CB11WYO
Well-Known Member
Had some opening day success on our antelope hunt.
I already posted the story of my wife's buck, in this same section. We stumbled on my goat only a few hours later.
We were driving a two-tracker along the top of a ridge which ran through the middle of a wide valley. Occasionally we would spot antelope off to the left or right down in the valleys and would stop to take a gander. After sorting through a couple herds with no success we finally came upon a herd with 2 good bucks. In our haste to set-up for a shot the herd busted us and warily moved away. They moved on ahead of us, keeping to the valley, paralleling the ridge. Our next plan of action was to continue our drive along the ridge to a concealed point where we could make a short stalk to a knoll above them where the wind was favorable so as to remain undetected.
Off we went. 10 minutes later we were crouched behind the knee-high sage on the knoll peering over the edge at the herd. We finally picked the buck we wanted and set up for the shot. The shot was only 350 yards, which I was very comfortable with. Added to that was a 10-15 degree downward shot angle and a 15 mph wind from 8 o'clock. I adjusted my scope appropriately to account for the elements (I use a 300 yd zero so it's not like I had much to do
) The buck was pretty busy walking back and forth in the herd as they grazed which kept me busy trying to keep track of him and maintain a steady position while avoiding a shooting line with too much brush in the way. Finally he stopped, facing left, quartering to me. I ran through the corrections I had made one last time for distance, wind and angle then let the 180 grain Berger fly. He did a 180, stepped forward then toppled over backwards, "deader than a can of corned beef." The bullet entered right behind the shoulder on the near side, blew up his lungs, and exited through the last rib on the off-side.
He was a good looking goat, but not nearly as big as we thought he looked through the scope. Upon comparing him side-by-side with my wife's buck in the back of the pickup we noticed my buck had a very small body and head, a pretty young buck compared to my wife's. Hence his horns looked so big compared to his head through my glass. oh well (Probly ought to work on my age-judging capabilities... )
Rifle:
Remington 700 (trued), 28" Broughton, Shrewd Brake, Leupold VX-III LR, HS Stock
180 grain Berger VLD @ 2900 fps
Was really hoping to stretch my shots out to 1000 yds this year (current best is 825 yds on antelope), but the weather just wasn't cooperating and I thought I'd found a good buck...
Thanks for reading!
I already posted the story of my wife's buck, in this same section. We stumbled on my goat only a few hours later.
We were driving a two-tracker along the top of a ridge which ran through the middle of a wide valley. Occasionally we would spot antelope off to the left or right down in the valleys and would stop to take a gander. After sorting through a couple herds with no success we finally came upon a herd with 2 good bucks. In our haste to set-up for a shot the herd busted us and warily moved away. They moved on ahead of us, keeping to the valley, paralleling the ridge. Our next plan of action was to continue our drive along the ridge to a concealed point where we could make a short stalk to a knoll above them where the wind was favorable so as to remain undetected.
Off we went. 10 minutes later we were crouched behind the knee-high sage on the knoll peering over the edge at the herd. We finally picked the buck we wanted and set up for the shot. The shot was only 350 yards, which I was very comfortable with. Added to that was a 10-15 degree downward shot angle and a 15 mph wind from 8 o'clock. I adjusted my scope appropriately to account for the elements (I use a 300 yd zero so it's not like I had much to do
) The buck was pretty busy walking back and forth in the herd as they grazed which kept me busy trying to keep track of him and maintain a steady position while avoiding a shooting line with too much brush in the way. Finally he stopped, facing left, quartering to me. I ran through the corrections I had made one last time for distance, wind and angle then let the 180 grain Berger fly. He did a 180, stepped forward then toppled over backwards, "deader than a can of corned beef." The bullet entered right behind the shoulder on the near side, blew up his lungs, and exited through the last rib on the off-side.He was a good looking goat, but not nearly as big as we thought he looked through the scope. Upon comparing him side-by-side with my wife's buck in the back of the pickup we noticed my buck had a very small body and head, a pretty young buck compared to my wife's. Hence his horns looked so big compared to his head through my glass.
oh well (Probly ought to work on my age-judging capabilities... )Rifle:
Remington 700 (trued), 28" Broughton, Shrewd Brake, Leupold VX-III LR, HS Stock
180 grain Berger VLD @ 2900 fps
Was really hoping to stretch my shots out to 1000 yds this year (current best is 825 yds on antelope), but the weather just wasn't cooperating and I thought I'd found a good buck...
Thanks for reading!
