First off I gotta say spot and stalk antelope with a longbow has got to be one of my favorite things to do. But at the same time it can be one of the most frustrating things you can do with a longbow...
The past couple weeks has been more in line with the frustrating end of the scale. Like much of the rest of the country we are experiencing some very dry conditions here in MT. This makes for some pretty noisy and tough stalking conditions thus I resorted to a few days of water hole sitting which proved to be even more frustrating than the stalking...
In the past couple weeks I've probably had 20 antelope under 20 yards and until yesterday morning hadn't even gotten off a shot. I wasn't being picky in the least with antelope being our favorite wild game meat I sure do my best to put some in the freezer every year. I had one any sex and another doe only tag in my pocket so I was planning to shoot the first goat that volunteered. The stars just would not line up for me, every time things seemed right something would go wrong or it just didn't feel right.
I find it pretty much impossible to sit in a blind without having all the windows open, which kinda defeats the purpose. I figured out I could use the willow brush that typically grows around some of our stock water holes by standing a ladder stand in amongst them and wrapping a strap around several of the spindly stems to bunch them together. You have to be very still since your only 6 – 8 feet off the ground but when the goats get close in they just don't seem to look up. I've killed a few this way but sitting in the open in 80 degree temps and the sun beating down on you aint real fun in my book so usually a few hours is my limit then I go to glassing for something stalkable.
Like I said earlier popcorn dry conditions this year was making it tough to get close to anything so I decided after working my tail off all week chasing antelope I decided to give them a day off yesterday. I was up early and on the mountain before first light where I'd seen a small group of elk the morning before hoping to maybe sneak in and fill my bonus cow permit. Two hours of fruitless listening and glassing later I hiked back out to my truck to check another spot a few miles away.
The first thing on getting there I spotted a pack of seven bedded wolves in a very stalkable location. I've been watching and playing with these things for several year and the Montana FWP in it's infinite wisdom finally decided to allow us to hunt them in the early season this fall. One of the furry critters is high on my priority list to skewer with an arrow so I made a two mile circle to get “things right”. All seven wolves were laying within a 50 foot circle in a little depression with plenty of cover for me to slip in close which as you can imagine just doesn't happen very often. Now these things had been lying there quietly since I'd first spotted them but when I get to about 70 yards one of them decided he was bored or something and started to move off to my left. It wasn't long till the whole bunch was up and after a little milling around all headed up over the hill out of my life for the day at least.
Well with it being nearly eleven and getting hotter by the minute I started the long hike back to the house and some lunch. As I came over the last rise I bumped a good bunch of antelope with several young bucks harassing the does and the herd buck doing his best to keep the ladies bunch and the little guys at bay. Of course I spooked them and they dumped over a little ridge into the next draw where I could see the most likely exit but they never came out. I moved up thru a few scattered chokecherry bushes till I could look into the draw and there were the whole bunch a hundred yards away pretty much stalled out but still with a bunch of chasing going on. I eased along behind the ridge getting within about 70 yards till I ran out of cover then just hunkered down to see what happened next...
After nearly an hour of being entertained by the show the does had about had enough and were really trying to break away in all directions, one came tearing by below me at 40 yards or so. There was nothing but air between me and her that direction so I kept my face down and tried to melt into the small chokecherry bush. She was by 50 yards or so and I hear more hooves pounding my direction. I turn my head slightly that way and sure enough here comes the herd buck charging right down on me. I hold still till he's only ten yards away then swing up drawing at the same time. He looks like he's traveling 50 mph, when he hits just a couple steps away I've reached full draw and am pointing somewhere in his general direction thinking, “man I'm going to have to lead him a bunch”. Suddenly like I know many of you have experienced the fletched end of my arrow was just there protruding from his chest just inside the front point of his shoulder. I marveled at making the shot as I watched him gradually slow and finally the heart shot buck stopped 60 yards away. Within a few seconds his back end collapsed and he was down and my 2012 Antelope buck tag was filled.
He wasn't a real big buck but pretty typical for this area and I was tickled to death with him. It was a short ¼ mile walk to the house to gather up the wife and truck. We made a quick job of the photo session and field dressing since the temps were climbing upwards of 80 degrees. He's in the cooler now and I've still got a pocket full of permits needing attention so life is good.
I was shooting my Toelke Whip @60ish#, AD Trads and 160 Grizzly heads. Thanks for following along.
Topic: 2012 Speed Goat (Read 1054 times)
