Southern NM Pronghorn

[izquik72]

My buddies and I recently had the privilege of getting drawn for antelope tags in New Mexico just this last month. What an awesome experience! I hope you enjoy our story (pictures included):

 

3 Days Before Season:

 

Our trek to the far reaches of southeastern New Mexico started on a Wednesday morning.

We made it to Albuquerque, then stopped for the night to visit some family and celebrate my Cousin Blake’s 21st birthday- a day late.

 

2 Days Before Season:

 

Morning found us again traveling to our hunting destination, along with many antelope being spotted along the way. This really got us excited, and also primed us for our imminent scouting and hunting adventure!

The hunting party consisted of two of my billiard-playing friends, Ryan and Tom. Ryan had never harvested an antelope before, and it had been too many years since Tom had chased down this prairie animal. Neither myself nor Ryan had ever drawn an out-of-state tag before, but with a confirmation notifying us of our successful draw via email on June 8th, our preparations began.

We did one last check for ice, and filled up in Roswell, and with 100 more miles still to go, the rain started. We followed it all the way to our assigned ranch. It seemed our first evening of scouting was going to be a wash, but then the storm lifted and we were given 2 hours to look around. 15 minutes passed until our first herd was spotted: 7 does and a decent buck. Continuing on, we found only one other herd, and one other lone buck.

 

1 Day Before Season:

 

On the morning of Day One before the hunt, we headed to a different corner of the ranch. We spotted a few herds, and located one shooter buck that Ryan laid claim to. The buck was with 10 does, and in good spot.

 

 

After traveling to the far southern end of the ranch, we got a call from Tom on his cell telling us he had located his shooter buck as well. This buck and his does hung around us from about 200 yards. This would turn out to be the biggest of all the bucks we would see for the entire duration of the hunt.

 

 

After a quick lunch and some re-wiring of the camper, our quest to find a buck for myself began. We searched high and low, but were unsuccessful at locating another one worthy of a tag. We did get a nice treat though, as we were able to witness a buck chase a non-legal buck away from a doe. He stopped at 35 yards, allowing me to me snap a few photos of him. It wasn’t long before night began to set in, so we headed back to camp.

 

 

Opening Day of Season:

 

With so much anticipation, none of us were able to sleep well the night before, and it felt like forever for our alarm clocks to go off! When they finally did, we got dressed and had a quick breakfast. Afterwards, Tom headed over a ridge away from camp to find his buck. Ryan and I loaded into the truck and headed out as well.

I was able to spot a herd about 15 minutes after legal shooting light. The day prior, we had been about 200 yards from this herd in the truck. They allowed us ample time to look them over, but then someone must have let the cat out of the bag, because as we neared 600 yards, they started to move! I slowed the truck to let Ryan out so he could work his way up to a draw, and into a shooting position. The herd wasn’t having any of this though, and started to head out as soon as I began slowing the truck. We allowed 15 minutes to pass for them to settle down again before we began our stalk. We got within 389 yards just as they were nearing a fence-line to a neighboring property; It was now or never! Ryan set up, and waited for the buck to clear the does, and then suddenly BOOM…. Clean miss! With that, our first stalk was over.

The area we continued to hunt was very flat, but there were oil rigs and tanks scattered throughout, so we were able to use these to elevate our positions and glass.

 

 

It wasn’t long before we were able to spot two more herds with good bucks from about a mile away. We got in the truck, and got within 1200 yards from them. From there, Ryan began his stalk once again. I stayed in the truck with my window mount to keep an eye on the buck, that had now bedded down. Ryan maintained a perfect stalk, and was able to get within 300 yards. As the buck got to his feet and walked by, Ryan’s shot rang out. I could see that the antelope was limping, and at 330 yards the large Pronghorn turned to follow his does. With this, Ryan sent one more shot his way. This shot turned out true, and the buck fell to the ground after 50 yards with a lethal hit to the heart and lungs. Upon arrival to where he lay, we noticed the first shot Ryan had fired was not lethal, so the 2nd one was a definite necessity.

 

 

We snapped a few photos and loaded the trophy into the truck. There was a large H-frame transformer support we had found earlier, that allowed us to drive the truck under it. We threw some ratchet straps up and hung Ryan’s antelope for caping and quartering. When we were finished, we headed back to camp to check in on Tom, as well as to grab lunch and a short siesta.

Around 2:30 in the afternoon, we took off again! We headed to a new corner of the property and climbed a well-rig. Once there, it didn’t take long for us find a buck for me to chase. Below are a few photos of him before I began my stalk:

 

 

As I began the stalk, I decided to ditch all my gear except for my rangefinder, a bottle of water, and my rifle. As I got closer, I saw the buck had bedded down, and knew I could gain some ground here. I kept low, and hid behind bushes the entire way. As I crawled my last 500 yards, I got to a rise where I was no longer in cover. I ranged a doe standing near the buck at 280 yards. This was when I set up my rifle and tried to relax as best I could. As soon as my breathing slowed the buck stood. I was already on him, but there were does in the way. I was hoping for a better shot, when two minutes later he moved into a barely quartering-to-me position. I let a bullet fly, and heard the distinct “meat report” sound. I found him in the scope just as he fell over backwards. It wasn’t until this point that my heart began pounding, and I started shaking! I was super excited… I had just shot the biggest antelope of my entire hunting career!

 

 

 

After a few photos, we headed back to our H-frame “skinning pole” again.

We made it back to camp just before dark, and it was definitely a night of celebration for us!

 

 

Final Day of Season:

 

We woke to the last day of our New Mexico antelope hunt with only one more buck to go! Tom was already up and ready for his crack at a Pronghorn.

The three of us headed toward the area that Ryan had missed his first buck just the previous morning, in hopes the herd had ventured back to that spot. When we arrived, we were able to glass some does, but no bucks. We continued on, and found more does, and after that, even more… We knew a buck had to be near. The sun was coming up, so we decided to change our vantage point so as to not be looking into the morning glare. It wasn’t long before Ryan called out, “Antelope!”. We had stumbled on yet another herd, and as we were watching, a buck stood up from where he had been bedded down in the grass. Tom wasted little time getting into a ready position. It was then that the herd started to move off the ranch boundary. There wasn’t any time left to waste, as Tom’s window of opportunity was starting to close… and at an increasingly faster and faster pace the more the seconds ticked by. Tom took aim and pulled the trigger. His first shot was a miss, as the buck moved out of his line of fire in time to send the bullet flying just past him. Tom quickly chambered another round and fired once more. His 2nd shot rang true, and the buck dropped before he even knew what hit him! When we went to retrieve the prize, we found he had fallen only 15 feet away from the fence line! Tom had successfully filled his tag just in the nick of time!

 

 

Our trip home was a 12 hour drive that felt like forever, but we were all smiles, recounting the experiences and fun we all shared as good friends together. That definitely made the trip worth it… and of course, coming home with all three tags filled, and our goats riding along in the back of the truck wasn’t too bad either!

 

[TAM]

Great job... congratulations on three nice bucks!!!

[AZ402]

Very nice, congrats!

[Chef]

Great job... congratulations on three nice bucks!!!

 

x2!!

[loco4coues]

what a hunt! thanks for sharing and taking us along for the ride.

[mje1]

Those are some great Bucks, Congrats to you all.

[DCS]

Very nice antelope,good friends,good hunt,that's what it's all about.

[EagleEye]

Very nice was it hard to draw that tag being out of state?

[lacouesniper]

Nice lopes!