Wanna try horseback antelope hunt

[pete]

I'm going to try to make an antelope hunt on horseback. The thought came to me last year. I have a horse and there's a ranch that will let me so why not give it a try?
My main concern is probably the same one that hunters of the 1800's had, and that is will my horse be there when I get back from a stalk? Since there aren't any trees to tie up to here on the plains keeping your horse close to where you left him is a little trickier.
A couple of weeks ago I bought a set of hobbles and started working to acclimate him to them. I started him with a rope to hold his leg in place so if he acted up I could let it go. Things progressed nicely and the other day I took him out in the pasture and had the hobbles on him for about 20 minutes. You could see it was awkward for him but he did good.
Yesterday out we went again, he hobbled and me sitting in a lawn chair reading a magazine about 50 yds from him. Well after about 15 minutes he realized he could run pretty good with hobbles on and he ran back to the barn to be with his buddy (Our other horse) leaving me out there in my chair watching the spectacle. Obviously that arrangement isn't going to work.
I read a long time ago that the cavalry sometimes sidelined their horses (Hobbleing a front leg to a back leg on the same side) so I thought I'd try that. Cutting the short connecting strap off the hobbles and replacing it with an appropriate length to go from the back leg to the front leg out we went again. Well after an hour he made about 100 yds back toward the barn. A definate improvement over last time. Obviously more testing is in order including taking him farther away from home and moving out of his sight. I told my wife that if this doesn't work I'll put another set of hobbles on the front to go along with the sideline and if that doesn't work I'll forget about it.
I know about picketing to a foreleg but the thought of him getting the rope wrapped around his legs is too much of a risk. I don't want to get him hurt although I know there's risks with the hobbles.
I hope I can get this to work as he would really give a boost to the old time experience along with my black powder cartridge rifle.

[bobw]

Pete get with a good horse trainer. Some of those guys and gals are miracle workers. You need to have your horse taught to stand still with the reins on the ground untied.Mine won't do it but I never tried to teach them either, but I have seen more than one cowboys horse that would. Course you can allways shoot once off your horse,you will probably choose not to do it again! serious maybe a good trainer could help you out on this. bobw

[Bentsight]

Pete,
This may be completely off base but maybe with some practice would a simple ground anchor work, something similar to the screw-in ones used to tie dogs out. I know it doesn't take much to tie ours to when they've got plenty of grass around them to eat. Just a thought...
Mike

[pete]

bobw; I'll try to get him to cooperate. If not I'll just have to walk alot myself. He and I compete in cowboy mounted shooting once in a while so gun fire doesn't bother him as much as it does some other horses. Though a 45-70 going off when I'm on him probably would get his attention especially since he wouldn't be wearing his mounted shooting ear plugs.
We have antelope around our place and they can definately tell the difference between a riderless horse and one with a rider. The thought of leading him with me on the other side to get closer has crossed my mind. Just something else fun to try if he goes with me. Thanks.

Bentsight; I was thinking about something like that but I'm afraid of him getting 3 or 4 of his legs tangled up if he turned in a circle or something. Do you tie to a halter or a foreleg? Thanks.

[wolfy]

Didn't the cavalry used to use picket pins with a swivel clevis setup to take care of this problem?

[pete]

wolfy; The cavalry did picket their horses using a picket pin. But I wasn't so much talking about wrapping around the pin as I was him getting turned around and the rope wrapped around his legs. Horses seem like they get hurt if you look at them wrong. I've read that they hooked the end of the rope to the horse's pastern. Maybe so the rope would lay flatter on the ground instead of a halter where it would be up off the ground more.

[RMulhern]

pete

Buy ya a Shetland pony....and he won't be so hard to throw! Hogtie that sonofagun....and you've got it made! Buy one just tall enuff....so ya bootheels won't drag the ground though!!

[Ken Hartlein]

Pete, the places I've hunted antelope even though very barren still had a lot of sage around that should serve as a tie out for a good horse. How about just a ground tie, you know, where you just drop the reins on the ground and the horse is trained not to move?? Heck, in that country why not just take the bridle off and let your horse browse, how far would he wander??

[pete]

Sharpsman; That's not a bad idea. And if I'm lucky enough to get an antelope it won't be hard to throw him up on his back either. This pony thing
would be quite a sight to see.

Ken; There's really not much sage big enough here to tie up to. I'll be on 12,000 acres and hopefully more if I can get permission on some neighboring places which is a few miles long and wide. The thing is when you get these horses alone away from home and their buddies they have a tendency to want to go back if they're not trained and used to being out alot which mine isn't.

The other day I took him out to the north end of our land and put the front to rear leg hobbles on. I went out of his sight and watched him. He went about 90 yds. in a half hour which is a rate I can live with. If he's within 200 or so yards when I get back that'd be cool.

