Another great trip to the outdoors with my best friend Steve, also known as OwyheeCo. The trip started out with the long trip from NYC to Boise, ID and it was a very uneventful trip, the kind you want when traveling with all your hunting gear.
Antelope hunting can be a lot like hunting migratory animals, the animals are very reliable upon their food source and in late summer water is very important and if water is scarce and you have a waterhole you stand a great chance of arrowing an Antelope. If there are numerous water sources and hunting pressure Antelope will head to those holes with the least amount of pressure. On this trip this is exactly what happened. Our traditional waterholes were the only waterholes for miles, but what was unknown to us was a rancher had brought in water for his horses a few days before the season started and the Antelope found it so the hundreds of Antelope that were being seen had turned into just a few.
Fortunately there was a nice buck still around and we had watched him for a few days before we decided that he was the animal I would take. The hunt started on August 15 and on Wednesday, August 18 I finally got my shot and here is how it happened:
Steve and I had been watching a buck on a ridge about a mile away, the buck kept looking up the valley, he also kept looking down the valley. We thought there could be some animals heading our way but none were in sight and the way things were going we werent too optimistic. The blind was heating up and as it did we shed layers of clothing from the cool morning. Every ten minutes we would check up on the buck and note his progress. We began discussing other possibilities since time was running out and confidence was waning in our water hole.
I got up to check on the buck and brought my binoculars to the peep hole and as I put my eye to the glass all I saw was a big Antelope head about 70 yards heading our way. Quickly I turned to Steve and said, "Antelope heading our way!" I got up, grabbed my bow, and waited for Steve to tell me his progress. Steve looked out the hole and saw two does I was not able to see standing 20 yards from the blind looking right at our direction. Obviously the noise and talking we had done put them on alert. One doe spooked, and we almost thought we had lost them, when she turned and reconsidered due to thirst.
As the Antelope approached Steve managed to ease his way over to the right side of the blind to give me yardage. The spooky animals did not come directly into the water but went to a small trickle that ran a few yards off the back of the hole. Steve used the rangefinder and told me 35 yards, he was slightly quartering to with his head down in the water, a doe stood slightly behind him and another stood the same distance opposite him. I knew my window to shoot was short. I drew, took a breath and sighted in and released in seconds.
We heard a good hit, but were not sure of the location due to the speed of the arrow. As the buck turned and began to run we noticed the crimson on his shoulder and saw the arrow hanging on to the opposite shoulder. The buck raced with the does and about 40 yards his legs began to give and down he went. Steve looked at me and as stunned as I was we gave a shout of success out and smiles the size of Wyoming graced our faces.
As we approached the buck we were grateful for this experience. We had watched this guy for a few days and named him, "The Pig" because he ate more than any antelope we had ever seen. A matter a fact when we brought him to the butcher he said, "Man, this guy is fat!"
The buck did not make the book this year, poor me, two years in a row I make the book and this year I shot a "small" one. Whatever! It was very tough hunting and I am very grateful for this antelope. Some years you have to take the shots you are given and some years you can pass up animals. The trick is learning which year is a year to pass.
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