Figured I'd get things started for 2021 antelope - anybody else fill a tag yet??

Here is my Oregon buck.

I didn't get near enough time to scout this year and this was a 2nd season tag in not a top end unit so I'm pretty happy. Not a huge buck, hard to tell but good height but not much mass. But he was in a good spot to pack out and decided not to run when I spotted him with a smaller buck so that was that

beautiful buck, enjoy the great eats!

Nice buck, did you shoot him with 7mm-08?

Thank you - and yes 7MM-08 shooting factory Nosler 120 grain BT's. That rifle really likes those and it sure did the job on that buck.

That's a nice buck!

Second season antelope in open ground is no snap. You did well.

Congratulations

Nice buck! Congrats Frank!

Nice buck! Way to get it done Frank!

Beauty!

Way to go Frank!

Nice!

Congrats!

Congrats!

Congrats on as beautiful buck. Enjoy the steaks.

Nice buck to get the season started...congrats!

Got this little guy this past Sunday in Northern NM. He's dead, but absolutely dreadful performance from the bullet of choice.

Godogs - congrats that is a nice looking buck. And will be good eating for sure!!

If you don't mind sharing what bullet did you use?? I shot mine with a 120 BT out of my 7MM-08, and it did do a number on that antelope, a little more damage than I wanted since I really like eating antelopes:)

Nice work frank. Got a couple tags for em myself, love antelope huntin. 👍

Nice buck! Also interested in what cartridge/bullet combo used?

I need info on posting pics. Shot a nice antelope last week.

Pharm - I'll PM you my email if you want to email them to me and I'll be happy to post - can post on ifish also if you like

Email sent, thanks!


P

Here you go Pharm - Dandy buck!! Did you use your 7MM-08??

I shot him with my 1957 model 70, 270 Winchester. I even hate to say this because it will invariably turn into a giant pissing match, but I opened the door so to speak. I was shooting 140 grain VLD's. This model 70 is a particular rifle in that she only likes VLD's. Hates Noslers, Sierra's, TTSX's....despises them. VLD's? under a quarter inch at 100 yards 4 shot groups every time. For the statisticians, who, like me, don't place any validity on a statistical sample of one, I've shot over 50 head with this bullet. I have yet to have one drop right there....I have yet to have a single blood trail and I've lost two nice bucks from it blowing up on the shoulder (video'd). I'm sure the VLD crowd will try their best to flame me and I understand that.....that's how guys play here sometimes. Yet this rifle loves em so I keep giving them a chance.

He's dead. So the logical question to me will be "So how did it fail Mr. Bigshot?" My shot was 300-310 yards, icepicking the lungs. He ran, oh, about one hundred yards or so and did the little "circle and drop" thing with our son videoing it. He then got up and ran a few yards more and fell for good. When we got up to him he was still very much alive. The guide agreed with me that just a few seconds more and he'd be gone. Unfortunately that was not the case. I hate to see an animal suffer and my gun was back at the truck.....got to go back to the truck and finish the job. The guide grabbed his horns first and all hell broke loose. By that time I had gotten back with my rifle. We were looking at the buck saying "I'm not believing this....he's still kicking." I chamber a round and 2-3 minutes later he was still alive, with me then putting him down. I don't like that one bit....I should have immediately put him down but we were just not believing what we were seeing.

Some folks like VLD's and if you do, I'm your biggest fan. Sorry for being so wordy.....

Godogs. Thanks for the honest write up. Interesting results with the VLD. I had great results with the 150VLD. Have you tried those in this rifle? I have been drilling out the tips of all Berger bullets to clean the tips of polishing media and leftover jacket material that is sometimes trapped in certain bullets.
Another bullet that might be worth a try just to see if your rifle likes them is the 124gr Hammer hunter.

7mm-08, you bet!

Brother killed his with a 7mm-08 also!

Great bucks Pharm and Godogs. Congrats. FWIW, IME of about 15 head of game, 7mm Rem Mag, 169 VLDH, call me very unimpressed as well.

Godogs, thanks for the detailed post - much appreciated. Since I don't hand load I've only ever had a chance to shoot any VLD's a couple times, and so far none of my rifles like the factory stuff well enough to hunt it.

Since we’re piling on the VLD, I have a story. I worked up a load for my nephew’s 7mm-08, 140 VLD-Hunting, great precision and close to 2900 fps at the muzzle. He shot a smallish Mule deer buck at around 325 yards right behind the shoulder. I was on a spotter so I saw the impact, excellent placement. The buck hunched up, swapped ends, and started trotting to the fenceline, beyond which we did not have permission to hunt.
Bam, another shot through the chest, this time on the opposite side. The buck kept going toward the fence and stopped. Probably didn’t have enough juice to jump, who knows, but shot #3 put him down.
Pencils. Lucky he wasn’t bigger.
A sample size of 1 tells you exactly nothing, but I never had Partitions talk back to me like that.




