...at least for me.
After two weeks of pride therapy, I can finally discuss this in public. [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img]
A little background on myself. I started bird hunting when I was eleven and didn't get the chance to start big game hunting until moving to OR in 1997. Since then I have hunted deer and/or elk every season. I have managed 1 bear, 2 blacktail bucks and missed a nice rag bull elk. While not a great success rate, I find that I am filling my tag or encountering more game every season. My point is that I feel that my skills are maturing and that I have enough experience to be in the game.
Like most of us, I had been waiting for my coveted antelope tag. I have heard that depending on the hunt you put in for it takes between 7-10 years to get a tag. Looking at the regs and being a muzzleloader hunter, I thought I could improve my odds by putting in for a ML hunt. I was mostly correct. It took 6 years for my dad and I to pull a tag. Needless to say we were very excited and this was going to be my first antelope hunt.
Considering many of the factors of antelope hunting and using a muzzleloader, we opted for one of the "timber" hunts, Silver Lake/E. Fort Rock. There are at least two units in OR that have antelope primarily using the timber for cover.
Our preparations were diligent and we got our maps, talked with the game bio for the area and made two scouting trips. While not terribly encouraging, my dad did spot antelope on the 2nd trip. All of the info we received was that the antelope use the timber like deer/elk and if you hunt them like that, you will get into them. Our hunt started on September 6th and ran through the 14th, so we had 9 days to fill our tags with either a buck or doe. Opening morning brought a few shots, but not many for the number of hunters in the area.(30 tags total).
If you have never been in this area, it is a combination of good size sage flats with scab rock, with intermixed islands of pine, bordered by the larger mountains in the Freemont National forest. Specifically we were hunting around Thompson Reservior. Based on the info the game bio gave us and our scouting trips we focused our efforts here.
The lake was low and at the south end of the lake you could walk across the grass covered lake bed. The lake has several 'fingers' that are bordered by timber, creating a pattern of timber then lake bed, then timber then lake bed...and so on. Most of the timber fingers were between 10-40 feet above the lake bed. They were about 75-150 yards across and upwards of 800 yards long. The lake bed between the timber varied between 100 and 300 yards across. So no matter where you were, you were lucky if you could see more than about 200 yards in any given direction.
Our plan was to stand hunt in the morning (hoping to get lucky) and still hunt/spot and stalk in the afternoon. We hunted hard the first four days without seeing an antelope. (We did see about 8 muley doe's, though). On Wednesday morning (day 5), we get up at 430 to head off to our stands (ground blinds). It is foggy, with visibility around 50 yards and the mercury is hanging at 34 degrees. We are on stand 30 minutes before shooting time and the wait begins. Aside from the constant yapping of the tweetie birds, nothing is moving or making noise.
By 900am the fog has lifted and I radio my dad to kill some time and to get my mind off my aching posterior. To my shock he radios back three antelope does just ran by about 250 yards from him and headed south across the timber finger I am set up in. We quickly put together a plan to try and get to them. I was going to circle south and see if I could spot them crossing the next opening and my dad was going to still hunt once he found the tracks.
Its now 945 and the antelope have not crossed the next opening and my dad is having trouble finding the tracks in the scab rock and sage. I head over to see if we can find them. Finally we pick up the track and follow it for about 50 yards before it simply melts into the rock. Encouraged by the turn of events we decide to head back to camp and grab some breakfast. We turn to walk over the ridge (hump) and go about 10 yards and I can't believe my eyes. Standing about 200 yards away across the sage, on the other side of a small stand of trees is buck! :shocked: We stop and kneel. The buck is not moving but looking right at us. I bring my binocs up to check out his horns and he is not huge I greenhorn guessed at 12-13". This goes on for close to 3 minutes. Finally he turns and starts to walk away. Then stops, trots a few yards and stops and then walks off down the sage and into the next tree line.
