Got the who family up early for the 2.5 hour drive to the spot we had the antelope tied to a sage bush. All three of them slept most of the way.
I found this antelope 2 years ago while deer hunting. I took this picture and showed it to my then 11 year old son. He said he wanted to shoot that one so the next year we put him in for that unit but he didnt draw. The second time was magic in the draw.
This first picture is the fall of 2012. I went back a month ago and found him in the same spot, and he grew a little.
So this morning we got there a little late (a herd of coyotes delayed our arrival). I drove to look over the flat he called home and the first animal I spotted there was the man my son named "Dopey". I ranged him in the 680s with just one doe and decided to drive a little closer. We hopped out of the pickup at 550ish and walked a few paces to get a good angle.
Lesson number 1 of today: animals that are standing on the back side of a small rise may be further than the rangefinder tells you. I get him set up at what appears to be 545 with not a breath of wind (I know almost a lie since I live in Wyoming). Set the bipod legs and rear bags, dial 6.5 MOA, load the chamber and tell him to get comfortable and send it when ready. He double checks the "OK" and sends one down range. At the shot the buck jumps up and forward and reacts as though he has just received a 140 Berger from a 264 Win Mag. Then he just stands there and acts as if nothing happened.
I racked another round in the chamber and have him send another. Nothing. The antelope just stands there and doesn't even seem to care that we are shooting at him. Finally, at the 5th shot the antelope walks off the back of this little ridge and out of sight.
I run by the pickup and grab more ammo just in case and then we walk down the hill toward the last roll he wandered behind. He still wasn't running and acted just as calm as could be. My son was a bit perplexed by his shooting because just a couple weeks before I had him busting a .5X1 MOA rock at over 900. We caught up to this buck at 306 as he was slowly trailing his bride in a sea of sage. We set the gun up again on the bipod and bags and dialed a big 2 MOA and sent another his way at 310.
Again, no reaction from this buck and I am getting concerned about the gun or the kid or both. I rack another round into the chamber and tell him to hit him again as this buck had walked about 10 yards to the right and then turned around and walked back 10 yards to the left. I was telling my son to shoot again when I looked up and the buck got all wobbly legged and promptly fell over backwards with all 4 legs straight in the air.
When we walked up to the buck there were two bullet wounds; one just split the skin of his brisket behind the front leg, the other center punched the pocket behind the shoulder taking out both heart and lungs. It was a great shot at 310 and his aim was good at the 500+, dad just did a real poor job on the range. I ran the bullet drop backwards through Shooter and came up with 575.
I later explained my error to my son and told him he is a better shot than his dad is at ranging. All in all it was a great day and one very happy young man.
I found this antelope 2 years ago while deer hunting. I took this picture and showed it to my then 11 year old son. He said he wanted to shoot that one so the next year we put him in for that unit but he didnt draw. The second time was magic in the draw.
This first picture is the fall of 2012. I went back a month ago and found him in the same spot, and he grew a little.
So this morning we got there a little late (a herd of coyotes delayed our arrival). I drove to look over the flat he called home and the first animal I spotted there was the man my son named "Dopey". I ranged him in the 680s with just one doe and decided to drive a little closer. We hopped out of the pickup at 550ish and walked a few paces to get a good angle.
Lesson number 1 of today: animals that are standing on the back side of a small rise may be further than the rangefinder tells you. I get him set up at what appears to be 545 with not a breath of wind (I know almost a lie since I live in Wyoming). Set the bipod legs and rear bags, dial 6.5 MOA, load the chamber and tell him to get comfortable and send it when ready. He double checks the "OK" and sends one down range. At the shot the buck jumps up and forward and reacts as though he has just received a 140 Berger from a 264 Win Mag. Then he just stands there and acts as if nothing happened.
I racked another round in the chamber and have him send another. Nothing. The antelope just stands there and doesn't even seem to care that we are shooting at him. Finally, at the 5th shot the antelope walks off the back of this little ridge and out of sight.
I run by the pickup and grab more ammo just in case and then we walk down the hill toward the last roll he wandered behind. He still wasn't running and acted just as calm as could be. My son was a bit perplexed by his shooting because just a couple weeks before I had him busting a .5X1 MOA rock at over 900. We caught up to this buck at 306 as he was slowly trailing his bride in a sea of sage. We set the gun up again on the bipod and bags and dialed a big 2 MOA and sent another his way at 310.
Again, no reaction from this buck and I am getting concerned about the gun or the kid or both. I rack another round into the chamber and tell him to hit him again as this buck had walked about 10 yards to the right and then turned around and walked back 10 yards to the left. I was telling my son to shoot again when I looked up and the buck got all wobbly legged and promptly fell over backwards with all 4 legs straight in the air.
When we walked up to the buck there were two bullet wounds; one just split the skin of his brisket behind the front leg, the other center punched the pocket behind the shoulder taking out both heart and lungs. It was a great shot at 310 and his aim was good at the 500+, dad just did a real poor job on the range. I ran the bullet drop backwards through Shooter and came up with 575.
I later explained my error to my son and told him he is a better shot than his dad is at ranging. All in all it was a great day and one very happy young man.
-Great job to you too dad!
