I have been putting in for antelope tags in NV for the last 10 years. You would think being a NV resident that it would be easy getting tags. Well apparently not. I have never had the opportunity to hunt antelope in the past, coming from CA. Well this was my year. I drew a tag for area 15, which was my 4th choice. But I wasn't going to turn it down. The best part of this hunt is that my 12 year old son is my hunting partner.
Due to my work schedule I only had one day to scout, which turned up very little. A good friend of mine grew up in this area and had his brothers do some scouting for me. Basically all this meant was that they showed me the map and said look in this area. Which was about 100 sq miles. Maybe because they wanted to keep the big ones for themselves.
Opening day I was as excited as my first deer hunt when I was 12. I couldn't sleep the night before, going through check lists in my head. Making sure I had everything I would need.
A lot of smoke from the fire up in Washington had settled in the mountain's and valley's that we were to hunt. A couple of locals told me that the antelope would be down really low due to this. At this point I didn't know what to believe but figured I would give the flats a good look. After 3 hours of glassing I did not see an antelope. My son and I decided to move up into the mountains for the rest of the day. We parked the truck and started hiking into the foothills. We started seeing some antelope on distant hills. Not many, maybe a dozen total. I could see a couple of decent bucks, but nothing huge. Just about then my son says "what about that one dad? It looks like a pretty good one." Confused I said where. He points to a small knoll about 200 yards away. Sure enough there was a buck standing looking at us. I looked at him for a while. He is not real big, but decent for the area. My son kept saying "shoot him dad, because I would." A lot of things went through my mind at this point. I really wanted to have a successful hunt with my son. The buck wasn't quite in the class I was looking for. In the end I realized that this didn't matter. It was the experience. This buck would not take his eyes off of us. Looking straight forward at us. He would not turn broadside. He was slightly quartering towards us. I put the crosshairs right in the crease of his left should and let one fly. He was down and done. I don't think he even kicked. My son was so excited that he jumped up and wanted to run towards our downed quarry. I had to tell him to be patient. We watched for 5 minutes and then started our hike up the hill to go get him.
In the end this ended up being a great hunt for my son and I. One that my son and I will never forget.
Due to my work schedule I only had one day to scout, which turned up very little. A good friend of mine grew up in this area and had his brothers do some scouting for me. Basically all this meant was that they showed me the map and said look in this area. Which was about 100 sq miles. Maybe because they wanted to keep the big ones for themselves.
Opening day I was as excited as my first deer hunt when I was 12. I couldn't sleep the night before, going through check lists in my head. Making sure I had everything I would need.
A lot of smoke from the fire up in Washington had settled in the mountain's and valley's that we were to hunt. A couple of locals told me that the antelope would be down really low due to this. At this point I didn't know what to believe but figured I would give the flats a good look. After 3 hours of glassing I did not see an antelope. My son and I decided to move up into the mountains for the rest of the day. We parked the truck and started hiking into the foothills. We started seeing some antelope on distant hills. Not many, maybe a dozen total. I could see a couple of decent bucks, but nothing huge. Just about then my son says "what about that one dad? It looks like a pretty good one." Confused I said where. He points to a small knoll about 200 yards away. Sure enough there was a buck standing looking at us. I looked at him for a while. He is not real big, but decent for the area. My son kept saying "shoot him dad, because I would." A lot of things went through my mind at this point. I really wanted to have a successful hunt with my son. The buck wasn't quite in the class I was looking for. In the end I realized that this didn't matter. It was the experience. This buck would not take his eyes off of us. Looking straight forward at us. He would not turn broadside. He was slightly quartering towards us. I put the crosshairs right in the crease of his left should and let one fly. He was down and done. I don't think he even kicked. My son was so excited that he jumped up and wanted to run towards our downed quarry. I had to tell him to be patient. We watched for 5 minutes and then started our hike up the hill to go get him.
In the end this ended up being a great hunt for my son and I. One that my son and I will never forget.
