AWHOLELOTTABULL
Long Time Member
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- 4,357
It's over! I finally scored on an archery antelope tag. My first with a bow. After the first couple of days of the season I was beginning to wonder whether I had made the right choice to burn my points on this archery hunt. Conditions were HOT and things seemed to be moving in he morning and evening but not much was hitting my blind. I had placed a blind on a water hole where I had seen an exceptional goat watering the week prior to my hunt. On opening morning I had several bucks watering right in front of me but I wanted the big boy at that time. After 2 days of sitting in a HOT blind and sweating in places I didn't think possible to sweat, I hadn't seen the big boy again. Not sure where he went or ended up but he disappeared, which I learned is a frustrating trate of these characters. I had the national 1000 yard competition to go to in West Virginia the next week so I wasn't sure how much more time I would have to hunt my tag. I ended up having some time to head out on Wednesday and Thursday so I hit the road solo to finish what I had started. My mind set was a little different this time. If a good buck presented an opportunity at a shot I wasn't going to hesitate this time. The ground blind option was out because it had rained 2" the day before and there was standing water in every depression which made sitting a water hole a total crap shoot. I'm fine with that because I'm more of a move around guy anyway. Wednesday was hot but not quite as hot as the previous time out. I started the morning at the crack of dawn and glassed a good buck with 4 or 5 does feeding at about 500 yards. When I stopped the truck to glass them, they all looked at me. 500 yards? Really? These goats acted like they had been shot at a few times. I figured out that this would be the story of the day. Several blown stalks and a lot of white rumps running the other way. These land rockets start running at the site of brake lights. Some even had their heads up when I had stalked in to 800 or 900 yards. The truck wasn't even in site. Pretty skiddish critters. I did have a close call on foot though but after mistakenly kneeling in a red ant bed while waiting for him to cross my path, the jump up and doing the bitten dance scared that one off!
Wednesday at mid day I decided to head into town to get some lunch and cool off and give my feet a well needed break. I called a friend of mine and asked where a local sporting goods shop was because I was having some broadhead issues. He told me that Bill's Home Furnishings in Price had a little "Sportsmans Corner" and they would have some archery suppplies there, so I headed in to check it out. Needless to say, I got a lot more than I bargained for that day. Robert was the guy that helped me and after talking with him for a bit he told me that he got off work at 6 and knew where a group of bucks were that were "stupid". He said he would show where they were at. Mind you, I have never met Robert until that day. I met him in the parking lot at 6 and I followed him home where he got into his camo and came with me. Great guy! We got to the place and saw our initial buck that was a little too small for me although I seriously considered letting the air out of him. The other "good bucks" were quite a ways away that night and we litterally ran out of daylight. I decided that I would spend the night in the back seat of the truck and be right back there the next morning. Thursday would be cut short because I had to be back for a soccer game by 3:30 so I had to get it done that morning. I glassed the first goat in a hay field and it was a pretty good buck but I was more interested in the other bucks that were feeding off in the distance at close to 1000 yards. I made up my mind that I was going to try and put a stalk on the group increasing my odds at a shot at one of the bucks. I closed the distance to 250 yards and ran out of any type of cover whatsoever. So I began the waiting game. I sat there for close to 2 hours before I noticed some movement to my left. As I looked I could see a bucks head at about 50 yards moving back and forth. I don't know where that thing came from but he was there. I ranged his head at 50 and slowly grabbed my bow and knocked an arrow. I was sitting on my butt but knew if I tried to get to my knees it would be game over. So I came to full draw and whistled. He immediately stood up and I let the arrow fly hitting him right in the boiler room. He rean 15 yards with blood pooring out both sides and did the backwards summersault to the ground. I had accomplished a long time goal of mine. What was even better is being by myself primarily and having that solitude that few people get to experience with the success of taking any animal with a bow. I shot out a text to all my friends while still stitting there taking it all in and began the process of trying to take good pictures by myself. Enjoy the photo. Thanks to all those who gave me information. I used it all in trying to find my animal. Also, if anyone reading this has a San Rafael North rifle tag, let me know. I know where 2 legitimate B&C goats are hanging out and would be happy to give up their locations.
It's always an adventure!!!
Wednesday at mid day I decided to head into town to get some lunch and cool off and give my feet a well needed break. I called a friend of mine and asked where a local sporting goods shop was because I was having some broadhead issues. He told me that Bill's Home Furnishings in Price had a little "Sportsmans Corner" and they would have some archery suppplies there, so I headed in to check it out. Needless to say, I got a lot more than I bargained for that day. Robert was the guy that helped me and after talking with him for a bit he told me that he got off work at 6 and knew where a group of bucks were that were "stupid". He said he would show where they were at. Mind you, I have never met Robert until that day. I met him in the parking lot at 6 and I followed him home where he got into his camo and came with me. Great guy! We got to the place and saw our initial buck that was a little too small for me although I seriously considered letting the air out of him. The other "good bucks" were quite a ways away that night and we litterally ran out of daylight. I decided that I would spend the night in the back seat of the truck and be right back there the next morning. Thursday would be cut short because I had to be back for a soccer game by 3:30 so I had to get it done that morning. I glassed the first goat in a hay field and it was a pretty good buck but I was more interested in the other bucks that were feeding off in the distance at close to 1000 yards. I made up my mind that I was going to try and put a stalk on the group increasing my odds at a shot at one of the bucks. I closed the distance to 250 yards and ran out of any type of cover whatsoever. So I began the waiting game. I sat there for close to 2 hours before I noticed some movement to my left. As I looked I could see a bucks head at about 50 yards moving back and forth. I don't know where that thing came from but he was there. I ranged his head at 50 and slowly grabbed my bow and knocked an arrow. I was sitting on my butt but knew if I tried to get to my knees it would be game over. So I came to full draw and whistled. He immediately stood up and I let the arrow fly hitting him right in the boiler room. He rean 15 yards with blood pooring out both sides and did the backwards summersault to the ground. I had accomplished a long time goal of mine. What was even better is being by myself primarily and having that solitude that few people get to experience with the success of taking any animal with a bow. I shot out a text to all my friends while still stitting there taking it all in and began the process of trying to take good pictures by myself. Enjoy the photo. Thanks to all those who gave me information. I used it all in trying to find my animal. Also, if anyone reading this has a San Rafael North rifle tag, let me know. I know where 2 legitimate B&C goats are hanging out and would be happy to give up their locations.
It's always an adventure!!!
