A couple friends and myself decided to do a pronghorn hunt this year. We booked with Werner Ranch in Wyoming. We arrived this past Thursday, and the first day to hunt was Friday. There were 6 hunters in camp. The weather was hot and dry. 5 of the 6 all killed nice bucks on the first day! Guess who never even saw one any closer than about 400yds the first day? Yep, that was me.
Then, it rained that evening! Rain is the kiss of death for hunting lopes at waterholes. I hunted the first day with my trusty longbow. After the rain, I decided I may not get a close shot, so I switched to the compound.
Day 2 was 14 grueling hours on stand. Saw lots of speed goats, but not a one any closer than about 150yds.
Most of day 3 (today) was the same. I sat in that blind for 13hrs, seeing a bunch of antelope, but nothing came anywhere close to me.
I was seriously wondering if I was ever gonna get one close enough. Then, at about 6:30, I caught movement out of a little peek hole. It was and antelope, and it was a buck, and he was coming in to the waterhole!!!!!!
It all happened real fast. When I first saw him, I judged him to be a bit on the smallish side, but due to conditions, immediately decided I would shoot him if given the chance.
He came in and stopped short of the waterhole at about 30yds. I fumbled to set my pin. By the time I did that, he decided it was OK to go on in to the water, so I reset it back to its original position. He stopped at the water, at 23yds, just barely quartered to me a little bit.
I drew, set the pin, and shot. I saw the arrow hit the ground and the lope sped off. I am primarily a longbow shooter, so I’m not used to the speeds of the wheel bows. I could not see my arrow in flight, and wondered if maybe I had missed under him????
He ran about 60-70yds, and then began to wobble. Now I knew I had not missed!!!! He laid down and was dead less than 30 seconds after he had been hit.
This was my first antelope hunt. It’s always cool to go to new places after new critters!
When we walked up to him, I immediately knew he was not as dinky as I had originally thought. In fact, he was pretty good.
Anyway, here he is, my first pronghorn antelope:
I hope I get to chase these critters again sometime!!!!!
Bisch
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Then, it rained that evening! Rain is the kiss of death for hunting lopes at waterholes. I hunted the first day with my trusty longbow. After the rain, I decided I may not get a close shot, so I switched to the compound.
Day 2 was 14 grueling hours on stand. Saw lots of speed goats, but not a one any closer than about 150yds.
Most of day 3 (today) was the same. I sat in that blind for 13hrs, seeing a bunch of antelope, but nothing came anywhere close to me.
I was seriously wondering if I was ever gonna get one close enough. Then, at about 6:30, I caught movement out of a little peek hole. It was and antelope, and it was a buck, and he was coming in to the waterhole!!!!!!
It all happened real fast. When I first saw him, I judged him to be a bit on the smallish side, but due to conditions, immediately decided I would shoot him if given the chance.
He came in and stopped short of the waterhole at about 30yds. I fumbled to set my pin. By the time I did that, he decided it was OK to go on in to the water, so I reset it back to its original position. He stopped at the water, at 23yds, just barely quartered to me a little bit.
I drew, set the pin, and shot. I saw the arrow hit the ground and the lope sped off. I am primarily a longbow shooter, so I’m not used to the speeds of the wheel bows. I could not see my arrow in flight, and wondered if maybe I had missed under him????
He ran about 60-70yds, and then began to wobble. Now I knew I had not missed!!!! He laid down and was dead less than 30 seconds after he had been hit.
This was my first antelope hunt. It’s always cool to go to new places after new critters!
When we walked up to him, I immediately knew he was not as dinky as I had originally thought. In fact, he was pretty good.
Anyway, here he is, my first pronghorn antelope:
I hope I get to chase these critters again sometime!!!!!
Bisch
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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