- Details
- Category: Antelope
- Published: Saturday, 13 October 2012 19:07
- Written by Greg
Two Bucks and Two Limits of Ducks
The challenge with buying over the counter antelope tags is finding public property to hunt. So we bought maps, did our research and located a couple of places that would suffice. The key to success would be to get to our spot first thing opening day because the hunting pressure on public property would be high.
At first light the three of us (Dallas, Colton, myself) left the truck and headed up along a ridge that ran from north to south. Even though the temperature this particular October morning was well below freezing, the cold didn’t seem to bother us…probably due to the excitement and anticipation of Colton’s first big game hunt.
We had only walked 50 yards from the truck when Dallas spotted an antelope bedded 150 yards ahead, a buck! But before we could get Colton setup for a shot, the buck stood up. We froze. Within a few seconds the buck lay back down, whew. Calmly Dallas helped position Colton for a shot. Unbelievable, only a couple of minutes into the hunt and Colton had his .243 leveled on a buck antelope!
Moments later the antelope stood up again. However, this time the buck knew something was wrong and immediately started walking away. Just before the antelope disappeared over the rise Colton managed to get off a shot but missed low.
However, as luck would have it a doe that was just out of sight over the hill must have noticed the commotion and came to check it out. Her natural curiosity brought her straight toward us, with the now curious buck in tow. At 150 yards the antelope stopped and stared. This time Colton’s bullet hit the mark!
Later that same afternoon I would shoot a nice buck and we would start making plans to go hunt ducks on our way back home to Utah.
It was dark by the time we arrived at the river, so we set up our tent and turned in for the night.
The next morning we traded in our rifles for shotguns. Our first trek down to the river’s edge had us peering over the bank at a flock of greenheads. We moved in closer…seconds later both Dallas and I dropped 2 mallards each, off to a great start! The next several hours consisted of several spot and stalk opportunties and before noon we had a nice mixed bag of ducks!
Another fantastic hunt…2 bucks and 2 limits of ducks!