Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Oregon pronghorn: Cut, wrapped, and frozen. A few pics...

Troops:
Prologue: Oregon’s tag drawings happened in June. It takes about a dozen+ years for a definitive draw, so I was a happy camper to pull in a tag for this season. Cookie and I did about 4 days of scouting back in July pretty much just revisiting a hot spot we found about 20 years ago. While Oregon has a fair number of pronghorn, they don’t just randomly wander over our high desert, and one is well ahead to shake out the hot spots during less stressful preseason moments. Some of our scouting results are over in another thread.
Scouting link and pics

The Hunt:
Our 9-day season began on Aug 13, so I headed out on Aug 10 for a leisurely day of travel and getting camp in. It was about 185 mile run to camp mostly on pavement, but the last 5 miles wear on one a bit as that portion of the drive takes about an hour to complete. Don’t really need 4-wheel drive to make it, but about 15 inches of clearance between one’s frame and the ground comes in handy.

Primary and backup camp sites were both available with no signs of anyone else in the country. Our jewel location is one of those dry lake beds with a water catchment scooped out near one end. In average or better precip years it will hold water season long. Another asset is it grows a couple varieties of forbs that seem to be the equivalent of pronghorn alfalfa. A third plus is there’s a campsite within just yards of the lake and in a depression where one is completely out of site. Without divulging the specifics, here’s the general layout thanks to Google earth.


The lake bed is not highly visible from the surrounding country, is about 1 and ¼ mile long north/south, averages about ½ mile in width, and critters have access from the north and south ends as well as the west side. A 10 to 40 ft cliff pretty well closes off the east, but provides an excellent vantage point for scoping out game. Lastly it's a dead end road to that area and that tends to hold down traffic.

Thursday and Friday were devoted to assessing target availability, and I was up at 04:00 both days to reach a vantage point well before daylight. If one starts out when there’s just enough light to walk without stumbling over rocks or falling into a badger hole, he can essentially get right in with the pronghorn without spooking them. If one waits until the sun’s rays are on the landscape, however, and shows himself on the horizon or on the plain, they’ll spot one every time and clear the horizon before stopping.

If possible, I try for large boulders, a cliff face, or a juniper tree where one can sit in shade for a good portion of the day. Seems pronghorn are not all that sharp at spotting people in the shade, and one can get away with subtle movements etc without really being fully obscured.

Thursday morning, I hustled to the southeast corner of the basin, made it over the horizon, tucked into the cliff face in the dark, and when things started to become visible I was within 90 yards of bedded pronghorn. I had several groups enter and leave the basin well within range, and as time passed picked out 3 potential targets. I held tight until about 14:30 when I lost my shade. Temps were nearing 100, and my bladder and colon were about to explode, so I tried some discrete movements to rectify the situation. I’d moved no more than 3 feet when I was spotted and everything hustled to the north end of the lake. That being, I called it a day and headed back to camp. That evening a 3-rig party rounded the bend near camp, spotted my digs, and turned around and left without coming in for a visit. They moved about a mile off and set up a camp out on the open plain.

Friday morning I was not up to sitting on rocks all day, so I headed out in the dark with a lawn chair and tucked into the shady side of a juniper atop of the east rim. This time I found myself immediately above 20 head that had not noticed my approach. Like maybe 30 yds with one really fine buck in the group. I eventually made some noise handling my optics and they moved out but not in a panic mode since they’d not really seen me. This is about 20% of the view as the sun was coming up.


Nailed down the same 3 bucks from the previous day and stayed on site until mid-afternoon when heat and thirst drove me back to camp.

Saturday morning the season was on, and I elected to head to the south end of the lake and position in the cliff again. On my way I could see several 4-wheelers and rigs navigating the country but no one came into the immediate area. Again, I made it to within about 100 yds of bedded critters completely unnoticed. There was lots of in and out pronghorn traffic well within range, and I went into panic mode second guessing myself. The mental discussions went something like; “Geeeze! That’s pretty nice, but maybe I can do better.” Ten minutes later that buck would join the crowd and with some associates around for scale the realization was; “Damn! He’s really fine, and I should have nailed him." I did that about 3 times that day, and now have absolutely no faith in my judgment abilities of lone animals. The sun and heat eventually drove me back to camp around 16:00.

