Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 840 yard Prairie Goat

Bought a tag on a FANTASTIC ranch in northern New Mexico just east of De Moines; the Triangle Cattle Ranch. 35,000 acres of long range heaven.

Many opportunities including right out of the truck 15 minutes into the hunt the first evening. Probably the biggest one I saw, but I just couldn't do it. Never saw a bigger 'lope until today. Fog set in in the morning and made things difficult. It would break now and then and allow me to glass.

Saw a really nice buck at at least 1 1/2 miles and immediately got out of the truck and geared up for a stalk. Really tough flat ground here with little terrain to use as cover. Straight up a mountain. Prone shots were tough to find with the grass so high a bipod was marginal. Ranging animals was tough. The Geovids had a tough time getting readings with the flat terrain. Broke out the Vectronix Terrapin and was glad to have it.

Stalked as close as possible. It was 822 yards according to the range finder. Found a spot to go prone, dialed and held wind. Saw big time mirage even though the wind felt light. Figured full value and held a tad less which was 3/4 mil.

Missed

I'm sure I held too much and had a complete miss. Thought I may have misranged them but The goats really weren't spooked but slowly moved over the hill. Pursued them and bumped them 3 more times even though I got within 400 yards. Couldn't get a rest worth [bleep] and they'd move off. I gave up after I pushed them out of the country.

Decided to work back toward the truck and saw a little guy come over the mountain. Cut him off and watched him from the top of a ridge at 200 yards for some time. Glassed everything beneath me and around.

Target-rich environment

Decided to try moving in on a bedded buck about a mile away. Walked to a fence line by a windmill and dirt tank. Figured I could at least set up prone on the dirt tank up out of the weeds for a shot. Got there and did so.

Glassed him. He was about the size we'd been seeing.

Ranged him at 840. He was facing me and not broadside. Got a really nice rest. Ignored the slight wind, which you can do if you shoot the 230 Berger OTM out of your Win Mag.

He folded




See the windmill? Shot him from there....





Great hunt with more pictures to come.

Well done! Nice goat, too! Trophies don't have to be outlandishly huge, and that is a beautiful animal. It's sure cool when everything comes together.

Good write-up, sounds like a fun hunt. Lots of guys would've left out the part about the miss at first, good on you for leaving it in.

Really nice animal too, congrats. Did you have any problem getting on the blood trail?

Ha Ha, well done RCA.

Beautiful antelope, and nice shooting rca.....very nice and congrats!

Neat read... Congrats.

More pics of the goat?

I like the pic. of the guys and goats in the same frame!!! Thats the fun of goats, in better areas, plenty of chances......

Yes. These are iphone pics. Took some nice ones with a camera



It is a really cool pic! It was yesterday's evening hunt. I had already got my goat parted out and in the cooler, so I went out with my friend who was guiding two gentlemen from Michigan. I was the extra pair of eyes.

Took that pic through my spotter with the iPhone as they were heading back to the truck from a stalk. LOTS of animals on the property! It was really fun.

I think you needed more gun.

Nice job Rick, thanks for sharing.

looks like that cannon delivers the mail. nice work!

Congratulations.

Great shot! Where did it exit and how big was the hole?

Thanks Smoke






It's been a long time since I've hunted antelope. Forgot how fun it is!

Seemed like it was just right...LOL

It's a "trust your data" story.

Sighted in on Friday before I left and shot to 760 where my groups were a couple of tenths low with the data I was using. I figured I'd just go with the printed data on the scope anyway and just add a couple of clicks if I was shooting at anything this range.

This is where the "watch" comes in handy. Pressure was a little lower at the location and it made the printed data on the scope perfect. I still dialed in 2/10's more when I took the shot.

The antelope was directly facing me at 840. You can imagine how it looked with just a frontal chest shot offered. I held about .25 mil of wind right and when the trigger broke, the thing went down on the spot.

Another funny thing is that it was a long walk to get to him after gathering gear. Halfway there vultures already had him spotted and were about to land! Had to scare them off.

Anyway, the bullet hit him in the throat of the neck and exited the rear. It was a little high due to dialing the extra clicks and the fact that the pressure was lower.

Trust your data!





I passed on this goat below the first day about 30 minutes into the hunt. Could have shot him out of the truck window like a prairie dog off of the mirror at 250 yards. I couldn't do it. It would have been anticlimactic. This gentleman that my friend was guiding connected with him at 600 Saturday evening...





It was a beautiful evening and the ranch was awesome!

Nice..Congrats again.

What were overall numbers like?

How do you know it was a complete miss? Not a gut shot or a pass thru in a less vital area?

David

Congrats that's a pretty goat!

He said he followed the group and bumped them 3 more times. I would think that if the buck was hit he would have showed some kind of reaction at some point. Antelope aren't known to be tough critters.

He also said he could never get within 400yards and they wouldn't give him a shot. Lots of critters that aren't known to be "tough critters" can get by with minor to moderate wounds under those conditions w/o showing a sign.

I wasn't calling RC out - he's never been shy and I figure he's got an answer that'll make sense. I wasn't there, I don't have a lot of long range experience and I was hoping he would share.

David

Good job Rick What was muzzle velocity?