Nevada Antelope

So one of my worst planned hunts of all time. With 3 weddings (including my son?s) and a triathlon I volunteer for annually, I had commitments 4 of 6 weekends leading up to the hunt, including the first 4 days of the season.

Thanks to Geohunter, Uncle Buck, nitis and iowacity for their PMs and advice.

First day we saw a true monster, in a very tough spot to kill him. After an hour of glassing him, we backed out, and never made it back.

Day 2 my wife missed a darn good buck, but I get an assist on the miss. I ranged him at 300. He was moving away and stopped 40-50 yards further out. I told her to hold on his back. (7mm-08, 140 gr Hornady SST). Both shots went right over his back, so close I wasn?t sure they weren't pass through hits initially. But we got on him 2 more times without a shot, he wasn?t hit.

Day 3 we saw this buck pushing about 9 does into a little hidden basin. After an hour of waiting to see where they would head, we decided to stalk the basin since they hadn't come out yet.

As we topped out, there were 22 does/fawns on the opposite lip of the basin, getting ready to leave. The buck was about 15 yards downhill from them. We had to expose ourselves to see him and the does had spotted us but we had the sun behind us so I don't think they knew exactly what we were.

I set up the bi-pod and she was getting ready to shoot when a range cow got directly between us and the buck. We relocated about 15 feet to the left, the cow moved again so she still couldn't shoot. This time we waited the cow out, and it moved off. She was standing, rifle on the bi-pod when I heard her say, ?I cannot get steady.? I came out of the glass with the intent of readjusting the bi-pod. I saw her finger on the trigger so I got back in the Binos just in time to see his take one bound and pile up. Perfect shot at 220 yards.

Not the biggest buck on the mountain, but we had a great time and I learned some new country.

Sounds like you made the best of it. Sweet looking buck. Glad it worked out. Congrats !

Congrats to her, great looking buck, what did it score ? Looks to be a good scoring buck with big cutters.


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Really nice prongs on that buck. Congratulations!

I didn't score it.

Pretty buck. A year or 2 from being a trophy but large for size prongs.

I have a 16 3/8?, 78 7/8? buck on my wall. This isn't close.

But we're putting it on the wall, she earned it.

Like I said, ?Pretty buck.?

The monster I saw 2 days earlier was well over 16?, heavy as he!!.

I watched him through the spotter for 45 minutes at 1200 yards.

But the ridge he stayed on was going to be a tough hunt/shot.

If it had been my tag, I would have focused on him exclusively.

My wife is happy with her buck and said, ?That was great hunt.? All I wanted.

Hunter how many points did she have ?
I have 11 and hope to draw in the next couple years.

She had 11, her 12th season applying.

But I drew a harder to draw unit with 7 in 2010.

It's Nevada. So fill all 5 choices out if you are willing to give up those points for that unit.

IMO There are more than 5 units worth 11 PPs. And I never apply for 031 or 41/42.

Nevada is going to supply us with 1-2 deer tags, 1 elk tag and 1 sheep tag in the next 5 years, I'm optimistic.

She has 12 elk points, 12 sheep points, I have 16 sheep points, and i?m Gonna start putting an archery option on my deer app.

So I really think 4 tags in the next 5 years is realistic.

Congrats! Nice looking buck, nice cutters and I like the curls!

I drew Deer in 2017 so most any decent tag is a long shot now with 2 points.
I put in for Archery Elk in the top eastern units so no telling if/when I will draw.
For Antelope the last couple years my top 3 unit choices have been the better units and my last 2 choices had about 20-25% odds. It should happen in the next couple years.

Thank you for your input.

My wife is kinda a novice hunter; 1 bull elk, 4 antelope (2 bucks) and one mule deer.

I woulda held out for the monster I saw. But the stalk/ buck was perfect for her.

She loved the hunt! And should draw a great antelope tag in Utah the next year or 2. I'll try to get her to be more patient next time.

But with the way Western Hunting is today, you never know when you? Be able to hunt again.

But thank you for your input on the unit, Hope I can help you in the future.

Nice, congrats!

Very Nice, Congrats!