At this point I only have pictures to give you all. David is going to write the story via his journal.
David and I had many email contacts, he bought a Garmin GPS, came by and I marked maps.
He made the trips to South Wagontire to scout all the hotspots and said he had a great time and lots of buck lopes.
David K. with his 2010 S. Wagontire Lope
Brian w/David's Lope-Glassing Partner
Frontal Shot!
Randy Riley with Beulah Lope 2010
Randy and Travis on a grusome hunt in the Beulah Unit.
Man this was a tough hunt, both physically and mentally. My dad had thirteen points built up for Antelope-Pronghorn in Oregon. He was ready to cash in guaranteeing a draw, but giving up on one of the other top Oregon Antelope Units. This hunt we went on was the Beulah Unit. Let me start by saying this unit is not at all your typical Antelope country. It was steep, rocky, and brushy and did I mention STEEP! After previously talking with the local biologist for the area and making notes of the areas he suggested, obviously that is where we started when we arrived two days before the season. We glassed and glassed until dark and were not seeing a thing, no Deer, Antelope, Elk, nothing. He started to get that regretful feeling for choosing a lesser unit with that many points earned. All we could do is put up with the long days of getting up at 4 and getting back to camp at 10 in search of a shooter. You’d think hunting in August would be great… It is but has just as many downfalls as hunting in November. First off you really don’t prepare yourself for the LONG days. Light at 6, dark at 9, that makes for a long day. Eventually we scrapped any info from the Biologist and went out on our own. Ended up stumbling on the only flat Lopey looking area we could find within a 30 mile radius of our camp. That night before the opener we glassed a nice buck that had 15 does with him. This was exciting, first to actually finally see some lopes, but also to find a shooter for the next morning. Seemed too easy! That opening morning we were up at 4 and up in our area by 5:30AM, 6 AM it was light enough to glass and I spotted the herd about a mile away. Time for the big stalk! Eventually after an hour of stalking cautiously, we ended at the last Juniper cover on the edge of the flats where they were. I ranged the buck at 450 yards. My dad shoots a 270 Weatherby Magnum and has ethically killed game at those distances in the past. Just after I ranged him, he decided it was a good time to bed down. After building a makeshift bench rest out of rocks and a backpack, he got comfy and ready for him to stand, 45 minutes later he stood. I told my dad whenever you are ready! I watched through my Swaroski and thirty seconds later BOOM! I watched as he shot literally two inches over the buck. End of that stalk! They were gone like lightning. Now since this is getting long, I am going to speed things up a bit. Over the next two days, we only saw Lopes in that exclusive area. Sunday night we managed a perfect stalk from another mile plus away. Three bucks but when finally we were fifty yards from them, my dad decided to hold off, they were not all that great. Fun stalk none the less! Monday morning we slept in until 5:30, got a late start, hunting hard the last three or four days in 100 degree weather was starting to take a toll on us. We weren’t seeing the quality bucks we were hoping for and the one that got away was exactly that. So that morning we weren’t expecting much heading into our “area”. Put up the spotters and within 5 minutes he spotted the buck he eventually ended up taking. We made another great stalk from over a mile away up to a rocky outlook just behind them. Once he found a good rest he set up for the shot. BOOM! I heard the “smack” and then there were smiles. My dads killed bigger lopes and was hoping for that magical 17 Incher, but I don’t think we would have found him. It made for a great end to a hunt with lots of ups and downs with my dad, but more importantly good memories. By the way, my dad is 54 and could out hike any of my buddies! We definitely came home with blisters and missing boot lugs. By Travis
Jeremy’s 2009 Oregon Antelope in the Juniper Unit
This particular was a bit different, I had gotten an email from Jeremy’s dad on ideas for his son’s hunt.
Jeremy had an area that he was going to hunt, but wanted a couple of other areas. I knew of a Booner taken in 2008 and decide to give him the location.
