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.

David,
Great story and pictures. Your cousins husband is a brave guy and is nice to see and hear things like this. Lots of admiration here for you and him. Enjoy some antelope steaks and this will make great family stories.
22 HP's are good goat medicine.

Best-
Steve

pics of the 99F 22HP

closeup of Stith mount and early Weaver K2.5

Well done!

Dave was about 25 when he and Barb got married. They were living in Alaska and he was working for the BLM. In 1977 shortly after they got married my battalion went to Alaska for an amphibious exercise. It was the first time I'd met him. He had gigantic shoulders and arms and it was amazing what he could do from a wheelchair. He's been an inspiration to me and a lot of other people ever since.
He got transferred to Southern California a few years later where he did field in the desert, then to Colorado and finally Wyoming where he retired a few years ago.

Good story David. Happy for both of you.

Big thumbs up

Nice story David, gotta love the IMP! Dave sounds like a Great Hunting buddie ! Congrads to the both of You!

Excellent!!! That .22HP always interested me a great deal..
It was commonly used on big game when it first hit the market.... Nice job.. good luck on your next hunt.. I still have to get my buck antelope, maybe today.. However it will not be with a rifle as cool as yours..

WoW!! now that's a fantastic story and hunt

Grea hunt!glad you guys got the wounded antelope ,good sportsmanship there.

WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY beyond fantastic.

Great story! I just came in from the garage where I spent this afternoon cleaning and working on three 22 HP's. Makes me want to shoot a young Whitetail with a HP after reading your posting.

Your friend Dave is an inspiration to me. Makes my health problems seem minor after seeing what has done with his life.
Give him my best. GW

Great Post! Congrats on the pronghorn!

and another good thing is that was Dave's tag. I've still got my buck tag.

This is better stuff than what's in all the hunting magazines!

I just wrote it up like it happened. To me any hunting story is really interesting. Even the ones where you fail to get the critter. For example, when I was a teenager I almost always hunted with my 300 EG. One day I decided to take my AYA 12 guage 3" magnum double deer hunting. I was up in a tree stand when a deer ran up behind a pine tree about 30 feet away. I went wow I'm going to get this one. I aimed along the left barrel at the deer's chest cavity which was showing just to the left of the tree and pulled a trigger. The deer went dancing off into the scrub going, "Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha". I almost fell out of the tree I was so surprised. I got down and started looking for blood I was so sure I hit him. I finally looked at the tree about deer height off the ground. It had 14 holes in the bark. The 3" 00 shell held 15. I had pulled the wrong trigger. Now if I had had my tomato stake it would have been a different story. I didn't take the AYA deer hunting any more.
If you guys like this one I'll you about what cured me of shooting right hand bolt guns. David

We should have a separate thread for telling hunting stories. We greybeards have all amassed a treasury of hunting stories.

Such as the time I popped a quarrelsome squirrel with my Colt Woodsman while bored when deer hunting, only to hear a scrambling noise as a beautiful buck went tearing away from about 50 feet behind me...

Or the time my buddy stumbled onto a dead hunter two or three days gone, with a bullet hole dead center in the blaze orange coveralls he was wearing...

The difference between a fairy tale and a war story:
Fairy tale, Once upon a time.....
War Story, This ain't on $hit.....

But real hunting stories..........A Treasure!!!!


Steve