther up the basin that would allow me to drive down unobserved, and then the creek bed would allow me enough cover to stalk within easy rifle range of the antelope. It might even allow me to get close enough to try and take one with my Dan Wesson 357 revolver. On my final binocular sweep, I noticed a couple of antelope that were closer to me. I studied the terrain around them and decided that I could easily get within rifle range, and PROBABLY could get within pistol range. I’d give them a try.
I backed off the hill side, and headed to the small saddle that would allow me to hide the truck and walk an easy, discreet path that would be out of site behind a large hill, that should put me within a short, well covered stalk of the antelope. As I drove along, the gravel road, I checked all of the two tracks that I passed to judge whether they were dry enough to allow me to drive down and retrieve my antelope once it had been shot. It had rained off and on all week before, and it had snowed an inch in my yard and 6 inches on the mountain tops above. On the north side of any sage bush above a foot tall, a fine skiff of snow lay on the cooler ground. The last thing I wanted was for my nice easy antelope hunt to become a strenuous truck recovery effort. So far, the two tracks looked passable.
Before I reached my intended destination, I came across a Subaru Legacy. I immediately put two and two together and got “Someone is down there stalking my band of goats.” I continued on to a spot where I could see the ground between me and the antelope and sure enough, there was someone in a blaze orange hat, just about in shooting position. The antelope were looking over him, at me, and I decided that my being parked in a visible position beyond the other hunter might blow his stalk so I moved down the road.
Rounding a bend about a mile down the road put a small ridge between he and I, and it brought another band of antelope into view. Glassing the terrain around them showed that I should be able to keep a small ridge between them and me, until I could drop into the creek bed and then sneak into what looked to be pistol range. I drove the truck farther up the road and parked it in a low spot out of sight of the antelope. The season is a week old here and antelope can get mighty nervous about a parked truck, even if it is a mile away.
Exiting the truck, the first thing I noticed was the aromatic smell of sage. That may be the best part of hunting on the prairie. I grabbed my pistol, and my rifle, closed the truck and headed down hill. I kept the small ridge between me and the antelope and made it all the way to the bottom before I finally came into view of a lone buck. Thinking about it for just a moment I walked purposefully directly in view of the antelope buck and jumped down the three feet into the bottom of the mostly dry creek bed. I then ducked below the edge of the creek bed and hurried along towards the rest of the band. I never even paused to look back at that buck. Either he spooked or he didn’t, either way there wasn’t really a choice, or a thing I could do about so I figured I might as well pretend I wasn’t hunting while I was in his view and trust to a little luck. I guess it worked…. I followed the snaking water course in the general direction of the antelope band and suddenly heard a shot. It was quite aways away and came from the direction of that other hunter. One shot, one shot only. I figured he was successful. I hoped he was. Sticking my head over the rim of the creek bed, I spotted first one, then another antelope buck. “dang” I thought to myself “there’s never a doe around when you need one.” On my second peek over the lip, I spotted three does. “Ahhh” I said to myself, the object of my desire. I looked over their direction of travel, the available cover between me and them, (the creek bed was rather shallow here at about one and a half feet and muddy) and decided that I could get just a tad closer. I made the move and unlimbered the Dan Wesson. I watched the antelope amble closer, and when they paused in a reasonable shooting lane, I lined up the sights on the lead doe. I was just thumbing the hammer back, when they began to move again, working just about parallel around my position. They paused again, just about 75yds out, I began the sight process again using a small hump for a wrist rest. Just as I reached full readiness, they began to move again, this time at an angle away from me. Curses! They had been just at the farthest range I was comfortable with, I still had another tag, and I don’t know how much more time I could devote to antelope, what with elk and deer seasons in, and the long range weather looking pretty damp, so I transitioned to the 6.5x55 Swede rifle and shot the first antelope in the line.
Allow me to say right here, that a 6.5mm 139gr bullet traveling at near max velocity kills antelope a whole lot deader than they need to be. My concept for this rifle for quite some time has been “truck gun” My plan was to find a good elk bullet for it, and then use it for everything from coyotes to, well, elk. That way I could use it as a loaner rifle, or just have it ready, in the truck, if I was to suddenly find myself with a open tag, and a few hours to kill one day. I think the plan is going to be amended to find a lighter load for coyotes and antelope that shoots to the same point of impact as that 139gr soft point. We’ll have to see how that goes. In light of the original concept, having the heavy bullet that works well isn’t a bad predicament to be in.
The bullet hit behind the last rib and traveled about sixteen inches diagonally across the body, kind of high, tearing a good furrow across the top of the stomach, through the diaphragm into the liver, and the lungs before exiting about six inches behind the shoulder. I’d have been happier to miss that stomach, but there it is. The antelope ran about twenty yards before its hind legs gave out and it tumbled over backwards in that strange way that antelope do.
