- Details
- Category: Hunting
- Published: Monday, 04 September 2017 13:31
- Written by Greg
Late Summer Kicks-off Hunting Season
With summer winding down, we were looking forward to a couple of hunts that would kick off the upcoming hunting season. The first would be a doe antelope hunt here in Utah, then following that we would hunt for some fast flying doves a few weeks later.
The boys drew doe antelope tags here in Utah and we were especially excited since this would be Carson’s first big game animal if he were lucky enough to connect. We left for southern Utah late Monday afternoon since the hunt started on August 1st proper. At 5:40 a.m. we left our tent, heading out across BLM ground for an easy 20 minute jaunt to a spot where we had seen antelope the evening before. We settled in beside some sage brush just before first light and waited. Dallas spotted the first antelope, which looked like faint shadows moving across the foothills ahead. It took a good 15 minutes before a small group of 4 moved into range, so once they turned broadside Carson took a shot. A puff of dust exploded just over the back of a doe, a clean miss. The antelope were off, heading right back from where they had come. However, one curious doe made the mistake to stop and take a look back and this time Dallas had the clear shot. The blast of his Remington 700 BDL rang out and at 299 yards his antelope was down.
We had barely arrived at the downed antelope when we looked behind us and saw a bunch of antelope running diagonally toward us. Rather quickly we hustled back 200 yards to where we had been set up minutes earlier and awaited the approaching antelope. This time the early morning jitters were behind Carson as he settled in on his shooting sticks and waited.
Perfect shot from the Remington The boys with Carson's first big game animal
For a moment it looked like the antelope would trot on by without stopping to give Carson a shot, but somehow the antelope noticed something amiss and curiously stopped to investigate. Again the blast of the Remington 700 shattered the morning silence; the .270 had done its job as the antelope fell at 233 yards.
Tree where the doves kept coming to roost Dove poppers (pepper, cream cheese, bacon wrap)
Fast forward several weeks and we were out in the west desert hunting dove. We found a lone tree that the doves just couldn’t resist, so we set up there and blasted quite a few. Like the many dove hunters before us, we missed our fair share of shots but still ended up with a nice pile of doves.