P

Nice goats guys,

Hope to add to this thread next month, got lucky and drew both doe antelope and mule deer tags, taking a Shiloh 44-77 Sharps and an original old school long range rig, pre-64 264 Win Mag with steel tubed Weaver 4-12x40 AO, it fires 160gr Woodleigh PP's at 3000 fps over RL-33.

Oregonmuley,

I I can email you a picture, I have another New Mexico buck to share.

Thanks

I'll send a PM

Here you go - beautiful buck!!

Thank you Sir!!!

I have to run off to work and can provide more details later. The bottom line was a DIY hunt on public land. It was a 1/2 mile stalk with the last 200 yards on hands and knees. I used a Sako 85 in 270 shooting Barnes 130 grn TTSX.

Nice work, gentlemen !

Nice antelope, guys! I love seeing the start of another season and September 1st - we are at least on the downhill side of hot weather!

I’m another one who doesn’t care for the Bergers for hunting. My experience with 3 animals (big MD buck and 2 hogs - 6.5mm 130 VLD-H) was less than impressive.

Looking forward to seeing more antelope!

Thanks again to Oregonmuley for posting the picture.

It was a great hunt in an area I have never set foot in. In a shout out to another thread, onXMaps was key. We spent two days scouting the area learning private vs. public parcels. The unit is a checkerboard of the two with a little BLM thrown in. I downloaded maps to use off-line, and the GPS in the phone worked surprisingly well. We were fortunate enough to run into a Game Warden while scouting and he confirmed our maps with his GPS unit.

We spotted a Very nice buck tending his does the first evening, but unfortunately that would be our only sighting of "The One". The next day we spotted other (mostly on private) groups and marked way points and confirmed glassing locations. Also, we noticed a number of bucks using a shallow valley running north-south about a mile from the main access road. The valley was mostly public/state land and contained only a few two-track roads with some large sections of open country. My guess was that few hunters would venture far from the road to hike into the valley.

Opening morning found us headed into the north end of the unit with the plan of working our way south into the valley. The area had received a lot of rain, and the grass was tall with mesquite and cactus patches making glassing a challenge. I spotted a group fairly early, and checking and double checking onX confirmed they were in about a 1 mile square of public land. But, they were moving.

Insert amateur hour on my part. I wanted to get into the group quickly before they moved onto private land so I headed out with my rifle, binos, phone and shooting sticks. I would pay for this later as I left my pack in the truck.

The next hour found me crouching, crawling and on hands and knees closing the distance. The cholla, mesquite and goat-head thorns were taking their toll on my hands, yes, my leather gloves were in my pack!

I closed the distance to 212 yards and then had to wait for the buck to clear the does for a shot. The only opportunity the buck presented was his neck, but I am confident in the rile and he dropped at the shot. My friend was watching from the truck and having more sense than me delivered my pack after I had finished dressing the buck.

Congratulations to the other successful hunters and best of luck for those who have hunts this coming fall.

Nice batch of antelope.

Never shot any VLD 's but I'm smart enough to take advantage of others experience. Shot over 70 head of antelope, the only bullet that ever failed and penciled thru (icepicked) for me was the 120 gr Hornady hollow point in the 25-06. Maybe it would have performed as expected on a full size deer but I shot the rest up on p-dogs. I appreciate the bullet performance observations. Mb

Nice bunch of Bucks. Antelope hunting is just plain FUN. I didn't draw a WY tag this year----hopefully next year. Bob

Nice bucks gents!

Here's my 2021 Buck. Shot him on the second day, 26 yards from a blind on a waterhole. Pretty buck, nice heavy 13" horns, black face - not a giant but just what I think of when I think of a nice Pronghorn. Pretty sure he will make P&Y, but I haven't got around to measuring him yet.



Same buck different pic in the Bowhunting forum.

centershot, that is a beautiful buck!

Great buck Frank!

Thanks Andy - it certainly was weird hunting antelope in the trees.

Congrats to all that have posted - keep the pictures coming antelope are always fun stuff to hunt!

2021 NM Pronghorn

I have a pre64 in a 270 Winchester and that thing shoots 150 Speers boat tails very well. I got 150 Sierra’s to shoot in it but it took some messing with the overall length. It will not shoot 150 nosler and 150 hornady’s. It has shown promise with 140 tsx boat tails.

