Oregon�s Speed-Goat �Statue� (long) - 09/07/07
After 13 years of applying for an Antelope tag in Oregon ... I finally draw. The 2007 season is 9 days in mid-August and I immediately start watching antelope judging-videos and talking to people who have recently hunted speed-goats in nearby units. I have never hunted (or even been in) this particular unit before .. but my cousin Chris said it was good for a decent Lope and it�s almost 90 percent public (BLM) lands.
Scouting was said to be the key, so I contacted a friend who has recently retired from hi-tech and now lives on a ranch outside of Burns. He offers to take me on a scouting trip and show me some of the country. The Thursday before the Saturday season-opener, we cruise 30 miles of the sage-brush flats in his King Ranch Diesel pick-em-up truck and before the days out, we manage to: ... spot 23 Lopes (one possible shooter, who we nickname �Tall-boy� ... that I actually get on video-tape, in his dry lake-bed home), put more scratches on his rig in one day than it probably acquired over the last year ... and nearly get stuck (and lost). Luckily he had a Garmin 60CSX (with downloaded detail terrain maps) and once we figured out where we actually were ... we wisely elected to back-out and turnaround before we really got down into a rabbit-hole.
The next day (Friday) ... a buddy (Bob) drives down from La Grande and the two of us head off toward the Hart Mtn Antelope refuge (closed to my hunt) ... just to see what that side of the unit looks like and see if there are any monster bucks that may have jumped the boundary fence and are lounging about by a pool .... out in the open, on the BLM lands.
We cover almost 55 miles, at what seems like 2 miles an hour ... seeing no cattle, no water and only two Lopes (both were bucks, bedded in tall sage on the refuge). In 8 hours, we see only two other rigs and it�s getting so late that I vote we set-up a temporary camp and just �pass� on opening morning. I was mentally prepared to hunt the entire season and this was going to be a light-camping adventure anyway ... with frequent moves, if we were not seeing any Goats. So, up go the summer dome tents, dinner is made (cold samiches and cookies) ... and Bob breaks out a 48� telescope to view the stars. The twilight lasts forever in the desert, but when it gets dark, there is no stray light (probably not another human within a 30 mile radius) and the stargazing is great.
I think this is the place they trained astronauts to simulate walking on a moon scape ... (no wait .. that�s in Idaho) ... this is where they must drop off Air Force pilots in training, to see if they can survive for a week on �Nuttin�. It�s so flat out here, that you can measure the curvature of the earth by observing the sage-brush horizon.
I figured that there was little use in getting-up early, because this place wasn�t even on the BLM map .. let alone being on any Antelopes �map�.
So I slept in until the sun was up ... we made coffee, sat in lawn chairs and had Costco croissants - then leisurely packed-up the camping gear and began �hunting� (for a new place to hunt) about 9am.
Little-voice-in-my-head ... (If you know a place where you saw that many antelope (23) when scouting ... you should be hunting �There� ...)
So I stuff 3 cartridges into the magazine and we head off down the road ... not so much to try and drive-up on a Lope, but just to get back toward something that resembles desolation. Bob is leading ( so I don�t speed away from him) and after an hour (covering 4 miles) we finally come over a rise and spot a Speed Goat on the right side of the road. He�s visible, because he�s throwing up a wake of dust as he barrels across the sage brush at Warp-5 ....never stopping until he is about 1000 yards out. Then he pauses and turns sideways, tongue hanging out ... and gives us the razz-berries. The heat shimmer at 10am is already so bad, that I can�t judge his horns ... I just knew they had good mass, wide prongs, were very black and reasonably tall, and were also doing Warp-5 (as viewed at about 300 yards).
The next two hours heading roughly back toward the area previously scouted on Thursday, brought us into more individual and small bands of Antelope (no shooters) ... and also into parties of hunters. Many seemed to be simply running the roads at 20 miles an hour, throwing up dust clouds and hoping to hit a Lope, with their front bumper - - (DOH ! ) .
About 11:30, we came on 3 sets of stopped (empty) rigs, strung out along the road ahead for a mile. We slowly pass by them all of them. I stopped to talk with a kid, who is returning to the last vehicle. He excitedly recounts the tale of a missed Goat and I thank him and drive on. I�m trying not to laugh too hard at the circle-jerk that had apparently just transpired with 3 different hunters (from 3 different parties) taking 6+ shots ... at one poor buck ... with a net result of wounding him twice (but not recovering him).
