A most unusual Antelope hunt THE END!

steadman · June 21, 2009, 05:45:00 PM

Dad and I were fortunate to draw antelope tags in our favorite unit this year.You might ask yourself, what makes this hunt "unusual". Antelope are pretty common in the west, and there are quite a few of them. There horns are all about the same, just different configurations oof the prongs and different sizes. Well, what makes this hunt unusual is the terrain.

When antelope come to mind, for most they imagine wide open spaces covered with sage, for some it's the grassland praries, only to be broken up by the occasional riverbottom and cottonwood. But for me, it's pine trees. Yep that's right. A scene more appropriate for mule deer and elk.

And so this hunt begins. With preseason scouting starting in earnest.

Dad and I headed down for an overnight excursion of finding water and some goats if possible. We went down a few weeks ago, and although there has been a lot of water in the state, the unit seemed extremely dry. We found a couple water holes that wrer there last time we hunted, and decided to check them out as well as search for others. The first nigh tdown we decide to head to a different part of the unit where we heard there was a nice buck. We found him, and a little trickle of water. Here's a couple pics of him. He is the tallest goat we saw. A shooter for sure, even with a broken or weak prong.

kennym · June 21, 2009, 05:55:00 PM

COOL!! When does season open?

tim roberts · June 21, 2009, 06:03:00 PM

Congradulations on the Speed Goat tag Ryan!!!!

K.S.TRAPPER · June 21, 2009, 06:05:00 PM

You have been holding out on me Ryan

Looking forward to the new picks

Tracy

earl baugher · June 21, 2009, 06:55:00 PM

Last year when elk hunting, our local gunpusher saw a buck at 10K in Northern NM; had never seen one outside the plains before that in over 30 yrs here in NM.

Barney · June 21, 2009, 07:12:00 PM

We've got a good many at 10K around here.

steadman · June 21, 2009, 07:13:00 PM

So after a short night, we head off to look for water. No water, other than the two ponds, but what we saw was great. Let em back up a bit, the nigh tbefore we went spotlighting, which is legal as long as there are no weapons. We saw about 60 deer and 40 were bucks, with 5 or 6 going to be bruisers. i can't wait to go back down in a couple weeks, there should be a lot more growth by then. I can't hunt deer on this unit, but I love lookin at muleys. I will explain more on the units I can hunt goats on, and what other possibilities await.

So we head out at the crack of dawn, driving small roads (after all this is Utah) and looking for goats. We see no less that 40 goats in the first hour with 25 or so being bucks. I did not find any water, but I found a great trail loaded with antelope and elk sign. A great place to put a tree stand.

We then headed to where the ponds were, and on the way ran into these guys, there were 12 in the bunch with 3 or 4 good bucks.

steadman · June 21, 2009, 07:18:00 PM

This is the caliber of buck that I hope to take. There are quite a few that are about this size to this size of goat. There aren't a lot of huge bucks, but I don't care. I killed a small buck last time hunting this unit, so I am looking for something bigger than 8".

The hunt opens Aug. 15th, along with mulies, and ( I love this state

:rolleyes: ) elk. So I will have 3 tags to try to fill. It's gonna be great.

steadman · June 21, 2009, 07:31:00 PM

I don't know how much time I will have in the near future so I will finish this episode.

After seeing the group of bucks we headed toward the water holes. When we got there, we kicked 4 bucks off the water. We then saw 4 other scattered around with another across the fence. This is lookin good! We then went to the other one, saw there was water in this one, then observed another 8 bucks filing through the pine trees towards us. I didn't have my camera with me, because of the rain, but as they scirted us the joined with the others and created another group of 12 or so bucks!. They ran around, sparred and just plain goofed off while we watched them.

We drove around a little more and ran into another group of bucks, there were 8 or so in that group.

We will head back down around the fourth of July. We have some work to do at the 2 water holes. So stay tuned, I will be back in a couple weeks with more pics and an update.

Benny Nganabbarru · June 21, 2009, 07:32:00 PM

steadman · June 21, 2009, 07:34:00 PM

Here's a couple more pics

Guru · June 21, 2009, 07:39:00 PM

Beautiful bud...good luck to ya! Luv that last pic

Steve O · June 21, 2009, 09:13:00 PM

"This is the caliber of the buck I hope to take"

You lucky DOG!

That is the one thing I really miss when hunting out of state; it is extremely hard to do any pre-season scouting. Going out a few days early doesn't make up for the months of preparation I would like to do.

Make good notes on you maps buddy :D . Those are great looking bucks!

twitchstick · June 22, 2009, 12:13:00 AM

Thats cool! I have only drawn one antelope tag two years ago.I choose the unit because it was my nephews first year bow hunting and needed a place were we could hunt mulies and goats at the same camp.I shoot my antelope at 9000 feet in aspens crazy ah.What unit is that, it sure looks like mountain above my home.Good luck and great pics.That was one of few years I filled all my tags(deer, elk and goat).I am still on that hi.

bowhunterfrompast · June 22, 2009, 12:28:00 AM

Whip · June 22, 2009, 07:38:00 AM

Great pictures! I've seen antelope before at high elevations and in pine forests like that and it always seems so out of place.

I know that they shed and regrow the horn sheath annually, but not really familiar with exactly how that works. Are the sheaths fully grown in your pictures or is there still more to be added through the summer? When do they shed and how long does it take them to regrow?

Thanks for sharing your scouting adventure with us! That can be just about as much fun as the hunt.

Shedrock · June 22, 2009, 08:13:00 AM

Whip,

Antelope shed in December. The old horn is acually pushed off by the new growth. From what I understand, they will grow up into August.

rastaman · June 22, 2009, 10:05:00 AM

What great pictures and thanks for sharing the story with them. i can't wait for the updates!

Over&Under · June 22, 2009, 05:03:00 PM

Great Pics! Go get em' Ryan!!
Good luck with all three tags!

Tater · June 22, 2009, 05:10:00 PM

Ryan,
You are probably the only person I can think of hunting Antelope from a tree stand.

That has to beat sitting in a ground blind 115 degrees all day, and chasing out the rattler's in the morning by flashlight.
Good Luck!! Great Pictures!

Don't suppose you will be making it over to the High Country Shoot this coming weekend?

Pat