The pictures are not very good, but we finally figured out how to post them! I always enjoy antelope hunting, but I had an especially good hunt this year. I will post a reply later today with the whole story. Don't worry, I actually shot it with the Shiloh rifle in the picture and I used cast bullets with black powder.
Have a good day!
2013 Antelope
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jackrabbit
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2013 Antelope
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bobw
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Re: 2013 Antelope
Sounds good but all I see is a dude in a Elmer Fudd PC orange hat. Resize your pics or something.. bobw
bobw
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jackrabbit
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Re: 2013 Antelope
Ok, will try again later. Back to the drawing board....
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hvnbnd
Re: 2013 Antelope
Congratulations, they look good to me. If you click on the pictures they open to full size.
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pete
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- Location: Colorado
Re: 2013 Antelope
Congratulations from me too. Is that the same rifle you shoot silhouettes with? Bob's right though the picture needs fixed. Looks sort of artsy.... sort of. 
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Don McDowell
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Re: 2013 Antelope
Job well done Cody. Nice looking little buck , looks like you must a pounced on him In some CRP?
AKA Donny Ray Rockslinger 
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Stephen Borud
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Re: 2013 Antelope
Great Goat, good shooting.
Stephen
Stephen
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jackrabbit
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Re: 2013 Antelope
Thanks for all the nice comments. I will have to work on the pictures later. I had to find a new area to hunt this year as the antelope numbers are drastically down north of Douglas where I used to go. A friend and client of mine was gracious enough to reserve a couple of days to go on his ranch near Federal Wyoming. I actually had two buck tags, which was a first for me.
I hunted with my silhouette rifle last year and ended up not getting anything. I was scared to death I was going to ding it or break the sights besides the fact that it is rather heavy. So I decided I needed a dedicated hunting rifle. I ended up getting a used 45-70 from MLV. It is a Big timber gun from before the Bryan's. It had a 30" standard barrel with a tang sight when I got it. I had Eron Ahmer trim the barrel back to 26" and I ordered a Lawrence ladder sight from Shiloh. I love the rifle. It is about 9 lbs and balances right ahead of the receiver. It handles and points as easy and natural as a 94 Winchester. I also don't mind throwing it in a scabbard on a horse or crawling through the rocks with it. My friend Lee went with me. I had him carry my number 1 in 243 just in case something went wrong.
The load is a 350 grain flat nose bullet from a Buffalo Arms mold, .030 Walters Wad, 60 grains 1 1/2 F Swiss powder, Remington case and a CCI primer. I had Paul Jones make me a Creedmoor style bullet with a flat nose for my silhouette rifle. It shot it very well and I thought it would work in my hunting rifle. The problem was it kicked so stinking bad I couldn't hardly shoot it. It was no problem in my 12 lb rifle, but in the 9 lb hunting rifle it was heinous. The 350 grainer is quite manageable and I can usually keep three in four inch group from a hunting position at 100 yards.
The hunt was quite fun as it took several hours to finally get within range. We started out about a mile from the truck when we spotted a buck and about 15 does grazing on one side of a shallow valley. A wash with three or four foot banks meandered through the bottom of the valley and passed about 100 yards from the little herd. We worked our way down the wash until we were about 300 yards from them. We had to stop several times and lay in the bottom of the wash and wait for them to move so we wouldn't be seen. At three hundred yards the wash became too shallow to conceal us. Crap! I thought we were done. Laying there trying to decide what to, I briefly considered throwing some lead at them. I also considered using the 243. I decided against that and was about to make an advance that would probably spooked them when I smaller buck came running over the hill toward the herd.
Thinking it rather strange, we laid there waiting to see what would happen. He ran right up and started sniffing one of the does. The herd buck did not like this one bit and promptly ran him off clean over the hill. I stifled our giggles and continued laying in wait to see what would happen. Pretty soon the herd buck came back to his does and went back to grazing. Then here came the little buck again. Same thing, he ran up and started chasing a doe. The much irritated herd buck ran him off. About the third time this happened, we figured out that we could advance while the pair was over the hill. Maybe we could intercept their path and get a shot at one of them as they ran back and forth?