I climbed out of the creek bottom and went to claim my antelope. Looking around I saw the other hunter, a mile or more away, working on his antelope. He was going to have one very long uphill drag. The two tracks had just about enough ruts and run off crossings that his Subaru wasn’t going to get down from the road to where that antelope was. I decided that if he was still over there when I drove down to get mine I’d haul it up for him.
The other guy was already half way up the hill, without his antelope, when I started up the hill for the truck. I was down the hill, and had my antelope loaded, and he still wasn’t in sight. I started to drive over, but thought better of it. I drove up to the road, and met him in his Subaru coming the other way. We stopped and I told him to park that car, and I’d give him a ride down and we’d load his antelope and drive it up to his car. He’d shot a nice doe with a radio tracking collar on it. He said he hadn’t noticed the collar until he walked up to the dead antelope. I could believe it. The collar was brown, not overly large, and it wouldn’t have been where I was looking either. He’d give it over to the Game and Fish guys at the checking station in Daniel Junction on his way back to Jackson.
So, it was a nice easy, relaxing antelope hunt. I’d slept in (boy did I need that!) I’d left the house at eight or so, got to my hunting area at ten, had my antelope on the ground by eleven oh five and would have been on the road by noon if I hadn’t gone back to assist Lloyd. ( No, I didn’t mind) As it was, I was home by three, and had the antelope cut up, but not wrapped and frozen, by six. I even cooked back straps on the charcoal for dinner.
I wonder what Warren Buffet and the other poor people up at Crescent H ranch in Jackson did today?
One of the things I like best about hunting antelope is that it doesn’t have to be high adventure or particularly strenuous. It can be a very relaxed, easy hunt. Today’s hunt was just that. I’ve been working quite a bit, and hunting deer and elk, which involves a great deal of climbing. I had two doe antelope tags that had yet to be filled, and the weather in the areas where the deer and elk seasons are open was pretty miserable, so I decided to chase some sun and take a “working” vacation, and try and get in a nice easy antelope hunt.
I slept in till six and made coffee, read a chapter of a Ken Follet novel while I drank the coffee then threw some minimal gear in the truck and started the two hour drive to my doe/fawn unit. I arrived at the near edge of my unit at 0958. There were half a dozen muley does and a fork horned buck standing 50yds off the road. The deer season for this unit was safely closed two days behind them.
I drove to a high point and looked out over the basin. Amazingly there was nothing in sight. I put the 8x glasses to my eyes and began to scan. Almost immediately I started seeing small bands of antelope. I removed the glasses and confirmed that without them, even knowing exactly where to look, I couldn’t see the antelope that were grazing and bedded out across the basin. I don’t know why I keep having to learn this lesson: Just because you can’t see it with the naked eye, doesn’t mean it isn’t out there. I found a couple of does down by the creek that snakes its way through the bottom of the basin. There were several two tracks farther up the basin that would allow me to drive down unobserved, and then the creek bed would allow me enough cover to stalk within easy rifle range of the antelope. It might even allow me to get close enough to try and take one with my Dan Wesson 357 revolver. On my final binocular sweep, I noticed a couple of antelope that were closer to me. I studied the terrain around them and decided that I could easily get within rifle range, and PROBABLY could get within pistol range. I’d give them a try.
I backed off the hill side, and headed to the small saddle that would allow me to hide the truck and walk an easy, discreet path that would be out of site behind a large hill, that should put me within a short, well covered stalk of the antelope. As I drove along, the gravel road, I checked all of the two tracks that I passed to judge whether they were dry enough to allow me to drive down and retrieve my antelope once it had been shot. It had rained off and on all week before, and it had snowed an inch in my yard and 6 inches on the mountain tops above. On the north side of any sage bush above a foot tall, a fine skiff of snow lay on the cooler ground. The last thing I wanted was for my nice easy antelope hunt to become a strenuous truck recovery effort. So far, the two tracks looked passable.
Before I reached my intended destination, I came across a Subaru Legacy. I immediately put two and two together and got “Someone is down there stalking my band of goats.” I continued on to a spot where I could see the ground between me and the antelope and sure enough, there was someone in a blaze orange hat, just about in shooting position. The antelope were looking over him, at me, and I decided that my being parked in a visible position beyond the other hunter might blow his stalk so I moved down the road.
Rounding a bend about a mile down the road put a small ridge between he and I, and it brought another band of antelope into view. Glassing the terrain around them showed that I should be able to keep a small ridge between them and me, until I could drop into the creek bed and then sneak into what looked to be pistol range. I drove the truck farther up the road and parked it in a low spot out of sight of the antelope. The season is a week old here and antelope can get mighty nervous about a parked truck, even if it is a mile away.
