6 day solo backpack MT antelope

[Tater]

So, congrats, I guess

[KRT]

Hellllll yeah!!

[britton40]

Good killing!

[reeltight]

Did you ever get your the camping situation figured out or did you decide to stay in the motel? Do you have anymore tags? What’s on the docket for the rest of your time out there?

[Rodney]

Day 3 I guess: understand up front any success I had was a blessing and nothing to do with me.

Get up 5am. The new rental has low tire pressure. Damn. Go to gas station. No air machine. Go to another. No air machine. Dammit I'll just go fast they'll inflate some.

Drive out to BLM ~40 miles to where I saw lope that were on neighboring private BUT there was no fence between so conceivably they could get on public. Get all my stuff on. See trucks driving by angrily assume they are all like me. Gun won't load?? I brought 30-06 not .308. NO WAY. Look on phone for something open.. 45 miles away there is a store called "R" opening at 730a. Fine. Drive there.

"R" pretty neat store. Like Ace hardware for Montana people. Lots of lassos. Get .308. Take the opportunity to release a demon that had been growing. No toilet paper. But they did sell the white pain sugar free rockstar so things are looking up. Drive back 45 miles.

Park at my same spot from earlier get my stuff together LOAD gun. Truck drives up with man and ~15 year old son. They are from Billings but first year lope hunting. They are already discouraged. Day just started dude get excited. I tell them my approximate plan so we don't overlap. They say they want to hunt over water. I give them coords of water tank I scouted that was a few miles away. Good luck thanks you too.

Start hunting. ~30 degrees but no rain woo. Plan was to walk the far borders of BLM checking back corners. Literally corners cause it's all rectangular property. Maybe something is back there. Walk a few miles. Mainly through coulees which is like a big ravine. Actually found some really nice goat habitat. No animals to be seen at ALL. Thought I'd be seeing muley at least. Glass glass glass. Take break, check zero on rifle. Range cow pie at 200yrd boom looks good. Amazing how I can't get service at home but have 4G out there.

Cont.

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[trkykilr]

Day 3 I guess: understand up front any success I had was a blessing and nothing to do with me.

Get up 5am. The new rental has low tire pressure. Damn. Go to gas station. No air machine. Go to another. No air machine. Dammit I'll just go fast they'll inflate some.

Drive out to BLM ~40 miles to where I saw lope that were on neighboring private BUT there was no fence between so conceivably they could get on public. Get all my stuff on. See trucks driving by angrily assume they are all like me. Gun won't load?? I brought 30-06 not .308. NO WAY. Look on phone for something open.. 45 miles away there is a store called "R" opening at 730a. Fine. Drive there.

"R" pretty neat store. Like Ace hardware for Montana people. Lots of lassos. Get .308. Take the opportunity to release a demon that had been growing. No toilet paper. But they did sell the white pain sugar free rockstar so things are looking up. Drive back 45 miles.

Park at my same spot from earlier get my stuff together LOAD gun. Truck drives up with man and ~15 year old son. They are from Billings but first year lope hunting. They are already discouraged. Day just started dude get excited. I tell them my approximate plan so we don't overlap. They say they want to hunt over water. I give them coords of water tank I scouted that was a few miles away. Good luck thanks you too.

Start hunting. ~30 degrees but no rain woo. Plan was to walk the far borders of BLM checking back corners. Literally corners cause it's all rectangular property. Maybe something is back there. Walk a few miles. Mainly through coulees which is like a big ravine. Actually found some really nice goat habitat. No animals to be seen at ALL. Thought I'd be seeing muley at least. Glass glass glass. Take break, check zero on rifle. Range cow pie at 200yrd boom looks good. Amazing how I can't get service at home but have 4G out there.

Cont.

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If, after all this planning, you took the wrong bullets, your success was indeed a blessing. I mean, how does that even happen?

[swampknob]

Congrats on the hunt.

