The prairie provides!!! Again

A cool story you might enjoy. I went for a "quick" three day weekend trip 9 hrs east of where I live for some hunting I always look forward too. Whitetail, Mulies, Elk, and Antelope galore. The weather wasn't in my favor and had a hot and smokey fri. 98

Saturday came and the heat was still there but less intense. Frankly I was getting a little unmotivated. I decided to try a new area of a big BLM chunk for antelope since deer and elk hunting was terrible. I pulled in on a random road where I saw some antelope does in an ag field. I glassed beyond and saw a shooter buck bedded in a perfect spot. Slightly below a subtle ridge in a slight saddle easily markable. I made a big 3/4 mile roundabout to keep terrain between he and I and got on the backside of the ridge. As I got within 75ish yards i knew I had my mark. The shoes came off and the stalk began. Slowly I crept to the saddle top and scanned as I moved super slowly. Finally I saw horns. Reading them I gathered he was at a calm state.

Telling this story and thinking through the shot, as well as having done this before, shooting an an antelope under 30 paces cannot be done without being seen. Im convinced they have the best eyes in North America other the MT goats and some predatory birds. Movement is what they pick up on and its hard to shoot without moving... at 24 paces. So I got the mental green light and went through the process of drawing and shooting. Quickly.

The buck was still bedded as I started this process but halfway through my draw he picked me up. I was drawing and moving slightly forward at the same time to actually see the rest of him. The arrow was on its way. Looking back at the shot it was amazing and bad all at the same time. I shoot instinctive which is a hard thing to describe to anyone who hasn't really shot a trad bow a lot. It seems impossible, but there is a slight split vision shooting that goes on comparable to shot gunning. I "aimed" where I wanted to hit but couldn't see it because of the topography. The arrow had a sweet arch over the tips of grass and sage brush. I heard the thump. I never saw it hit. He did move forward though getting up and out of his bed.

He ran 80 yds and stopped. He stood there for about a minute. I was motionless trying to pick up on any clues. One is a spooked antelope don't stand around. They run. To the horizon. So I figured I hit him. Finally he trotted slowly around the ridge knob. I ran to the top to see what was going on. In the basin on the other side i found him walking slowly. He laid down after 5 minutes. A good sign. I had 1 1/2 hrs till dark. I went back the the shot site and found the arrow. Surprisingly bloody. I went back to the top and stayed there watching him from afar. Time went on and he seemed weary. Twice I saw his head on the deck. I knew I had him, but overconfident thoughts seemed sinful.

After an actually easy nights sleep, probably from going hard for a couple days, I was back on top of the ridge and day break. As light increased I could see more and more. Except him. I told myself to stay up there for 30 minutes after to make sure I see everything. After waiting, I had devised a plan of going up a slight ditch draw to sneak up on the spot I last saw him the night before. Slowly I made ground. Getting close to his last sighting spot I got out of the draw and up on the flat and looked around for evidence. A slight and hard to follow track left and went slightly uphill. I went on a big walkabout out in that direction and around the spot I last saw him for a 1/2 mile or so. I didn't seem right. I figured, why don't i look in the draw right where he was. I came back high in the draw and walked down it. At a 100 I saw a big white rump! Nocking an arrow I made the distance, but he had already gave up the ghost.

Further inspection was a liver shot. I would say only 8" back of the right windage spot. Elevation was perfect, right on the brown white line. I really feel he just moved a bit through the shot. Regardless, it doesn't always go perfectly, but sharp broadheads reign supreme at times like these. Feeling lucky and blessed. Another antelope spot and stalk with the longbow!!

Also, I posted some photos of the arrows on the Photo Phriday. I have a good feeling about these Sitka Spruce shafts...



The ditch where I found him in the background.

Cool story. Shooting a longbow instinctively, now that's something. Super cool. Thanks for sharing.

Nice goat!! I sold a nice wide sucker like that I found in a thrift store earlier this summer. Of course, I didn't get to live your story. Antelope hunting is some of the coolest around. although I haven't elk hunted, especially at close range...

Congratulations
Nice hunting story
Great buck

Congrats! Thanks for sharing. Some nice skills right there, great buck!

WTG great hunt , thanks for sharing

Much enjoyed your story; nice buck. Gives me a big grin when I think about your taking him with traditional longbow, spot-and-stalk, no 4-wheeler, shoeless, My hat off to you, sir.

Jack

Glad you posted this since I am not going this year, hard to do and you got him, congrats

Awesome job of taking a speed goat with a trad bow

Congrats

Hope you get to punch some more tags

"Respect" for your method of hunting....Congrats!

Nice write up. Getting within 200 yards of antelope can be tough depending on the terrain. Personally I would have no problem with bow hunters getting to use a rifle on a follow up shot. So many critters are mortally wounded by a bow and arrow every fall. Not to mention I imagine that antelope might have been a little green after sitting out all night.

Good stuff!

I cut it up sunday night and it tasted great. I had the same thought but i think you get different levels of gameyness in all meats. Heard the same for moose elk and mulies. I was more worried of the coyotes not leaving any for me

As far as the follow up its the chance we take. Im trying to get under 20. Seems like most now want to shoot a bow at 80 and a rifle +500. Ive seen plenty of wounded antelope at the onset of rifle season when all the “snipers” come out. And most arent shooting at antelope under 50 with a bow. Period. Being a good shot and not a good hunter seems to be the way of the west these days. Do the best you can with what you got.

Excellent work getting it done with traditional archery equipment on a pronghorn! Hard to fathom making that kind of stalk to have a remote chance at a shot.

