first antelope with a bow 2

021 archery elk in the breaks weren’t producing much so my husband and I decided to take a road trip to Zortman and scout for antelope.

On our way back to camp I saw an antelope buck with a doe about 90 yards off the road on BLM ground. We stopped to watch them and the buck would not let the doe leave. My photographer husband took a bunch of pictures and videos of the two.

My brain had already come up with a plan to hunt them. I told him we would park about half a mile down the road, creep up to the small rise just east of the antelope, hold up the decoy, he would run to us, and I would shoot him.

My husband said OK so we drove down the road. The buck would not let the doe leave so I felt pretty confident we would catch his attention with the decoy.

We crept back towards the antelope and then I saw his horns. I told my husband to hold the decoy up. He lay prone and held the decoy with both hands because it was really windy. I sat behind the decoy and watched the buck.

He saw us and postured. Then he started running straight towards us. The buck angled to get downwind which gave me a chance to draw. He stopped broadside at about 20 yards and I let an arrow fly. Because of the wind, I hit him further back than I wanted.

The buck ran towards us. I thought he was going to run us over but he turned and I could see bright red blood pouring out both sides of his body. He made another circle and then bolted towards the road in the direction of my pickup. The buck disappeared over a small hill and I didn’t see him cross the road.

I turned to my husband in disbelief because my plan worked exactly as I described it. We sat and waited for ten or so minutes and then slowly crept forward to see over the hill and we could see the buck laying in the ditch.

We watched him in the ditch for about 10 minutes and never saw any movement.

It had been a while since I blood trailed an animal so we found where I had shot him and followed the trail to where he fell.

The next day we headed home and ran across the Game Warden. I stopped to talk to him because I was super excited to tell him about my antelope hunt. I’m probably the only person who gets excited to get checked when hunting.

This was my first antelope with a bow, and I loved sharing this amazing experience with my husband.