Sunday AM I in dropped into the NE corner of the basin and made it unnoticed into some juniper only 15 yds from the edge of the lake. There were animals within 150 yds, but nothing of substance. A tempting heavy horned buck with nearly touching inward tips passed close by and ended up exiting the south end of the basin. The other two bucks I’d been tracking were straight across the basin but out of range up in the sagebrush. Around 10:00 AM it became evident someone was above and to my left on the rim as most of the herd drifted to the west side of the basin. They eventually took a long shot, but didn't touch anything.

In the early afternoon what looked like a husband/wife team made it through the junipers to within 400 yds of water on the north end of the lake. With some heavy crosswinds blowing a group eventually came to water, and they tried about a 400 yd shot that didn't connect. Everything cleared out, the couple left, and pronghorn started drifting in from the north about 40 minutes later. Had the couple stayed put, they would have had about 15 head under the tree with them. Nothing neared my vicinity, even though I stayed put until about 17:00.

After supper I decided to stay near camp on Monday, and I ventured out near dark toward water and worked to elevate the sides of an old decayed stone blind someone had erected long ago. As it was, one could stay hidden only if he remained on his belly. I lifted the sides such that one could almost sit up but not too comfortably. Again, I made it in unnoticed on Monday morning and had several animals nearby. My intended targets though were near lake center and worked their way up to the east side cliff to shade up. Within about ½ hour though 4 individuals packing radios appeared on the north east, northwest, and east and west sides of the lake. Turns out it was an organized attempt to herd about 250 animals to 2 hunters posted on the southeast corner of the lake. It was a complete failure with everything going out through the shallow rims to the west.

Eventually that party united at the far end of the lake and they headed over the horizon. Once again, had the hunters stayed put, they would have had targets within 100 yds of their hide as portions of the herd were starting to return within ½ hour. I stayed put until noon and then headed over to camp for some lunch. After lunch I peeked out of camp and this was the view.


That afternoon I headed north out into the sagebrush with plans to sit near some heavily traveled routes and catch something returning or coming into water. I had animals going and coming within 100 to 200 yds but nothing of substance. Getting warm and running out of water, I headed back toward camp.

As I topped the horizon it turned out there were about 200 head between my campsite and the water hole. Being about ¾ of mile out, however, there was no way for me to make an unnoticed approach, so I busted the group, had some supper, and went out to work on my stone blind before bedtime.

Tuesday AM I headed to the blind with tons of water, a lowboy lawn chair, some lunch, binos, spotting scope, and the 257 Weatherby. The structure was now such that one could sit comfortably and simply peer through slots between the rocks. I had lots of pronghorn traffic but no shooters in the AM. This was what things looked like for most of the morning.


Near noon, three hunters appeared on the eastern horizon but their approach and exit were such that the basin didn’t blow out. Around 16:30 about 20+ hd came over the horizon from the NW and headed toward water. Both bucks in the group looked to be shooters, so I put away all my gear, uncased my rifle, chambered a round, and got everything propped up and ready. They literally ran in, dropped into the depression to drink and came out again almost on the run. The second of the two bucks, however, paused just long enough for me to talk myself through a good trigger squeeze. I heard the bark, a follow up whack, and saw the buck stumble a few yards off to the west. It was 17:30, all the fun was over, and the work began.

Here's a few pics showing the layout, and results. This is a Google Earth close up showing the north end of the lake and the relative positions of camp, the blind, the waterhole, and where he dropped.


As he fell, notice he was packing some nice binos..

Continued to fit in the remaining pics:

A view from the front. Measured at 14 ½ by the taxidermist. Not an old one, but he was missing his central pair of incisors:


From the kill site looking south. In the distant right center there is a lone juniper where we erected a stone blind in the shade about 20+ years ago. Over the seasons a friend, his son, and my wife, Cookie, have all taken bucks from that blind.