Fine critters men! 👍👍

Stud
Beautiful cutters!

Hell of a goat! New Mexico grows some whoppers.


RS

Good job guys.

Wyoming was good to us this year. Had some crazy weather but we made the best of it. First antelope for my two oldest kids. We’ll keep building points for buck tags

Congrats to you and the family - great to see some more antelope posted!

Wife's 1st antelope. CO unit 201 muzzleloading; 21 points. Great hunt with respect to seeing a lot of antelope, really nice elk, deer, aspens, and little human pressure. This was a typical buck for the area. I scouted hard for 4 days before the season and maybe saw a couple other antelope that were noticeably larger through binoculars but for the most part, this is what you saw keeping does.

Nice buck. Congrats to both of you. Good shooting Mrs. Centennial! Any details on the stalk and range?

I wish i had some exciting story (which i do for the ones that she chose not to shoot) but in this case, it turned out to be a gift of sorts.

Range was 65ish yards. The terrain was hilly and as we drove around a hill, there they were maybe at a100yards. The does were nervous when they saw us so the buck had to divide his attention with keeping them corralled and the other bucks at bay; lots of running and dodging. By the time she decided she would try for this one, got out of the truck, grabbed the shooting sticks, put a cap on, and started walking, the does trotted over the hill out of sight. I thought we would drive around the other side so i called her back and then a doe came running back to our side of the hill with the buck right behind her. Seeing us she stopped and so did he...BOOOM!

She is a lefty and her 54 kind of kicks with the load it likes (curved steel and set up for elk). I wanted her shooting a lot this summer so I borrowed the inline .50 from my brother. Load was 80g Pyrodex RS Select and 245g PowerBelt. The PowerBelt hit a rib and split into numerous pieces; nothing exited. Im a TC/Lyman Maxi user so this performance kind of surprised me. Antelope aren't thick and i was hoping for a pass through. Live and learn.

I rough scored it and it came out to 70. I say that as a gauge because this was a fairly typical buck in CO unit 201 should anyone decide they want to hunt there. It's a very, very fun hunt with a muzzleloader. In two days she had a dozen bucks within 120 yards; one i thought was a little nicer. Best part is only 5 lrs are issued each year and that covers 3 units (1, 2, 201).

Pic gives some idea of the terrain.
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/16467570/201

Only doe tags for me this year.
Savage 110 25-06 w/ CO Redfield 4-12
Horn 117 SST, 59gr Ramshot Magnum, OAL 3.175"
344 yards. Thru the ribs, lungs and liver

Wyoming Red Desert, 2021.

Really a nice buck congrats! Excellent picture as well, really shows how nice a buck that is.

Thank you! It was certainly a unique hunt. More like window shopping. I looked over, without exaggeration, a few hundred bucks before I got wore out and decided to pull the trigger. Very little hunting pressure, and a lot of very bold, rutty bucks.

A few hours before the biologist told me not to not be so picky as they have had extreme drought. This ended up being the biggest buck through the check station so far, although he suspected some locals would bring in some booners. I'm more than happy with him though.

Great picture and buck. How many points did you have to hunt that area?

I hate to admit it, but I drew it with zero points in the random draw, just damn lucky.

Got this buck Saturday morning, he ain't a booner but was the biggest I could find.

Looks good to me!

+1 Good looking buck!

Shot a doe and a buck on the 29th out of Douglas Wyoming but couldn't get the doe to post cuz of size I guess?? Anyway I had a great trip.

Opening day for rifle antelope here in SD.. didn t get a Any antelope tag but picked up a dbl doe tag on 2nd choice. First place I glassed this morning the antelope were off the property on private. So.i drove the.road to check.out another place that I hunt. Spotted three, drove down the road to a drainage and pulled off in to the ditch. Made a quick stalk closing to 140 yds or so 1 shot with a Ruger predator in 6mm rem with 95 bt's bang flop. The other 2 went behind the ridge ran down the draw and came back up the near side and stopped at 250 I waited till I got a full broadside and dbl lunged her she ran about 50-70 yds and piled up. DEAd and down by 9:00AM on opening day. Meats meat worked for me. Mb

the boss' wife. 300wsm


the boss' daughter. 6.5 creed


the girls bad-ass marine boyfriend. used my prc


the kid that works summers for me. savage 6.5 creed. I didn't have to guide him...

That sounds very similar to the largest deer I killed a few years ago while shooting 45-70 Leverevolution ammo. 1st chest shot was at 40 yds, second was up his rearend (same distance) and the last two were point blank. I thought that deer would never die. He only ran about 30 yds in a thick swamp but lived about 25 - 30 minutes after being shot.
Congrats on your kill.

