sn.outdoors
New member
- Jun 6, 2016
- 105
One of my best friends and coworkers drew a ranch tag in SE NM this year. The ranch he drew was 94,000 acres and he had to \"share\" it with 3 other hunters. We didn\'t see any sign of those other hunters.
Neither of us ever hunted antelope before, but we are pretty familiar with them and their behavior. We are fortunate to have a job that forces us to be outside in PRIME antelope habit on a regular basis. I\'ve spent 3 yrs in NM watching antelope on our range hoping to one day draw a tag. My buddy drew his first choice the first time he put in. I don\'t think he fully realizes how difficult it is to draw the tag he drew.
Due to our schedules being extremely full, we both have more than full-time jobs and multiple kids, neither of us were able to scout the ranch before the season. We figured it would be a pretty easy hunt since antelope don\'t blend in and they\'re not very intelligent. We also assumed it would be flat and wide open..... Well, we were right in some aspects, but very wrong in others.
[attachment=8]<!-- ia8 -->_DSC0113.jpg<!-- ia8 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=9]<!-- ia9 -->_DSC0170.jpg<!-- ia9 -->[/attachment]
The grass was much taller, the sand dunes were bigger, and there was much more vegetation than we expected. All of these factors made spotting the goats much more challenging than we thought it would be.
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We spotted a group of goats over 1000yds away. There was 1 very nice buck and another decent one in the group, so we decided to employ my go-to technique of walking over there and shooting the animal.
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When we finally got close enough to them the bucks were gone and only 3 females and a very young male were still there. Since the dunes were so large, my buddy decided to get in close to make sure they weren\'t bedded down in the grass. He got within 100yds of the group and confirmed with 100% certainty the bigger bucks were gone.
We decided to make our way back to a different small group of goats we walked past earlier. We knew there was a legal buck in the group. On the way to those goats we crossed paths with a coyote. (If you zoom in and look really closely at the middle of this photo you\'ll see the triangular shaped head of the coyote) Since the coyote was only 40yds away, my buddy tried to shoot it. Unfortunately, he missed. Things developed pretty quickly after that.
[attachment=5]<!-- ia5 -->_DSC0222.jpg<!-- ia5 -->[/attachment]
After missing the coyote, he was a little disappointed and said, \"there\'s no way there\'s going to be anything within a few hundred yards now.\" I mumbled some sort of quiet concurrence, and we started walking again. After taking 1 or 2 steps I said, \"You mean like those one\'s right there?\" There were 3 goats standing roughly 300yds away staring at us. We figured they would turn and bust out of there..... They didn\'t. In fact, as my buddy started creeping towards them, they started heading straight to me. One of the goats was a nice young buck, which is all my buddy was looking for.
[attachment=4]<!-- ia4 -->_DSC0228.jpg<!-- ia4 -->[/attachment]
As you can see in the photo, he was able to get pretty close. He might have been 60yds away from them in the photo, but couldn\'t get a shot. It was pretty funny to watch. Every time he was on top of a dune, the goats were in the bottom, and vice-versa.
[attachment=2]<!-- ia2 -->_DSC0235.jpg<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment]
Eventually the goats got around him and they stopped for one last look at us. The shot was about 75yds.
[attachment=3]<!-- ia3 -->_DSC0256.jpg<!-- ia3 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->_DSC0261.jpg<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->_DSC0260.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
Neither of us ever hunted antelope before, but we are pretty familiar with them and their behavior. We are fortunate to have a job that forces us to be outside in PRIME antelope habit on a regular basis. I\'ve spent 3 yrs in NM watching antelope on our range hoping to one day draw a tag. My buddy drew his first choice the first time he put in. I don\'t think he fully realizes how difficult it is to draw the tag he drew.
Due to our schedules being extremely full, we both have more than full-time jobs and multiple kids, neither of us were able to scout the ranch before the season. We figured it would be a pretty easy hunt since antelope don\'t blend in and they\'re not very intelligent. We also assumed it would be flat and wide open..... Well, we were right in some aspects, but very wrong in others.
[attachment=8]<!-- ia8 -->_DSC0113.jpg<!-- ia8 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=9]<!-- ia9 -->_DSC0170.jpg<!-- ia9 -->[/attachment]
The grass was much taller, the sand dunes were bigger, and there was much more vegetation than we expected. All of these factors made spotting the goats much more challenging than we thought it would be.
[attachment=7]<!-- ia7 -->_DSC0205.jpg<!-- ia7 -->[/attachment]
We spotted a group of goats over 1000yds away. There was 1 very nice buck and another decent one in the group, so we decided to employ my go-to technique of walking over there and shooting the animal.
[attachment=6]<!-- ia6 -->_DSC0214.jpg<!-- ia6 -->[/attachment]
When we finally got close enough to them the bucks were gone and only 3 females and a very young male were still there. Since the dunes were so large, my buddy decided to get in close to make sure they weren\'t bedded down in the grass. He got within 100yds of the group and confirmed with 100% certainty the bigger bucks were gone.
We decided to make our way back to a different small group of goats we walked past earlier. We knew there was a legal buck in the group. On the way to those goats we crossed paths with a coyote. (If you zoom in and look really closely at the middle of this photo you\'ll see the triangular shaped head of the coyote) Since the coyote was only 40yds away, my buddy tried to shoot it. Unfortunately, he missed. Things developed pretty quickly after that.
[attachment=5]<!-- ia5 -->_DSC0222.jpg<!-- ia5 -->[/attachment]
After missing the coyote, he was a little disappointed and said, \"there\'s no way there\'s going to be anything within a few hundred yards now.\" I mumbled some sort of quiet concurrence, and we started walking again. After taking 1 or 2 steps I said, \"You mean like those one\'s right there?\" There were 3 goats standing roughly 300yds away staring at us. We figured they would turn and bust out of there..... They didn\'t. In fact, as my buddy started creeping towards them, they started heading straight to me. One of the goats was a nice young buck, which is all my buddy was looking for.
[attachment=4]<!-- ia4 -->_DSC0228.jpg<!-- ia4 -->[/attachment]
As you can see in the photo, he was able to get pretty close. He might have been 60yds away from them in the photo, but couldn\'t get a shot. It was pretty funny to watch. Every time he was on top of a dune, the goats were in the bottom, and vice-versa.
[attachment=2]<!-- ia2 -->_DSC0235.jpg<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment]
Eventually the goats got around him and they stopped for one last look at us. The shot was about 75yds.
[attachment=3]<!-- ia3 -->_DSC0256.jpg<!-- ia3 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->_DSC0261.jpg<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->_DSC0260.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
