this is a very good read in my opinion. i am especially thankful to buffalobob
for his frankness on the subject of long shooting.
wind drift and hits on wrong animals is a reality rarly talked about even in private conversations.
to date i have taken 3 buck antelope. the first about 20 years ago near huellete wy.
it was a 14 1/2 incher, and was taken at about 100 yds with a 7 rem mag.
this year i took an extended trip west in my pickup camper and towed my bright yellow jeep.
i had an antelope permit for s.e. montana.
i had decided prior to the trip to stop in gillette wy. and meet ernie bishop, long range pistol guru, and chuck macintosh of mac's gunworks in gillette.
that decision turned out to be the hilite of the trip.
what i thought would be an hour or 2 visit, turned out to last 4 days.
both ernie and chuck are about as friendly guys you will ever meet.
chuck suggested i hang around for a few days till the antelope season opened.
he took me to town and got me a leftover tag for that area.
a couple days later he put me on a nice buck which i killed at 290 yds.
that evening we had the backstraps for dinner at his house.
i had shot at the same buck at almost 500 yds but even with my 6.5 wsm
i didnt hold enough for wind.
a few weeks later i shot another nice buck at 410 yds on a private ranch near
brodus mt.
while there i spent 5 days hunting prairie dogs.
one day on a remote area of the ranch hunting a dog town i had a unique experience.
i was sitting at my bench next to my bright yellow jeep on a small hill looking downward into a large dog town.
suddenly i noticed a movement off to my left.
over a hill at about 1000 yds came a herd of antelope. i counted them twice and there were 40 of them.
they came to within 400 yds before stopping. they just milled around there for about an hour. some even layed down.
not at all concerned about me or the jeep.
i finally ran them off by shooting at a prairie dog.
probably as bob said, private land was the key here.
