JRKPintail
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2004
- Messages
- 112
- Reaction score
- 0
Here’s my hunt as it unfolded:
Day 1
Well it is September 1st and I talked to a couple of folks in Alturas as I grocery shopped and they gave me a few places to scout that they had seen some big Antelope frequenting, so I decided to spend the day checking out thoughs spots, which really deviated from my plan………..that was a mistake, as by Thursday evening I was not feeling warm and fuzzy as I did not see a single Antelope all day except on private property.
Day 2
I decided to go back to the game plan I had before I even got into town. I wanted to hunt south of Alturas and start down towards likely and work my way back towards Alturas. It had been warm in the afternoons so I knew they would need to go to water. I found a four little herds of Antelope and three what I would call shooter bucks in about three hours time. One little reservoir I found had 14 antelope come into it in about a hours period and one nice buck and two smaller bucks, but I noticed that the three bucks were chasing does all around that water hole.
I felt at that time I needed to get out of there and not spook them, so I got out of there without them knowing I was around. I scouted the rest of the morning and only saw two other hunters and they were not even close to that reservoir.
It was about 11:15 in the morning and I was just driving out of the BLM area, of which I was glad I have a Chevy Z71 with the skid plates because it was some of the roughest roads I have ever been on, of which thoughs skid plates came in handy in deflecting rocks on three different occasions. Some of thoughs roads were just brutal. I was almost to the cattle guard and about ½ a mile from hwy.395 when something caught my eye…..it was a beast of a buck with huge mass and I bet he was 15 inches. He just stood there and stared at me at about 250yards away…….what a beautiful animal.
That evening I decided to head up into devils garden and into the Fairchild swamp area and look around. I saw two bucks all evening and the wind was just howling all afternoon. The one buck was a tiny guy and the other was out feeding with the cows, and he was a nice Antelope but nothing to get real excited about.
Day 3….Opening and Final Hunt Day
I decided that I was going to hunt the reservoir south of town that I had seen good numbers of Antelope on the day prior, but that I needed to get in there before sun up as to beat the animals to the water. From what I could tell they were walking down the bluff and spending all night in the alfalfa field and then they were coming to water in the morning. I parked about 1mile and a half away as to not let the antelope see my red truck when the sun came up. I was able to keep the wind in my face and I knew the sun would rise at my back. When it started to get light there were no animals on the water hole, so I felt I was in good shape and not another hunter around for miles which surprised me since I was on BLM land. I had only been sitting for about 20 minutes when I spotted my first two Antelope coming into the water. It was a buck and a doe and they were about 800 yards away and coming right for me. They got to about 500 yards away and were in the barren land between the sage and where the water on the pond had receded. They were browsing on the green vegetation around the pond and drinking, when all of a sudden this coyote jump out of the sage and starts chasing them, they start running away back towards the bluff with the coyote giving chase about 25 yards behind them and they disappear over the bluff. I couldn’t believe what I just saw, and now the big question to myself was did that coyote just spook everything coming up that bluff. For the next hour I didn’t see anything except honkers flying over, I decided things weren’t looking good as all the animals I had see the day prior had already been there by that time yesterday. I grabbed my stuff and thought I better try to go find that buck I had seen in the late morning on Friday. I got about half way back to the truck and something told me turn around, and I looked back and here came 4 antelope into the water hole I just left. I could believe it…..how do things work out like that.
I started working my way back to the water hole keeping what was a column of rocks in a corner of a BLM fence between me and the antelope. I was able to get all the way back to that corner and use that 4 foot high column of rocks as a blind. They were about 500 yards out at this time and closing the distance slowly by browsing and drinking. There were 3 does and a buck and one of the does was in heat as that buck was chasing her all over the place. He would chase her 20 or 30 yards then he’d break off her and go back and herd the other two back up to where she was, and then he’d chase her again and then go back and get the other two does and group everyone up again.
They were about 300 yards out and I decided I was going to shoot this buck if given a chance. They got to within 200 to 250 yards and he decided to chase the one doe again and she comes running right towards me. They stopped about 100 yards out but he turned and ran right back to the other two does never give me a shot. I glance at the doe he had been chasing and she’s starring right at me…..now I know if I’m going to shoot I better shoot right now before she alerts them. Rather then use my steady sticks I had decided I was going to use the rock column as my rest. The buck was working the two does back in my direction when he stopped just for a second broad side and I clicked off the safety and I let that bullet fly out of my 300 win mag at 176 yards, and what a crack that bullet made when I hit my buck. He hunched up and took two steps and down he went. My shot was a little low, but it got the bottom of the heart and both lungs.
There wasn’t a sole around for miles and I yelled he’s down he’s down.
He’s not a monster, but he’s a trophy to me, especially since he’s my first antelope…..he’s 12 3/4'” on the right and 12 ½” on the left with a non- typical point coming out of the back of the left horn about an inch long.
He went to the taxidermist on Tuesday and I can wait to get him back.
Even though I shoot him on a reservoir that no one on Jessie’s ever said a word about it was a lot of good folks that helped put me in the right area, and I thank you all very much. I would also like to thank (One Track – Brent) for not purchasing his tag since when this all started I was first alternate on the outside looking in.
