Hummer
10-08-2009, 11:22
This year I drew an unexpected antelope tag for public land in northwest Colorado. I applied for a buck license but got the doe tag as a second choice. It was frosty cold, about 23 degrees at first light when I climbed from the back of the pickup and spotted a nice pronghorn buck watching me from a hillside about 400 yards away. So far, so good. The area is somewhat hard to hunt because the open short grassland has very little sage or other features to hide an approach. Worse, it's a fairly small patchwork of public land requiring on-foot access and packout only.
The plan is to walk the low areas and carefully crest the hills in hope of spotting animals and then make a stalk to within shooting distance. I spotted several decent bucks bedded singly on some sage brush hillsides where they shared space with mule deer. After an hour of hiking I saw a group of about 35 pronghorn does and a single buck at about 500 yards. I dropped my pack and duck-walked a 200 yard stalk behind the ridge only to find all the animals were beyond a fence on private property. :faint:
Well, that was pretty much the theme for the day. Hunting pressure in the first couple days of season pushes many of the animals onto private ground. Starting five days into the season I hunted this 1800 acre patch of state land all by myself. By mid afternoon I had hiked about four miles and found a few single pronghorn bucks and got within shooting distance of two, but there just weren't any harem groups of pronghorn does. I did watch a lot of deer and other wildlife including several groups of sharp-tailed grouse.
I finally decided to head back to the truck to shed about 20 lbs. of extra clothes when I spotted a buck and single doe moving across and below me a half mile away. I figured out a route to keep myself behind some hills, cut them off and maybe get a position. Nearly running for a half mile, I intersected the animals and almost blew it when I crested a hill about 150 yards from them. I kneeled for a quick shot and, well, today I'm butchering antelope. Antelope steaks, yea!
Funny thing is, I hiked my legs off all over that country and finally dropped the critter 200 yds. from the road. Had to walk a mile to get my truck but didn't have to drag the animal far. The hunt was good practice for the elk, deer and bear season that's coming up in two weeks.
Hummer :wavey:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Guns/Hunting/2009-Pronghorn.jpg
The plan is to walk the low areas and carefully crest the hills in hope of spotting animals and then make a stalk to within shooting distance. I spotted several decent bucks bedded singly on some sage brush hillsides where they shared space with mule deer. After an hour of hiking I saw a group of about 35 pronghorn does and a single buck at about 500 yards. I dropped my pack and duck-walked a 200 yard stalk behind the ridge only to find all the animals were beyond a fence on private property. :faint:
Well, that was pretty much the theme for the day. Hunting pressure in the first couple days of season pushes many of the animals onto private ground. Starting five days into the season I hunted this 1800 acre patch of state land all by myself. By mid afternoon I had hiked about four miles and found a few single pronghorn bucks and got within shooting distance of two, but there just weren't any harem groups of pronghorn does. I did watch a lot of deer and other wildlife including several groups of sharp-tailed grouse.
I finally decided to head back to the truck to shed about 20 lbs. of extra clothes when I spotted a buck and single doe moving across and below me a half mile away. I figured out a route to keep myself behind some hills, cut them off and maybe get a position. Nearly running for a half mile, I intersected the animals and almost blew it when I crested a hill about 150 yards from them. I kneeled for a quick shot and, well, today I'm butchering antelope. Antelope steaks, yea!
Funny thing is, I hiked my legs off all over that country and finally dropped the critter 200 yds. from the road. Had to walk a mile to get my truck but didn't have to drag the animal far. The hunt was good practice for the elk, deer and bear season that's coming up in two weeks.
Hummer :wavey:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Guns/Hunting/2009-Pronghorn.jpg