Heading to WY for my first Pronghorn hunt this Friday, excited!

Good shiet Huntsman22!! Good luck ChrisAU, this year was my first hunt out that way. I had a ball and I hope you do as well! Definitely different hunting than we do in PA but was a ball. Good luck, hope to see pics!

Yesterday afternoon about a mile south of Oklahoma.

Nice goats, congrats to all! Sorry to hear about the Berger's performance. I've killed 5 bull elk and 1 mule deer buck in the last couple of years with a 7mm RM and 168 Berger's and a 6.5 GAP 4S using 156 Berger's.

Wife and 5 year old son went out and got it done on their own on opening day. 270 yards .308 165 Accubond.

Nice EdM and Exbiologist! Keep em coming!

You and I are on the same page with the bergers. 6.5mms, both 140 VLDs and 135 Classics. 15-20 different animals deer to elk sized and save one 600 yard elk and a 225 yard grizzly, I have yet to see "good" performance....just several "acceptable" and several more BAD.

I had an absolute shïtshow with a bull caribou 5 days ago involving 3 broadside chest shots. First at about 100 yards and two more at less than 50 yards. What a mess and I honestly felt bad watching the damn thing slowly die.

Well done Ed !!!

Ouch, I'll shy away from VLD's T inman you are the man.

My buck from this past Saturday, Oct 2nd. Colorado. 280 Remington, 140 gr nosler solid base, roughly 275 yards.

Love that !!

Well done Mrs Exbio !!

Great thread. Congrats to all! Keep the pics and stories coming

Nice!!

Several yrs ago saw what a vld out of a rum would do to a moose. No penetration blew up on impact we could see the moose innards coming out of the hole. It was ph ucking bad, it was a winter moose hunt bud hopped on with another bud on his sled got close enough and shot it in the head. After that day I never use a Berger for anything but target shooting. My bud hasn’t used them since either.

That’s a dandy!

Easy there killer. Remember, this is the 'Fire and you can't have an opinion on a bullet until you see at least 9 more moose be put through that exact scenario.

Then, if your conclusion still isn't what some others have come to---you're doing it wrong.

Nice goat. I love the shape of those horns. Classic!

Colorado. 108 Scenar...6.5 creed, 200 yards.

Nice one dogcatcher - looks like its got the mass & cutters going on!! With Wyoming going hope to see more posts.

Oops my bad.. I better go buy those 130 Berger classic hunter and give them a whirl..

Colorado antelope, 2 days ago- a fighter, with both horn tips broken off. Got him cut up and processed yesterday, ready for some great eating. 6.5 PRC, range 300 yds, Hornady ELD-X 143 gr. bullet.

That is a beautiful buck mbrook

Bighorn that goat has some mass.....

buddy Dan got a wide little guy. 7RM at 250 or so... Blue tongue?






Still ain't seen the one I'd pull the trigger on this year.

Great buck, great pics Don. Congrats!

Filled my tag south of Casper Tuesday, rack wasn't spectacular, I shot him anyway. I'm more of a meat hunter I guess. My 82 year old hunting buddy took one Wednesday. It's been a good week.

I hunted does 3 weeks ago west of Casper. Not one doe on public. It was slim pickings. Hope your hunt was better.

Any reports from the Buffalo or Gillette area? Heard about blue tongue outbreaks near Gillette.

last two hunters. Fireman/EMT bud on a doe tag and a 15 year old kid that missed the first 4 bucks I put him on....

and one for fun....

That’s too cute.

Couldn’t pull an either sex tag this year but we had five freezer tags so we made our annual trek to eastern Montana. May do a full write up on the hunt if I get a few minutes…

My 12 year old daughters first goat. One and done at about 150 yards with an 85 TSX through the heart…



Too muddy to drive…



Mama’s goat. One 95 LRX at about 200…



Older kids sent off to do it on their own…



The results…



A nice double.



Finally the old man got one slowed down…



Pretty spendy meat pole…

Looks like an awesome hunt, great to see the whole family out there. Hope to take my daughter out for her first goat hunt next year…inspiring.

Congrats to all who posted.

IMO antelope are a great way to hunt with kids. Usually lots of action and if a stalk fails just go find another. The weather tends to be mild also.

