Daughters Southwest Desert Antelope

Wasatch

Active Member
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246
I know this is a little after the fact, but better late than never, right?! So my daughter (who is 16) beat the odds this year and drew her pronghorn tag with only 3 points! She obviously doesn't have my kind of luck in draws, otherwise she'd have max points and still be applying! Anyway, with tag in hand we headed out Thursday night in order to hunt the last weekend of the hunt. We started out driving first thing Friday morning. Right off the bat we saw a lone buck all by himself out in the sage. He wasn't big enough though and so my daughter opted to pass thinking we could come back that way later in the day if we didn't see anything else. Not long after that we saw a heard of about a dozen way out in the distance near a small water hole, they were too far away though to tell if there were any bucks in the group so we headed that way. As we got closer they got jittery and didn't want to hang around never letting us get within about 400 yards of them. So we parked and tried to stalk in closer, but again they just kept slowly moving away not letting us ever get too close. However, we did get close enough to see that there was a buck in the group that was nice and tall that my daughter wanted to pursue. They were headed in the direction of a road that would take us nearly right to them, so we walked back to the truck and headed that way. As we got to where I thought they were headed we saw them come up out of a ravine and start climbing up a hill in front of us. As they got to the top the does ran over but the buck stopped broadside looking back at us, so my daughter set up on the sticks and touched off a shot just barely missing right behind him! Afterwards we kept heading the same direction and once again ran into the heard as they were crossing the road right in front of us. Once they saw us they ran but again the buck stopped at about 250 yards and gave my daughter another opportunity at a shot, once again she missed and off they ran. We kept up this game of cat and mouse with them for a another little while where we would catch up and they would run. Finally when it was obvious that they knew the sight of my truck was danger and as they ran off again we decided to park the truck and walk around to the next ravine where they were headed hoping to ambush and cut them off. This time they had headed high up onto the shoulder of a small peak but were still headed in our direction so we continued with our plan. Soon enough just as we were set up where we wanted to be here came the does as expected, but the buck wasn't with them which we thought was strange. As the does crossed the ravine in front of us we kept watching for the buck but he never came. So we decided we'd pack up and start back tracking from where the does had come from to see if we could find the buck. No sooner had were we packed up and ready to go when the buck finally showed up. I'm not sure why he hung back like he did, but when he popped out he stood there staring at us and my daughter took a shot. At the shot he ran but never bucked or kicked or anything to indicate a hit. So we packed up and headed up and over the other side of the ravine to see what we could see. Once again we saw the does waaaaaay, way out there but without the buck. Once again he was nowhere to be found. So we headed up the ridge to where we saw him standing at the shot and there was blood! My daughter had made a perfect shot and the buck only made it about 50 yards before piling up! Just like that her hunt was over in less than 3 hours! But she was super happy and now had a fun memory of spotting, chasing and hunting this guy and a great goat as a result! As it turns out he was missing the cutter on his right horn, it was rubbed completely off, I'm not sure if that's a sign of age or what, but he had great mass and his length was right at 14.75 and 14.5 inches!

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I know this is a little after the fact, but better late than never, right?! So my daughter (who is 16) beat the odds this year and drew her pronghorn tag with only 3 points! She obviously doesn't have my kind of luck in draws, otherwise she'd have max points and still be applying! Anyway, with tag in hand we headed out Thursday night in order to hunt the last weekend of the hunt. We started out driving first thing Friday morning. Right off the bat we saw a lone buck all by himself out in the sage. He wasn't big enough though and so my daughter opted to pass thinking we could come back that way later in the day if we didn't see anything else. Not long after that we saw a heard of about a dozen way out in the distance near a small water hole, they were too far away though to tell if there were any bucks in the group so we headed that way. As we got closer they got jittery and didn't want to hang around never letting us get within about 400 yards of them. So we parked and tried to stalk in closer, but again they just kept slowly moving away not letting us ever get too close. However, we did get close enough to see that there was a buck in the group that was nice and tall that my daughter wanted to pursue. They were headed in the direction of a road that would take us nearly right to them, so we walked back to the truck and headed that way. As we got to where I thought they were headed we saw them come up out of a ravine and start climbing up a hill in front of us. As they got to the top the does ran over but the buck stopped broadside looking back at us, so my daughter set up on the sticks and touched off a shot just barely missing right behind him! Afterwards we kept heading the same direction and once again ran into the heard as they were crossing the road right in front of us. Once they saw us they ran but again the buck stopped at about 250 yards and gave my daughter another opportunity at a shot, once again she missed and off they ran. We kept up this game of cat and mouse with them for a another little while where we would catch up and they would run. Finally when it was obvious that they knew the sight of my truck was danger and as they ran off again we decided to park the truck and walk around to the next ravine where they were headed hoping to ambush and cut them off. This time they had headed high up onto the shoulder of a small peak but were still headed in our direction so we continued with our plan. Soon enough just as we were set up where we wanted to be here came the does as expected, but the buck wasn't with them which we thought was strange. As the does crossed the ravine in front of us we kept watching for the buck but he never came. So we decided we'd pack up and start back tracking from where the does had come from to see if we could find the buck. No sooner had were we packed up and ready to go when the buck finally showed up. I'm not sure why he hung back like he did, but when he popped out he stood there staring at us and my daughter took a shot. At the shot he ran but never bucked or kicked or anything to indicate a hit. So we packed up and headed up and over the other side of the ravine to see what we could see. Once again we saw the does waaaaaay, way out there but without the buck. Once again he was nowhere to be found. So we headed up the ridge to where we saw him standing at the shot and there was blood! My daughter had made a perfect shot and the buck only made it about 50 yards before piling up! Just like that her hunt was over in less than 3 hours! But she was super happy and now had a fun memory of spotting, chasing and hunting this guy and a great goat as a result! As it turns out he was missing the cutter on his right horn, it was rubbed completely off, I'm not sure if that's a sign of age or what, but he had great mass and his length was right at 14.75 and 14.5 inches!

View attachment 55552
congrats to you and your daughter
 
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