2005 North Dakota Antelope

Can I say Finally.......I mean, I don't think I've ever worked as hard for a goat in my life. Through this year of scouting, I've seen some real nice bucks that would push the 80"....which is huge for ND.......and when I had spotted this particular buck earlier in the year, I had completely misjudged him....in fact I never gave him a second thought, but I always had his shape in the back of my mind....verticle and swept back......

To start here are some quick pics from the past couple weeks, from both hunting trips and scouting trips......this first one was a bad day for this farmer....



Couple homestead shacks.....first ones are rock and the last one is rock and sod....I always like Nemont's pics of old houses, but I figure I'll spin my off in a slightly different direction...keeping mine to pics of "nature" homes......and this area has got a bunch of 'em......







Here's a couple young bucks scrapping over a small herd of does.....





And here we go....here was an earlier pic from a distance of the buck I ended up shooting......like I said, it was horns that intrigued me more than his score........



And here is the field photos.......this buck had given me several exciting hunts.....including two misses...one miss when I had decoyed him within 20 yards....I was concentrating so hard on holding my 30 yard pin on him as he rapidly approached, that I didn't even pay attention that he had gotten closer before he stopped broadside......Imagine my sickness when I saw the arrow skim just past the top of his back ??!! |oo I also passed-up several shots as wells.......I had bellied crawled to the edge of a small knoll overlooking him and his does as they were bedded in a stubble field.....65 yards was more than I was willing to take at the time (I only had pins out to 50).................

The hunt finally came together just hours before rifle season was to open......I found him bedded on the side of a large butte overlooking a stubblefield and a water tank.....I made another lengthy sneak to the top of the butte overlooking him.......it took some time, but I got the shot I needed, but it ended up a bit further back then i would have liked......I had to wait him out, but it didn't take long, as I at least caught liver............

I had been working 12 hour night shifts and hunting this goat during the day.......I caught many naps on hill tops and along fence lines as I tried to get near him for a shot through out the last week.......to say I was exhausted and short of sleep was an understatement......I slept from yesterday afternoon until 11:00 this morning...yawn...

Funny thing is I find myself now appreciating the hunts he gave me more than I do having him on the ground.....almost remorseful that it has ended......sound weird ?? Clay

Good work man. Very good pictures as well. That's a definate shooter in my book.

Well done Clay, you the man. Great story and pics. Whiteys next on the list?

You've put the hurt to them in the past and contnue to keep the population down. Congrats and Awesome pictures. My boys loved the Houses !!! Now they want to make a Road trip to go see the houses.... thanx....

Great job. Great buck. Great story.

Nice buck. and great story and pics. congrats!

Congrats to ya Clay.

Thanks guys........I just got done putting a tape to him....curiousity got the better of me.... He suprised me that he wasn't as tall as I thought....guess those high prongs made for an optical conclusion, LOL.....

Anyway he went 13.5" on both sides, with only 3.5 and 3 inch prongs.........but his prongs sitting up so high, got me into the mid-mass measurement......6 3/4" bases and average of 6" up to the prongs, I got a gross score of 75.5"......

He's not the tallest goat I've ever shot, but he does score the best........plus he is definitely the most unique, and there's a ton of memories that go with to boot........

Miller, Whitetail are DEFINITELY next on the list.......I didn't draw well this year, so all I've got left are a bow and a rifle tag for WT.........we'll see if I can land this bad boy.....



Moosie, it is unreal driving backroads down around south of here.......there's old shacks seemingly every mile or so......they're everywhere. Some are nothing but a pile of rocks now, and others are in suprisingly good shape........this one here must have been a pretty wealthy family....don't see many two-story ones........



Here's a couple more for you kids veiwing pleasure.......the last one I just took last night, when checking out a new piece of property I just got permission to hunt.......looks like they ran out of rock, so had to finish up with sod......can even see sod in between the wood walls....

Man, that is a GREAT buck and some terrific photos! Congrats! Just to help you out on how to measure them, there can only be 2 circumference measurements taken below the prong. Regardless of how that works, it's a cool buck.. and looks like a compact version of this one, the world record archery buck from Arizona.

Congrats on the speedgoat. Great pics of the scenery and love them old homesteads. I have taken a lot of pics of old buildings around here as well. So Moosie your boys can hit eastern Montana and West Dakota (I know 1 Pointer consideres it the same) to explore old homesteads.

OK Greenhorn.....I see what you mean.......I reflected back on the score sheet, and read the instructions for mass a little closer.....I guess it's another way of the B&C guidelines robbing you of actual growth.....I always understood that the higher the prong the better the score, assuming it was due to mass......sure would make more sense to have the D3 measuement included if it fell below the prong.......thanks for the compliments by the way........and he is still going on the wall, just to neat of a buck to pass up......

Nemont, once again those are awesome pics......especially like those ol' log homes.....

Congrats on that buck, good story and you definately earned him.

Great buck and excellent story! Congrats...

Congrats on a nice buck and thanks for the great pictures.