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?

Nice goat Rick.....

Thanks Bob!

2750

Congrats on the buck..I'm off to do the same in Wyoming soon.

Cant wait to try out the new Scenar-L in my 7mm wby, just finished up my load work today, 180's were so easy to please that I didnt have to do much, scootin them along at 3k,they are sinister!

Yeah....we can argue till the cows come home about the effectiveness of small calibers. But there still isn't much better than a heavy bullet at magnum velocities from a 300 magnum for putting the whomp on critters at distance. That he went right down is no surprise.

That sort of "blood trail" is pretty common with them, too,even on elk, from what I've seen. The combination just tears things up...

yUP i AM OFF ON THE 20TH OF sEP FOR MINE.

I'd agree. Been thinking about it too. Had lots of rifles to choose from in the safe; a really accurate .243 WSSM with the 105, a couple of .264" caliber choices, and the .300.

My confidence level was high on that shot angle with the .300. The Creedmoor or .264 WM would have had no problem either. I think I would have waited for a broadside shot with the WSSM.

The .300 with the 230 OTM I'd feel confident in at a mile.

A friend shot a doe antelope in Wyoming with a wildcatted 6.5 at 1503 yards this year.

I have had similar happen to me, consistently. So much so, that the long range opportunities have just not really presented themselves and I'm not gonna pass on an animal I would like to have just so I can shoot it at a farther distance.



I've often been amazed at how the guys on Long Range Pursuit and Best of the West etc get first round hits in the vitals at 800+ yards. I have often wondered if they are really doing it with the first round or if the 1st round is often a spotter round that gets edited out. Your experience with this 'lope adds a little clarity to that. Thanks for being honest about your miss.

I practice at long range a bunch so I can be prepared should such a shot be the only thing that presents itself, but the wind, as you have pointed out, is a real bugger and except in very limited circumstances, I would not be confident in putting the 1st shot in an 8" kill zone on the first shot, at much beyond 500 yards. My targets are mostly 8" round plates, and one 12". The distance I am consistently putting the first round of the day in one of those plates is the distance I put my self imposed distance limit at. Being sure of that 1st shot is extremely important to me. A miss is fine, but I hate wounding something I have any respect for and I HATE wondering if I missed or wounded. I guess I'm more if a medium range hunter�

Beautiful Pronghorn and sounds like it was a heck of a fun hunt.

John

Thanks for posting, looks like a good hunt.

Pieter

The shot I missed I wanted to err on the side of missing completely rather than hitting the animal where I didn't want to.

He was facing to the left perfectly broadside. His nose was to the wind. I didn't want to hold too little wind and hit him in the guts or ass, so I held a tad more left knowing that anything in the shoulder or behind would be DRT. It was a clean miss having held too much wind.

The answer is that I watched the shot through the scope. I watched the animal's reaction and have a tad of experience shooting. No Bag Sound.

The animals actually stayed there a bit and continued grazing, slowly moving over the hill. As I said, I kept on them trying to get a shot at the buck I saw from the truck. He was worth pursuing. Every time I got in range, the grass was a problem for prone, they would spot me and move or he would be in a group of goats obscured from a shot. He was fine.

Thanks for the response.

David

That is a great idea in practice! I appreciate you describing this distinction, as I've had similar thoughts but never applied them in that way. Planning like that is a great way to minimize risk of poor shot placement.

My bro took a shot at an elk at 440 where he over-corrected for wind. The cow stepped at the shot, and right into the bullet.

Thanks for sharing the hunt with us Rick! Great pics!

Great job! Rick

Thanks Chris. It was a blast!

thats a nice lope, and good shooting!

Not sure what you're asking. How big was he, how many did we see, how many got killed?

Did it seem the drought has taken a toll on them?

I know around Santa Rosa and the South Central part of the state, numbers are way down.

Nice goat!

I'm not squeamish, but could do without the bloody pics myself.

Mike

I hear ya. I feel the same way, but in this case I had never seen anything like it. I thought it was noteworthy and also hope it bled out so well that the meat will be incredible.

It's been raining so much up there you wouldn't believe it. Truck was muddy as hell. Water everywhere and everything was green as it could be.

I've never seen so many antelope.

Rediculous

I've never seen anything like that before, awesome pix and good job.

