Hey all you youth hunters, I wanted to relate to you a story of a recent youth hunt I got to participate in. As I mentioned a couple times last week on other posts, my 14-year old niece drew an antelope tag for northeastern New Mexico this year. As an advocate of youth hunting, I was the major push behind her applying (I paid for the tag), and as a result offered to play guide on her hunt. I say “play” because I’m not a licensed guide, and took no money for my so-called services, therefore it was all legal and such. (Nothing like a disclaimer to interrupt a story, right? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif) Anyway, last weekend we headed up north to hunt pronghorn antelope. Tori had drawn a tag for a female or immature antelope, so trophy hunting, and the resulting pressure, was out. We were to have a nice relaxing hunt looking for a fat doe.
That’s what we thought anyway. After looking the ranch over the night before, we discovered that the antelope on the place were extremely skittish, bolting at the first sign of humans and not stopping until they cleared the horizon. Hmm, this was going to be a bit more difficult than I first thought. “No problem, we can do it,” I told Tori and her Dad (my brother Justin). We located several herds of antelope and made plans for the morning hunt.
On opening morning, we were back at the ranch just as the sun was coming up. As soon as we came through the gate, I spotted what I thought was a doe with a nice buck about 3/4 mile from the road. They got nervous, but strangely didn’t run as we idled past them. We got out of sight, ditched the truck, and hiked back along the road to a low drainage ditch that would allow us to approach the two antelope unseen. We headed off down the draw with the wind in our faces. As we approached where I thought the two goats had been spotted, we slowed to a crawl and started glassing in earnest. We would take a few steps, glass the country, and repeat, each time getting a little higher until I finally spotted one of them bedded in the grass. After inspecting the antelope through my 10X binocular, I realized my initial impression had been wrong – this was not a doe but rather a small buck. No worries though, his horns were shorter than his ears making him a legal target. Using the various yuccas and cholla cacti as cover, we approached to about 200 yards before he spotted us. He immediately rose to his feet and faced us, presenting no shot. We tried to wait him out, hoping for a nice broadside shot, but he got nervous and cleared out without really offering a good opportunity. A bit disappointed, we trudged the 3/4 mile back to the truck.
We puttered up the road to another spot we’d seen antelope the evening before and stopped to do some glassing. From our vantage point, we located three herds of antelope that had potential, so off we went in the truck to close the gap. Still quite unfamiliar with the roads, I fumbled a little and got too close to our intended targets (2 miles!), and they headed out of Dodge. Oops.
We backed out and started towards another group of pronghorn to try again. We played cat and mouse with a couple groups for the rest of the morning with no luck.
By about 11 am we had put on several miles with no shot opportunity. I think Tori was getting a little frustrated, but she didn’t let it show. Her dad and I tried to keep her upbeat, insisting that we would eventually make a good stalk and get our goat. While we were hunkered down making a plan, a real nice buck came by at 150 yards cruising for does. That was pretty cool and seemed to ease the tension a little as we took the time to simply observe him. Though we had come full circle and were only a few hundred yards from the truck, we decided to take off on foot to a distant ridge where we could do some glassing. We planned to look the country over, then drop off the ridge and loop back to the truck in time for a late lunch.
From the top of the ridge, I spotted five antelope in the bottom of a draw about a mile away. They were in a nice spot for a stalk, so we decided to circle downwind and see what we could come up with. Along the way, I spied a group of three in the next valley up from the five. They were in a much better place for a stalk, so off we went in their direction. We planned to drop off the ridge into a deep draw that we could use for cover before popping out at what I hoped would be close range. We took off at a pretty fair pace across the open flat, hoping to get to the draw without being seen. Halfway across, my brother noticed yet another group of five antelope just ahead of us across the draw. Since they were downwind of our intended three, we altered our plan to see if we could get within range of them. Of course we were still in the open, so they busted us and headed for Colorado or Texas. Oh well, back to the three. We hit the draw, taking time only to play with some leopard frogs, which I haven’t seen for years, and hustled down towards those three antelope. We got to our chosen exit point and started easing out of the draw. Unfortunately, what should have been an easy final stalk was now complicated by a bunch of cows that had found good grass between us and the antelope bucks, who were now bedded. We could easily glass them from here and determined that at least one was small enough to be legal. With no way to sneak through the cows, we had to drop back and make a big circle. Luckily, the three antelope had bedded just off the point of a low ridge, offering us an easy approach from their downwind – if only we could get across about 1/2 mile of open prairie without them seeing us. We had nothing to lose, so off we went.