Silver Bullet (to be continued)
Alex, I'd like Halle Berry sleep-overs for 400 please.
Scouting was said to be the key, so I contacted a friend who has recently retired from hi-tech and now lives on a ranch outside of Burns. He offers to take me on a scouting trip and show me some of the country. The Thursday before the Saturday season-opener, we cruise 30 miles of the sage-brush flats in his King Ranch Diesel pick-em-up truck and before the days out, we manage to: ... spot 23 Lopes (one possible shooter, who we nickname �Tall-boy� ... that I actually get on video-tape, in his dry lake-bed home), put more scratches on his rig in one day than it probably acquired over the last year ... and nearly get stuck (and lost). Luckily he had a Garmin 60CSX (with downloaded detail terrain maps) and once we figured out where we actually were ... we wisely elected to back-out and turnaround before we really got down into a rabbit-hole.
The next day (Friday) ... a buddy (Bob) drives down from La Grande and the two of us head off toward the Hart Mtn Antelope refuge (closed to my hunt) ... just to see what that side of the unit looks like and see if there are any monster bucks that may have jumped the boundary fence and are lounging about by a pool .... out in the open, on the BLM lands.
We cover almost 55 miles, at what seems like 2 miles an hour ... seeing no cattle, no water and only two Lopes (both were bucks, bedded in tall sage on the refuge). In 8 hours, we see only two other rigs and it�s getting so late that I vote we set-up a temporary camp and just �pass� on opening morning. I was mentally prepared to hunt the entire season and this was going to be a light-camping adventure anyway ... with frequent moves, if we were not seeing any Goats. So, up go the summer dome tents, dinner is made (cold samiches and cookies) ... and Bob breaks out a 48� telescope to view the stars. The twilight lasts forever in the desert, but when it gets dark, there is no stray light (probably not another human within a 30 mile radius) and the stargazing is great.
I think this is the place they trained astronauts to simulate walking on a moon scape ... (no wait .. that�s in Idaho) ... this is where they must drop off Air Force pilots in training, to see if they can survive for a week on �Nuttin�. It�s so flat out here, that you can measure the curvature of the earth by observing the sage-brush horizon.
I figured that there was little use in getting-up early, because this place wasn�t even on the BLM map .. let alone being on any Antelopes �map�.
So I slept in until the sun was up ... we made coffee, sat in lawn chairs and had Costco croissants - then leisurely packed-up the camping gear and began �hunting� (for a new place to hunt) about 9am.
Little-voice-in-my-head ... (If you know a place where you saw that many antelope (23) when scouting ... you should be hunting �There� ...)
So I stuff 3 cartridges into the magazine and we head off down the road ... not so much to try and drive-up on a Lope, but just to get back toward something that resembles desolation. Bob is leading ( so I don�t speed away from him) and after an hour (covering 4 miles) we finally come over a rise and spot a Speed Goat on the right side of the road. He�s visible, because he�s throwing up a wake of dust as he barrels across the sage brush at Warp-5 ....never stopping until he is about 1000 yards out. Then he pauses and turns sideways, tongue hanging out ... and gives us the razz-berries. The heat shimmer at 10am is already so bad, that I can�t judge his horns ... I just knew they had good mass, wide prongs, were very black and reasonably tall, and were also doing Warp-5 (as viewed at about 300 yards).
The next two hours heading roughly back toward the area previously scouted on Thursday, brought us into more individual and small bands of Antelope (no shooters) ... and also into parties of hunters. Many seemed to be simply running the roads at 20 miles an hour, throwing up dust clouds and hoping to hit a Lope, with their front bumper - - (DOH ! ) .
About 11:30, we came on 3 sets of stopped (empty) rigs, strung out along the road ahead for a mile. We slowly pass by them all of them. I stopped to talk with a kid, who is returning to the last vehicle. He excitedly recounts the tale of a missed Goat and I thank him and drive on. I�m trying not to laugh too hard at the circle-jerk that had apparently just transpired with 3 different hunters (from 3 different parties) taking 6+ shots ... at one poor buck ... with a net result of wounding him twice (but not recovering him).
Silver Bullet (to be continued)
Alex, I'd like Halle Berry sleep-overs for 400 please.