DIY Montana Antelope Hunt

[mrklean]

My buddy Luke and I had been looking to do a west hunt for a few years now, we applied in Montana 4 years ago for antelpe didnt get drawn but thought we would try again, even though the numbers are way down and the permits were tight we still got drawn. We left Friday night about 6 and drove straight though the night, we stopped at a rest stop about half hour from our hunting spot to sleep for an hour. We made our first huge mistake 45 minutes into our hunt probably a bit sleep deprived we jumped out of the truck to glass from a hill just 60 yards off the road we didnt bring a gun, we got to the top and looked down 40 yards a beautiful buck was looking right up at us, ran about 50 yards stood broadside for awhile before he ran off into the hills. We drove around and glassed for another couple hours before we found a herd of about 20 curising a fence line a mile out. We put a plan together to try and cut them off a ways up, we finally got into position when we glassed for them and all we saw was 2 orange figures and our goats running over the hillside. We did get lucky and 3 of them came back so we put another plan together to go after them.

We crawled down to a ravine where we started to close the distance, we found the mule deer loved to hangout in the ravines found this nice mule deer with a big group of does

We had closed the distance to about 400 yards when we started to belly crawl the finally 200 yards but just as we were getting close the wind switched and off and over the hill they went. This gives a pretty good idea of the terrain we were in.

We drove and glassed more around the BLM before we decided to take a longer drive and look at some other public land hopefully further away from the traffic. We didnt have to look to long before we found a single buck bedded about 150 yards off the road. He was in a low section so we were able to park the truck behind the hill and crawl up so Luke had a nice 70 yard shot, dropped right there, one down. We skinned and quartered the antelope up and got back to driving.

We drove around to another BLM area this one was a bit rougher of a drive and much more rolling then flat. We spotted one large group but they were very nervious and never wanted to stop for very long. This will give you an idea on the terrian we were in now.

The rest of the day was pretty slow after the one group we never saw another animal so we head back to town, not sleeping was really kicking our butts now.

Our game plan the next day was similar get to the high hills and glass, we found a group of about a dozen right away but they were 2-3 miles outs moving away, we knew the weather moving in was going to be ugly so we wanted to go after every opportunity we had, we put the miles on our feet but lost them as they went up into the hills. As we were walking back to the truck an elk hunter stopped to talk with us he said he spotted a herd of 100+ back on a hill where we saw them the day before, we head that way but didnt see a single animal. We got off the main roads and tried some trails that led to a large BLM secion. On the back side of a reservoir we found a single buck, we had the wind and good cover, i had a 250 yard shot but thought i could get closer but as we got behind the hill he disappeared. We didnt see anything else the rest of the day.

We woke up the next day to 20-30 mph winds and rain we didnt have the highest hopes for the day we looked at the areas we saw goats the days before with no luck so we went to some new areas, we stopped to talk to a rancher to see if he has been seeing anything on his ranch, he said he didnt think he had more then 2 and cursed the Montana Fish and Game with how poorly they managed the herds. We didnt make it more then a mile from his place before we saw a nice buck in a small valley so i went after him as i closed in to about 75 yards i could finally see the top of the bucks head as i got ready to bring my rifle up and take the finally few steps i saw 6 more heads pop up and they took off like a bolt of lightning, we never saw his group of does with him. I was pretty bummed at this point knowing the wind and rain were getting worse. We head down the road a couple miles and much to both our surprise we found another buck grouped up with some does. We were able to park behind a hill and make a good stalk within 175 yards. We quartered him and and hit the road for home.

As we entered Western North Dakota the rain turned to white stuff, lucky it didnt last to long but it did rain hard across the entire state all the way home which made the drive home even longer.

I did the measuring myself to try and get a rough score on him and it look to be just under 65. Not bad for a couple of rookies we were able to tag out on speed goats on our first go around we were pretty pumped.

[maros91]

Awesome story. Congrats on the hunt. Solid goats!

[MJ1657]

Great story mrklean.

How long were you there total and what would you do different next time?

[Wanderer]

Not bad for a couple of rookies

Yah!

Nice to have a hunt come together so well on the first go 'round!

[sticknstring]

Nicely done - great lookin' prongs!

[paceman]

Congratulations! Great story and pictures!

[DonBo]

Both great bucks for DIY public land. Congrats! Love that country and the critters that roam there.

[Living_The_Dream]

Great story and pictures. It is nice to see that an average guy can still go out west and be successful without paying big $$$ to an outfitter.

[mrklean]

Great story mrklean.

How long were you there total and what would you do different next time?

We got out at sun up Saturday and were hitting the road Monday at 2 so only 2.5 days. I think the only thing i would do different would be doing more scouting ahead of time Sunday we wasted almost half a day driving though a BLM area that was pretty much worthless.

[Archerysniper]

Awesome job and good eating too.

[Scoot]

Congrats mrklean! Glad you guys had a fun trip and enjoyed your time out there!

[slimngrizzly]

Nice job mrklean! I love to take a speed goat one time! Way to DIY, great job!

[mrklean]

Finally got my skull mount back was very happy with the work

[sticknstring]

Turned out great!