Well my fiance, Jenny, drew her first ever antelope tag this year, to say she was excited would be an understatement. She had drawn her first ever tag a couple years ago and was disappointed she didn't draw anything last year...Anyways, her and her dad headed out to the area on Thursday evening and set up camp so they could head out when season opened on Friday. As I was working Thursday night through Friday morning I would head out after shift. They hunted all day Friday and found a nice buck Friday afternoon that Jenny couldn't put a stalk on as it spooked. Right after that I showed up after the long drive and we headed up over a ridge over looking a long valley, here we made plans for the following day.
Friday night we had a good dinner and looked over the map making a game plan for the following morning. Saturday morning rolled around and after fueling up on coffee and breakfast we made the drive to our starting spot. Once there we glassed and glassed and I finally turned up some antelope way way off on the far ridge. This is where I immediately made the decision to buy a new spotter when we got back because my little Minox MD 50 just doesn't cut it at those distances. So we talked and Jenny decided that we should go after them and see if there was a buck in the group. We drove down the road a bit more and then jumped out of the truck and put on our packs.
We hiked up a small dry creek bed for just over a mile and were near the ridge we wanted to get on top of and glass when we both froze at the same time. There was an antelope about 400 yards away looking our way. I threw my binos up and said "Buck, legal." I told her "he is not too big, but he is legal, take a look, you want him?" Jenny responded without hesitation saying "Ya!". We moved forward behind some tall sage and she set up her trekking poles as shooting sticks while I ranged the buck at 364 yards. Jenny had her rifle up and ready when she said "I think there are more antelope 30 yards away!" I looked, there were 2 mulie doe and small 2x2 right in front of us, I told her they were deer and we froze up hoping they wouldn't bust out and spook the antelope buck.
Well we had been practicing all summer shooting out to 300 yards, with a few practice shots at 350 and 400 yards. As she was set up and aiming the buck was just feeding around on the side of the ridge, light wind in our face. After I told her the range, Jenny said she just wasn't comfortable with that shot and would feel better at 300 as we had practiced alot at that distance. So, as the buck fed across the ridge we closed the distance by moving from sage brush clump to sage brush clump.
I threw up the rangefinder and got 302, I told her "Here, this is it." She waited for the buck to drop his head to feed and quickley and efficiently set her sticks and steadied her rifle. I checked the range again, "303, you got it". The buck was broadside with just a slight quartering away angle. I was watching him through the binos and when I heard the report of the rifle I also saw a large puff of white hair and the buck just hit the dirt. I looked over to Jenny and she said "Yes! He dropped right down!".
We hiked up the ridge and radioed her dad that she had one down and that it would be a while before we were back. We walked up and took photos and then broke him down. We found that she had hit just behind the shoulder on the near side with the exit being just in front of the shoulder. The exit was about the size of my thumb. She was shooting her hand loads of 140gr Sierra Spitzer Boat Tail out of her 270 Win. I loaded all the meat in to my Nomad and she threw the cape and head on her pack along with her rifle and we made the 1.3 mile hike back to the truck. It was a nice little hike, not difficult at all.
On the drive back to camp we spotted another buck on the hillside... It was a fantastic trip, Jenny made a great shot. Nothing beats that smile right after the shot!
Friday night we had a good dinner and looked over the map making a game plan for the following morning. Saturday morning rolled around and after fueling up on coffee and breakfast we made the drive to our starting spot. Once there we glassed and glassed and I finally turned up some antelope way way off on the far ridge. This is where I immediately made the decision to buy a new spotter when we got back because my little Minox MD 50 just doesn't cut it at those distances. So we talked and Jenny decided that we should go after them and see if there was a buck in the group. We drove down the road a bit more and then jumped out of the truck and put on our packs.
We hiked up a small dry creek bed for just over a mile and were near the ridge we wanted to get on top of and glass when we both froze at the same time. There was an antelope about 400 yards away looking our way. I threw my binos up and said "Buck, legal." I told her "he is not too big, but he is legal, take a look, you want him?" Jenny responded without hesitation saying "Ya!". We moved forward behind some tall sage and she set up her trekking poles as shooting sticks while I ranged the buck at 364 yards. Jenny had her rifle up and ready when she said "I think there are more antelope 30 yards away!" I looked, there were 2 mulie doe and small 2x2 right in front of us, I told her they were deer and we froze up hoping they wouldn't bust out and spook the antelope buck.
Well we had been practicing all summer shooting out to 300 yards, with a few practice shots at 350 and 400 yards. As she was set up and aiming the buck was just feeding around on the side of the ridge, light wind in our face. After I told her the range, Jenny said she just wasn't comfortable with that shot and would feel better at 300 as we had practiced alot at that distance. So, as the buck fed across the ridge we closed the distance by moving from sage brush clump to sage brush clump.
I threw up the rangefinder and got 302, I told her "Here, this is it." She waited for the buck to drop his head to feed and quickley and efficiently set her sticks and steadied her rifle. I checked the range again, "303, you got it". The buck was broadside with just a slight quartering away angle. I was watching him through the binos and when I heard the report of the rifle I also saw a large puff of white hair and the buck just hit the dirt. I looked over to Jenny and she said "Yes! He dropped right down!".
We hiked up the ridge and radioed her dad that she had one down and that it would be a while before we were back. We walked up and took photos and then broke him down. We found that she had hit just behind the shoulder on the near side with the exit being just in front of the shoulder. The exit was about the size of my thumb. She was shooting her hand loads of 140gr Sierra Spitzer Boat Tail out of her 270 Win. I loaded all the meat in to my Nomad and she threw the cape and head on her pack along with her rifle and we made the 1.3 mile hike back to the truck. It was a nice little hike, not difficult at all.
On the drive back to camp we spotted another buck on the hillside... It was a fantastic trip, Jenny made a great shot. Nothing beats that smile right after the shot!
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