nmelktrout
New member
Here are a few shots from this past weekend’s pronghorn hunt.
I last hunted this region in 2012 and was fortunate to see a pile of animals and shoot a beautiful 14” goat on opening morning. I returned this year only to find out that the antelope population had seen a severe drop in numbers. I located a few animals on the wrong side of the fence – most of which were yearling bucks chasing one or two does. The biggest buck I was able to locate in a 40 square mile area was a 10” buck that was tending a big herd of does. Good news is that the mule deer population appears to be healthy and thriving in these units. Lots of does with fawns, good numbers of yearling bucks and a pile of 2 to 3 year old bucks. I also glassed over 25 bucks that would go over 160” with half a dozen 170”-180” deer and two giant 190” class deer. It seemed like every steep patch of brush or tall sage draw held a good buck or two. To say the least, I spent 95% of my time glassing deer.
The last evening of my hunt I decided to pack back in near where I killed my last buck in the unit as there is a natural funnel between a series of ridges. Going on past experience I knew that bucks would cruise the open ridges looking for does and would cross through the funnel-giving me a reasonable shot.
I set up on the funnel late in the afternoon and was soon surrounded by deer, including a herd of 6 mature bucks. The ridge also happened to be one of two places with cell service that I could hunt so after a couple hours I broke out my phone, texting my wife and Bmack that it looked like the hunt was a bust, but that I was glassing some big deer. I hit send on the text message, looked up to check the herd of muley bucks and thought to myself, “Man, that looks like a good antelope buck running right through that herd of deer”. Sure enough, the largest speedgoat I had seen on the hunt was cruising a ridge, headed right to the funnel with less than 15 minutes of shooting light left in my hunt. With the setting sun at my back I was able to scoot through the sage another 100 yards or so and got set up.
I kept ranging the buck and let him come in to 220 yards – at which point he conveniently stopped, turned broadside and was promptly tipped over. I still can’t believe my fortune taking any buck in the last minutes of a hunt – much less that there was a buck on “my” side of a fenceline. But, when it’s meant to be, it really is meant to be.
Certainly the most rewarding pronghorn hunt I have been on in a long time.
-Cody
I last hunted this region in 2012 and was fortunate to see a pile of animals and shoot a beautiful 14” goat on opening morning. I returned this year only to find out that the antelope population had seen a severe drop in numbers. I located a few animals on the wrong side of the fence – most of which were yearling bucks chasing one or two does. The biggest buck I was able to locate in a 40 square mile area was a 10” buck that was tending a big herd of does. Good news is that the mule deer population appears to be healthy and thriving in these units. Lots of does with fawns, good numbers of yearling bucks and a pile of 2 to 3 year old bucks. I also glassed over 25 bucks that would go over 160” with half a dozen 170”-180” deer and two giant 190” class deer. It seemed like every steep patch of brush or tall sage draw held a good buck or two. To say the least, I spent 95% of my time glassing deer.
The last evening of my hunt I decided to pack back in near where I killed my last buck in the unit as there is a natural funnel between a series of ridges. Going on past experience I knew that bucks would cruise the open ridges looking for does and would cross through the funnel-giving me a reasonable shot.
I set up on the funnel late in the afternoon and was soon surrounded by deer, including a herd of 6 mature bucks. The ridge also happened to be one of two places with cell service that I could hunt so after a couple hours I broke out my phone, texting my wife and Bmack that it looked like the hunt was a bust, but that I was glassing some big deer. I hit send on the text message, looked up to check the herd of muley bucks and thought to myself, “Man, that looks like a good antelope buck running right through that herd of deer”. Sure enough, the largest speedgoat I had seen on the hunt was cruising a ridge, headed right to the funnel with less than 15 minutes of shooting light left in my hunt. With the setting sun at my back I was able to scoot through the sage another 100 yards or so and got set up.
I kept ranging the buck and let him come in to 220 yards – at which point he conveniently stopped, turned broadside and was promptly tipped over. I still can’t believe my fortune taking any buck in the last minutes of a hunt – much less that there was a buck on “my” side of a fenceline. But, when it’s meant to be, it really is meant to be.
Certainly the most rewarding pronghorn hunt I have been on in a long time.
-Cody