Each time they would pass over the hill we would crawl up another fifty yards. We never seemed to be able to intercept their path, but we did get up to about 75 yards from the grazing does. Finally the little buck gave up and the herd buck returned to his does....On the far side! AARRGG! Still a 250 yard shot.
We continued to lay there as they grazed around. The herd buck would come toward us, then work away. It was rather dramatic trying to wait it out. Finally, he got to 157 yards from us. I belly crawled up the side of the bank and had a perfect prone shot. I squeezed the set trigger. Placed the Lawrence sights a few inches lower than his back line, and tickled the trigger. Through the recoil and cloud of smoke I could see I hit him. He trotted off a few yards and stopped, looking rather sick. Lee whispered I hit him a little low and a little back. He hit him with the range finder. 182 yards. My prone position would no longer work. I stuffed in another shell. Stood up and gave him a quick off hand shot. He was quartering to me, and I hit him on the point of the shoulder. Down he went! Maybe all that chicken shooting is good for something after all.
While gutting him, we found the first bullet made a nice hole through the liver. He would have bled out if we gave him more time, but I am glad I gave him another one. The second one went in the shoulder and exited his off hip. Clean through him diagonally! I was pleased that there was not a lot of meat damage. Only a small area around the hole was damaged. Nothing like the 243 would have done. All in all, it was a very fun and memorable day. I know he is not very big, but trophy pronghorn have never appealed to me. A book deer or elk will get my heart racing, but an antelope is either a buck or a doe as far as I am concerned. The trophy is in the memories for me.
Take care and thanks for reading, Cody
I hunted with my silhouette rifle last year and ended up not getting anything. I was scared to death I was going to ding it or break the sights besides the fact that it is rather heavy. So I decided I needed a dedicated hunting rifle. I ended up getting a used 45-70 from MLV. It is a Big timber gun from before the Bryan's. It had a 30" standard barrel with a tang sight when I got it. I had Eron Ahmer trim the barrel back to 26" and I ordered a Lawrence ladder sight from Shiloh. I love the rifle. It is about 9 lbs and balances right ahead of the receiver. It handles and points as easy and natural as a 94 Winchester. I also don't mind throwing it in a scabbard on a horse or crawling through the rocks with it. My friend Lee went with me. I had him carry my number 1 in 243 just in case something went wrong.
The load is a 350 grain flat nose bullet from a Buffalo Arms mold, .030 Walters Wad, 60 grains 1 1/2 F Swiss powder, Remington case and a CCI primer. I had Paul Jones make me a Creedmoor style bullet with a flat nose for my silhouette rifle. It shot it very well and I thought it would work in my hunting rifle. The problem was it kicked so stinking bad I couldn't hardly shoot it. It was no problem in my 12 lb rifle, but in the 9 lb hunting rifle it was heinous. The 350 grainer is quite manageable and I can usually keep three in four inch group from a hunting position at 100 yards.
The hunt was quite fun as it took several hours to finally get within range. We started out about a mile from the truck when we spotted a buck and about 15 does grazing on one side of a shallow valley. A wash with three or four foot banks meandered through the bottom of the valley and passed about 100 yards from the little herd. We worked our way down the wash until we were about 300 yards from them. We had to stop several times and lay in the bottom of the wash and wait for them to move so we wouldn't be seen. At three hundred yards the wash became too shallow to conceal us. Crap! I thought we were done. Laying there trying to decide what to, I briefly considered throwing some lead at them. I also considered using the 243. I decided against that and was about to make an advance that would probably spooked them when I smaller buck came running over the hill toward the herd.
