LAST EDITED ON Jul-29-12 AT 04:16PM (MST)[p]This year Tio Ray drew an MI antelope tag in NM. This meant that we were going to be hunting antelope in July. The earliest by far we have ever hunted antelope. Uncle Ray has never harvested an antelope before and we wanted to make his first one memorable.
We left the day before opening day to check the rifle one last time and to scout some good bucks out. We saw a few good shooters and one really nice shooter.
Here are some pics of scouting of some of the better bucks. (sorry not the best)
We decided to go after the last pictured buck first thing in the morning because he seemed to be the biggest we saw that evening.
The next morning came quick and we started out to where we saw the big buck the evening before. We looked and looked for him but he was nowhere to be seen. Those things cover so much ground. We finally found him but he knew what was going on and didn't stick around long. He was without doubt a wiser buck.
We decided to look for another buck that we had also seen the evening before. We found him right away and were going to try a shot if he let us. We got to within shooting range of the buck when the winds kicked up. We had about 25-30 mph crosswinds to deal with. We decide to take a shot and we told Tio Ray to hold 6 inches to the left. He took his shot and missed to the right. We misread the winds and that buck got away.
We started looking for other antelope to go after when we spotted a group of 4 bucks. All the bucks were decent and seemed to be unaware that we were there. We got to within shooting distance when Uncle Ray tried another shot. Again the winds were not helping us and he missed again.
The winds were playing a major factor on this hunt and we needed them to stop. We were not going to give up and started looking for more antelope when all of a sudden we spotted a group of 10 bucks off to our Right. They came from out of nowhere. We glassed them and saw that there was just a monster of a buck in there. He was chasing this other little buck off. I couldn't believe this was happening in July. It was too early for the rut. He was the biggest buck we had seen the whole trip.
The group crossed the road. We ranged him at 319 yards and told Tio Ray to hold a full body length to the left and a little high. He took his shot. BOOM! ... WHACK! I saw the antelope buckle back and fall over through the Binos. ?Wooo Hooo? we all shouted. Tio Ray has just harvested his first antelope with an incredible shot and it's a monster one. It don't get any better than that.
As we walked up
Tio Ray and his first Antelope
Tio Ray and my dad
The whole Crew
Perfect heart shot
This was just a great antelope hunt to be a part of. Having Tio Ray taking his first antelope was a great way to start off the antelope season.
Tio Ray?s buck taped out right at 80 6/8"
Till next time
ElkSniper
We left the day before opening day to check the rifle one last time and to scout some good bucks out. We saw a few good shooters and one really nice shooter.
Here are some pics of scouting of some of the better bucks. (sorry not the best)
We decided to go after the last pictured buck first thing in the morning because he seemed to be the biggest we saw that evening.
The next morning came quick and we started out to where we saw the big buck the evening before. We looked and looked for him but he was nowhere to be seen. Those things cover so much ground. We finally found him but he knew what was going on and didn't stick around long. He was without doubt a wiser buck.
We decided to look for another buck that we had also seen the evening before. We found him right away and were going to try a shot if he let us. We got to within shooting range of the buck when the winds kicked up. We had about 25-30 mph crosswinds to deal with. We decide to take a shot and we told Tio Ray to hold 6 inches to the left. He took his shot and missed to the right. We misread the winds and that buck got away.
We started looking for other antelope to go after when we spotted a group of 4 bucks. All the bucks were decent and seemed to be unaware that we were there. We got to within shooting distance when Uncle Ray tried another shot. Again the winds were not helping us and he missed again.
The winds were playing a major factor on this hunt and we needed them to stop. We were not going to give up and started looking for more antelope when all of a sudden we spotted a group of 10 bucks off to our Right. They came from out of nowhere. We glassed them and saw that there was just a monster of a buck in there. He was chasing this other little buck off. I couldn't believe this was happening in July. It was too early for the rut. He was the biggest buck we had seen the whole trip.
The group crossed the road. We ranged him at 319 yards and told Tio Ray to hold a full body length to the left and a little high. He took his shot. BOOM! ... WHACK! I saw the antelope buckle back and fall over through the Binos. ?Wooo Hooo? we all shouted. Tio Ray has just harvested his first antelope with an incredible shot and it's a monster one. It don't get any better than that.
As we walked up
Tio Ray and his first Antelope
Tio Ray and my dad
The whole Crew
Perfect heart shot
This was just a great antelope hunt to be a part of. Having Tio Ray taking his first antelope was a great way to start off the antelope season.
Tio Ray?s buck taped out right at 80 6/8"
Till next time
ElkSniper
