smokepoler63
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LAST EDITED ON Oct-09-12 AT 02:15PM (MST)[p]My 13-year-old son got it done Friday! This was our seventh trip out to the unit. This was a long, challenging, frustrating hunt. Antelope are so hard to stalk or get within muzzleloader range in this virtually flat unit. There is very little topography or vegetation to use for cover during a stalk. The very first stalk we made was executed perfectly, but with an earplug in his left ear, he misunderstood me and thought I said to aim 8 inches below the animal, not 8 inches below the animals back line. He hit about 8 inches below the buck.
We made multiple stalks and had many blown ambushes. One evening he had a herd of pronghorn come within 50-60 yards of where he was laying in the grass, only to have a hang-fire and have them escape unscathed. He was beginning to get frustrated when we discovered the pronghorn were really hitting the farm fields hard following several hard frosts. We began to set up ambushes at areas where they pronghorn were likely to come off the desert and into the agricultural fields.
We saw about 80 head in the north end of a particular field on Thursday, so we made plans to be in a ditch on the north end of this field before first light the next morning. As black turned to gray I began to make out pronghorn. The problem was they were on the south end of the field where we had been the day before. This put them 500 to 800 yards away. We waited; shivering in the ditch all morning as they slowly fed their way out the SW corner of the field and on to the INL. When all of the pronghorn were out of the field, we climbed out of the ditch and walked back to our vehicle. We decided to drive around to the south-west corner and drop Preston off.
I dropped Preston off and had hum set up in some tall grass. He got positioned as I drove away. I drove to a high rise about ? mile away and set up the spotting scope. After about 30 minutes, Preston called and said that the pronghorn were headed out further onto the INL. I told him that we still had two hours till lunch and to be patient. About 25 minutes later I noticed that some of the pronghorn had broken away from the main herd and were heading back toward the corner of the field where Preston was waiting. I called him on the cell phone and he said he was already watching them and asked if I had seen the bucks sparing. I said to get ready and I would watch through the spotting scope.
The herd came in fairly fast, stopping from time to time to scan for danger. They were headed straight for Preston and I was getting more excited the closer they got. Then I saw them scatter and run back out on the INL. Seconds later I heard the report of the muzzleloader. No hang-fire this time. Within seconds my cell phone rang, a very excited 13-year-old said, ?Get down here Dad, I hit one.? I didn't waste any time driving down to where he was. He was having a hard time getting the Hornady 410 gr. Great Plains bullet down the muzzle loader. I helped him seat the bullet on the powder and he headed out to the downed buck. A second shot wasn?t necessary. The buck was dead before we could get to him.
There was a mature buck with the herd, but when Preston rose for the shot, the herd locked in on him and were ready to bolt any second. There was a doe behind the mature buck and Preston didn't want to risk killing or wounding the doe, so he elected to shoot this yearling buck. I would rather he shoot a mature buck, but I'm so proud of him for making the ethical choice not to shoot at a buck with a doe standing behind it. He is as happy with this buck as he would be with any mature buck. He really learned a lot on this hunt and matured a lot as a big game hunter. This was a great experience that both of us will remember for the rest of our lives.
I should clarify. This is Preston's first with a muzzleloader. He killed a buck and a doe pronghorn last year in Wyoming when he was 12 with a rifle. This is his first big game animal from Idaho and his first muzzy harvest.
One buck we were after.
Ambush that almost worked.
One happy kid!
One proud father!
We made multiple stalks and had many blown ambushes. One evening he had a herd of pronghorn come within 50-60 yards of where he was laying in the grass, only to have a hang-fire and have them escape unscathed. He was beginning to get frustrated when we discovered the pronghorn were really hitting the farm fields hard following several hard frosts. We began to set up ambushes at areas where they pronghorn were likely to come off the desert and into the agricultural fields.
We saw about 80 head in the north end of a particular field on Thursday, so we made plans to be in a ditch on the north end of this field before first light the next morning. As black turned to gray I began to make out pronghorn. The problem was they were on the south end of the field where we had been the day before. This put them 500 to 800 yards away. We waited; shivering in the ditch all morning as they slowly fed their way out the SW corner of the field and on to the INL. When all of the pronghorn were out of the field, we climbed out of the ditch and walked back to our vehicle. We decided to drive around to the south-west corner and drop Preston off.
I dropped Preston off and had hum set up in some tall grass. He got positioned as I drove away. I drove to a high rise about ? mile away and set up the spotting scope. After about 30 minutes, Preston called and said that the pronghorn were headed out further onto the INL. I told him that we still had two hours till lunch and to be patient. About 25 minutes later I noticed that some of the pronghorn had broken away from the main herd and were heading back toward the corner of the field where Preston was waiting. I called him on the cell phone and he said he was already watching them and asked if I had seen the bucks sparing. I said to get ready and I would watch through the spotting scope.
The herd came in fairly fast, stopping from time to time to scan for danger. They were headed straight for Preston and I was getting more excited the closer they got. Then I saw them scatter and run back out on the INL. Seconds later I heard the report of the muzzleloader. No hang-fire this time. Within seconds my cell phone rang, a very excited 13-year-old said, ?Get down here Dad, I hit one.? I didn't waste any time driving down to where he was. He was having a hard time getting the Hornady 410 gr. Great Plains bullet down the muzzle loader. I helped him seat the bullet on the powder and he headed out to the downed buck. A second shot wasn?t necessary. The buck was dead before we could get to him.
There was a mature buck with the herd, but when Preston rose for the shot, the herd locked in on him and were ready to bolt any second. There was a doe behind the mature buck and Preston didn't want to risk killing or wounding the doe, so he elected to shoot this yearling buck. I would rather he shoot a mature buck, but I'm so proud of him for making the ethical choice not to shoot at a buck with a doe standing behind it. He is as happy with this buck as he would be with any mature buck. He really learned a lot on this hunt and matured a lot as a big game hunter. This was a great experience that both of us will remember for the rest of our lives.
I should clarify. This is Preston's first with a muzzleloader. He killed a buck and a doe pronghorn last year in Wyoming when he was 12 with a rifle. This is his first big game animal from Idaho and his first muzzy harvest.
One buck we were after.
Ambush that almost worked.
One happy kid!
One proud father!