Thinking it rather strange, we laid there waiting to see what would happen. He ran right up and started sniffing one of the does. The herd buck did not like this one bit and promptly ran him off clean over the hill. I stifled our giggles and continued laying in wait to see what would happen. Pretty soon the herd buck came back to his does and went back to grazing. Then here came the little buck again. Same thing, he ran up and started chasing a doe. The much irritated herd buck ran him off. About the third time this happened, we figured out that we could advance while the pair was over the hill. Maybe we could intercept their path and get a shot at one of them as they ran back and forth?
Each time they would pass over the hill we would crawl up another fifty yards. We never seemed to be able to intercept their path, but we did get up to about 75 yards from the grazing does. Finally the little buck gave up and the herd buck returned to his does....On the far side! AARRGG! Still a 250 yard shot.
We continued to lay there as they grazed around. The herd buck would come toward us, then work away. It was rather dramatic trying to wait it out. Finally, he got to 157 yards from us. I belly crawled up the side of the bank and had a perfect prone shot. I squeezed the set trigger. Placed the Lawrence sights a few inches lower than his back line, and tickled the trigger. Through the recoil and cloud of smoke I could see I hit him. He trotted off a few yards and stopped, looking rather sick. Lee whispered I hit him a little low and a little back. He hit him with the range finder. 182 yards. My prone position would no longer work. I stuffed in another shell. Stood up and gave him a quick off hand shot. He was quartering to me, and I hit him on the point of the shoulder. Down he went! Maybe all that chicken shooting is good for something after all.
While gutting him, we found the first bullet made a nice hole through the liver. He would have bled out if we gave him more time, but I am glad I gave him another one. The second one went in the shoulder and exited his off hip. Clean through him diagonally! I was pleased that there was not a lot of meat damage. Only a small area around the hole was damaged. Nothing like the 243 would have done. All in all, it was a very fun and memorable day. I know he is not very big, but trophy pronghorn have never appealed to me. A book deer or elk will get my heart racing, but an antelope is either a buck or a doe as far as I am concerned. The trophy is in the memories for me.
Take care and thanks for reading, Cody
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jackrabbit
- Posts: 1791
- Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:04 pm
- Location: Carpenter Wyoming
Re: 2013 Antelope
Pretty nice to have so much grass the prairie can be mistaken for CRP! I will take it every chance I get. We were in Owen Gertz's Davis pasture at Federal. About three or four miles east of the intersection of the railroad and the horse creek highway. It was great spot and I feel fortunate to have gotten to hunt there. Hopefully we can go again there next year.Don McDowell wrote:Job well done Cody. Nice looking little buck , looks like you must a pounced on him In some CRP?
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Marathonman
- Posts: 1000
- Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2002 6:47 am
Re: 2013 Antelope
Congratulations on your buck.
I have to tell you that is one of the best written stories I've read here on the forum!
Nice!
I have to tell you that is one of the best written stories I've read here on the forum!
Nice!
I had gotten possession of a big "50" gun early in the fight, and was making considerable noise with it.
~Billy Dixon~
Adobe Walls 1874
~Billy Dixon~
Adobe Walls 1874
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rdnck
- Posts: 1885
- Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2002 9:33 pm
- Location: Woodlawn,Texas
Re: 2013 Antelope
Really! I agree with marathonman. Great story, well written. And the antelope ain't bad either. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing it. BTW, what is the twist in that rifle? Shoot straight, rdnck.
Chairman, Phd
Caddo Lake Chapter
FES
Charter Member FBASS
Charter Member OGANT
Caddo Lake Chapter
FES
Charter Member FBASS
Charter Member OGANT
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jackrabbit
- Posts: 1791
- Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:04 pm
- Location: Carpenter Wyoming
Re: 2013 Antelope
Thanks again for the nice comments. I tried hard as I always enjoy reading or hearing a good hunting story. I also know there are folks out there that either can't afford or aren't physically able to go that enjoy reading. I think the twist is one in 18, but I haven't checked for some crazy reason. Guess I never thought about it. I will check it and get back to you.