Got My 1st Prairie Goat! (w/ PICTURE)
08-25-2003, 10:41 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lincoln NE. USA
Posts: 249
Got My 1st Prairie Goat! (w/ PICTURE)
I just got back from my first Antelope hunt and what a hunt it was....we went 3 for 3 on goats!
I went to northwest Nebraska with 2 good friends of mine Jeff and Tim, we all took goats on our 4 day hunt.....1 doe and 2 bucks!
The success rate last year in this area was only 8%,so we were feelin pretty proud when we left the grasslands of NW Nebraska!
Jeff was the first to score on the 2nd day, when a buck got to feeling his oats and charged his decoy from about 70 yards out.....Jeff made a great 30 yard shot and his buck went down 20 yards from where he stuck him after makeing 2 big circles and almost running into his Double Bull blind! (wish I could have seen that!)
Tim took his Prairie Goat the morning of the last day,doing some spot and stalk hunting....he glassed a bedded doe on a hillside and decided to give it a go.....he worked his way to within about 80 yards and peeked up to see her looking right at him,(oops!) but she was not quite sure just what he was and she started walking straight to him,she closed the gap down to about 70 yards and he had been practicing out to 80 yards preparing for this hunt!
Tim ranged her at 72 and decided to take the shot if she presented a broadside one....and she did.
What a shot! the 100 grain 3-blade Spitfire tipped ACC 3-49 hit her right in the boiler room for a complete pass thru and she piled up about 50 yards from there!
I know that is an awfully long ways to be shooting at a critter....but he is an exceptional shot!!!! (he did say something about being lucky)
I got my Goat on the 3rd day in the late afternoon.....I hunted a blind on a waterhole that morning and saw some does and fawns,but nothing came in.
About noon the wind changed and was wrong for that blind so I got out of there,walked a 1/2 mile to the truck and went to camp for a cold drink....." man was it hot out" the guy on the radio said 98 degrees! Yuk!
No one was in camp, so I decided to kick back a bit and Jeff showed up about 15 minutes after I drug my sleeping bag out of the tent and into the shade!
He gave me a bunch of sh-t about not being able to get a goat while laying on my back in camp with my eyes closed ( ha,ha) and next thing you know were out glassing for Antelope!
We spotted a group of does and went after them about a 45 minute stalk we edged up over a hill and they had moved! So we headed for the backside of the ranch we were huntin and glassed a hay field that they liked to feed on.......We spotted 3 bucks on the field and one was a dandy!
We circled to get the wind right and started the stalk.....after about a 1/2 mile we had closed the distance to 100 yards or so and decided to take another peek and see where they were(it was still hot out and then we realized then that we left our fanny packs with the water bottles in the truck) we peeked over a terrace and the 3 bucks were feeding away from us about 60 or 70 yards out.
We decided to just watch them and hope they moved to a spot that would alow us to move in close enough for a shot!
The biggest buck started feeding off to the east of the field and this would give us a bit of a cross wind but, we would have to belly crawl the last 40 yards or so.....I then stuck my knee right in a prickly pear cactus,Im still trying to get all the throrns out!
Anyway, we closed the gap and luckly the last 20 yards of the stalk/crawl was in knee high alphalfa!!!
We peeked up and the buck had his head down feeding away dead broadside.....PERFECT, no clue that we were there! Jeff put the range finder on him and wispered " 57 yards" !
I had an arrow nocked and as I rolled to my knees I drew my Q2XL.....the Antelope buck raised his head and staired right at me....I put my fifty yard pin just behind his shoulder and raised it up just under the top of his back and the arrow was gone!
The arrow hit him low in the chest and vanished,he wheeled and ran the first 30 yards and then his head started to drop and his front legs crumpled out from under him as he nosed down into the tall grass!
Jeff and I looked at each other and smiled but no high fives yet,was he really down for good?I nocked another arrow and we eased thru the hayfield and then tall grass,unable to see him just yet......YES!he was down for good!!!!!
We must have looked pretty funny jumping around and high fiveing each other but,hey we pulled off a heck of a stalk on a pretty nice Antelope for Nebraska!
It looks like hes going to score in the high 50s, low 60s, no monster goat......but they way we took him here in Neb. and since hes my first one......I think hes goin on the wall!