(I have for some reason always thought you were black by the way, guess not)

[Rodney]

Continued my plan and finally popped out on a gravel road that would wrap around the front end of the property and lead to my truck a few miles away. Distance scale is huge there. ~4-5 miles into the day. I watch an old flatbed dually drive down the for an amusingly long time. You can see so far. It stops beside me and the most gnarled old lady rolled down the window.

"Do you have to walk in the road like that?"
"Just walking back to my truck, easier on the road than in the bushes."
"What are you doing out here?"
"I'm hunting antelope, but not seeing anything"
"Well I know where they are, they are back near the old cell tower" (she is referring to the herd I'd seen yesterday, still on private)
"Yes mam but those are on somebody's property"
"Just go kill one"
"No mam i'm not gunna go do that not my place"
"Well I own that land. And I hate hunters because they trespass. You don't trespass so you have my permission to hunt all of my land."

Cannot believe it. Folks she gets me in her truck, keep in mind I have an AR308 on my back, and drives me to where we can see the herd. We talk a while, i'm blown away she is happy she made me happy. Really does hate hunters though. She can spot the Lope with her eyes that I can barely make out with my binos. I finally get out and for the first time i'm on huntable antelope. I can't judge looking distance well but i'm guessing a half mile out maybe more. I'm so excited and blown away by her offer i'm almost sick cause now it's like damn this could happen.

Land is flat with very little topo. I get in fingers where I can and make my way to the antelope. About 700 800 yards out they are already watching me. I try quartering around a little finger. Gains me no ground. They are very are of me maybe even antsy. Still at least 700 yrds away. I start crawling for a while. Get tons of cactus in my legs and hands. Sheepishly realize I probably am doing a great impression of a coyote. Antelope agree and show the white rump and split. Dammit man.

This is actually good cause they moved into maybe a quarter mile into more interesting terrain. I get down in ravines and make great distance on then. Pop up in some sage and lay down to glass. !!428 yards. One of the lope is an absolute BRUTE. He knows it too. The other males are respectful of him. They are all sort of running about like in my mind wild ponies would do. Brutus is getting the best of the other bucks. The does are grouped up watching the display and tippy toeing here and there. These things move a lot I thought they just stood there. I can shoot 400 on paper. I didn't want to try 428 on a moving animal. Wasn't sure of the drop or time to impact and these goats are moving moving.

I am contented to watch a while. The males break into a full run and I see them here and there as they dip below the finger lines. All the sudden they start coming right at me. Damn! It's going down. I get situated on sticks try to laze one STOP MOVING finally get a range now 218!! When did they get that close? Get brutus in the scope and all the sudden they kick it into second gear. And run and I mean run run. They are damn gone and even splitting up. What why? Then I see mr coyote slowing to a trot after a failed ambush. I lip squeak and he comes right to me for a Texas heart shot at 25yrds. I mumble something about you take from me I take from you as i watch the antelope scattered wayyy off North of me.

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[wskinner]

Great stuff Rodney. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

[Rodney]

I sit by my coyote and watch what few I can see run around as little dots. Eventually they make their way back toward me albeit still flat out running and a good ways off. Go to range them and realize I dropped my rangefinder at some point. Ditch my gear by my coyote, grab sticks, gun, binos, and gps and start marching toward the last sight. I'm worried because they are moving toward BLM. Sure enough I hear a rifle crack. I cat and mouse a couple small antelope but really there was no getting near them they were all types of shook up. Begrudgingly head back to my pack which is now a mile from me.

Lay down beside dead coyote and drink some water. Skin my yote while looking around. Nothing. Pack up and head to truck which of course is now a mile away as well. Get distracted by the same little antelope again and waste some more time and distance on the way back. Finally get to truck. The father and son duo are now parked behind me.Dead tired. Already getting near 12 miles for the day. I can see the 2 guys way out working on something on the ground. I cooked noodles while wishing them ill for their success. Feel bad about wishing them ill and know I could probably bust down their antelope way faster so I put my boots back on grab knife and head toward them. It was guys from earlier. They decided to use my path cause it sounded good. Wow. They shot a baby buck. Great job thanks etc etc. We pack it back to the trucks. They leave.

