Sage Buffalo's Range

Main Page 



This year was going to be the year. I mean Idaho was in a serious drought, little water, perfect antelope conditions. Right! Wrong. Antelope hunting must be a footnote of Murphy’s Law. Either way you can never have a sure thing when Antelope hunting.

I was excited to get out and visit my best friend Steve, especially this year. We had high hopes of big bucks, with many to choose from.

I had Boy Scout camp the week before my hunt so I was only able to check my messages once a day to see how Steve had done during opening week. Every night I checked and every night no message.

I got home Saturday evening and quickly packed because I had a 7:00 am flight to catch which meant I had to be up by 4:30 am which wouldn’t have been bad had I not been chasing my Scouts all over the Catskill’s making sure they went to their classes.

The alarm went off much sooner than I wanted and I dragged myself out of bed and jumped into the shower. It all seemed like a blur, getting on the plane, getting off in Salt Lake City, saying hi to my wife who was visiting her sister, and back onto another plane off to Boise.

Steve was at the airport to pick me up. We did some visiting with friends before we headed to our hunting location.

A quick footnote, as with Antelope hunting you have to watch your best friends and how they can play dirty little tricks on you. After arriving and packing the car Steve brings out his bow and says, "Check out my new arrows." He hands me one with blood all over it. I look at him with those eyes that say, "I can’t believe you could hold out that long without breaking down and telling me!" Well, here’s Steve’s buck, a nice buck and one that should be just over the P&Y minimum. OK back to the story...




We hit the sack rather late that night, lots of catching up to do...

Once again the alarm went off too early. We went through the same routine we have been doing the past 6 seasons. A quick bowl of cereal, make a few PB&J’s, grab our frozen Gatorade and stumble out to the truck.

The air was much colder than other first days, it must have been in the mid-30’s and the oxygen caught my lungs off guard and quickly woke me up. I was happy to have long pants over my shorts and a nice, new camo cardigan. The trip to the blind is a familiar one, my job is to open the gates and close them. Steve has been hunting this area for more than 20+ years with his Dad, and since his Dad is a Dinosaur he has hunted much longer than the both of us!

The day came quickly and my anticipation was high, but the day proved to be a lesson in patience. No antelope came in, nor did we even see one. It was the first time since our first year that we sat an entire day and did not see an antelope.

Tired and a bit frustrated we went back to camp and had a quick dinner. We hit the sack in hopes that our other blind would do the trick.

I always mention to Steve when we are hunting that it only takes one animal to change everything, this year would be no different.

Day 2 started off the same but this time we headed to our other blind. We were in before light and waited to see what the day had to offer.

Light broke and I turned to Steve and said, "I feel antelope today." He smiled and went to sleep. About 45 minutes later I began scanning the area to find a DANDY buck 80 yards out! He was long and had huge shovels. He would easily have score mid-70’s and I would take him in a heart beat. Steve filmed him for a while and I prepared myself for the shot, but the buck had other ideas and casually strolled behind us and vanished...

I was pretty disappointed, not many times in Idaho do you get an opportunity like that. I thought for sure my opportunity for a buck like that had passed for this trip. Steve laid back down and went to sleep.

I continued to glass the area every 15 minutes. About an hour later I caught movement from the same place, about 100 yards out, and when I saw the horns I knew he was a shooter, and when he turned his head I new he was BIG! I quickly woke Steve up and the first thing he said when he saw him was, "It’s Devil Horn!"

Devil Horn is a buck we have seen for the past 4 years, the first time we saw him he was 3-4 years old. So to see him coming in with bow in hand gave us big smiles.

Steve couldn’t believe how bog he was, and all I remember as the buck approached was Steve saying, "Oh my gosh!" Steve rarely gets that excited about an animal unless it is truly big, and he was excited!

The buck was definetly thirsty and was making quick time to our blind. The path he was taking would put him very close to our blind. As he approached I could feel my heart inch up my chest. The buck just kept getting bigger and bigger.

The buck approached the waterhole with caution but was definetly thirsty. He made a quick right turn and head directly at us. As he approached the water he was all of 7 yards away from us! If you have never seen a trophy antelope that close I will tell you it is amazing. The fact that they can see a mouse move a mile away really makes you paranoid when they are 7 yards away looking right at the blind. Fortunately he couldn’t see into the dark abyss and started drinking.

As he drank I pulled back my Browning Vision, 55 lb bow with Easton ACC arrows tipped with Steel Force broadheads. I set the pin on him took a breath and released. The buck spun wildly, kicking like a bucking bronco, and raced off a 125 yards before laying down.

Just like that our hunt went from bewilderment to unbelievable excitement.

The buck measured at 15 1/2 inches with 6 inch bases. He didn’t have very good prongs. When all is said and done he should score between 76-78 P&Y. We didn’t have much time to sit down with a tape and measure him but when I get him back from the Taxidermist I will have a chance to put a tape to him.



You can't beat hunting together with your best friend...life at its best!