Jerry www.stealtharchery.com
Jerry
I went to northwest Nebraska with 2 good friends of mine Jeff and Tim, we all took goats on our 4 day hunt.....1 doe and 2 bucks!
The success rate last year in this area was only 8%,so we were feelin pretty proud when we left the grasslands of NW Nebraska!
Jeff was the first to score on the 2nd day, when a buck got to feeling his oats and charged his decoy from about 70 yards out.....Jeff made a great 30 yard shot and his buck went down 20 yards from where he stuck him after makeing 2 big circles and almost running into his Double Bull blind! (wish I could have seen that!)
Tim took his Prairie Goat the morning of the last day,doing some spot and stalk hunting....he glassed a bedded doe on a hillside and decided to give it a go.....he worked his way to within about 80 yards and peeked up to see her looking right at him,(oops!) but she was not quite sure just what he was and she started walking straight to him,she closed the gap down to about 70 yards and he had been practicing out to 80 yards preparing for this hunt!
Tim ranged her at 72 and decided to take the shot if she presented a broadside one....and she did.
What a shot! the 100 grain 3-blade Spitfire tipped ACC 3-49 hit her right in the boiler room for a complete pass thru and she piled up about 50 yards from there!
I know that is an awfully long ways to be shooting at a critter....but he is an exceptional shot!!!! (he did say something about being lucky)
I got my Goat on the 3rd day in the late afternoon.....I hunted a blind on a waterhole that morning and saw some does and fawns,but nothing came in.
About noon the wind changed and was wrong for that blind so I got out of there,walked a 1/2 mile to the truck and went to camp for a cold drink....." man was it hot out" the guy on the radio said 98 degrees! Yuk!
No one was in camp, so I decided to kick back a bit and Jeff showed up about 15 minutes after I drug my sleeping bag out of the tent and into the shade!
He gave me a bunch of sh-t about not being able to get a goat while laying on my back in camp with my eyes closed ( ha,ha) and next thing you know were out glassing for Antelope!
We spotted a group of does and went after them about a 45 minute stalk we edged up over a hill and they had moved! So we headed for the backside of the ranch we were huntin and glassed a hay field that they liked to feed on.......We spotted 3 bucks on the field and one was a dandy!
We circled to get the wind right and started the stalk.....after about a 1/2 mile we had closed the distance to 100 yards or so and decided to take another peek and see where they were(it was still hot out and then we realized then that we left our fanny packs with the water bottles in the truck) we peeked over a terrace and the 3 bucks were feeding away from us about 60 or 70 yards out.
We decided to just watch them and hope they moved to a spot that would alow us to move in close enough for a shot!
The biggest buck started feeding off to the east of the field and this would give us a bit of a cross wind but, we would have to belly crawl the last 40 yards or so.....I then stuck my knee right in a prickly pear cactus,Im still trying to get all the throrns out!
Anyway, we closed the gap and luckly the last 20 yards of the stalk/crawl was in knee high alphalfa!!!
We peeked up and the buck had his head down feeding away dead broadside.....PERFECT, no clue that we were there! Jeff put the range finder on him and wispered " 57 yards" !
I had an arrow nocked and as I rolled to my knees I drew my Q2XL.....the Antelope buck raised his head and staired right at me....I put my fifty yard pin just behind his shoulder and raised it up just under the top of his back and the arrow was gone!
The arrow hit him low in the chest and vanished,he wheeled and ran the first 30 yards and then his head started to drop and his front legs crumpled out from under him as he nosed down into the tall grass!
Jeff and I looked at each other and smiled but no high fives yet,was he really down for good?I nocked another arrow and we eased thru the hayfield and then tall grass,unable to see him just yet......YES!he was down for good!!!!!
We must have looked pretty funny jumping around and high fiveing each other but,hey we pulled off a heck of a stalk on a pretty nice Antelope for Nebraska!
It looks like hes going to score in the high 50s, low 60s, no monster goat......but they way we took him here in Neb. and since hes my first one......I think hes goin on the wall!
Jerry www.stealtharchery.com
Jerry
08-27-2003, 04:42 PM
#8
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Rushville NE
Posts: 343
RE: Got My Prairie Goat!
Good job. I haven' t been out yet-too darn hot. Vacation starts tomorrow & it' s supposed to cool off. Antelope are my favorite game, spot and stalk is fun, but with a decoy it' s absolutly a riot. Congrats!!!!