Chris

"Respect" for your method of hunting....Congrats! X 2and a nice write up too. Good job......jk

Now that is my kind of story!! I felt like I was there and stalking myself and I’ve never done it! Great story, outstanding hunt, and an awesome goat!! Congrats sir!! Well deserved and earned!

So i Just got back from another longer trip out in Eastern MT. It was good.

My brother headed out friday night and was telling me he was immediately getting into elk. I was going to head out on Sunday. My wife had been chosen to be in a documentary about third trimester pregnant women. Its definitely a can of worms, but I want her to feel supported and the least I could do was stick around Saturday to be part of it. She wants to make sure the feminist women running the show understand there is a relationship here. Anyway, my wife was in close contact with someone with covid. She had to quarantine. The documentary was suspended, and I took off Saturday morn. She's fine as well as the covid case and the feminists.

A long drive was made shorter of good memories, and dreams of new hunts. I wanted to hit the whitetail spot before I met my brother for a number of reasons. He was in the elk. I wanted to take stock of the deer. I got to the spot right at dark. The winds were terrible, but the forecast had them changing. I went to sleep in the bed of the truck and hoped it would change. 4:00am came quickly. I checked the wind and it changed enough degrees that i thought it would suffice. I packed my stuff up and made the journey. At 4:30am I made the quick little 1 1/2 mile jaunt with a terrible crossing through a deep muddy creek. 5:30am I was at the tree and by 5:50 i was settled. Shooting light was at 6:23am at it took so long for shooting light to arrive. About 5 minutes before light a doe walked by and she didn't spoke from the wind. I was ready!

The basic setup of this spot is there is a pivot on private. The greenery attracts all the deer in the area. They feed all night long and when the sun comes up they head back to the woods to bed. They hop a fence and are on public, but the still have to make it 250yd through a flat blank dead field. There is also a number of options for them on which heading to take. Most stay on private to the left. Some bail out right which is public, but they are sporadic at best on where they go. And some come straight to the woods where I am waiting. Well 5 minutes after light I had two coming my way. A doe and a buck. The buck at low light looked like one I would pass, but at 100yds I started to have second thoughts. Both came in calm and slow. The buck was first. He was slightly quartering to at 20ish paces. He made a step forward and turned slightly nibbling green cottonwood leaves. Now he was broadside. I had been ready for quite some time and had this period to calm down. I went through my sequence. Pick a spot, point, draw, anchor, finger on face, keep pulling, keep pulling.... the wood was on is way. Even my white crest and feathers were hard to see in the low light. My follow through was good. I saw both deer dig in at the shot, focus obviously on the buck. As he made his first bound I saw the fletch buried all the way to the fur 6 inches behind his shoulder. Elevation was dead in the middle. I heard what sounded like the arrow rattle out when he was about 75 out. I felt good about it.

I considered staying in the stand and waiting for a doe. I quickly slapped myself out of that idea. I knew I could be out of the tree with the stand walking to the truck in under 10 minutes. Thats what I did. I didn't want to spook any more deer and walking back to the truck with the stand was a great way to preoccupy myself and give hime some time. I circled my way out. Back at the truck I texted my brother. "do you have service. 7:22am". He responded "shot a turkey last night so running into town to get a few supplies". "Come to the whitetail spot. Shot a deer. Hit looked good. Giving it time." "Copy be there in a half hour." 30 minutes later on the nose my brother showed up. His first question was buck or doe. I told him I had a nice doe hit.

Marching back in was quick and we were at the site where I left a stumping arrow at the shot site. We had to do 10 minutes of loops to find the first blood which had me concerned, but eventually I found a good start of red blood. Tracking was ok after that. Not a ton of blood, but it looked good. We found the back of the arrow first at 75yds. It looked great. Bright red blood. The front of the arrow was another 10 yds forward. Bright red blood. I took the broadhead, pulled up my sleeve and shaved some hair off my arm. I was satisfied with that. It looked like he had stopped at about 125yds out A pull of blood with some whiteish tissue specs. His trail took a 30 degree turn right. He was slowing down. Blood spatter can tell a lot. He was running at first with blood showing signs of traveling forward. Now the blood had the indication of falling straight down. He was slowing down. A bush was in line with the blood trail. I went left and heard my brother say, "were you ******* joking when you said you shot a doe?" My smile said it all. There he lay 200 yds out. A good personal best WT with the longbow.

We quickly had him quartered out and I drove another arrow in the ground to mark the kill. Ksanka.

That was the first day. Spent the rest of the week chasing elk and antelope does since I filled that buck tag. Got close to a lot of things as did my brother. He got a buck and doe the last day. The heat was almost unbearable so we did well all things considered. Thanks for reading.

Wow! Nice buck and a great story! Congrats!

Good luck on the rest of your hunt.

Moosetrot

Awesome story and good job! I love reading stories like that, felt like I was there. I hunt with my brother a lot and we’re always joking like that. Fun stuff. Congrats on your PB

Really Nice Story and Buck

May have missed it so have to ask what broadheads are you using? Seems like you pay a lot of attention to having them razor sharp and that is good!

Moosetrot

I have been using Grizzly broad heads 155 gr LW single bevel. I have tried Abowyer, Ace, Zwickey among others. I like these.

Grizzlys

They are cheaper than some other single bevel 3:1ish ratio heads, but they sharpen up nicely.

Thanks! Been hearing a lot about the single bevels.

Moosetrot

Beautiful buck .

WTG , great story , thanks for sharing