[Conan_568]

Just take one of those screw in dog tether pegs on your hunt.
They are about a foot long and look like an oversized corksrew.
Hook a line to it and tie the end to your horses halter.
You'll want to take the bridle off so the horse can graze.
He should stay put unless spooked by a cougar, or bear.

[RMulhern]

[quote="pete"]Sharpsman; That's not a bad idea. And if I'm lucky enough to get an antelope it won't be hard to throw him up on his back either. This pony thing
would be quite a sight to see.

Ken; There's really not much sage big enough here to tie up to. I'll be on 12,000 acres and hopefully more if I can get permission on some neighboring places which is a few miles long and wide. The thing is when you get these horses alone away from home and their buddies they have a tendency to want to go back if they're not trained and used to being out alot which mine isn't.

The other day I took him out to the north end of our land and put the front to rear leg hobbles on. I went out of his sight and watched him. He went about 90 yds. in a half hour which is a rate I can live with. If he's within 200 or so yards when I get back that'd be cool.[/quote]

pete

Hate ta tell ya but I'd give $100.00 ta see the RODEO when ya tries to throw that 'lope' up on the backside of an untrained hoss...no matter what breed!! A horse don't like the smell of blood, especially a comin from sumthin ya bees tryin to throw on his back so there's probably gonna be a good amount of pitchin & buckin goin on!!

[Old Doe Shooter]

Pete,
12,000 acres is a might long hike to catch your horse. Packing dead stuff horseback is not a good idea unless "widow maker" is trained for it. He just might think poorly of a gun shot and all the smoke too.
In Alaska in the 90's I had a horse go back to spike camp.... 7 miles. Good thing there was pack horse there or the sob would have gone the other 25 or 30 miles to main camp I think. At least it was the guide's horse. After that I had to tie him up all the time.
I have a suggestion. Take your horse out for a nice ride in the woods. Tied him up REAL good where there is some grass and leave a
nice tether.
Make a camp fire. Get a little grill and big steak. Take along one of
those nice purple velvet bags that come with a bottle of Crown Royal inside. Get a camp stool or a stump and sit back and watch the fire.
Dream about pronghorn hunting from your horse. open the Crown, toss the cork in the campfire, grill the steak, eat it, kill the bottle of Crown.
When you wake up and the hangover clears you might have a change of mind. Put the stump far enough from the fire you won't fall in it.
Good luck and remember to have fun. Whatever you decide will all be funny in about 15 years no matter how it turns out.
Who's holding the action on this rodeo to be?
ODS

[pete]

Man you guys are sure encouraging. That steak grilling trip don't sound too bad either Old Doe Shooter and has some logic. When it comes to gun noise I'm not too worried about that as I do cowboy mounted shooting on him. As long as I don't shoot right next to his ear he'll be fine. When we make a run he wears ear plugs but when we're just hanging around the arena watching the others the gun fire noise doesn't bother him at all.

As far as the antelope carrying and blood thing goes I thought of those things and hopefully have a plan. I'm planning on practicing by putting a feed bag on his back to simulate the real thing. It worked when he was a young and I was getting him used to some weight on his back when I was training him for riding and it also gets him used to me putting something up there.

He doesn't like blood, that I know for sure so I'm planning on putting mentholatum in his nose if I get a 'lope to mask the smell. I've heard that it works and I'll try that too before I go. Hopefully the worst thing that happens is he gets a snotty nose. I don't wear plastic gloves to field dress animals in fact I give a hard time to a friend for using them but for this trip I might employ them to keep my hands and forearms as clean as possible.

I might have to abandon the plan but I'm going to give it a try. It'll be an adventure. Thanks for the fun responses.

[bobw]

Pete do you have any antelope stk left in the freezer? Or any buddies who would spot you some? Get him up to the feed bucket or trough for his daily grain and smear some antelope blood from that stk on his nose.Might take a few times till he gets used to the smell then he will get used to it and quite down. When you get this far,then start with the "dead load or weight on his back" just the same as any other horse training, time and patience, they ain't rocket scientists,just don't give them the chance to out think you. bobw

[Tallperson]

Pete just a suggestion.... Before you go on this hunt and try ( read TRY )to put a dead goat on the back of your four footed friend, make sure you have tried to load something that smells dead to him at home..... I've guided horseback in Wyo. many seasons. Even seasoned hunting horses snort and blown at the smell of fresh blood. Many of them won't go anywhere close until you smear and handfull of blood in both nostrils... It's called sensory overload. When all they can smell is blood they can't tell the differance.... You might try buying a domestic goat and slaughter it with your pony tied solidly (READ ANCHORED ) right there.. Then after gutting the goat try loading it on him.... Then you have a better idea what other training he and you will need to go through.. For horse that want to leave... Put on your hobbles and then strap a 8 foot piece of heavy log chain to one front foot. It whips around and whacks them on the legs if they try to go too far too fast... Tallperson