Quickly we figure he is heading for the next finger of timber and again split up to try to circle him to keep him from doubling back. 15 minutes later after trying to stay down in the sage and moving slowly through the timber, I am closing in on the next finger. The buck has dissappeared. I radio my dad and let him know he either went into the timber or bedded down in the sage somewhere. We decide to let him settle down and come back after breakfast.
After breakfast we have our plan. My dad is going to try to still hunt/push a small ridge in the sage that runs along the timber finger's edge and I am going to circle around the far edge of the timber and meet him at the end. With high hopes we separate and I am glassing every other step and moving as slow as I can and keep my balance. I make it about 150 yards in 45 minutes when my dad radios me to bag it. The buck jumped out of his bed on the other side of the sage ridge at about 150 yards and took off back to the timber about 250 yards away (behind where we came in). So we hook up again and are going to try one more time to turn him back. So I work my way down the timber finger and try to get in front of him. (guessing which way he went) My dad circles back into the timber and is going to try to cut him off if he went the other way. Much of this timber burned about 2 years ago and visibility is between 50 and 100 yard inside the burn. After still hunting and glassing for an hour, we both decide he gave us the slip again and call it a day.
The next day we are on stand again before light and our spirits are up given the latest developments. No antelope for 4 days and then bamm, our persistence is paying off. At 1030am we decide he is not a routine kind of guy and figure he has left the area. After breakfast we go glass and scout two other areas hoping to find some fresh sign. By 200pm Thursday, we are beat and decide to head back to camp. Driving back to camp, we pass the burn the buck ran into the day before and 3 does and fawn are standing in the burn about 100 yards off the road.
Shocked, I slow down
. They bolt out of the burn and into the sage and I am kicking myself for slowing down. We head back to camp to grab some more water to head back after the does. Our plan again is to split up and try to get in spots to cut off their exits in and out of the timber. My dad is going to go track the does and I was going to go up on the sage ridge to see if I could spot them from further away. My dad gets a jump on me and is still hunting his way to the burn and I am only 50 yards from the truck. He radios me. "They were just outside the timber and spotted me. Looks like they headed south."
So back to the rig we go again. We drive about a mile south and and decide we are going to still hunt our way north through the timber and see if we can't intercept them. The wind is in our face and after about 90 minutes of still hunting we have closed to within 400 yards of where we last saw them. Given that we have bumped them twice, we figure they may be staying tight to the waterhole they were near. As I am hugging a tree glassing north, 7 antelope bust out of the EXACT same spot and head out into the sage and stand on the spot I was originally going to set up on. Dumbfounded, I radio my dad that they are out in the sage about 200 yards east. There is a nice buck leading the group and one small brat buck bringing up the rear. My dad works his way over and we watch them walk over the sage ridge and into the timber finger we pushed the buck into the day before. They were about 400 yards away where they entered the timber. Again we try to split up and see if we can cut them off. My dad heads back to the rig to move it back up to our orginal location and I am going to work downwind of the sage ridge to follow it to the timber. Crawling/stumbling through the sage and scab rock I make it to the sage ridge. I now realize I am stuck. The ridge slop is too flat to hide me and I can't get over it in order to make it to the timber. I sit down next to a large sage bush and next thing I know the antelope are running out of the timber to my left at about 250 yards. They stop and are looking right at me. Busted. Off they go again into the timber and then I see them high tailing it across the lake bed putting some serious distance between us. I watch through my binocs and make the spot about a mile away where they run up into the timber on the other side of the lake bed. Here we go again. Back to the truck we drive around the lake and have to hike a mile in to get to the area they ran into. Long story short, they disappeared again.
Its now Friday and we are still encouraged, but shaking our head at our incompetence. We get an early start again. My dad sets up in the timber near the waterhole and I set up under a lone pine on the sage ridge. We figure if they cross we should be in good shape. At 1100am we haven't seen a thing and I head across the sage to meet my dad. We discuss the "new" plan. (Jokingly we started numbering plans. I lost track at somewhere around plan "15".) The truck is only about 400 yards away and we decide to go get some breakfast. On the way my dad suggests we check the waterhole for sign from the previous night.