Its probably 230pm now. I am sitting in the truck looking at my OnX and realize this angel of a woman gave me access to over 13000 acres of grazing land, river front and ridgeline. Amazing. I take off my boots and socks and drive around barefoot so my feet can dry. I ride for 3 hours just glassing fields. She even said open gates and drive into fields. I do. All this land is so.. big. But empty. Not a single animal. Maybe a bird. I mean i'm sure they are there but ya. Study map a little more and see several miles north she has a HUGE parcel I hadn't noticed. I ride up and turn into the field following old truck tracks. Sun setting and i'm pretty much done for the day. I notice two white dots on a ridgline.

Damn it's two bucks. One small one wide. I just watch them no approach available they have overwatch. Then i'm like oh but my truck. I get out on far side. Get rifle and shimmy into bed. No rangefinder. They are close enough. I guess 200. Put it on larger bucks should and touch off. They meander over the ridge. Oh well. They pop up on top. I can see the wide bucks head and neck rest is behind grass. He is walking slow. I hover over where the area where his spine above the shoulders should be and touch off. They disappear. I thought maybe I heard a thud.

Put on boots and grab gun and sticks. If I see them under the ridge I'll shoot. Its getting dark and i'm too tired to chase any further. I'm halfway up the ridge and I hear a ton of honking. Turn around and some truck is boxing in my truck and a guy is yelling something at me.

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[reeltight]

This is a good story.

[jevans]

I can’t tell if you’re having a good time or not, but it is a good story nonetheless. Lol

[DRDUCK]

I hope it turns out great but guy yelling don't sound happy.

[Rodney]

Get down the hill and there is a man and woman looking at me mad.

"Guess you just got busted"
"I don't think so, miss janet gave me permission to hunt here earlier today"
"She says you can hunt this??"
"She said I can hunt her land"
"This isn't her land its mine"
"Can i show you why i thought I was on her land?"
"Fine"
I pull up onx and say I have a parcel map.
He cuts me off
"I have onx I know its got her name on it still. I just bought it this year. Are you the taxidermist from sc??"
"Haha yea"
"Ok man she told me about you were good"
Thanks sorry didn't mean to trespass etc etc sorry we good
"Only thing I'll ask before I go is that I may have shot a antelope over the ridge, if I leave my rifle in truck may I check if I did?"
"Do what you need to do man we are going to go bust some other trespassers on the other end of property."
Thanks bye.

I walk back up hill and I can't believe it there is my lope laying dead on the very spot I shot him.

It got dark dark as I caped him out. By the time I was gutting him the coyotes were already starting up downwind of the stiff wind. Although it was probably my imagination I swear they got closer every few minutes. Packed Cape in my bag and rolled the carcass sans guts and trotters in a tarp and threw it on my shoulders. Made it down the ridge under the barb wire fence through the field and finally to the truck.

Drove 50 miles or so back to billings and went to a 24 hr Walmart. I touched up my capes salted them down and broke down my carcass in the back of the truck at Walmart. The things I saw at this damn Walmart were easily some of the most disturbing things I'd seen. Took about 2 long hours to do everything right turn out ears etc. Couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Got a little more work to do today and moved my flight to tomorrow so I can get back to real work. Going to try to see the place Lewis and Clark signed their names at pompeys pillar this afternoon.

That's enough for now. There is lots to say. I learned a million things. I'll be back next year. I didn't know a damn thing about any of this stuff. Reading online is a waste just try it only way. Miss janet actually brought me steaks from her cows and gave me a standing invite to hunt. Made 15 miles on foot yesterday. I'm tired but very happy and incredibly thankful.

R

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[Rodney]

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[Bad Habit]

Great story so far- get on with it- what was up at Wal mart? LoL
Awesome hunt for you.

[Rodney]

Something took all the scrap meat out of my truck bed last night. There was a good bit. Do not believe it was an animal. I'm near the reservation these people are kooky.

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[YoungBuckTX]

Hell of an adventure man! Living my dream. Jealous

[Highstrung]

Don't go getting raped up there

[Sportin' Woodies]

Or scalped