Exiting the truck, the first thing I noticed was the aromatic smell of sage. That may be the best part of hunting on the prairie. I grabbed my pistol, and my rifle, closed the truck and headed down hill. I kept the small ridge between me and the antelope and made it all the way to the bottom before I finally came into view of a lone buck. Thinking about it for just a moment I walked purposefully directly in view of the antelope buck and jumped down the three feet into the bottom of the mostly dry creek bed. I then ducked below the edge of the creek bed and hurried along towards the rest of the band. I never even paused to look back at that buck. Either he spooked or he didn’t, either way there wasn’t really a choice, or a thing I could do about so I figured I might as well pretend I wasn’t hunting while I was in his view and trust to a little luck. I guess it worked…. I followed the snaking water course in the general direction of the antelope band and suddenly heard a shot. It was quite aways away and came from the direction of that other hunter. One shot, one shot only. I figured he was successful. I hoped he was. Sticking my head over the rim of the creek bed, I spotted first one, then another antelope buck. “dang” I thought to myself “there’s never a doe around when you need one.” On my second peek over the lip, I spotted three does. “Ahhh” I said to myself, the object of my desire. I looked over their direction of travel, the available cover between me and them, (the creek bed was rather shallow here at about one and a half feet and muddy) and decided that I could get just a tad closer. I made the move and unlimbered the Dan Wesson. I watched the antelope amble closer, and when they paused in a reasonable shooting lane, I lined up the sights on the lead doe. I was just thumbing the hammer back, when they began to move again, working just about parallel around my position. They paused again, just about 75yds out, I began the sight process again using a small hump for a wrist rest. Just as I reached full readiness, they began to move again, this time at an angle away from me. Curses! They had been just at the farthest range I was comfortable with, I still had another tag, and I don’t know how much more time I could devote to antelope, what with elk and deer seasons in, and the long range weather looking pretty damp, so I transitioned to the 6.5x55 Swede rifle and shot the first antelope in the line.
Allow me to say right here, that a 6.5mm 139gr bullet traveling at near max velocity kills antelope a whole lot deader than they need to be. My concept for this rifle for quite some time has been “truck gun” My plan was to find a good elk bullet for it, and then use it for everything from coyotes to, well, elk. That way I could use it as a loaner rifle, or just have it ready, in the truck, if I was to suddenly find myself with a open tag, and a few hours to kill one day. I think the plan is going to be amended to find a lighter load for coyotes and antelope that shoots to the same point of impact as that 139gr soft point. We’ll have to see how that goes. In light of the original concept, having the heavy bullet that works well isn’t a bad predicament to be in.
The bullet hit behind the last rib and traveled about sixteen inches diagonally across the body, kind of high, tearing a good furrow across the top of the stomach, through the diaphragm into the liver, and the lungs before exiting about six inches behind the shoulder. I’d have been happier to miss that stomach, but there it is. The antelope ran about twenty yards before its hind legs gave out and it tumbled over backwards in that strange way that antelope do.
I climbed out of the creek bottom and went to claim my antelope. Looking around I saw the other hunter, a mile or more away, working on his antelope. He was going to have one very long uphill drag. The two tracks had just about enough ruts and run off crossings that his Subaru wasn’t going to get down from the road to where that antelope was. I decided that if he was still over there when I drove down to get mine I’d haul it up for him.
The other guy was already half way up the hill, without his antelope, when I started up the hill for the truck. I was down the hill, and had my antelope loaded, and he still wasn’t in sight. I started to drive over, but thought better of it. I drove up to the road, and met him in his Subaru coming the other way. We stopped and I told him to park that car, and I’d give him a ride down and we’d load his antelope and drive it up to his car. He’d shot a nice doe with a radio tracking collar on it. He said he hadn’t noticed the collar until he walked up to the dead antelope. I could believe it. The collar was brown, not overly large, and it wouldn’t have been where I was looking either. He’d give it over to the Game and Fish guys at the checking station in Daniel Junction on his way back to Jackson.
So, it was a nice easy, relaxing antelope hunt. I’d slept in (boy did I need that!) I’d left the house at eight or so, got to my hunting area at ten, had my antelope on the ground by eleven oh five and would have been on the road by noon if I hadn’t gone back to assist Lloyd. ( No, I didn’t mind) As it was, I was home by three, and had the antelope cut up, but not wrapped and frozen, by six. I even cooked back straps on the charcoal for dinner.
I wonder what Warren Buffet and the other poor people up at Crescent H ranch in Jackson did today?
Stupidity is expensive
Snake, great story as usual...and CONGRATS on a successful harvest!
I would also like to say that you are my kind of hunter! A guy that will go out of his way to help another is someone I can respect.
I once had to drag a buck about 2 miles to my truck, almost completely uphill. During that drag I watched two other hunters on 4 wheelers stop and glass me not once, not twice, but three different times...but didn't even attempt to see if I needed any help. I will say this, I didn't NEED any help and got the buck back to my rig just fine. It was just the principle of the matter that bothered me.
I would also like to say that you are my kind of hunter! A guy that will go out of his way to help another is someone I can respect.
I once had to drag a buck about 2 miles to my truck, almost completely uphill. During that drag I watched two other hunters on 4 wheelers stop and glass me not once, not twice, but three different times...but didn't even attempt to see if I needed any help. I will say this, I didn't NEED any help and got the buck back to my rig just fine. It was just the principle of the matter that bothered me.
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waynedevore
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