Spare me the drama ..dead stuff bleeds.

No drama!

Just aware of the day and age we live in how easily a well intentioned pic could be lifted off of a public site and used against us!

Mike

Nice goat, nice shot.

I think this picture is different.

I have the same feelings you have about gruesome photos guys post that are unnecessary, such as brain shot close-ups, guts, etc...

Like I say, this is different. It is "how it fell". It fell on a slight decline, head downhill. It pumped out blood quickly. Very much like a slaughter house would to insure quality meat.

A tasteful picture of the packaged meat in butcher paper and the finished mount is probably the way to go.

David

So you're one of "those" people?





I know it's tough to come to grips about how meat gets to the table for some.

David

Nice shot; a little blood there! Is that the halal bullet ?

Had to Google it...

halal is the Muzzy term, I prefer the Israeli term "Kosher" Bullet...LOL

Interesting read on how livestock is slaughtered. I found it most interesting about WHY the animal should be bled thoroughly...



My antelope will be good

Shoulda used a TTSX for better penetration.

They over penetrate.

Oh ya, GFY.

Thank you. That's the nicest thing I've heard all day.

Rick: I think there is a "logic" to all this with the 300 magnums.A 230 gr bullet at 2750 fps bears more of a resemblance to a 338-250 gr than it does to anything smaller. Point being I have always thought that a 300 magnum with heavier bullets deserves to be classed with the medium bores,rather than compared to anything smaller.

We all seem to gravitate to the smaller 7mm's and 6.5's as LR cartridges and they work no doubt. But they don't have the bullet weight and mass of the 30's with heavy bullets(heavy 7mm bulles nudge into the "middle" range of 30 caliber bullets,a reason they work well).Sometimes it can be tough to distinguish between cartridges and calibers in terms of killing animals but in terms of the degree of trauma inflicted I have always thought the big 30's occupy a niche above smaller stuff due to the heavier bullets coupled with the high velocity.

Just one example but I shot a large whitetail buck up in Saskatchewan at about 350 yards with a 180 gr at 3100 fps from a 300 Win Mag.This had been my elk load earlier that year..In the manner of northern rutting whitetails he was just suddenly "there" at the field edge. He was hit squarely behind the shoulder,and broke into a run.

I got down to where he was standing and there was an excessive amount of blood on the off side, just blown out and leaked from the impact and exit.The "trail" was very short but the amount of blood reminded me that it looked nothing like what I was used to seeing from a 270 or 280.Just a train wreck,much like your antelope....exit was the size of an egg and the blood was blown out the exit all along the trail.

Shoot enough animals with a 300 magnum and I think the differences will eventually start to show up in terms of the amount of trauma inflicted vs smaller calibers...just generally more trauma. There are solid reasons that a magnum 30 can be used effectively against about anything in the world. They are potent cartridges,despite recoil drawbacks for some.

Yep! Congratulations!

Eric

Thanks for the compliments on the animal and all guys. Appreciate it.

Bob,
The rifle I used was a competition rile I've been using alternately this year. It's not light

I had it put together and chose the 230 Berger to be as close ballistically to the 338 Lapua as is possible without actually being a 338 Lapua. I figured if I built a Lapua, it would seldom be used. It's been a great rifle and the load has performed well.

When I glassed up the first goat I decided to go after there were two rifles on my passenger seat; my .264 WM and this match rifle. The former is about 11 pounds and the latter 15. The ground was not much of a challenge to walk, but I knew I would be putting in at least 3 miles.

I reached for the one that has been shooting a little better

Last time out confirming data and practicing before the Steel Safari, we shot some ELR stuff with friends. It continually pounded a 30" rock at 1571 yards.

Good job and nice goat. I am shooting the 230 hybrid out of a 300 RUM. The combo is a killer. Came to it in the same way as your lapua idea. Got tired of running out of 300 grain Bergers with no ,more in stock anywhere . The rum is a bit cheaper to shoot and ballistics are on "par" with the edge. Pretty sure critters cant tell the difference. I keep gravitating back to 30 cal. eventually for everything because it just works.

Nice shot man and great lope! Rifle Specs? Length, twist ect.

The rifle I used isn't a dedicated hunting rifle; it's more of a competition set-up.

