First rifle 'Lope hunt.... tomorrow

[Blueniner9]

Hoping to post up some pics tomorrow with a couple of antelope... I have a buck tag for around Big Timber and a doe tag for the Broadview area. I've bowhunted them for the last couple of years, but decided to try the rifle this year. Wasn't able to go last week due to a work trip, so I'm pretty jacked to finally get out and hopefully tag one! Will report back tomorrow. Good luck to everyone else who is going out.

 

[JohnCushman]

Good luck!

 

[mtmiller]

Good luck and have fun.

 

[gutshootem]

Good luck. Post up some pics and a story when you get a chance.

 

[Blueniner9]

well... a frustrating day to say the least. Was on a herd of about 20 right at legal shooting light. We hiked into position (you could see these goats from the road so it wasn't a far hike, maybe a couple hundred yards to get into a safe shooting position) and waited for the a clean shot on the nicest buck in the herd. While waiting a truck stopped. The hunters saw us, and drove off. About a minute later, another truck stopped and three guys got out. Boom, boom, shots fired before they were off the road. One goat down, flopping in between us and them... Long story short, I watched a group of guys teach a young hunter a lot of unethical hunting decisions (along with a couple of what i would consider illegal ones). We were so upset and frustrated by the situation that I completely forgot to get their license plate. Kind of reminded me of Randy's elk hunt episode that was on YouTube. Oh well, that public land hunting i guess, but it sure does give hunters a bad name. I still have some time, though I'll be putting the focus more on deer and elk now. On the plus side, we did get to spend a day hiking around in some beautiful country, and that beats a day working for sure!!

 

[teej89]

well... a frustrating day to say the least. Was on a herd of about 20 right at legal shooting light. We hiked into position (you could see these goats from the road so it wasn't a far hike, maybe a couple hundred yards to get into a safe shooting position) and waited for the a clean shot on the nicest buck in the herd. While waiting a truck stopped. The hunters saw us, and drove off. About a minute later, another truck stopped and three guys got out. Boom, boom, shots fired before they were off the road. One goat down, flopping in between us and them... Long story short, I watched a group of guys teach a young hunter a lot of unethical hunting decisions (along with a couple of what i would consider illegal ones). We were so upset and frustrated by the situation that I completely forgot to get their license plate. Kind of reminded me of Randy's elk hunt episode that was on YouTube. Oh well, that public land hunting i guess, but it sure does give hunters a bad name. I still have some time, though I'll be putting the focus more on deer and elk now. On the plus side, we did get to spend a day hiking around in some beautiful country, and that beats a day working for sure!!

man... sorry to hear that! And by between us and them meaning you were in the back drop of their shot at the lopes? That wouldn't have gone over so smoothly if I was in the same position, sorry to hear about that...

 

[Blueniner9]

Finally got back out to the Big Timber area , well actually was passing through on one of our many moving trips between Bozeman and Billings this weekend (who moves in the middle of hunting season???). As luck would have it, there were goats on the same section of public where I had the encounter at the start of this season. Long story short, as I was getting ready to head in after them, another hunter showed up as well and took a shot. This time, I used my knowledge of the last hunt to my advantage, and dropped into a draw in the direction I thought the antelope would head. Sure enough, I caught the last lone (and very small) buck right before he headed for private ground. One quick shot at 250 yards sealed the deal. First antelope down! Best part is, my wife and daughter got to sort of be in on the action, as they saw a good bit of it from the rig. My 3 year old daughter was super-pumped that daddy got his antelope. Now to fill those deer and elk tags...

 

[efw]

Congrats on using that knowledge to your advantage. I've found I end up hunting hunters (or more correctly hunting according to how animals react to hunters) an awful lot of public land.

Good work seeing it through I hope you filled yer elk tags too!

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

What's with all the people shooting from the roads?