nmelktrout
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Well, had a short speedgoat hunt with my old man, who also happens to be one of my favorite hunting buddies and the guy who is responsible for my passion for hunting and fishing. However, this hunt was unlike any hunt we've ever experienced...Imagine hunting big game in a forest of wind turbines. It was wierd to say the least. Showed up on Friday and got the fifty cent tour of the ranch/wind farm my old man had drawn. Turns out he had drawn a tag on one of the ranches near Elida, NM that has 120 200 foot tall wind turbines on it. So, we scouted until dark trying hard to find the few speedgoats that were around. We put one big buck and some does to bed, noting the smaller buck on the next ridgeline as a back-up. The bigger bucks were chasing does and were generally oblivious.... Here's the sunset from the night before opener.
Woke up the next morning and literally began stalking antelope amongst the forest of wind turbines. At first light we found our big boy working up a ridgline out of a pasture and played cat and mouse with him amongst the windtowers until his does finally had enough, lit out, and ducked under the fenceline and onto the ranch to our North. Right before we lost our game to the big buck I had glassed the smaller buck from the night before working his way up towards us from the next pasture over. He topped out on the next ridgeline to our East leaving us out in the open....except for the wind turbine about 400 yards between us. So, realizing that we were facing down a big rainstorm and with the probability that we might not have another opportunity to harvest, we put the turbine between us and the goat and the "stalk" was on. Luckily all of the turbines were spinning at full speed so there was no chance that the buck could hear anything. Reaching the turbine my old man leaned around the side to find the buck standing broadside at around 100 yards. Here's the picture immediately after my father took his shot and the buck nosedived. (note my dad at the base of the turbine and you might be able to make out the lump that is his buck out in front of him)
Here's the young buck, not a monster by any means, but should be some great eating and we felt very fortunate to have harvested considering how many hunters we spoke with that had not even seen a buck.
Here's a pic of my old man and me (yeah I look like a poindexter with my glasses on, but my contacts just weren't going in that morning)
So, we quartered and skinned the buck and were packing up camp by 9:30 on opening morning as we were in a hurry to beat the coming rains and because my old man wanted to get back to his archery elk camp back in Colorado. Had a great hunt with my father but it sure was different hunting among these wind turbines. 200 ft tall with 80 foot long blades, here's a pic for scale. Hope everybody else had some good hunts this weekend!
-Cody
Woke up the next morning and literally began stalking antelope amongst the forest of wind turbines. At first light we found our big boy working up a ridgline out of a pasture and played cat and mouse with him amongst the windtowers until his does finally had enough, lit out, and ducked under the fenceline and onto the ranch to our North. Right before we lost our game to the big buck I had glassed the smaller buck from the night before working his way up towards us from the next pasture over. He topped out on the next ridgeline to our East leaving us out in the open....except for the wind turbine about 400 yards between us. So, realizing that we were facing down a big rainstorm and with the probability that we might not have another opportunity to harvest, we put the turbine between us and the goat and the "stalk" was on. Luckily all of the turbines were spinning at full speed so there was no chance that the buck could hear anything. Reaching the turbine my old man leaned around the side to find the buck standing broadside at around 100 yards. Here's the picture immediately after my father took his shot and the buck nosedived. (note my dad at the base of the turbine and you might be able to make out the lump that is his buck out in front of him)
Here's the young buck, not a monster by any means, but should be some great eating and we felt very fortunate to have harvested considering how many hunters we spoke with that had not even seen a buck.
Here's a pic of my old man and me (yeah I look like a poindexter with my glasses on, but my contacts just weren't going in that morning)
So, we quartered and skinned the buck and were packing up camp by 9:30 on opening morning as we were in a hurry to beat the coming rains and because my old man wanted to get back to his archery elk camp back in Colorado. Had a great hunt with my father but it sure was different hunting among these wind turbines. 200 ft tall with 80 foot long blades, here's a pic for scale. Hope everybody else had some good hunts this weekend!
-Cody
