bigngreen
Well-Known Member
Well, it's been two weeks since antelope season opened and I finally have all the pics rounded up.
We have a little spot way up in the timber that holds about 75-100 head of antelope and they generally don't get ran much so we drove in early opening morning and played with a nice brow tine bull elk on the way in and we scope the goats about a 100yds from the truck at the edge of the timber so we ease out and get into position and dad let's a doe hold a 120gr Hornady out of the 250AI, took the top of her heart out and she did a little sprint and spiraled into the dirt, one down!
They take of and we leave dad to take care of his doe, they ran out into a big grass flat about 600yrds out and there was a nice buck with them that I kinda wanted an my buddy had a doe tag so we worked down on them and were about to give it to a doe when they decide the other end of the valley was better so we get things back into the truck and work down the valley and about that time an other guy bumps them back down.
We just stopped to let them settle down and see what everyone else was doing, it sounded like WWIII down there and I watch some guy finally manage to gutt shoot the buck, he then emptied every thing he had at it and I think he finally got it killed but kinda doubt he retrieved it as I saw him driving around later trying to find a way to just drive to it but he could not so he split, kinda ticked me of and I wish I was in cell range or I would have called!
A couple hours later the goats had chilled out and we where back in the hunt! We got a little broken down cabin between them and us and we put a perfect sneak on them to 506 yrds so we get set up and I'm ranging and they are tracking nice so my friend get dialed in and I'm calling the shot on a nice doe, they swap places a couple times and finally one takes the lead and stops, I call her and he lets her have it, I didn't see the hit but the dust blew up like he smoked her or was low so I watch and he got ready for another one but I could see here slowing down and I could tell she was toast, after a very fast 100yrd sprint she tipped. The had no clue what had just happened so I hustled up to take a doe but they ran right at us and I could not get high enough to shoot and had to let them run by.
This was a cool deal, my buddy is an outstanding shot but I finally got him to shoot with me long range and he has been doing it for about 2 weeks, we got a drop chart all figured out, drops verified and he was shooting awesome out to 600yrds which was about as far as we could push it. He was shooting his 22-250 with 60 gr Berger varmint bullets, Exbal has them going 3500 fps out of his Savage Low Pro, he was dialing a Nikon buckmaster which has been really good. I thought the Berger bullet would be excellent for long range and it was perfect, it was a pin hole in and about a golf ball size coming out, one lung was in bad shape and the other was MIA. You couldn't have knock the grin of his face with a 2x4, he's hooked, first goat and first LR kill!!
That was it for that day for killing but I got a little schooling!
I was looking for a LR kill and was having a hard time ranging with the sun and goat in sage brush are just hard to get ranged, I would get 780 then 1090 the finally one got in a spot where I was getting several 920-924 yrd on so I punched it into Exbal and doped my wind, dialed it in and waited for the wind and goat to line up, she had walked a little and it looked like it was mostly left to right so I held a little high behind the shoulder and let it fly and I saw the dust fly just under her, I did a little mumbling under my breath and let them work of. So I missed know I had to find out why, I found there tracks and the spot I had shot and ranged back to my shooting position 962yrds, BINGO, she had walked way more away from me than I thought, ran the numbers and I was about 15in low, right under her chest by about 5 in. Good news my wind call was spot on and it was a little tricky and I knew what had happened, bad news I miss judged how far she had moved
Day two I was again set up in the same spot and this time I was getting a good range and they had not a clue that I was about to Accubomb them and then they just get up and take of, I can't figure out why and we pack up to make another run when a truck pulls up, these clowns had stopped out in front of God and everyone and glassed them from the truck, you can drive right past them but everyone knows you don't stop, again more muttering about shooting tires!!
I make another run through the timber and we come out right on top of them and we belly crawl out to the edge and I set up and there's a decent buck so I think I might take him, I wanted something a little longer that 223 yrds but while I was checking him out though the scope he stood up and I tapped the trigger and put a Accubond high through the shoulders, his lights we're out before he hit dirt, got him taken care of and back to the does for an other LR attempt.
I again set up on a doe but the range was not coming good again but I finally settled on 802, but the wind was sounding weird, it was only about 5 on the ground but I was shooting across a valley so I dialed for 7.5mph, they started to get antsy but there was one left standing so I let it go and again missed but this was right over her shoulder, CRAP, again perfect windage which I'm jacked about because that is what handed me my butt last year. Conclusion ranging goats SUCKS, I really have a hard time in my terrain knowing for sure that I'm tagging the goat or a tall sage brush in front or behind them. I have not had this problem with anything else but goats!
Any way great times and good lessons learned and I still have a doe to settle a score with! Anyone wanting to donate to my Vectronix PLRF fund can PM me!!
