Dad's Goat...

Glenn shot his antelope at around 9:30am.  After cleaning, we hoisted him into the back of truck, pushed two bags of ice into his body cavity, and headed to the butcher shop in town.  With temperatures already in the lower 70's, the heat can quickly ruin the meat.

It was time to fill Dad's tag, so we wasted no time in heading straight back out to the ranch after the butcher shop.  Finding our entry point near Two Trees National Forest, we headed for a tall butte that we had passed several times to sit and have lunch.  High-up on the butte, we sat and glassed the surrounding area and enjoyed our industrial-strength PB&J's and other fixin's.  Wow...what a view!  See below...

Dad was now feeling the pressure to fill his tag, so we didn't dwell too long in the shadows of the butte.  We decided to head east, then north again toward the watering hole.  We took some two-track we had not yet traveled but could not see goats anywhere as we scanned the rolling terrain.  Ninety minutes later, we were back on the path where Glenn got his buck.  We passed through that area, and as we crested a steep hill we saw two other vehicles in the area that we were headed.  They were a mile apart, and moving along slowly, searching for game just as we were.

Verne Barton had told us when we checked in with him on Sunday that we might have to do some walking to find antelope...that they weren't all just standing by the two-tracks.  Now here we were watching two trucks amble along, so I sarcastically noted that these two trucks were proably road hunting!...who would do that!?!  Not 60 seconds after my comment, Dad spotted a antelope buck not more than 120 yards from the two-track.  How these other hunters had missed it we are not sure.

He was bedded down with his back to us.  We could tell he was beginning to get nervous as Dad quickly decided how to handle the situation.  Dad quietly exited the truck, leaned over the hood of the truck, and aimed in the direction of the buck.  The buck stood, ran about 20 yards away from us, and turned broadside.  Dad fired!...he hit him, but a little low.  The buck ran a short distance and stopped again.  Dad crept around the truck and into the field behind the buck to close the gap for a kill shot (see photo below).  The buck kept his eyes on the truck, not seeing Dad's move to the field.  He turned broadside again, presenting the angle Dad needed, and BANG!, the next shot dropped him in his tracks.

The pressure was off!  Dad's buck was very similar to mine and Glenn's...horns about 12 inches in length, with 2 inch prongs, and a real nice curl at the end of the horns.  Success for all of us....what a great hunt!