We exit the timber, and are only about 30 yards from the waterhole when my dad say, "stop". A buck entered the opening at the same time as us. He standing broadside at 110 yards. We had agreed my dad would take first shot before the hunt, so he drops to one knee and brings his gun up. BOOM! The buck takes about 3 quick steps and stops. It wasn't apparent that he was hit so I bring up my gun. I stay standing and try to steady the iron sights on the top of his back which should put me in the money. I let the hammer fall and BOOM! The buck doesn't even flinch.
As he is standing there, I grab the binocs and look for any sign of blood. Nothing. He is still standing there. Frantically my dad reloads while I watch the buck start to walk off into the timber and out toward the sage ridge I was just set up on. We switch and my dad watches as I reload. Plan "16" is now under way and again we are trying to circle ahead of the buck. 90 minutes later he has disappeared again in the timber and sage. Dejected we head back to camp wondering how we both just missed our first chance at an antelope.
After lunch we head back out and set up on stand again. As the sun fades behind the moutains to the west the remaining light is too thin to see our sights and we call it a night. Two days left to get this right.
Saturday morning we are running behind and are walking out to our stands as the full moon is lighting up the timber and sage. I am only about 10 yards from my stand position and decide to give up on the "still hunting" and take a break for my last few steps to the tree. As I set my foot down next to the tree, the buck jumps up 50 yards away and starts "barking" at me. Its light enough to see, but too dark to shoot with iron sights. The buck trots off to the north and I can see him standing about 150 yards away still barking. I radio my dad that he is up and moving. The buck heads into the far end of the timber finger and we decide to wait him to see if he was going to circle back around. 4 hours go by and nothing. We decide to push the timber finger to see if we can jump him and nothing.
We head back to camp and try to regroup. We just can't seem to get things to swing our way. As we head back out, time is getting short on our hunt and I am physically and emotionally exhausted. We agian set up on our stand and wait for sunset. Nothing. With that our last full day was done. We are going to give it one more shot in the morning and call it over.
On time, we are up at 430 and on our way to our stands. Yet another cold morning with the thermometer hanging at 28 degrees. As the sun clears the mountains to the east and lights up the lake bed, I can't help but running over everything that has happened this week. Could we have done anything different? With the exception of a few folks that got theirs antelope on opening day, we had been in them more than anyone we talked to. Not a shot had been heard since the opener. As the clock comes up on 1000am, our hunt is over and its time to admit defeat. We head back and break down camp after breakfast. The last thing I wanted was a 6 hour drive by myself to mull over everything.
Well its been two weeks now and I have finally overcome my disappointment. Here are some of my conclusions...
1. Every hunt has its challenges. In some hunts its finding game. In some its getting close and in still others its the terrain or lack thereof. This hunt has all of them. The antelope feed in the timber, bed in the timber, travel in the timber and feed in the sage, bed in the sage and travel in the sage. Conclusion the antelope could be anywhere and you can't see them.
2. The broken timber and the small size of the sage flats prohibited glassing and at the same time were too large to cross without getting nailed.
3. If you found the antelope in the timber, they would run into the sage. If you found them in the sage, they would run into the timber. Unlike deer or elk that would generally stay in the timber when pressured, the antlepe would go in one side and out the other and across the sage.
4. This hunt required us to use every skill required in hunting. Spot and stalk, still hunting, tracking, glassing when possible and stand hunting.
5. While still young in my big game hunting career, I can honestly say I believe this hunt will go down as one of the most challenging hunts I will probably ever have the pleasure of being a part of.
If you really want to test your skills, this is one hunt that will do it.
[ 09-30-2003, 09:26 AM: Message edited by: Lured In ]
The Most Challenging Hunt....
Kind of like in High School when the football coach would show us the video highlights of professional football before a game, it gets you pumped up.
Linear Mode
