Good week with my son.
He is able to hunt 5 days prior to regular opening due to 100% disability via Iraq.
We hit a ranch at dark AM, I am able to help as a companion (no gun). Messy morning due to thick fog at a spot I always see 50+ antelope when Im p-dogging. So of course that one morning we see zero, not an antelope seen after we walked 500 yards from truck to hay fields. We walk back to truck I parked in a drainage and what do we see....a big ol coyote standing on the crest, it trots off as my son puts his scope on it. Still just before good light and he cant see it in the grasses so it walks off like nothing going on.
We walk up to the flat along a fence and after glassing now that we can see more than 400 yards I decide to head back to the truck to get rid of the pack. He says "Pops I see an antelope in with the cattle". Yup sure enough its a buck, not a giant one, but still a fair buck. We sit along the fence line and it walks right to us, stops at 206 yards and son drops it on the spot with his 6x45, 85g sierra BTJHP load, suppressed.
Now to fill his doe tag. We cant find 1 doe for the next 3 hrs in every area that's always had them.
Now Im sure its due to the weather. We head home and I say lets try 1 more area Ive not been in for a year. Yup 3 miles back off a 2 track we finally see does & 2 bucks pushing them. I drop the truck into a sandy wash and follow it till we get about 1/3 mile from them then hike to them.
Yup they are down by a creek feeding so we belly crawl to the hill crest above them and they walk towards us trying to figure whats on the hill top in the grasses. I range 102 yards and he drops his doe with his 30-06, 125g sierra bullet. Its 1230 pm and we head home to process them.
So the next night we go out coyote calling and drop the 2 nice females, fur is pretty good on them.
Click on vid to play.
Today being the opener for the rest of us we head out dark AM to the same spot he shot his buck and of course there are goats everywhere when its light enough to glass.
Its nice and sunny today, chilly and warming.
As we walk to a creek line full of trees to block them from seeing us we hear snorting and out of no where a doe with a buck on her tail flys by us as we are standing wide open on the 2 track. Oh heck we say that was just amazing blowing by us at less that 4 feet and not even noticing us. We laugh as we walk into the hay field using the bales to block their views. We look back towards the truck to check our behinds and a buck comes trotting by us at 150 yards, I drop to prone by the bale and make a snort blow, it turns and walks right at us, almost to close so I blow a snort and drop it at 54 yards chest shot with my 6x6.8, 95g nosler HBT bullet, suppressed. Decent horns.
Gut/skin/tag it then look for 1 of the does, yup everything cleared the area.
We drive back to the ranch and I decide to hit a 2 track above their other hayfields that stretch for 3 miles to the house. Glass and see about 40 antelope 500 yards in front of us so I make it within 200 yards and a willow lined creek block the view so we walked to them, cross the creek and I crawl 20 feet to the edge and stick my barrel through the grass enough to see them. I pick out the biggest doe I can see. Son says 106 yards dad. Thwaap (suppressed) as the 6x6.8 and 90g nosler HBT goes through her chest. I used both Nosler 90 & 95g HBT bullets, both work perfectly on them as usual.
Perfect Antelope season again with the son. Now onto coyotes the rest of this month.
He is able to hunt 5 days prior to regular opening due to 100% disability via Iraq.
We hit a ranch at dark AM, I am able to help as a companion (no gun). Messy morning due to thick fog at a spot I always see 50+ antelope when Im p-dogging. So of course that one morning we see zero, not an antelope seen after we walked 500 yards from truck to hay fields. We walk back to truck I parked in a drainage and what do we see....a big ol coyote standing on the crest, it trots off as my son puts his scope on it. Still just before good light and he cant see it in the grasses so it walks off like nothing going on.
We walk up to the flat along a fence and after glassing now that we can see more than 400 yards I decide to head back to the truck to get rid of the pack. He says "Pops I see an antelope in with the cattle". Yup sure enough its a buck, not a giant one, but still a fair buck. We sit along the fence line and it walks right to us, stops at 206 yards and son drops it on the spot with his 6x45, 85g sierra BTJHP load, suppressed.
Now to fill his doe tag. We cant find 1 doe for the next 3 hrs in every area that's always had them.
Now Im sure its due to the weather. We head home and I say lets try 1 more area Ive not been in for a year. Yup 3 miles back off a 2 track we finally see does & 2 bucks pushing them. I drop the truck into a sandy wash and follow it till we get about 1/3 mile from them then hike to them.
Yup they are down by a creek feeding so we belly crawl to the hill crest above them and they walk towards us trying to figure whats on the hill top in the grasses. I range 102 yards and he drops his doe with his 30-06, 125g sierra bullet. Its 1230 pm and we head home to process them.
So the next night we go out coyote calling and drop the 2 nice females, fur is pretty good on them.
Click on vid to play.
Today being the opener for the rest of us we head out dark AM to the same spot he shot his buck and of course there are goats everywhere when its light enough to glass.
Its nice and sunny today, chilly and warming.
As we walk to a creek line full of trees to block them from seeing us we hear snorting and out of no where a doe with a buck on her tail flys by us as we are standing wide open on the 2 track. Oh heck we say that was just amazing blowing by us at less that 4 feet and not even noticing us. We laugh as we walk into the hay field using the bales to block their views. We look back towards the truck to check our behinds and a buck comes trotting by us at 150 yards, I drop to prone by the bale and make a snort blow, it turns and walks right at us, almost to close so I blow a snort and drop it at 54 yards chest shot with my 6x6.8, 95g nosler HBT bullet, suppressed. Decent horns.
Gut/skin/tag it then look for 1 of the does, yup everything cleared the area.
We drive back to the ranch and I decide to hit a 2 track above their other hayfields that stretch for 3 miles to the house. Glass and see about 40 antelope 500 yards in front of us so I make it within 200 yards and a willow lined creek block the view so we walked to them, cross the creek and I crawl 20 feet to the edge and stick my barrel through the grass enough to see them. I pick out the biggest doe I can see. Son says 106 yards dad. Thwaap (suppressed) as the 6x6.8 and 90g nosler HBT goes through her chest. I used both Nosler 90 & 95g HBT bullets, both work perfectly on them as usual.
Perfect Antelope season again with the son. Now onto coyotes the rest of this month.