Take care,
Jim
Had to figure out my camera's timer for this one:
Right after the shot
Not just for hauling decoys anymore:
Day 1
Well it is September 1st and I talked to a couple of folks in Alturas as I grocery shopped and they gave me a few places to scout that they had seen some big Antelope frequenting, so I decided to spend the day checking out thoughs spots, which really deviated from my plan………..that was a mistake, as by Thursday evening I was not feeling warm and fuzzy as I did not see a single Antelope all day except on private property.
Day 2
I decided to go back to the game plan I had before I even got into town. I wanted to hunt south of Alturas and start down towards likely and work my way back towards Alturas. It had been warm in the afternoons so I knew they would need to go to water. I found a four little herds of Antelope and three what I would call shooter bucks in about three hours time. One little reservoir I found had 14 antelope come into it in about a hours period and one nice buck and two smaller bucks, but I noticed that the three bucks were chasing does all around that water hole.
I felt at that time I needed to get out of there and not spook them, so I got out of there without them knowing I was around. I scouted the rest of the morning and only saw two other hunters and they were not even close to that reservoir.
It was about 11:15 in the morning and I was just driving out of the BLM area, of which I was glad I have a Chevy Z71 with the skid plates because it was some of the roughest roads I have ever been on, of which thoughs skid plates came in handy in deflecting rocks on three different occasions. Some of thoughs roads were just brutal. I was almost to the cattle guard and about ½ a mile from hwy.395 when something caught my eye…..it was a beast of a buck with huge mass and I bet he was 15 inches. He just stood there and stared at me at about 250yards away…….what a beautiful animal.
That evening I decided to head up into devils garden and into the Fairchild swamp area and look around. I saw two bucks all evening and the wind was just howling all afternoon. The one buck was a tiny guy and the other was out feeding with the cows, and he was a nice Antelope but nothing to get real excited about.
Day 3….Opening and Final Hunt Day
I decided that I was going to hunt the reservoir south of town that I had seen good numbers of Antelope on the day prior, but that I needed to get in there before sun up as to beat the animals to the water. From what I could tell they were walking down the bluff and spending all night in the alfalfa field and then they were coming to water in the morning. I parked about 1mile and a half away as to not let the antelope see my red truck when the sun came up. I was able to keep the wind in my face and I knew the sun would rise at my back. When it started to get light there were no animals on the water hole, so I felt I was in good shape and not another hunter around for miles which surprised me since I was on BLM land. I had only been sitting for about 20 minutes when I spotted my first two Antelope coming into the water. It was a buck and a doe and they were about 800 yards away and coming right for me. They got to about 500 yards away and were in the barren land between the sage and where the water on the pond had receded. They were browsing on the green vegetation around the pond and drinking, when all of a sudden this coyote jump out of the sage and starts chasing them, they start running away back towards the bluff with the coyote giving chase about 25 yards behind them and they disappear over the bluff. I couldn’t believe what I just saw, and now the big question to myself was did that coyote just spook everything coming up that bluff. For the next hour I didn’t see anything except honkers flying over, I decided things weren’t looking good as all the animals I had see the day prior had already been there by that time yesterday. I grabbed my stuff and thought I better try to go find that buck I had seen in the late morning on Friday. I got about half way back to the truck and something told me turn around, and I looked back and here came 4 antelope into the water hole I just left. I could believe it…..how do things work out like that.
I started working my way back to the water hole keeping what was a column of rocks in a corner of a BLM fence between me and the antelope. I was able to get all the way back to that corner and use that 4 foot high column of rocks as a blind. They were about 500 yards out at this time and closing the distance slowly by browsing and drinking. There were 3 does and a buck and one of the does was in heat as that buck was chasing her all over the place. He would chase her 20 or 30 yards then he’d break off her and go back and herd the other two back up to where she was, and then he’d chase her again and then go back and get the other two does and group everyone up again.
They were about 300 yards out and I decided I was going to shoot this buck if given a chance. They got to within 200 to 250 yards and he decided to chase the one doe again and she comes running right towards me. They stopped about 100 yards out but he turned and ran right back to the other two does never give me a shot. I glance at the doe he had been chasing and she’s starring right at me…..now I know if I’m going to shoot I better shoot right now before she alerts them. Rather then use my steady sticks I had decided I was going to use the rock column as my rest. The buck was working the two does back in my direction when he stopped just for a second broad side and I clicked off the safety and I let that bullet fly out of my 300 win mag at 176 yards, and what a crack that bullet made when I hit my buck. He hunched up and took two steps and down he went. My shot was a little low, but it got the bottom of the heart and both lungs.
There wasn’t a sole around for miles and I yelled he’s down he’s down.
He’s not a monster, but he’s a trophy to me, especially since he’s my first antelope…..he’s 12 3/4'” on the right and 12 ½” on the left with a non- typical point coming out of the back of the left horn about an inch long.
He went to the taxidermist on Tuesday and I can wait to get him back.
Even though I shoot him on a reservoir that no one on Jessie’s ever said a word about it was a lot of good folks that helped put me in the right area, and I thank you all very much. I would also like to thank (One Track – Brent) for not purchasing his tag since when this all started I was first alternate on the outside looking in.
Take care,
Jim
Had to figure out my camera's timer for this one:
Right after the shot
Not just for hauling decoys anymore:
