cohunter14
Administrator
- Jul 10, 2017
- 5,344
Had a great weekend with my dad out chasing some speed goats this weekend. We typically hunt the late season but my dad decided to redeem his preference points this year for a solid buck tag. I had this hunt a couple of years ago and decided to redeem my point to guarantee a doe tag so I could tag along with him.
First light hit Saturday morning and we were in an area we had spotted a large herd the night before. Right as we are parking the truck, there stand a good buck and a doe staring at us from 150 yards. Could it be this easy to fill both tags? Hahaha, no way! They took off running after a couple of seconds and disappeared over a hill into a drainage. We decided to put a stalk on them and see what we could do. Luck would have it that we were able to get within 150 yards of them again. I went ahead and had my dad shoot on his own as I figured I would have plenty of opportunities to punch my tag on a doe. He set up on his NEW shooting tripod and squeezed off a round at the buck when he was broadside and standing still...and a puff of dust hit right above the buck. They took off running to leave us pondering what the heck just happened. Dad's a solid shot and he said he thought he took a good shot. :dk:
We packed up and continued on to another area. Throughout the day we would continually get on some groups of antelope and they would immediately take off, sometimes from over 1,000 yards away. I'm used to them being that spooked in the late season, but not on opening day! With them getting spooked that easy, there were a couple of times that I was trying to get setup for a longer range shot. I would get a solid range on them, dial up my scope, and try to get a solid shot but it never happened. This happened multiple times and each time I would dial my scope back and get my gun set back to my 100 yard zero.
Fast forward to later in the afternoon and we are once again on a herd. This time we actually have a couple of small pinion trees to hide behind as we make our stalk. We get to about 200 yards and I setup on my shooting sticks. There is no buck in sight so I go ahead and squeeze off a shot...and the thing takes off. I also hit high. I am at a complete loss for words...there is no way that I should have missed that doe. I put in way too much time behind the rifle throughout the year and I am comfortable shooting well beyond 200 yards.
The herd took off at the sound of my shot, but didn't go that far. We put another sneak on them and there stands a good buck by himself, broadside, staring at us. My dad settles his gun on the shooting tripod again and squeezes one off...right over his back again! WHAT IS GOING ON!?!?!?!? :evil:
We head back to the hotel and I'm still scratching my head, especially on my miss. I take a look at my scope and now I'm wondering if I somehow forgot to dial my scope back to zero, or maybe dialed it up to zero instead of down? We both decide to grab a couple paper plates and take them with us to reconfirm our zeros in the morning.
First light hit Saturday morning and we were in an area we had spotted a large herd the night before. Right as we are parking the truck, there stand a good buck and a doe staring at us from 150 yards. Could it be this easy to fill both tags? Hahaha, no way! They took off running after a couple of seconds and disappeared over a hill into a drainage. We decided to put a stalk on them and see what we could do. Luck would have it that we were able to get within 150 yards of them again. I went ahead and had my dad shoot on his own as I figured I would have plenty of opportunities to punch my tag on a doe. He set up on his NEW shooting tripod and squeezed off a round at the buck when he was broadside and standing still...and a puff of dust hit right above the buck. They took off running to leave us pondering what the heck just happened. Dad's a solid shot and he said he thought he took a good shot. :dk:
We packed up and continued on to another area. Throughout the day we would continually get on some groups of antelope and they would immediately take off, sometimes from over 1,000 yards away. I'm used to them being that spooked in the late season, but not on opening day! With them getting spooked that easy, there were a couple of times that I was trying to get setup for a longer range shot. I would get a solid range on them, dial up my scope, and try to get a solid shot but it never happened. This happened multiple times and each time I would dial my scope back and get my gun set back to my 100 yard zero.
Fast forward to later in the afternoon and we are once again on a herd. This time we actually have a couple of small pinion trees to hide behind as we make our stalk. We get to about 200 yards and I setup on my shooting sticks. There is no buck in sight so I go ahead and squeeze off a shot...and the thing takes off. I also hit high. I am at a complete loss for words...there is no way that I should have missed that doe. I put in way too much time behind the rifle throughout the year and I am comfortable shooting well beyond 200 yards.
The herd took off at the sound of my shot, but didn't go that far. We put another sneak on them and there stands a good buck by himself, broadside, staring at us. My dad settles his gun on the shooting tripod again and squeezes one off...right over his back again! WHAT IS GOING ON!?!?!?!? :evil:
We head back to the hotel and I'm still scratching my head, especially on my miss. I take a look at my scope and now I'm wondering if I somehow forgot to dial my scope back to zero, or maybe dialed it up to zero instead of down? We both decide to grab a couple paper plates and take them with us to reconfirm our zeros in the morning.
