My son's 2022 antelope

[ranchwife]

I haven't posted in a while, but this is worthy! My son drew one of the 5 junior tags for the 2022 Likely Tables antelope hunt. We use to have over 500 antelope on us, but the wonderful herd management that the state does has reduced that number to maybe 10 animals. My son, husband, and both grandpas spent many hours scouting and Collin was able to find three possible bucks. The night before opening morning, his football team had to travel 6 hours for a scrimmage game. They got home at 1:15 AM and he was up at 4 to go out hunting. They were at the spot with his number one choice before sun-up, so the son took a nap while papa kept watch.



They never did see that animal, so they went to see if they could find buck number 2. They didn't find him either, so decided to come home for a nap. That evening, Collin wanted to go see if they could find the second buck. They were driving along and Collin had his dad stop because he thought he saw an antelope. His dad only saw a rock, but Collin saw his buck. He was about 200 yards out and didn't see them at all. Collin took a rest and shot. And missed. Loaded another round and missed. By this time, the antelope is curious and starts walking towards them! He ended up about 100 yards out. Collin misses 2 more times. Call it a case of nerves and excitement!! The antelope then turned, Collin fired a 5th time, and the buck dropped where he stood.

It wasn't a very big buck (12.5 inches), but ended up being larger than the other three that he had scouted. The important thing was that he made a memory with his dad that day.
Both grandpas helped skin the animal back at the ranch. The animal is at the taxidermist. With the way the herd is almost gone, this may be his one and only antelope hunt.

 

[Common Sense]

Great story. Life is good.

And it is great to see you posting, don’t stay away so long.

 

[P304X4]

Congrats to your son ranchwife, hopefully someone will pull their head out and do something to increase the heard. Hope to see more posts.

 

[Designed2Hunt]

A well deserved reward for hard work and sticking with it.

 

[ranchwife]

Great story. Life is good.

And it is great to see you posting, don’t stay away so long.

It has been a while! It is strange to think the little boy in my profile pic grew into this amazing kid!

 

[Bigolwiggler]

Wow ! What a story ; ) Thanks for the detail. Congrats Collin on a fine Cali Speed Goat !!!! ; ) I hope I don't have to wait another 16 years to get drawn again . BOW

 

[THE ROMAN ARCHER]

I am jealous I remember years ago when I was in Cali I would always apply for the likely tables speed goat hunt but never got drawn.
What a nice hunting adventure story ranchwife! Congrats to your son on a memorable hunt with his family, thnx for sharing! Great pics!…tra

 

[Common Sense]

It has been a while! It is strange to think the little boy in my profile pic grew into this amazing kid!

Time passes, things change. I am now a great-grandad. Just bought the little feller(Hunter) a Cricket .22 for Christmas. Can’t wait to put him on a covey of quail.

 

[Planetcat]

That is awesome! Congrats to both you and your son!

 

[sportyg]

Congrats was fun to read and great to see he didn't give up after those misses.

 

[quaildeath]

Every antelope I see reminds me of the Coen Bros. No Country for Old Men. Such a great movie.

 

[84toyota]

Congrats to your son on his Prairie Goat! My dad had a Clear Lake tag and shot a similar one to your son’s - but it was very slim pickings.

On another note, I’ll be thinking of you guys with this new fire raging in your back yard! I’m hoping you all are not impacted by this fire - with any luck, it will take out some of the bears and other predators…

 

[dthome]

Love it! What has caused the decline in the herd?

 

[ranchwife]

Love it! What has caused the decline in the herd?

Predator mismanagement and fence lines and building in migration routes. At least 30 years ago, we used to have at least 500 running on us and have had many record antelope taken off the ranch. Over the last 20 years, the decline has been huge. About 10 years ago, we had about 100. Last year about 20. This year about 10. They are just gone. DFG did a collar study about 5 years ago and the cats took so many animals. Some took 2 a night. It is sad.

 

[dthome]

Wow. This is what happens when voters approved prop 117 in 1990, which protected mt lions. Very sad.

 

[Jake F]

That young man is so blessed to have a family like you have. I lost my grandpas years ago but I remember hunting with them like it was yesterday. Congrats on a great speed goat! Thanks for sharing!

 

[P304X4]

Sad, we know what the pred's will be hunting when all the wild game is gone

 

[#1Predator]

Very nice pronghorn. Well done young man!

We had a similar experience with a shrinking pronghorn herd. A 2,000 acre ranch originally had seven animals (1 buck, 6 does). Three years later they had 31 pronghorn. A year later over 50 animals, then the numbers started heading south. The property manager invited a local trapper (steel traps were still allowed back then) to set some traps on the ranch. Bingo! Seventeen days later, 22 coyotes had been "removed" from the ranch. Pronghorn fawn recruitment increased that year but, unfortunately, the local newspaper published an excellent article with good biological data showing how responsible wildlife regulation can benefit wildlife as a whole. I say "unfortunately" because some uninformed/ignorant folks raised such a stink after reading the article that the rancher stopped trapping on his property (tail wagging the dog). A decade later there were no pronghorn on the ranch, complete elimination of the herd.

BTW - these are the same people that complained that the rancher was being "cruel" by "allowing" his cattle to range across his property instead of providing "housing" for them during a winter snow storm. The rancher told me these people were "galactically stupid". Yep.

 

[BradCa]

I haven't been on this site in a long time and I haven't posted in years, but I agree that this one is "worthy". You guys helped me get my first antelope many years ago and I am still grateful. I'm glad that you are blessed with a great son, super memories, and some really good meat. Congrats!

 

[ranchwife]

I haven't been on this site in a long time and I haven't posted in years, but I agree that this one is "worthy". You guys helped me get my first antelope many years ago and I am still grateful. I'm glad that you are blessed with a great son, super memories, and some really good meat. Congrats!

Hi! It has been a while! We didn’t even have kids when you were up here for your antelope! Those were good memories for us too!