We have a little spot way up in the timber that holds about 75-100 head of antelope and they generally don't get ran much so we drove in early opening morning and played with a nice brow tine bull elk on the way in and we scope the goats about a 100yds from the truck at the edge of the timber so we ease out and get into position and dad let's a doe hold a 120gr Hornady out of the 250AI, took the top of her heart out and she did a little sprint and spiraled into the dirt, one down!
They take of and we leave dad to take care of his doe, they ran out into a big grass flat about 600yrds out and there was a nice buck with them that I kinda wanted an my buddy had a doe tag so we worked down on them and were about to give it to a doe when they decide the other end of the valley was better so we get things back into the truck and work down the valley and about that time an other guy bumps them back down.
We just stopped to let them settle down and see what everyone else was doing, it sounded like WWIII down there and I watch some guy finally manage to gutt shoot the buck, he then emptied every thing he had at it and I think he finally got it killed but kinda doubt he retrieved it as I saw him driving around later trying to find a way to just drive to it but he could not so he split, kinda ticked me of and I wish I was in cell range or I would have called!
A couple hours later the goats had chilled out and we where back in the hunt! We got a little broken down cabin between them and us and we put a perfect sneak on them to 506 yrds so we get set up and I'm ranging and they are tracking nice so my friend get dialed in and I'm calling the shot on a nice doe, they swap places a couple times and finally one takes the lead and stops, I call her and he lets her have it, I didn't see the hit but the dust blew up like he smoked her or was low so I watch and he got ready for another one but I could see here slowing down and I could tell she was toast, after a very fast 100yrd sprint she tipped. The had no clue what had just happened so I hustled up to take a doe but they ran right at us and I could not get high enough to shoot and had to let them run by.
This was a cool deal, my buddy is an outstanding shot but I finally got him to shoot with me long range and he has been doing it for about 2 weeks, we got a drop chart all figured out, drops verified and he was shooting awesome out to 600yrds which was about as far as we could push it. He was shooting his 22-250 with 60 gr Berger varmint bullets, Exbal has them going 3500 fps out of his Savage Low Pro, he was dialing a Nikon buckmaster which has been really good. I thought the Berger bullet would be excellent for long range and it was perfect, it was a pin hole in and about a golf ball size coming out, one lung was in bad shape and the other was MIA. You couldn't have knock the grin of his face with a 2x4, he's hooked, first goat and first LR kill!!
That was it for that day for killing but I got a little schooling!
I was looking for a LR kill and was having a hard time ranging with the sun and goat in sage brush are just hard to get ranged, I would get 780 then 1090 the finally one got in a spot where I was getting several 920-924 yrd on so I punched it into Exbal and doped my wind, dialed it in and waited for the wind and goat to line up, she had walked a little and it looked like it was mostly left to right so I held a little high behind the shoulder and let it fly and I saw the dust fly just under her, I did a little mumbling under my breath and let them work of. So I missed know I had to find out why, I found there tracks and the spot I had shot and ranged back to my shooting position 962yrds, BINGO, she had walked way more away from me than I thought, ran the numbers and I was about 15in low, right under her chest by about 5 in. Good news my wind call was spot on and it was a little tricky and I knew what had happened, bad news I miss judged how far she had moved Day two I was again set up in the same spot and this time I was getting a good range and they had not a clue that I was about to Accubomb them and then they just get up and take of, I can't figure out why and we pack up to make another run when a truck pulls up, these clowns had stopped out in front of God and everyone and glassed them from the truck, you can drive right past them but everyone knows you don't stop, again more muttering about shooting tires!!
I make another run through the timber and we come out right on top of them and we belly crawl out to the edge and I set up and there's a decent buck so I think I might take him, I wanted something a little longer that 223 yrds but while I was checking him out though the scope he stood up and I tapped the trigger and put a Accubond high through the shoulders, his lights we're out before he hit dirt, got him taken care of and back to the does for an other LR attempt.
I again set up on a doe but the range was not coming good again but I finally settled on 802, but the wind was sounding weird, it was only about 5 on the ground but I was shooting across a valley so I dialed for 7.5mph, they started to get antsy but there was one left standing so I let it go and again missed but this was right over her shoulder, CRAP, again perfect windage which I'm jacked about because that is what handed me my butt last year. Conclusion ranging goats SUCKS, I really have a hard time in my terrain knowing for sure that I'm tagging the goat or a tall sage brush in front or behind them. I have not had this problem with anything else but goats!
Any way great times and good lessons learned and I still have a doe to settle a score with! Anyone wanting to donate to my Vectronix PLRF fund can PM me!!
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