Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Saturday's antelope hunt

My cousin's husband and I went antelope hunting yesterday. He's been a paraplegic since 1968 but doesn't let that keep him from hunting and living life to the fullest.
The antelope were really skittish and we couldn't get within range of my 99F 22 HP. We finally got within 300 yards of a small herd and decided Dave would try to take a decent buck. He had shot once at one earlier at about 400 yards and missed. He shoots a 243 model 77 Ruger. He shot and the antelope staggered. He shot three more times and staggered it again but it stayed on its feet. I said,"I think you need to reload". He answered, "I only brought five rounds." He aimed again and his rifle went "Click!"
We talked it over for a few seconds while the antelope was staggering towards some four foot tall sagebrush. We didn't know how hard he was hit but he was still on his feet. We decided if we tried to get closer with the truck the goat might run off. It would take a while for Dave to get out of the truck and go after it in the wheelchair and the goat might be gone by the time he could get in range with my 22 HP. We decided that I would try to finish it off. As I was walking toward the goat he kept staggering towards the high sagebrush. He was about to get into it when I was at 150 yards so I sat down to shoot from a sitting position. I aimed high on the shoulder hoping for a spine shot. When I fired the antelope dropped like a bag of rocks followed by a loud "smack". When I got to the antelope it was still moving so I finished it with a shot from my 38 to the neck just behind the head.
I had been a little skeptical whether the 22 HP would work for a body shot that far away. I don't have any more concerns about it now. Dave doesn't usually take shots that long with the 243 and he was shooting low. Two bullets had hit it high in the right front leg.
The policy in our group of hunters is if you shoot it it you field dress it. While Dave was gutting his animal I went looking for the rest of the herd but didn't have any luck finding them. Dave has to go out of town so I'll probably hold off hunting till he gets back. He still has two doe tags. We rigged up a hoist last year which is shown in the pics. I injured my back a few years ago and Dave loaded my antelope into his pickup without any help. We decided to build the hoist because both of us aren't as tough as we used to be.
I took this photo when I first got to the goat.


The hoist is also handy for field dressing.