Just got back from my antelope hunt. I left Saturday, so I could get in a couple of days of scouting prior to the hunt. I went to the Sage Creek Grazing Reserve as someone had recommended; it's a great spot, with a lot of antelope. BUT there was an amazing number of hunters there! I cannot recommend it for that reason, although the antelope are there.
So I picked out a desolate gravel road and spent the weekend glassing a valley that I could see to the north. I was able to watch a small herd of antelope off and on Saturday and Sunday. Pickup trucks were circling all the roads and kept driving in past me.
I don't think that is too cool but it is a free country.
I camped in my truck, just tipped the seat back and made the best of it. A couple of cold nights, but at least I knew where I intended to hunt Monday.
Well I woke up this (Monday) morning a truckload of hunters had driven by me before dawn and were heading into the same country I was aiming to go. Fortunately, they went more to the west end of the valley I was targetting.
But I got a bit flustered by their presence and headed out without remembering my backpack or range finder. Doh!
So I worked my way out to the hill over looking this big valley... it's like 1,200 to 1,500 yards across. After a short bit of glassing I picked up a herd of antelope across the valley, feeding. I could see there was at least one decent buck. I circled around the hill to avoid being sky-lined and worked my way down a draw, into the valley. There is a dry creek that meanders through this valley and I carefully moved down until I got into it. Then I was totally hidden from the antelope.
I followed the creek to the point closest to the herd and then began to crawl on all-fours towards them, through the sage and scrub brush. I crawled through about 300 yards of that stuff, avoiding the cactus as best as I could.
Finally I got to a position where the antelope seemd like they might have spotted me and I had no more cover left anyway. I figured it was something like 400+ yards but dammit, I didn't have the range finder (TBart)!
So I held high on the shoulder of the buck and fired and the bullet went right under him. He trotted forward just a few strides and stopped; the antelope were trying to figure out where the noise had come from.
I held above his back and this time too much! My shot went right over him, thank God I missed cleanly...
Well then the herd moved out and went up over the hill. I figured I might as well give it a shot and followed them, and the contour of the hill on the top of the valley was perfect to allow me to come up on them again, and they had joined up with another herd to form a much bigger group of animals. Now there were a bunch of good bucks, a half a dozen anyway and they were closer. I got the bipod down and took a good aim on the biggest buck but shot under him again! What the hell was the yardage!?
I was pretty distressed at my poor shooting and especially not knowing the distance! I am certain, in hind sight that in both situations those antelope were further then I thought as I took my aim. Just lucky that I missed cleanly each time.
The antelope raced off over the hill and went up on a big flat plain, where it was impossible to approach them again. So dejected, I walked out to the truck.
I spent a few hours driving around and talking with any other hunters I met, saw a few antelope from the road. I figured there was no better place then the valley I had been watching so I headed back there for the afternoon.
As I drove in to where I intended to park, dammit it if 3 does with a really good buck were not going out across in front of me, headed right for the valley I was going back into! The buck was still on the other side of a barbwire fence and antelope will only go under a fence, they will not jump it. So the buck was frantically looking for a place to cross and he ended up racing down the fence line away from me, as he searched for a place to get under the fence.
I knew once he did, that he was going to follow those does, so I quickly grabbed my gear, forgot my camo and backpack again, but got the range finder.
I got down onto the hillside overlooking the valley; pretty much the same place where I had started the day. I could not see any of those 4 antelope, but after about 5 minutes on the skyline, right where the herd had gone over in the morning I saw antelope coming toward me. I glassed them and it was a herd of 6 does. But this gave me confidence that the other group of antelope from the morning might also return to the valley.
Sure enough, after another 5-10 minutes I saw antelope skylined on the top of the valley (with my naked eye). They were easily 1,500 yards away then, but I knew right away they were also going to come down into the valley. I glassed them and saw it was the bunch with all the bucks...
So I got down into the dry creek as quickly as I could, while I was still out of their eyesight. I quickly worked my way down to get to the closest point of the creek, where they might come out. In damn near the same place as the morning stalk!
The antelope started streaming down into the valley, coming right for me and they stopped at a ranged 590 yards. At this point things coulda gone bad, a group of does peeled off and started heading west down the valley, but the main group, with all the bucks, did not follow them. After a few minutes they began trotting right for my position!
I glassed them and knew which buck I wanted...
I had the bipod legs fully extended and the scope on 7x. I kept expecting the antelope to stop somewhere out in front of me, maybe 100 or 200 yards. But they just kept up a steady trot, right at me. So I was in an awkward position, on my knees, with the bipod fully extended and trying to shoot off it, but they came in so close I could not use it!
Also they were going by on my right side, so as a right-handed shot that was also awkward, turning to my right.
I rose up on my knees as they went by at 40 yards. I was on the buck I wanted and said sharply,
"Hey!" at the buck, which didn't slow him down.
So fired with him still trotting, which an antelope came move pretty quickly at their gait, even when trotting!
I caught him through the guts, my bad, which I attribute to him moving. At the time I thought I had hit him in the lungs, of course. He dropped anyway and the rest of the herd bolted and headed off to the west, so I had my antelope... or so I thought.
I walked up to him and he was lying flat on his side and looked as dead as a door nail, but just as I got to him he jumped up and raced away! But he could not travel, with his gut-wound and stopped at 100 yards. Thank God! So then I dropped him for good with an off-hand shot through the neck (which also broke his left shoulder).
Hunting in the shadow of the Cypress Hills.
This is the valley and the draw that I slipped into it through. You can see the dry creek bed in the middle of it. That valley is wide! 1,200-1,500 yards across!
What? No camo?
My buck has horns just under 15" but heavy mass pushed his green score to 77-2/8". Book is 80" so he is a good pronghorn, even if his horns are not very long.
Alberta Fish & Wildlife had a check-in station at Manyberries and they were taking tooth samples for aging, plus doing the Boone & Crockett scoring; so that's who scored the buck.
It was the biggest buck they had checked on Monday.
Using the golf cart to haul him out. Everybody should have one of these things!
