Mike Van Horn
AH fanatic
After having a pretty bad fall while scouting for elk on August 31, no broken bones, l have been healing up. X-rays, scans. Multiple chiropractic visits. One short dove hunt one morning. I really haven’t been able to do a lot.
The Antelope season opened on the 21st with a few hunters around on public ground moving the Antelope around a lot. I opted to wait for things to settle down after the weekend hunters went home. Yesterday I was able to locate 5 different bucks, and the one l had been watching for a couple weeks. Keeping a eye on him and his does until they bed down. Lucky for me it was in a spot where l could move in and just slowly come over a ridge and he should be in range. The wind was perfect. Not being healed up enough to be able to get down and crawl in. I adjusted my shooting sticks to shoot standing up and starting moving in slowly. Finally l could just see them through the grass at the top of the ridge, couple more steps and l would be able to get a shot. 163 yards. The buck spotted me just over the ridge. The shooting sticks are black and so is the rifle stock, so l slowly turned it just a little to the left than right. He lowered his head and shook it at me, l believe he thought it was another buck just over the ridge. Here he came running right at me. Back goes the hammer, he stopped at 84 yards and the muzzleloader dropped him right there. Facing straight on shot.
Very happy to be able to get out, and get a buck of this caliber.
The Antelope season opened on the 21st with a few hunters around on public ground moving the Antelope around a lot. I opted to wait for things to settle down after the weekend hunters went home. Yesterday I was able to locate 5 different bucks, and the one l had been watching for a couple weeks. Keeping a eye on him and his does until they bed down. Lucky for me it was in a spot where l could move in and just slowly come over a ridge and he should be in range. The wind was perfect. Not being healed up enough to be able to get down and crawl in. I adjusted my shooting sticks to shoot standing up and starting moving in slowly. Finally l could just see them through the grass at the top of the ridge, couple more steps and l would be able to get a shot. 163 yards. The buck spotted me just over the ridge. The shooting sticks are black and so is the rifle stock, so l slowly turned it just a little to the left than right. He lowered his head and shook it at me, l believe he thought it was another buck just over the ridge. Here he came running right at me. Back goes the hammer, he stopped at 84 yards and the muzzleloader dropped him right there. Facing straight on shot.
Very happy to be able to get out, and get a buck of this caliber.
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