A stud goat bites the dust!!

codyadams

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Well, myself, my cousin, my wife, my niece, and my sister all put in for a buck tag in one of our favorite area's, and my niece was the only one that drew of course ha ha.

We text my niece today, and tell her we are picking her up early from volleyball practice to go hunt goats, and she agrees. She had two tags to get, a doe and a buck. Fast forward a few hours, we were out on the hunt, driving 2 track roads and doing a lot of glassing. We told my niece Erica, that the hardest part of hunting for a trophy pronghorn, was not shooting one. At first she was confused, but then we explained that we will likely look at 150+ goats before we see one that is at or near the 80" mark (a benchmark we always try to achieve in the better areas). So we told her to start counting!!

Shortly after, we come up on a doe at 300 yards that is within a mile of irrigated land, as her type 7 tag dictates, and she decides to smoke it. There was a stiff 10-15 mph wind, but it was pretty close. We dope the scope, she takes aim, and sends the 156 EOL to the high lungs of the unsuspecting doe, anchoring her where she stood. We notch the tag, get her gutted and throw her in the back of my Jeep, and carry on the hunt for a trophy buck!!

We had lots of close calls, several that had one aspect or another, we saw one goat that had nearly 6" diggers, but the top of his diggers were below his head!! cray looking guy, all mass and no length, probably under 10". We saw another really pretty one, heart shape, decent mass, decent diggers, but was likely around the 75" mark, so we saved him for later. Saw one or two that were 15"+ tall, but had almost no diggers at all, and were pretty skinny....so we passed up on them as well.

Well, somewhere around buck number 75, we saw one that got out attention. He had a good curl, good mass, and good diggers. We estimate him at 79-81, but goats like this one are hard to judge, because they aren't crazy good in any one region, they are just all around good, and often times they tape out bigger than expected, so we decided to make a hunt on him.

When we first videoed him, he was around 900 yards and running his does all around. We had the opportunity to sneak in on top of a small ridge and cut off 200-300 yards, which was a good thing as the wind was whipping from 8 to 15 mph or so. We low walked into position, and my niece got set up behind my rifle. There was 4 or 5 bucks, so we had to make sure we got her on the right one. Blake got on the spotter with the phone scope and we confirmed the target buck, and ranged him at 590, but he was facing strait away. We put the dope in the rifle and waited. Pretty soon, he started walking strait away. Range, adjust dope, wait. He walked farther. Range again, adjust again, wait. This went on for several minutes....after what seemed like ages though, we ranged him at 686, still facing away, we put in the dope, check wind, about 10-12 from the 8 o'clock, and finally.....he turned!! Range one final time before the shot, 690....I tell Erica, "send it". Within a couple seconds, I hear the rifle crack, and watch as the bullet sails in to the rear of the lungs, and the buck drops and runs for about 30 yards, stops, and gets the wobbles, and down he goes!!!!

When we get up to him, there is no ground shrinkage, and the photo at the end of the video doesn't do it justice, he has great mass, good length plus a lot of curl which will add to the length, and good diggers. Erica is stoked about him, as this one smashes her buck from last year!! She held it together great for the shot too, she told me after that she was shaking like a leaf, and had to take a deep breath to calm down before the shot because she could see her heartbeat in the scope ha ha!!

What a great experience for all involved, and I am more than proud of my niece, in the last 3 years since she turned 12, she has stacked up 3,858 yards in 7 kills!!! She is certainly turning out to be quite the huntress.

Good hunting all, and god bless!!!



P.S., once I get a chance, I will tape the goat out and add more pics of it. Really hoping this one breaks 80 for her!!
 
Definitely a mature body.

Showed my hunting partner a monster buck while we were on vacation, no tag, his first look at a pronghorn. I told him it could be the best buck he ever see's. A few years later after getting through his first 150-he remembered what I said.

They can show up any time.
 
Congratulations to the young lady! A real nice goat, and a great shot. It sounds as though you're hunting a pretty good area.

We always put in as a "party" hunt.....got "skunked" this year on goats! memtb
 
Thanks for sharing the story and video. Really nice goat. Looks really close to 80" to me. I saw over 300 pronghorn on my Wyoming hunt last week and I don't think I saw any quite that good. Some were close but they are tough to judge.
 
From Southeast Texas, so please excuse the ignorance. But, why are y'all calling these pronghorn "goats?" Aren't these considered antelope?
 
From Southeast Texas, so please excuse the ignorance. But, why are y'all calling these pronghorn "goats?" Aren't these considered antelope?
Actually, they are neither.

The north American pronghorn is neither a goat, nor an antelope. It is a species all it's own, a "pronghorn". To quote Yellowstone park service....

"The North American pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) is the surviving member of a group of animals that evolved in North America during the past 20 million years. It is not a true antelope, which is found in Africa and southeast Asia. The use of the term "antelope" seems to have originated when the first written description of the animal was made during the 1804–1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition."

Calling them "goats" is just another name we use, more specifically, speed goats. They are kind of quirky like farm goats are, I think that may be why they got that name.
 
From Southeast Texas, so please excuse the ignorance. But, why are y'all calling these pronghorn "goats?" Aren't these considered antelope?


We often refer to them as...."speed goats"! Technically, I don't think that they are even Antelope. Their nearest relative is in Africa. Please do not quote me on any of this, as this is from my "ragged" memory. memtb
 
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