We made good time, and had nearly gotten out of their sight when I spotted another bedded antelope ahead of us. The binocular came up only to discover that it was a buck. Intent on getting to our three, we forged ahead, only to find seven more antelope in the small valley below us. Thinking we had struck gold, we all dropped to our hands and knees and crawled through the grass and yuccas to within 110 yards of the eight antelope (the first had joined them). Tori got positioned on the shooting sticks while Justin and I scanned the group for a nice fat doe. No dice – all eight were bucks with horns longer than their ears. Talk about frustrating; seeing only bucks when you have a doe tag can really wear you down. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif Now disgusted, we simply stood up and scared the eight away so we could continue our stalk. We crossed the valley, hit the ridge, and started working our way down to the bedded antelope. As we neared the end of the ridge, we slowed down and started methodically glassing every few steps. Finally, I spotted the antelope and we planned the last leg of our stalk.
As if placed by the hunting gods, there was a line of knee-high rocks circling around the point of the ridge above the antelope. Again dropping to hands and knees and ditching our packs, we used the rocks for cover to make our final approach, slithering the last 25 yards or so. Justin and I glassed the antelope and determined that only one was legal. Of course, he was lying very close to another and facing us – no shot. So, we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, the larger buck stood to stretch. Tori hastily got ready, expecting the others to stand too. Our target finally did stand, but only to turn around in his bed and flop back down facing straight away – still no shot! After an hour and 20 minutes in the wind and hot sun, we were all quite thirsty, so I made a dash for the packs to get water. Hoping to get the critters’ attention, I did not crawl my way back to our stakeout. Seeing my erect form got them excited and they all stood. Their curious nature got the best of them though, and still not quite sure what we were they started to approach us. Tori was at the ready when they finally got edgy and turned to leave at 146 yards. As soon as her intended target turned broadside, her little Ruger Compact 7mm-08 barked. As the antelope turned to depart, I could easily see the blood pumping out of both sides of her antelope, indicating a solid lethal hit. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif He ran about 50 yards before his wobbly legs could take him no further. Wow! Our great hunt was over! Tori’s first antelope hunt had all the elements of the perfect hunt – camaraderie, plenty of action, a great stalk, the need for patience and shot selection, and finally a great shot to wrap it up. I was so proud that she had shown the discipline necessary to pass up a shot when the antelope was facing and instead wait nearly an hour and a half, in 25 mile per hour winds and 85 degree heat, for the perfect shot. After all that, she closed the deal like a pro. Man, what a rush! I cant’ wait to go again. This living vicariously through young hunters is not so bad. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Here’s a picture of Tori with her antelope. You can see the rocks from which she shot just to the right of her up on the hill.
Here’s Tori with her proud uncle (yeah that ugly mug is mine).
As part of this deal, I had PM’s own Rainshadow build Tori a custom knife, which she used to good effect:
I also wanted to show everyone my rig for taking care of animals in the field (or wherever). I’ve used this hanger for several animals now, including a large cow oryx, and it has proved quite capable and very handy. It gets the critter up out of the dirt and lets you work on it comfortably.
Thanks for reading my story. I hope this encourages you youngsters to hit the fields this fall and take part in our great American tradition. Hopefully, this will encourage some of you oldsters to take them out and show them the ropes. The rewards are worth it.
That’s what we thought anyway. After looking the ranch over the night before, we discovered that the antelope on the place were extremely skittish, bolting at the first sign of humans and not stopping until they cleared the horizon. Hmm, this was going to be a bit more difficult than I first thought. “No problem, we can do it,” I told Tori and her Dad (my brother Justin). We located several herds of antelope and made plans for the morning hunt.
On opening morning, we were back at the ranch just as the sun was coming up. As soon as we came through the gate, I spotted what I thought was a doe with a nice buck about 3/4 mile from the road. They got nervous, but strangely didn’t run as we idled past them. We got out of sight, ditched the truck, and hiked back along the road to a low drainage ditch that would allow us to approach the two antelope unseen. We headed off down the draw with the wind in our faces. As we approached where I thought the two goats had been spotted, we slowed to a crawl and started glassing in earnest. We would take a few steps, glass the country, and repeat, each time getting a little higher until I finally spotted one of them bedded in the grass. After inspecting the antelope through my 10X binocular, I realized my initial impression had been wrong – this was not a doe but rather a small buck. No worries though, his horns were shorter than his ears making him a legal target. Using the various yuccas and cholla cacti as cover, we approached to about 200 yards before he spotted us. He immediately rose to his feet and faced us, presenting no shot. We tried to wait him out, hoping for a nice broadside shot, but he got nervous and cleared out without really offering a good opportunity. A bit disappointed, we trudged the 3/4 mile back to the truck.
We puttered up the road to another spot we’d seen antelope the evening before and stopped to do some glassing. From our vantage point, we located three herds of antelope that had potential, so off we went in the truck to close the gap. Still quite unfamiliar with the roads, I fumbled a little and got too close to our intended targets (2 miles!), and they headed out of Dodge. Oops.
We backed out and started towards another group of pronghorn to try again. We played cat and mouse with a couple groups for the rest of the morning with no luck.By about 11 am we had put on several miles with no shot opportunity. I think Tori was getting a little frustrated, but she didn’t let it show. Her dad and I tried to keep her upbeat, insisting that we would eventually make a good stalk and get our goat. While we were hunkered down making a plan, a real nice buck came by at 150 yards cruising for does. That was pretty cool and seemed to ease the tension a little as we took the time to simply observe him. Though we had come full circle and were only a few hundred yards from the truck, we decided to take off on foot to a distant ridge where we could do some glassing. We planned to look the country over, then drop off the ridge and loop back to the truck in time for a late lunch.
