More Antelope

Share your tales (tall or otherwise) of hunting adventures.

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Brent
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More Antelope

Post by Brent »

It looks like a good year for antelope hunters around here. Lots of pictures. Here are a few more from our trip. I got home just yesterday.

We had a great trip but DAMN it was hot again. Hitting 90F almost every day. Last year was the same.

We did stumble across Jimbo and his lovely wife strolling the wild streets of Duboise too. Had a great time chatting about a little bit of everything.


The first buck of the trip was a nice 14" animal taken by my buddy using a .25-06 Sharps Bottleneck.
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Here is a nearly identical buck. Probably 2.5-3.5 yrs old. The rifle is an original Ballard Pacific, .45-70
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Here is the exit hole on that buck. Any doubts about a flat nosed paper patched bullet?
Image


Stephen inspired me to throw the flinter in the truck. I used it to take this Boone and Crockett doe
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Just straddling the hard line between "the arrogance of dogmatism and the despair of skepticism"
Marathonman
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Re: More Antelope

Post by Marathonman »

Good going Brent!

It's amazing what can be learned from other posts. I for one have never seen or heard of anyone packing out a whole buck attached to back pack before. I've slung deer around my shoulders before and ended up looking like I was the one that got shot!

Very cool using that Ballard and the flinter too!

Maybe I'll take my flinter this weekend... :idea:
I had gotten possession of a big "50" gun early in the fight, and was making considerable noise with it.

~Billy Dixon~

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rdnck
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Re: More Antelope

Post by rdnck »

Congratulations, Brent. A traditional load in an original rifle. It just doesn't get much better than that. Shoot straight, rdnck.
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Darryl
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Re: More Antelope

Post by Darryl »

Nice Pictures. Thanks for sharing them.

I like the flintlock!
Darryl
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Re: More Antelope

Post by Darryl »

Brent:
Are those home-made shooting sticks?
Brent
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Re: More Antelope

Post by Brent »

Home made? well, yeah. And pretty shabbily I might add.

I made them in about 1994 or 1995, I forget exactly, but they were for my first bpcr elk hunt in New Mexico. Figured I would get tired of them eventually and toss them into the bushes. But now they have been used to kill a ton of elk, deer, antelope, squirrels and I really just can't leave home w/o them. I'd almost rather leave my rifle. Well, not really, but I love those sticks even though they are just two ash saplings cut out of a fence row along the row. Add to boot laces and they were good to go. Over the years, I added two .45-70 cases over the top ends for cosmetic purposes (and controlling a crack) and two short nail studs in the bottom ends for a bit more traction.

I regret that I did not take them to Africa with me. Cost me one really nice springbok for sure.

Brent
Just straddling the hard line between "the arrogance of dogmatism and the despair of skepticism"
Darryl
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Re: More Antelope

Post by Darryl »

I was wondering what those caps were at the ends of the stick - cases! What a good idea.

By the way, on a previous topic several months ago, somebody asked how people were cleaning their BPCR's in the field while hunting.

I did'nt re-invent the wheel by any matter here, but I finally found a decent cleaning tool that allows you to clean your bpcr in the field - carrying only possibles bag or other small pack to store it in:

Dewey sells a coated steel cable for field shotgun cleaning. It's because it has a sliding polymer ball on it which gives you something good to grasp for pulling. On one end, it has a slotted tip that's crimped to the steel cable. The other end is female threaded for typical 12 gauge shotgun cleaning jags, brushes etc - threaded as 5/16 X 27.
Anyway, I called Dewey after seeing a picture of this on their website asked some questions, and ordered one along with an adapter that goes from the 5/16 X 27 down to 8/32 so I could insert 50 caliber and 45 caliber brushes if I wish.
The cable is 34" long, which works perfectly with my 28" business rifle and 28" rolling block. That's his standard size, but if you want a longer one for a 32 or 34" barrel he will custom make one for you.
The process - 1) Obtain a small plastic container that is leak proof with a screw-on lid that has a seal in it for your wet patches (I have 4 such containers that are about 3" in diameter, 2" deep that I got from my wife - some kind of hair gel came in them. I stuff about 30-40 3" square patches in one of these containers and completely saturate them with my favorite black powder cleaning solution. The lid gets screwed on and this goes into a small ziplock bag with a handful of dry 3" patches.
2) After shooting, I drop the steel cable down the the muzzle so the slotted tip is protruding out of the action. Put one dry patch on there that's snug, but not too tight and pull it through to get the "sewer-pipe" initially clean.
3) Now, I drop the slotted end in again and put two of my wet patches in there and pull it through. Repeat if necessary.
4) Drop the end with the adapter on it - add the appropriate brush for the caliber wrapped with a patch and pull through to dry patch it out. Repeat if necessary.

Bottom line is, with a small sandwhich sized ziplock bag holding the steel cable coiled up, a small container of my wiping patches, some dry patches and a brush - I can set out in the field for a day of hunting and never have to worry about heading back to camp to clean by barrel. I've been doing it in the field now. The whole process takes me about 3-4 minutes to clean and pick up my mess.
This is very convienient. For example, I'll still hunt my way into my honey hole - shoot a pig, clean, and continue hunting. Climb up into a stand and shoot another pig 4 hours later with a sqeaky clean bore - never having to return to camp to clean the gun. (Both my business rifle and my rolling block shoot the first round out of a dry clean barrel into the group - no fliers. I guess I got lucky). If you're interested in seeing this device here is the link. I did'nt order the whole kit. I called an ordered only the steel cable (I think it was like $12 or $15, a couple of brushes and adapter and that's it. Total with shipping was like $25. It works like a charm.

http://www.deweyrods.com/cgi-bin/ccp5/c ... =HOME:KITS
Brent
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Re: More Antelope

Post by Brent »

Darryl, your cleaning system sounds pretty good and close to one that I use. Arnie (aka beltfed) made me a "rod" of plastic coated cable with a brass, threaded ends - a lot like what you describe. Coiled, it fits in a vest pocket along with a tin of Hoppes soaked patches. The tin is either a mint tin or a pellet rifle ammo tin.

Of course, the Ballard Pacific I used here, is fitted for a wiping rod. And Paul (aka Jubilado) made a 5" jag for it just to make wiping easier. Can't beat that. Ditto a Gemmer Sharps.

Brent
Just straddling the hard line between "the arrogance of dogmatism and the despair of skepticism"
Stephen Borud
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Re: More Antelope

Post by Stephen Borud »

Nice going Brent. It's great you got a buck with your Ballard and paper patch bullets then you top it off with a flintlock kill.


Stephen
pete
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Re: More Antelope

Post by pete »

Very nice Brent. Yea the antelope backpack is a little different. You were lucky somebody didn't think antelope walked upright and shot you :shock: Like Marathonman I carried one out when I was a teenager and scared everybody because they thought I got shot. I guess carrying one out would more likely get you shot. The buck you got looks to be nice and carries good mass out to the ends. The flintlock doe is a very neat accomplishment congtatulations.
Brent
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Re: More Antelope

Post by Brent »

pete wrote:Very nice Brent. Yea the antelope backpack is a little different. You were lucky somebody didn't think antelope walked upright and shot you :shock:
Though a lot of folks might like to have seen it, we were the only folks in the country. Easy to see. One of the best perks about hunting in the middle of the second week of the season. Now the following weekend, in timber where the elk and mulie seasons were just opening, I did not feel safe wearing full orange. And so we left and went home w/o filling our deer tags. The opening weekend of elk/mulies is just plain f'in' nuts!
Just straddling the hard line between "the arrogance of dogmatism and the despair of skepticism"
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