His buddy Zach had a new Garmin 530CX if I remember and I has able to get the information to him via email successfully. I would like to say that my information help Jeremy in harvesting his Antelope – Pronghorn but he got dialed into an area and found a real Dinasour Lope.
“Lope hunt was awesome. I did 90% of my hunting in the ——– Mtn. country around ——- Creek. I missed a pig I would guess high 80′s minimum score on the second day at 507 yds. I chased him for 4 more days and ended up killing a nice mid 70′s buck that was hanging with the monster. I never got closer than 700 yds from the big buck ever again after missing.”
“Thank you for the points but we did not use them as we had our man so to speak, just could never get close enough to shoot. I attached a couple of pictures, thanks for the work. Have a great day!”
Jeremy was successful in harvesting a very good buck though in the Juniper Hunt Unit.
Bryce’s 2009 Oregon Silvies Hunt Unit Pronghorn – Antelope
The Bates Antelope hunt story started a while back at an RV Show in Salem. As usual when talking about RV’s one (sales person) likes to find some common ground. I found that that Harold Bates was an avid hunter and outdoorsman. I also knew that he had a number of points saved up for hunting Oregon Antelope – Pronghorns.
Whether he bought and RV from me or not, I told him when he needed some information on where to hunt when applying for a tag, doesn’t hesitate to call or email me.
Well this year (2009) Harold and his son Bryce both drew the Silvies #2 Oregon Antelope Tag and contacted me. It was nice to hear from him again and I was glad to see what I could do for him and his son.
Harold has hunted Antelope in Montana and Wyoming many times, but this would be their first time in Oregon… So he is a very experienced hunt of great success.
I was able to get waypoints to Harold and he put them on this Garmin Nuvi. We did have to work on that a bit and came up that the Nuvi works with gpx format extension files.
During Harold and Bryce’s hunt, my son and I were over in the area on the closing weekend I thought we could find them and see what we could do. The following is the notes that I got from Harold on the hunt.
“Our antelope season was not a complete bust! My son got a nice one, and comparing it to what the guys at the Artistic Taxidermy were displaying, we were very pleased, it was a full 15 inches and fairly heavy with very nice shovels. Our search for my buck was long! I had chances to shoot smaller bucks, but was not going to settle for one smaller than my sons. It’s better to not take one than to take a smaller buck; Dad would never live that one down. I do have another chance, heading for Montana this week for Antelope and Mule deer. So I’ll have another chance.”
Frankie and I had tried to find Harold and Bryce at Chickahominy Reservoir and could not find them on Sunday. Sent him a picture of the sign at the lake and said we are here, but your not, so the following is the comment back. I should have looked harder as we past through Silver Creek on the way out.
“Frank, we moved the Motorhome up Silver Creek to cut down on drive time. We did run into some Lopes west of Dry Lake, been hunting there for the last couple of days. We did jump a couple of shooter bucks, and a few does. I passed on a small buck. My son Bryce connected on one, you see in the picture.
We checked out the Buck Creek area, spent 1/2 a day there, we did see a few does. There are a few bow hunters camped in the area.”
I would have to say that Bryce and his dad should be very proud of Bryce’s Lope. Very heavy horn and great prongs. The new state record for Montana at almost 92 points has only 14 1/2 horns. It is not always length that makes a great lope, but mass and prongs.
Great Job Bryce!
Scott is a great success story; he had talked with the local biologist for the area and had mapped out the area. He also did a scouting trip for two (2) days just after the rifle season. In this case, I looked over his area, which was a good area to hunt. Scott did all the work on this hunt and he should be very pleased with the P & Y Pronghorn that he harvested. This is a beautiful buck with great horns!
Scott also dedicated if he had too, the whole season which is 9 days to get his buck.
Here is the short version that I have on the hunt from Scott. Hopefully I will get a little more detail about the hunt.
Scott Ruppel’s 2009 Oregon Archery Qwyhee Unit Antelope
Frank,
“I killed a nice goat 14 1/4 and 14 3/4 just short of 70 inches. I sat at a water pond for 10 hours-30 yard shot.”
Scott.