From the top of the ridge, I spotted five antelope in the bottom of a draw about a mile away. They were in a nice spot for a stalk, so we decided to circle downwind and see what we could come up with. Along the way, I spied a group of three in the next valley up from the five. They were in a much better place for a stalk, so off we went in their direction. We planned to drop off the ridge into a deep draw that we could use for cover before popping out at what I hoped would be close range. We took off at a pretty fair pace across the open flat, hoping to get to the draw without being seen. Halfway across, my brother noticed yet another group of five antelope just ahead of us across the draw. Since they were downwind of our intended three, we altered our plan to see if we could get within range of them. Of course we were still in the open, so they busted us and headed for Colorado or Texas. Oh well, back to the three. We hit the draw, taking time only to play with some leopard frogs, which I haven’t seen for years, and hustled down towards those three antelope. We got to our chosen exit point and started easing out of the draw. Unfortunately, what should have been an easy final stalk was now complicated by a bunch of cows that had found good grass between us and the antelope bucks, who were now bedded. We could easily glass them from here and determined that at least one was small enough to be legal. With no way to sneak through the cows, we had to drop back and make a big circle. Luckily, the three antelope had bedded just off the point of a low ridge, offering us an easy approach from their downwind – if only we could get across about 1/2 mile of open prairie without them seeing us. We had nothing to lose, so off we went.
We made good time, and had nearly gotten out of their sight when I spotted another bedded antelope ahead of us. The binocular came up only to discover that it was a buck. Intent on getting to our three, we forged ahead, only to find seven more antelope in the small valley below us. Thinking we had struck gold, we all dropped to our hands and knees and crawled through the grass and yuccas to within 110 yards of the eight antelope (the first had joined them). Tori got positioned on the shooting sticks while Justin and I scanned the group for a nice fat doe. No dice – all eight were bucks with horns longer than their ears. Talk about frustrating; seeing only bucks when you have a doe tag can really wear you down. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif Now disgusted, we simply stood up and scared the eight away so we could continue our stalk. We crossed the valley, hit the ridge, and started working our way down to the bedded antelope. As we neared the end of the ridge, we slowed down and started methodically glassing every few steps. Finally, I spotted the antelope and we planned the last leg of our stalk.
As if placed by the hunting gods, there was a line of knee-high rocks circling around the point of the ridge above the antelope. Again dropping to hands and knees and ditching our packs, we used the rocks for cover to make our final approach, slithering the last 25 yards or so. Justin and I glassed the antelope and determined that only one was legal. Of course, he was lying very close to another and facing us – no shot. So, we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, the larger buck stood to stretch. Tori hastily got ready, expecting the others to stand too. Our target finally did stand, but only to turn around in his bed and flop back down facing straight away – still no shot! After an hour and 20 minutes in the wind and hot sun, we were all quite thirsty, so I made a dash for the packs to get water. Hoping to get the critters’ attention, I did not crawl my way back to our stakeout. Seeing my erect form got them excited and they all stood. Their curious nature got the best of them though, and still not quite sure what we were they started to approach us. Tori was at the ready when they finally got edgy and turned to leave at 146 yards. As soon as her intended target turned broadside, her little Ruger Compact 7mm-08 barked. As the antelope turned to depart, I could easily see the blood pumping out of both sides of her antelope, indicating a solid lethal hit. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif He ran about 50 yards before his wobbly legs could take him no further. Wow! Our great hunt was over! Tori’s first antelope hunt had all the elements of the perfect hunt – camaraderie, plenty of action, a great stalk, the need for patience and shot selection, and finally a great shot to wrap it up. I was so proud that she had shown the discipline necessary to pass up a shot when the antelope was facing and instead wait nearly an hour and a half, in 25 mile per hour winds and 85 degree heat, for the perfect shot. After all that, she closed the deal like a pro. Man, what a rush! I cant’ wait to go again. This living vicariously through young hunters is not so bad. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Here’s a picture of Tori with her antelope. You can see the rocks from which she shot just to the right of her up on the hill.
Here’s Tori with her proud uncle (yeah that ugly mug is mine).
As part of this deal, I had PM’s own Rainshadow build Tori a custom knife, which she used to good effect:
I also wanted to show everyone my rig for taking care of animals in the field (or wherever). I’ve used this hanger for several animals now, including a large cow oryx, and it has proved quite capable and very handy. It gets the critter up out of the dirt and lets you work on it comfortably.
Thanks for reading my story. I hope this encourages you youngsters to hit the fields this fall and take part in our great American tradition. Hopefully, this will encourage some of you oldsters to take them out and show them the ropes. The rewards are worth it.
