Help me with my tactical plan

EZduzIT

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 9, 2021
Messages
134
Hello,

new to the forum. Thanks for having me. Yesterday I drove around my home state of Colorado in the eastern plains looking for speed goat permissions with my bow. My wife baked up a couple apple pies and after many attempts of basically not even finding a soul I ran across a rancher in a unit about 1 hour east of Colorado Springs. There are 4 good water holes that I believe will hold plenty of water come August 15th. I spotted one good buck and in a separate field 4 does with a small buck. The animals are there and the only other hunters he has are rifle so I will have the place to myself for a while. I am attaching a photo to give an idea of my situation. In the photo you can see the northern most field has two water holes that off in the distance had the 4 does and a small buck. One of the water holes had some tracks and scat. And both back up to fence line with gently rolling hill obscuring view from the rest of the field. The southern piece that has the “buck” pin was another large cleaner water hole that had scat mostly no new tracks. This field had a nice lone buck in it. My game plan I’m thinking is to set up blinds at all three locations to get the animals familiar with them as well as set up game cams to see which water hole they come to the most. From there I’ll try and pattern and choose my set up location based off that. I was also debating on setting up a buck decoy at the water hole the day I hunt. What are your thoughts on this tactic. Does it even make sense? I’ve never hunted antelope and I’m looking for some guidance. I’ve been reading a ton of articles and I think it would help to talk to some real people that have been doing this thing for years. Thanks again for your time.
 

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Joined
Mar 1, 2017
Messages
1,936
Location
Eagle River, AK
Don’t use a decoy at water. They are too spooky for that, plus too early in the season (last week of archery may work)

Yes figure out which water they use the most, blinds on all will give you options.

Bring a cooler with ice and food for the day and a piss bottle. I would get in my blind before light and sit til they came or it got dark. I have slept over night in a blind as well.

I like to bring a big blanket for the floor, like a moving blanket. Can take your shoes and socks off (and pants) if it gets hot 🥵. And a comfortable chair. Practice shooting out of it with minimal movement.

only open one small window to shoot from. Blackout the rest

my experience pronghorn have the best eyes and are super jumpy. Don’t shoot when they are looking at you
 
OP
EZduzIT

EZduzIT

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 9, 2021
Messages
134
Don’t use a decoy at water. They are too spooky for that, plus too early in the season (last week of archery may work)

Yes figure out which water they use the most, blinds on all will give you options.

Bring a cooler with ice and food for the day and a piss bottle. I would get in my blind before light and sit til they came or it got dark. I have slept over night in a blind as well.

I like to bring a big blanket for the floor, like a moving blanket. Can take your shoes and socks off (and pants) if it gets hot 🥵. And a comfortable chair. Practice shooting out of it with minimal movement.

only open one small window to shoot from. Blackout the rest

my experience pronghorn have the best eyes and are super jumpy. Don’t shoot when they are looking at you
Thank you for the great information!
 

kcm2

WKR
Joined
Feb 26, 2012
Messages
345
What WW said....and be sure your blind is set up at least a week before you hunt it. Good luck.
 
Joined
Nov 27, 2013
Messages
1,774
It's still early, wait until you see the pond that has the most tracks. You can wait until August to put your blind in. If you have ponds close together, less than a mile apart, it can be frustrating. Forget the decoy, you're setting an ambush for a place they're already coming to. There are a ton of things you can do to increase your odds. I will end with, if you have the choice for a shot @ 15 yds, but you're blind is lower than the lip of the pond, vs keeping it high and having to shoot 20-25 yds, I'd take being able to see. Nothing worse than setting a blind low on a pond and not being able to see what's coming your way.

Also, August is good hunting in CO, Sept can be better as any doe that comes to a hole will be tailed. Not so in early August.
 
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