AZ402
Well-known member
My AZ archery Pronghorn hunt started this past Friday. After a few weeks of scouting I had located a few bucks I wanted to take a try at.
Opening morning I hiked into the area I had last seen one of the two big bucks I’d seen over the last few weeks. That particular goat and his does were nowhere to be found that morning. I glassed up a few running around in a meadow about a mile away. By the time I got over to the area I had seen them. They had already made it into the trees. I decided to make a big loop and work my way back to my vehicle. As soon as I made it to the next clearing, I glassed up a nice buck and his does bedded. Sitting on the rocks, I tried to come up with a game plan to get close enough for a shot.
As I started to make my way through the trees the buck spotted my movement. Instead of running away he ran right at me not knowing what I was. I knelt down beside a juniper and waited for him to get close. After he couldn’t find what he was looking for he hung up out in the open for quite a while. I ranged him and he was just at the end of my comfort zone for a shot. Very sure he wasn’t getting any closer I drew, lined him up and released the arrow. It looked pretty true but fell about 5yrds short of it’s intended target. I watched my arrow rocket out into the unknown and the buck hit top speed in about one second.
A little irritated I continued my loop back to my starting point. I ran into a few dink bucks but had little interest in pursuing them knowing what was out there.
That afternoon Dave H. (Redline410 from this board) showed to give me a little help. We went back out to the area I had been in that morning but had a tough go finding anything worthwhile (except a dinky little mule deer shed, Dave you need to post a pic of that shed!)
Second morning found me and Dave back in the same area. Right from the get-go there was a decent buck moving right in front of us. The buck was making a B-line right for a group of three small bucks. As he was doing that I was trying to work my way through the junipers for a shot. Just as I was closing the distance, he caught me and high tailed it out of sight. Once again the depressing walk back. Dave and I headed out of that area a little early to head to the area of big buck # two.
Big buck number two was spotted immediately in a very tough archery spot. We made a stalk with this decoy that was maybe not the best one for stalking a long way out in the vast open area. We got fairly close but not close enough for a shot. Knowing that this was a pretty special buck we concentrated the majority of the weekend on him. That evening produced another tough and unsuccessful stalk.
Sunday morning we came up with another plan. Took out a different decoy and I made my way out into the flat by myself. As soon as I got close to the buck and put the decoy up he made a run right for me. Unfortunately he wouldn’t come any closer than 85 yards and was just below a little crown offering no shot. I made one last stalk on him that morning, crawling on my belly trying to get closer. During the belly crawl I felt a pain in my shin that could only be one thing. About a 1/2lb of cacti lodged into my flesh. As I flailed around on the ground like bacon in hot grease the buck and his does fed of into an unstalkable flat. A little dejected I once again made the looong walk back to the Rhino. I’ll be back out for four days next weekend hopefully with a shorter story. (redline410 may have a little to add to the story, thanks for coming up Dave).
The weekend wasn’t a total loss. My buddy Jeff who I was camping with shot this nice buck Saturday evening.
Opening morning I hiked into the area I had last seen one of the two big bucks I’d seen over the last few weeks. That particular goat and his does were nowhere to be found that morning. I glassed up a few running around in a meadow about a mile away. By the time I got over to the area I had seen them. They had already made it into the trees. I decided to make a big loop and work my way back to my vehicle. As soon as I made it to the next clearing, I glassed up a nice buck and his does bedded. Sitting on the rocks, I tried to come up with a game plan to get close enough for a shot.
As I started to make my way through the trees the buck spotted my movement. Instead of running away he ran right at me not knowing what I was. I knelt down beside a juniper and waited for him to get close. After he couldn’t find what he was looking for he hung up out in the open for quite a while. I ranged him and he was just at the end of my comfort zone for a shot. Very sure he wasn’t getting any closer I drew, lined him up and released the arrow. It looked pretty true but fell about 5yrds short of it’s intended target. I watched my arrow rocket out into the unknown and the buck hit top speed in about one second.
A little irritated I continued my loop back to my starting point. I ran into a few dink bucks but had little interest in pursuing them knowing what was out there.
That afternoon Dave H. (Redline410 from this board) showed to give me a little help. We went back out to the area I had been in that morning but had a tough go finding anything worthwhile (except a dinky little mule deer shed, Dave you need to post a pic of that shed!)
Second morning found me and Dave back in the same area. Right from the get-go there was a decent buck moving right in front of us. The buck was making a B-line right for a group of three small bucks. As he was doing that I was trying to work my way through the junipers for a shot. Just as I was closing the distance, he caught me and high tailed it out of sight. Once again the depressing walk back. Dave and I headed out of that area a little early to head to the area of big buck # two.
Big buck number two was spotted immediately in a very tough archery spot. We made a stalk with this decoy that was maybe not the best one for stalking a long way out in the vast open area. We got fairly close but not close enough for a shot. Knowing that this was a pretty special buck we concentrated the majority of the weekend on him. That evening produced another tough and unsuccessful stalk.
Sunday morning we came up with another plan. Took out a different decoy and I made my way out into the flat by myself. As soon as I got close to the buck and put the decoy up he made a run right for me. Unfortunately he wouldn’t come any closer than 85 yards and was just below a little crown offering no shot. I made one last stalk on him that morning, crawling on my belly trying to get closer. During the belly crawl I felt a pain in my shin that could only be one thing. About a 1/2lb of cacti lodged into my flesh. As I flailed around on the ground like bacon in hot grease the buck and his does fed of into an unstalkable flat. A little dejected I once again made the looong walk back to the Rhino. I’ll be back out for four days next weekend hopefully with a shorter story. (redline410 may have a little to add to the story, thanks for coming up Dave).
The weekend wasn’t a total loss. My buddy Jeff who I was camping with shot this nice buck Saturday evening.
