We've lived in Montana since 1997, and I'm not sure why, but we didn't start hunting antelope until 2006. I have no idea why we didn't start sooner because it has become one of our most enjoyable hunts of all. It's great to take out your younger hunters and be able to teach them a variety of hunting ethics, a great many of which come into play while hunting antelope. As examples: Not shooting at sky lined animals, not taking bad shots at fast moving animals, not shooting because of cattle in the background, not taking longer shots than the individual is capable of and being aware of property lines and not shooting because it is off your legal hunting area. It all happens hunting antelope and it's a great way to make your kids not only aware of the ethics, but gives good cause to explain the reasons for those ethics.
I think one of the most enjoyable aspects of antelope hunting is that it is overwhelmingly "spot" and "stalk." If you ever did any "jump shooting" for waterfowl as a kid, then you'll understand what I mean. When we are young and just learning how to use a shotgun it can be difficult to understand the different ballistics involved with shooting shotguns and getting that "just right" lead, knocking a few birds down and having it "click." From there on out, it's a lot easier, successful and fun. But, as kids, when we crawl on our hands and knees, or belly crawl for a half mile through cold water or mud or stubble fields, you do it knowing that if you can just get within that 30-40 yard range you'll have your best chance of finally knocking down a bird or two because shooting ducks rising from a pond is, well, like "shooting ducks on a pond." Antelope hunting gives a similar feeling.
If you are in reasonable physical condition or just have "a lot of heart" sneaking up on your hands and knees or crawling on your stomach for a half mile through stubble fields, or snow or mud, gives you that same feeling as jump shooting ducks when you were a kid. The photo at top shows Ted, Randy and I after a successful antelope near Two Dot, MT. The most difficult part of this hunt was trying to locate bucks on state sections (one mile tracts of land owned by the state, but found mixed amongst private ranch holdings). You can only access these state lands from public roads, meaning if the state land is separated by even one foot of private land, you can't gain access. We located a small bunch of antelope on one of these sections and Ted and I hiked as close as we could before doing the low crawl for approximately 400 yards to bring them into a more manageable shooting distance. It was hot, we had sparse grass about a foot high to hide our approach. We tried to use whatever small sage brush we could find to crawl behind but there wasn't much to be found. When we got to 400, Ted wanted to get a bit closer and we crawled to about 350. They never did catch onto us and Ted was able to take his buck when it turned broadside and I shot mine while it was bedded. We did the shots at the
same time with the old "1, 2, shoot on 3," and we dropped both of them. It was Ted's first antelope and like sneaking up on "ducks on a pond," he had a blast.
On another hunt, Steve and I low crawled almost a half mile in a bare wheat stubble field that was flat as a board. Luckily there were several big round bales of hay about 800 yards out that we were able to crawl behind, but we expected to be busted the entire way by about 20 pairs of eyes. It was so flat that because we had left our backpacks and neither of us had bi pods, Steve ended up taking one boot off and used it as a rest. It worked just fine and Steve shot his buck at approximately 450 yards. Something that helped our stalk was that the sun was going down behind us and while I don't know it as fact, I've read that low light in the early morning and evening (dawn and dusk) is the most difficult time for antelope to utilize their excellent eyesight. We paid the price though, as our hands and wrists were torn up by that stubble.
Jake took his first buck (photo below) on a hunt near Wibaux, MT. We first spotted the buck over a mile away, bedded down by himself in the middle of wide open prairie grass fields. All we could see were his black horns and tips of his ears. Jake and I looked it over for a while, found a bit of contour here and there that we could use for cover to close the gap and took off. We lost sight of him for about 40 minutes and as we low crawled over a small mound to get out bearings, he was no where to be found. We backtracked some, then cut down a small gully to get further east. There isn't much to use for landmarks in those wide open grasslands and of course, everything looks a bit different than what we looked at from a mile away. We squatted down, worked our way over a rolling hill and then started crawling on our hands and knees as we kept looking for that "speed goat." As we came over the rise of the small hill, we started the belly crawling because we knew if he was close and he spotted us first he'd be off before Jake could get a shot. We finally spotted his horns and all we could make out of him was horns, ears and eyeballs. We couldn't crawl any closer because it would have put us on the downhill slope and made us completely visible to him. We waited for about five minutes, hoping it would get up and offer a shot, but no luck. We got Jake a good rest on the backpacks and I told him I'd hold my hat up in the air, wave it a bit and that should get his attention. I told Jake he might just stand up and hold or, he might just come out of his bed with all legs churning. I told him, as soon as he starts to stand, be ready to fire fast. Well, to make a long story short, that didn't work. The buck's eyes turned towards us, but he didn't stand. I then gave Jake the same directions as I first came to my knees,..nothing, came to a full standing position,....nothing. The buck just stayed put while it looked right at me. I told Jake that I was going to start walking diagonally away from Jake, but a little towards the buck. I took about 10 steps, the buck jumped to it's feet and Jake made a good shot that anchored him right back into his bed.
Antelope hunting IS a blast. Some tips that might help if you're on your first time hunt. Go ahead and take some knee pads and elbow pads, you might look a little bit of the wimp, but you'll make those half mile crawl stalks a hell of a lot more enjoyable. We had spotted Randy's buck almost a mile away and while Randy made a stalk behind some contour from the side, we walked around the same area the entire time. While Randy made his stalk, the two bucks stood right where they were and watched us the entire time. Decoys work well. The ones you buy are pretty small and while I haven't done it yet, I plan to make one out of a bigger piece of cardboard, paint an antelope buck on it, either from broadside or straight on facing and I believe we'll be able to easily walk to shooting distance.
I'm a bit late, but hope you all had a great 4th.
Hunt hard
Ron
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