08 Archery Antelope

Day one started out with much anticipation. My brother had driven up the day before and we scouted a little before dark to make sure we were both on the same page as far as how we were going to hunt. We had our game plan and we were ready to execute it.

We were driving into our area about ten minutes into shooting light when a buck walks across the road right in front of us! I was able to get out undetected and put a very shot stalk on him. A quick check on the range finder revealed a distance of 57.5 yards. This is a chip shot for me since I knew from all my practice that I was shooting two inch groups at this distance. I drew back and remembered thinking to myself how I never would have dreamed that my hunt would be over this early into it. Well, it wouldn’t be over because that buck jumped the string on me and I missed him by two feet!! Oh well, I thought. I knew I was going to have more opportunities.

Stalk number two was great as well. We glassed up three bucks at around a mile away and made a plan. We stalked to within a half mile or so until the only thing between us and the antelope was about 6 inch tall green grass! No worries though. We broke out the secret weapon. It took us about an hour, but we were able to close the distance all the way to 60 yards. The antelope were getting nervous so I decided it was now or never. I drew back and picked out the buck I wanted to shoot. He was slightly quartering away and I settled the pin right behind his front shoulder. That was the only mistake I made on that stalk. I should have been aiming for the opposite shoulder. The buck moved ever so slightly as I released my arrow. The arrow glanced off the buck’s shoulder and into the ground. My arrow revealed no penetration at all and further glassing of the buck revealed that my broadhead basically just cut him slightly on the shoulder.

I still felt obligated to hunt this same buck the rest of the day since I did slightly wound him. Just before dark and after many other unsuccessful stalks I came to the conclusion that this buck was not really all that hurt and I decided it would be OK to hunt other bucks on day 2.

Day two found us in the same area as the day before. In the afternoon of day one, I put up a blind about a hundred yards away from a drinker that I knew the antelope were using. Antelope are very weary and cautious when they water so I knew I could catch them off guard if my blind was set up on their approach route instead of right at the water. The plan was to continue our spot and stalk method in the morning and then jump into the blind around 9:30 and wait for them to come to water. Little did I know that I would never need to sit that water!

We started in the same spot as the day before and glassed up a pretty nice buck that was surprisingly pushing some does. They were once again about a mile away so we headed out. We closed the distance to six or seven hundred yards when we realized that the buck was going to push those does right to us. We were sitting along the edge of a dry dirt tank and decided to stay put and let them do the work for us. It wasn’t long before we realized that we were going to get a shot opportunity very soon. As they approached us, the cows in the area started getting very nervous that we were there. This in turn made the antelope a little nervous so they began to turn just slightly away in an attempt to go around the tank and the cows. I knew it was now or never or they were going to get by us. The shot was a little longer than I wanted, but because I had practiced so much before the hunt, I knew I could make the shot. I drew back, took a deep breath, settled my pin behind the shoulder and touched off the release. We both heard that distinct “thwack!” when my arrow found it’s mark. The buck ran about 300 yards and laid down. We instantly started celebrating, thinking my hunt was over. We found my arrow. It was a complete pass through, but showed very little blood. We then found where the buck was standing and found several very large pools of blood. I was thrilled to say the least.

What happened over the next twelve plus hours I would never wish on another hunter in my lifetime. Two hours after the original shot, we were still watching my buck, but he was showing no signs of expiring. Against our better judgment and instincts, we decided to it would be best to get another arrow in him. That was a HUGE mistake. We kicked him out of his bed and he ran for almost 3 miles!! Not only did go that far, but he crossed a fence into some private property. We didn’t want to lose sight of him, so we followed him the whole way. I was willing to face the consequences of being on private land if it meant that I would recover this animal. Unbelievable, he stood motionless in the blazing sun for almost 3 full hours out there!! We were sitting in the sun as well, out of water and food. We decided that one of us was going to have to make the 4 mile trek to get the truck and more water. My brother manned up while I sat on my buck. I knew that as long as I never lost sight of him, I would still have a great chance at recovering him. My brother returns with much needed water, Gatorade and cold pizza from our dinner the night before. (gotta love cold pizza!!) It’s about one in the afternoon now and I first hit this buck at 6:30 in the morning. My brother and I were so exhausted from sitting in the sun. We knew we were getting close to being dehydrated and heat exhaustion. We took turns napping in the hot sun to try to conserve our energy for the rest of the day, just in case. Finally, my buck decided to move again and slowly started walking back towards the public land. It took him another hour to do so, but he crossed the fence. I figured he was heading to a water source that was close by, so we made a mad dash to beat him there. We beat him, but surprisingly, he never went to the water. Instead, he decided to bed up again about 200 yards from the water. He bedded right in the middle of the road!! So, again, we sat in the hot sun and waited.

Then, another set back. A rancher was coming up the road my buck was laying on. My brother, again, manned up and hiked all they way back to meet this guy and tell him what was going on. This rancher basically told my brother that he had work to do and he could care less about us. After about 5 minutes of discussion, my brother finally convinced him to at least give us a chance. The rancher said we had 10 minutes and then he was driving through no matter what. Well, of course I had to try to stalk up on him again and he bolted. This time, he ran about 400 yards and laid back down in the middle of this little bowl where he was pretty well hidden.

So now it’s 3:30 in the afternoon. My brother and I are barely able to keep walking. We both are suffering sever sunburns and probably a mild case of heat exhaustion. We decided to get in the truck and wait. We drove to an area where we could glass him from the truck and not have to sit in the sun any longer. Three full hours later, we knew that he was almost done. He had laid down in a position where I knew I could use the surrounding cover to finally be able to end this nightmare. At a little past 6:30 that same evening, I placed another arrow in his vitals at a distance of 50 yards. It was all over.

As with most hunts, there are usually one or two people that play a significant roll as a non hunter and they need to be thanked. On this hunt, it was my brother Charlie. I never would have been able to get this buck without his help. I walked close to 8 miles that day and he tacked on 3 or 4 more with all the times he had to go get the truck. He suffered sunburns and the heat right at my side the whole way. He kept me positive when that buck went into private land and I thought we were going to lose him. He did everything that a hunting partner should do. Thank you Charlie. I love you bro!!

Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy. You can all take turns guessing the score if you want. My brother had him pegged to the inch. I had him underscored by three inches. You be the judge!!

Thanks for listening to my long story. If you just scrolled past the story to see the pics, well, good for you!! I probably would have too. Haha.