Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 2020 MT Antelope Opener

Most of my local friends look at me funny when I tell them we drew antelope tags for eastern Montana again. The thought of driving past hundreds of antelope, some of which I see on an almost daily basis, to go shoot different antelope 297 miles away is a concept that is hard to for them to get their head around. I don’t even bother trying to explain it. You either get it or you don’t.

Once antelope hunting gets in your blood it seems to settle in pretty hard and not only are the draw odds better out east but there is something about going on a trip that is more memorable then tipping over an animal in your back yard. At least to me. For us, it has become even more memorable when our neighbors and good friends moved back to the family ranch. We now head back annually to reconnect with them and spend a couple days on their ranch filling tags and enjoying the time together. It has truly become a family affair with many stalks made under the watchful eyes of kids as young as two.

I confess that somewhere between Grassrange and Jordan I usually start questioning just how much fun this is really going to be. However, the miles are distant memories as soon as we hit our hunting area on Friday and start scouting out familiar grain fields and rough pastures.

When I hunt new places there is a certain anxiety that comes hand in hand with the excitement as trail conditions, access, game populations/dispersions, etc. are all unknown variables that add to the fabric of the hunt. Although I have no plans to stop planning new adventures in unfamiliar places, the growing familiarity of this annual event eliminates that anxiety and makes this one of the most enjoyable and laid back trips of the year. We have been doing this long enough that when we talk to our rancher friend references like “the sanfoin”, “Our Bins”, “Jerry’s place”, “Grandmas’s Place”or the “Jon Tester field” mean something and we each know exactly what the other is referring to.

Last week we arrived as usual on Friday and made a quick trip through the parts of the ranch accessible from public roads. We found a few antelope but the herds seemed to be smaller and more scattered then usual. I was good with that. Small, scattered groups give more options and less eyes to deal with. One of the keys to efficient antelope hunting is knowing which groups simply aren’t worth messing with. We had enough spotted to give us a place to start the next morning.

Saturday morning we were making our way to the ranch just at daybreak. Right on the edge of the ranch boundary was a decent buck all by his lonesome working his way straight toward the property line. We drove into the ranch out of sight and tried to get to a place we could hide the truck and make the stalk on foot. I misread the terrain and when I stood on the running boards of the truck to try to spot him he already had us pegged. He wasn’t spooked but wasn’t coming closer either.

My wife and I hopped out and snuck around out of sight, leaving the truck in view for the antelope to focus on. When we popped over a small rise we were 250 yards away but he was still about 10 steps from the fence, locked in place. He eventually tired of the stand off, turned around and headed back the way he came. If I had parked a couple hundred yards back we probably would already have had him in the truck.

We ventured on and got to another spot on the ranch we usually see antelope. We were pulling up to a bin site we typically glass from. Right as I crested the rise, I saw the familiar orange and white pattern and quickly backed down the hill. With seven tags between my family and our friends I was not intending to be picky for myself. My standard MO is to get someone else in position, let them shoot and then take whatever presents itself. That is pretty much exactly how it has worked the past several years, it is also why I have never killed a decent antelope. My son loves to hunt coyotes so he was good with tagging out as quickly as possible so we could go calling

My son was up in the rotation so him and I snuck up to the bin site and worked around a small shed. There was a decent little buck away from the main group about 130 yards from the shed, a chip shot for him with his M77 .25-06. I worked to the other side of the shed where I could see the rest of the group at about 200 yards.

At his shot I saw his fold up so I turned my attention to the group. They ran to about 275 yards and milled. A small bucked cleared the herd and I figured if he was willing to volunteer as tribute I would accommodate. He was very slightly quartering to. The 150 grain Hornady Spire point from my .30 Gibbs entered just left of center and he made a mad dash over a small rise and out of site. He was piled in a heap within 40 yards of the impact site, the Hornady clipping his heart, part of the lungs, and exiting the rear flank.

My sons buck had also been quartering, but more sharply. His 120 speer BTSP entered just behind the onside shoulder and exited the rear flank.



After a couple pictures we drove to a high spot to get them in a cooler (it was forecast to be 80 degrees and only getting into the 50s at night) and do some glassing. I found a small group of antelope out in some cattle in a tough spot to get on them. My wife and daughter kept an eye on them while my boys and I worked on the processing.

My son and I had rigged up a receiver mounted skinning pole with some scraps and parts from previous projects. It is a little redneck but worked well and we soon had both antelope skinned and the quarters and backstraps on ice.





While working on that the antelope had drifted out of sight so we drove a few miles around to see if we could get a better look at them. They weren’t where we were expected so we drove into the field. As was the theme all morning, I drove a hair too far and spotted them about ½ mile south of us. We quickly backed up and drove around to hide the pickup and start the stalk on foot. When we worked to where they should have been they were gone so we got back in the truck to start over.

We kept heading south in the field and quickly spooked them as they had simply drifted a couple hundred yards over a small rise. It was futile to try to get closer so rather then risk running them we let them trot off and anticipated where they were heading. As luck would have it they were on a collision course for the spot we had just butchered there cousins at. We turned the truck around and the kids learned that if you point your tires with the seed rows you can get a ¾ ton pickup close to 50 miles an hour without too rough of a ride.

We made it to the field we expected to ambush them in but about two minutes late. They were just cresting the rise as we were about to park the pickup. They made a sweeping arc around us and stopped. We were already out of the truck and I got my wife set up on her bipod. The 6mm-06 was set up for long range shooting and the antelope gave me time to get a good range and dial her scope. We confirmed the range several times and I was certain she was stable. 530 yards was the range, the wind was essentially straight away at a zero value so I told her to send it. A cloud of dust erupted past the antelope and much higher then I expected. They took off and left us wondering what happened.



I looked at the turret then looked at my dope chart again which I had taped to my range finder.

Now is a great time for a pro tip: If you are going to put your dope on your rangefinder, be sure to only put one rifle’s dope on there or clearly mark which chart is for which gun. Turns out the drops for a 150 flat base at 2950 is considerably more then a 95 LRX doing 3375. I had chose the wrong chart and she sent that bullet a solid foot or more over the back of a pretty nice buck.

I blamed her for marrying an idiot. She agreed.

At the shot that group was hitting gears that will ruin flavor so we left them alone and went searching for another. It didn’t take long and we found a loner working his way through a rough pasture. My wife, son and I bailed out of the truck and had my daughter and older son keep driving so the antelope had something to focus on.

It worked. He watched the truck for a while, got tired and layed down. We got to a point where we had a stable rock to shoot from at 389 yards. To get closer would put us within 100 yards and maybe too close for a supported shot due to the shallow contour of the land. We made the decision to try to take him from there. He was not aware of us and looked like he might be there for the long haul. We had lots of time to study him. He looked really heavy but not super tall.

If I was by myself I would have just settled in and waited for him to make the next move. I know my wife pretty well by now and laying on rough ground for long periods of time is not her strong suit. We decided to try to get the buck on his feet. A few howls and distress sounds with a predator call should have done the trick but he didn’t move a muscle. My son volunteered to stand up but my wife quickly shot down that idea because she thought he might bolt. I suggested she get on the scope and we would call a bit more.