Score High Gunsmithing Paladin in .300 Winchester Magnum
Mod 700 action, blueprinted
10 twist Bartlien SS 26" barrel
Score High Tactical Brake
Trigger Job
McMillan A-5
PTG bottom metal
AI magazines
Leupold Mark 4 M5 A2 6.5-20 FF TMR

That is a really nice looking antelope you got there!

Thanks, that build sure did the job!

Thanks GW!

It sure does 357! A real confidence builder...

Here ya go David!





These may be the most tasteful pics of them all...

Looks Excellent!

David

You need to cook it.

Little burger action for lunch.

I like it rare to medium rare. Not medium ruined...

I've often heard that antelope doesn't eat very well. While my sample size is small, my family and I really enjoyed the two my son and I brought home a few years ago, much preferring it to venison.

John

Me too. It's all in how the meat is cared for in the field.

If you get it on ice as quickly as possible (most antelope hunts are borderline hot weather hunts for us), it's by far my favorite big game.

It was unseasonably cold during our pronghorn hunt. Got down to 5 degrees before we left. I've often suspected that having the antelope cool so quickly was what made ours so good.

John

At least a little brown is good.

Only on the outside. Most people cook wild game too done that is why it is dry and distasteful to some.medium rare at the most!

Rick that looks delicious but chocolate sauce ?

I'm more than a little envious of hunters who are also accomplished chef's...hardly seems fair they can cook the game so well!

A friend and hunter owns one of the better gourmet Italian restaurants in Boston. What he does with game meat is fabulous.

Rick the venison looks great.

It really is. Thanks Bob


Hey eh,

It's a Balsamic Vinegar reduction.

Rick, I knew better but had to razz ya a bit. Looks wonderful!

Mmm Mmm good for sure. One of the biggest bodied 'lope I have killed.

Fed 7 or 8 friends some burgers and the skirt steak pictured. Rave reviews even from venison newbies

Yep, nothing like good goatalope on the grill. My wife and I each have two tags this year, and are looking forward to filling a considerable part of the freezer with e'm. Luckily, the Montana rifle season starts the second week of October, one of the latest in the country, so it's far easier to cool the meat. Last fall, in fact, my wife got hers on a 24-degree morning!

One thing I've noticed about pronghorn is that unlike some other big game animals, they all taste fine, even big bucks taken during the peak of the rut.

Rick, that's a nice lope. Congrats!

Thanks!

Cut some little medallions from the bottom round. Grilled them medium rare, finished them with a little veal demi-glace with porcini mushrooms and devoured them with some roasted garlic mashed potatoes

Amen to that.

A few years ago, out in the NM sun, we saw a speed goat hanging from a front end loader. They kept it hanging like that for several hours, didn't pull the hide off.

When we hunt pronghorns, we take ice chest full of ice. We gut, skin, cut up and put the meat on ice within minutes. On this last hunt. our guide, who is also a butcher, deboned the goats on the tailgait of the truck. Handled this way, the meat is great, better than WT, IMO.

DF

My last antelope was skinned quartered an on ice very quickly and still tasted like ass. I think the rut can overload their system or something.

Well, I haven't yet tried the Aug '14 goat, but the other three I've killed were great. The big one I missed had 40 does. The one I killed was by himself, bedded down. He did stand and take a few steps before he died. So, maybe his hormones were on the wane...

DF

I wouldn't attribute the ass flavor to the rut. This buck was in the rut too.

Fun hunt watching the rutting activity of the bucks chasing does.

IMHO antelope makes the best jerky. In fact I turned two back loins and a front shoulder into jerky this past weekend.

I've heard stuff about the meat, but to me it's good.

Guess us Cajuns don't cull much...

DF

Oh don't get me wrong, I love to eat grilled antelope too. And Rick's pictures look delicious. It just makes the best jerky of all maybe due to the lean meat?

I also have access to 3 antelope or more per year depending on the tag availability and year.

I have used antelope loin to make Baltimore Pit sandwiches which are delicious. IMHO

DF - indeed I'd eat the Med Rare as above or jerky!
Too bad we don't have goats around here.

Nice pics - good thread, geez its not even dinner time...

Grilled antelope loin tonight. More pics to come....

I still have 2 loins vac sealed in the freezer from last year and my season opens Oct 1.

Try cooking it this time.

Heresy!