Yes, I agree. I went 3 years ago in WY. It was a fun easy-going hunt. I knew I would be back with daughter, just been waiting for her to reach WY minimum age. Been accumulating points for a party app.

south dakota was a grind.

came home empty

if a guy can't get there on the opener there's not antelope in public

put a lot of stalk on critters just over the fence hoping for a break but to no avail

had a 688 shot opportunity but fishtailing winds made it a difficult shot. thought i could make a stalk but a wind switch and blew them out. they never stopped after 2 miles. couldn't turn them up sucks. good high cutters, plenty of mass. upper 70's


stalked a 180+ mule deer in the rain. that was fun.

Trophy pic…

Yes indeed and you even have a RH Forschener boning knife. Damn med river you ever do anything wrong? Mb

I had to shoot my antelope twice and ruined a pile of meat…does that count?

Forgive yourself , to err is human. Anybody that never had to shoot more than hasn't done much hunting. Mb

Thanks to ya'll for sharing all the pics and stories. I don't post much but sure do enjoy soaking up all the info on this forum.
No cool antelope in MS but hoping to get out west and do this one day. Definitely on my list.
Love seeing families together as well.

Thanks again!!!! Keep em coming!

Neat thread, congrats to all.

Hopefully there are some left in MT, heading west tomorrow.

Second doe tag filled. Same Savage 25-06 with Horn 117 SST load

First Antelope trip went pretty well for both me and my buddy.

Nice - you guys earned those bucks for sure!!

got one yesterday

straps on the grill

Those will look great for you guys back home in Alabama. Nice job.

Nice looking goat

Looks like a good one Jud!

Shiit I thought I texted it to ya!! 😂

I just knew you were up to no good Jud.......Congrats on a nice one!

Dang fine buck Jud - congrats. Will be back there in Wyoming next year looking for one like that - hopefully without the snow:)

Got another goat tag in montucky, headed over there the 7th.

Eastern Montana



6.5 Creedmoor
Tikka T3x Superlite
130 gr. Sierra GameChanger
IMR 4451
273 yds.

Got my antelope back from the taxidermy man...20 day turnaround. I'm pleased with it.

wow WL that's a whopper, what state did you hunt him in?

Wyoming

Thanks I thought he was a good one.

Beautiful buck and impressive turn time on the taxi work. Really like they way they did that one!!

There are a lot of real toads on this thread. Congrats to everyone! My buck was just average for the area but it was a great day to be afield in Montana.
6.5 CM, 139 Scenar.

Cheers,
Rex

Here’s Eastern Colorado buck.

+1000
I helped more than a few start hunting with antelope. They are a great intro!!!

Why do you keep using them after 15 -20 "bad" results with this bullet? BS or insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again.Two stories I will never understand!

I shot him with my 1957 model 70, 270 Winchester. I even hate to say this because it will invariably turn into a giant pissing match, but I opened the door so to speak. I was shooting 140 grain VLD's. This model 70 is a particular rifle in that she only likes VLD's. Hates Noslers, Sierra's, TTSX's....despises them. VLD's? under a quarter inch at 100 yards 4 shot groups every time. For the statisticians, who, like me, don't place any validity on a statistical sample of one, I've shot over 50 head with this bullet. I have yet to have one drop right there....I have yet to have a single blood trail and I've lost two nice bucks from it blowing up on the shoulder (video'd). I'm sure the VLD crowd will try their best to flame me and I understand that.....that's how guys play here sometimes. Yet this rifle loves em so I keep giving them a chance.

He's dead. So the logical question to me will be "So how did it fail Mr. Bigshot?" My shot was 300-310 yards, icepicking the lungs. He ran, oh, about one hundred yards or so and did the little "circle and drop" thing with our son videoing it. He then got up and ran a few yards more and fell for good. When we got up to him he was still very much alive. The guide agreed with me that just a few seconds more and he'd be gone. Unfortunately that was not the case. I hate to see an animal suffer and my gun was back at the truck.....got to go back to the truck and finish the job. The guide grabbed his horns first and all hell broke loose. By that time I had gotten back with my rifle. We were looking at the buck saying "I'm not believing this....he's still kicking." I chamber a round and 2-3 minutes later he was still alive, with me then putting him down. I don't like that one bit....I should have immediately put him down but we were just not believing what we were seeing.

Some folks like VLD's and if you do, I'm your biggest fan. Sorry for being so wordy.....

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/XqnGjncJ/IMG-3960.jpg[/

hendricks, that's a dandy! Around Baggs?

Nice thread.. I only had two doe tags this year.. Drew buck tags 44 years in a row.. Nothing but does the last few years..
This year I used a 700 .30/06 with 155 Lapuas.. Heart shot and he ran 200 yards.. I was beginning to think I had missed.. The other was with a 700 in 6mm Rem. 85 gr. Sierra hpbt.. crashed right there, hit her in the shoulders and spine..