From the kill site looking north. For the first time in decades I was fortunate enough to take an animal that I could get my rig to. It was nice to not exercise the pack frame for a change. The campsite is at the extreme right edge of this image just out of site in a depression with the stone blind visible on the flat as well.


I worked up the buck, got everything on ice, and turned in for the night just before dark. Wednesday morning I slept in till 06:00, cooked a huge breakfast, and broke camp at a leisurely pace. Just before leaving, I climbed the bank behind my rig and shot a final image toward the water hole. Seems everything was still in order there with pronghorn passing just in front of the blind. A fine trip indeed.


Epilogue: One might notice that near all of this was drafted in the first person. About the only down aspect of the trip was that neither my wife nor any of my traditional hunting buddies were able to tag along. The value of these outings is elevated significantly if one can fortify the visions with the additional memory banks of others. I’ve done a few solo hunts in remote areas over the years, and they often turn into an experience that one simply wants to get over. If you’ve got some good hunting buddies, value them, and do all possible to sustain those friendships as time passes.

Lastly, I drove out of that country almost in tears. In a couple months I’ll hit 70, and there’s the fear that I may not live long enough to secure another tag and do it again. Especially if one has to run it alone. I hope the health holds up, and a few buddies will let me tag along when they draw a permit.

Have a good one, and good luck this fall,

Nice antelope and a great write up congrats! Are you going to get a shoulder mount done on it??

Congrats!
I rather enjoyed the read - thanks for sharing.

Congratulations on a fine hunt.

Awesome! Beautiful speedgoat and you'll have amazing table fare! Congrats!

Enjoyed the trip!! Our group didn't draw a Montana tag again this year so will have to wait another year and hope for some luck.

Great adventure and great buck...congrats!!

Yes. Going to do a shoulder mount, and we've put fresh steaks on the barbie twice so far. Excellent grub.

Glad to see this post - been checking daily in hopes you had success and I see you did. Beautiful Oregon buck and a really fine story! Congrats to you on a successful hunt and you never know maybe you will get luck again and draw another tag sooner than later!

Great story, and great pics, congrats!

Burning my Oregon 'lope points next year...

1' Hearty congrats on your hunt and success with a nice buck. A good read with accompanying photos.

Thanks guys. I was a bit slow getting this up, but had all the back end chores to attend to after being out for the week. Still have a tent to put away, some knives to sharpen, and three rifles that need a patch or two down the barrel. Took a backup and a backup backup and did an assurance firing of each before heading out.

I like to put focus on at least one really good hunt each year, and that was my roll for 2016. Geared up for some local deer/elk archery, but that will be at my convenience. Also have some fall steelheading on the Deschutes scheduled.

In 2017 it will probably be a Wyoming elk with my usual party of buddies. For 2018 there will be a burning of my Oregon elk preference points in the Wenaha unit. I had the points to do it now, but did not want to pile too much into one year. I'll probably have to hire an outfitter/packer for that one, as I don't have what it takes to haul one out of that country.

Those will put me back into the bottom of the points barrel, but Cookie should be coming into enough accumulations that she can start pulling some tags.

Now if I could just pull that sheep tag, I'll throw all that other stuff out the window.

Be safe out there,

Excellent write up, thanks for taing us along on the hunt through your writing!!1

Beauty,love when a plan works out.
Been a long time since I have had Pronghorn steak,remeber it being tasty.
congrats

Congratulations, great photos and writeup! Gives me hope I'll actually draw a speed goat tag in Oregon someday.

Well done and great story

Great stuff - congrats and thanks for sharing. Enjoy the good eats!

Always love your stories and pics 1minute. No disappointment here. Congrats.

Congrats on the Antelope,and great story. I'm sitting on 18 NR points, so my times coming soon.

Great story and Pics! love to do pronghorn one day!