It’s been seven years since I first hunted this area, due to my previous success I was really excited to get this tag again.
My wife and I did some scouting over the 4th and saw a lot of Pronghorn but not as many bucks as we had in 2017. I decided on the same water hole as before even though we did not see any antelope or definitive signs or tracks that it was being used.
I arrived at my campsite around 9pm Wednesday the night before the opener, got setup and drove out to the water hole with fingers crossed that it was vacant of a blind.
The road looked like no one had been on it for a while so I was hopeful that I had it all to myself, I was in luck!
I set up the blind and was back at camp around midnight, sleep was nonexistent and 4am came way earlier than I thought it should lol!
Thursday morning I had three different group of does come in totaling over 30 animals but no bucks. I stayed in the blind till around 2pm and couldn’t take it any with the temps hovering close to 100 *
My brother showed up in the evening and we decided to hunt the blind again the next day, it would be cramped in the one man blind but we thought it was doable.
Friday seven more groups of does came in early but still no bucks, finally late in the morning a buck approached but was very wary and wouldn’t commit to water. Then a second buck came in from a different direction and again remained 100 yards out and wouldn’t come in to drink.
Something had to be spooking them…both mornings coming into the blind in the dark I didn’t realize the roof of my truck was slightly visible about 1500 yards out but was enough to spook them! Again we stayed in the blind till 3 and then decided we needed a break.
Doing some road hunting we spotted a single buck and decided to bust out the decoy and try a stalk, this buck wanted nothing to do with the decoy and ran off only to join up with a group of six bucks together coming in to a large water source! I’d never seen so many bucks traveling together, needless to say the stalk with the decoy and seven pairs of eyes was unsuccessful!!!
Saturday we decided to give the blind one last try, 11:00 was my hard deadline after that I was changing tactics. We took the side x side this time as it was easier to hide about a mile and half away.
More large groups of does poured in as the morning ticked away…10:45 my brother whispers-we got a buck!
He came pretty straight in initially and then worked side to side about 100 yards out, here we go again I thought. He eventually settled down but was coming in at an angle that was going to be difficult from the blind to get a shot.
Luckily he moved a few steps to the left and settled in to drink at the absolute furthest edge of the water away from the blind.
The shot ended up being 46 yards, he ran another 50 and died within 15-20 seconds after being hit.
This was by far my most favorite pronghorn hunt, he’s not the biggest I’ve shot but the setup and shot was perfect and my brother being there made it that much better.
After we got him butchered and back on ice we fished a small reservoir nearby and caught trout for two straight hours almost every cast.
Even at a seven year wait as a non resident now this was so worth it!
My wife and I did some scouting over the 4th and saw a lot of Pronghorn but not as many bucks as we had in 2017. I decided on the same water hole as before even though we did not see any antelope or definitive signs or tracks that it was being used.
I arrived at my campsite around 9pm Wednesday the night before the opener, got setup and drove out to the water hole with fingers crossed that it was vacant of a blind.
The road looked like no one had been on it for a while so I was hopeful that I had it all to myself, I was in luck!
I set up the blind and was back at camp around midnight, sleep was nonexistent and 4am came way earlier than I thought it should lol!
Thursday morning I had three different group of does come in totaling over 30 animals but no bucks. I stayed in the blind till around 2pm and couldn’t take it any with the temps hovering close to 100 *
My brother showed up in the evening and we decided to hunt the blind again the next day, it would be cramped in the one man blind but we thought it was doable.
Friday seven more groups of does came in early but still no bucks, finally late in the morning a buck approached but was very wary and wouldn’t commit to water. Then a second buck came in from a different direction and again remained 100 yards out and wouldn’t come in to drink.
Something had to be spooking them…both mornings coming into the blind in the dark I didn’t realize the roof of my truck was slightly visible about 1500 yards out but was enough to spook them! Again we stayed in the blind till 3 and then decided we needed a break.
Doing some road hunting we spotted a single buck and decided to bust out the decoy and try a stalk, this buck wanted nothing to do with the decoy and ran off only to join up with a group of six bucks together coming in to a large water source! I’d never seen so many bucks traveling together, needless to say the stalk with the decoy and seven pairs of eyes was unsuccessful!!!
Saturday we decided to give the blind one last try, 11:00 was my hard deadline after that I was changing tactics. We took the side x side this time as it was easier to hide about a mile and half away.
More large groups of does poured in as the morning ticked away…10:45 my brother whispers-we got a buck!
He came pretty straight in initially and then worked side to side about 100 yards out, here we go again I thought. He eventually settled down but was coming in at an angle that was going to be difficult from the blind to get a shot.
Luckily he moved a few steps to the left and settled in to drink at the absolute furthest edge of the water away from the blind.
The shot ended up being 46 yards, he ran another 50 and died within 15-20 seconds after being hit.
This was by far my most favorite pronghorn hunt, he’s not the biggest I’ve shot but the setup and shot was perfect and my brother being there made it that much better.
After we got him butchered and back on ice we fished a small reservoir nearby and caught trout for two straight hours almost every cast.
Even at a seven year wait as a non resident now this was so worth it!
