Philip got a hold of me prior to the season on anything I could come up with on the Warner Unit for Lopes.   Philip had a buddy that knew area, plus he spent a great deal of time talking with the Area Biologist.   Funny the biologist told him he would not have a problem in the Warner Unit harvesting an Antelope.   Recently I talked with Garrett at Artistic Taxidermy and he told the average buck coming was about 14 1/2″.   Philip’s buck is a really dandy and I am sure when he has it on the wall in the trophy room he will be glad he decided to have the trophy mounted.

HI Frank,  Here’s my story from the Warner unit. We ended up hunting an area that my buddy had previously hunted which also happened to be near one of the waypoints you gave me.  Thanks for all of your help.

I began preparing for my first ever antelope hunt shortly my hunting buddy and I were drawn.  My buddy loaded several rounds of 130 grain Nosler ballistic tips for my .270 until we finally settled on a load that produced a muzzle velocity of roughly 3,050 fps.  We shot several times at the practice range until I felt relatively comfortable out to 300 yards.  I had my gun zeroed at 200 yards with a 6 inch drop at 300 yards.  I purchased some Stoney Point shooting sticks, open country Camo shirts, knee pads from Salvation Army, and some leather gloves in case I needed to crawl. 

The day for our departure finally arrived, and we got up early the Sunday morning before the Wednesday opener, loaded up my truck with all of our gear including a spare ice chest loaded with block ice and hit the road.  We made it to the first area that we wanted to scout and did some evening scouting.  For the next two days, we scouted some areas that were recommended to us, as well as, an area my buddy had hunted previously. 

On opening day, we ended up settling on the area that my buddy had previously hunted. We got up early on opening day and decided to split up and set up in a couple of areas that we had seen antelope the day before.  I had several does come down off a ridge along with one nice buck.  I was set up on the other side of a Juniper tree because of the sun direction and could not get a decent shot at about 250 yds.  They started to head away on the other side of small depressions.  I tried to put a quick sneak on them by using  Juniper trees as cover but got busted.  No other opportunities on opening day. 

That evening I walked several ridges and plateaus to get to know the area better.  I saw several antelope.  The next day I set up in a different spot.  I tried to put the sneak on a nice buck with 8 does.  I made a big loop to get around where they were loafing.  Unfortunately, by the time I made it to where they were by using Junipers as cover, they had moved and decided to mosey to another area and was now out of range and heading away from me.  I spotted another large group about a ¾ of a mile away and began another sneak.   For some reason, they spooked when I was well over 1,000 yards away.  I thought this was strange as I was being very careful to hide behind Junipers. 

I decided to continue on anyway to see if there were any others left in the area.  I got set up and was glassing and noticed another hunter hiding under another Juniper about 150 yds.  Away (he probably spooked the antelope that I was trying to put the sneak on).  I waved to him and left to go back to the truck as it was now about 12:30.  My buddy radioed me on the GPS that he was ready to come in and head back to camp for a break.  He said there was a nice buck bedded down between him and the truck.  He said if I could position myself between him and the truck he would try to “push” the antelope towards me.  I thought what the heck, we might get lucky so I positioned myself under a Juniper in the shadows and set up my shooting sticks.   After about 20 minutes I saw my buddy on the top of the ridge about a half mile away.  He headed down and about 10 minutes later I saw a nice buck headed my way about 800 yards out.  I was amazed that he kept on heading for my position.  I glassed him at about 400 yards and he looked pretty nice.  I decided that I would take him if the opportunity presented itself. He kept on walking briskly towards me.  I finally ranged him at 248 yards and knew he was in “the zone”.  There was a very brisk wind so I waited as long as I could for him to come broadside and almost dead down wind.  He stopped for a brief moment.  I swung my rifle from left to right through him just like a duck.  I centered on his front shoulder and moved it back an inch or two.  I sensed he was about to step forward and pulled the trigger.  He folded like a sack of potatoes at 227 yds. 

We played cat and mouse with the antelope for the next three days until we finally got my buddy a nice buck on day 5.  We had a great steak dinner at the Adel store on Saturday night and hit the hot springs on Hart Mt. in the afternoon after my buddy got his antelope. 

The folks at the Adel Store are super friendly (Al and Marcie Prom, Debbie, and Ben).  They let hunters use their walk in cooler to store the antelope.  We purchased ice, gas, and had refreshing cold tap beers for $2 after we brought in my antelope.  They were exceptionally friendly and helpful.  Unfortunately, Al and Marcie have their store and home up for sale so who knows how the set up will be in the future.  For now, I would encourage anyone to patronize them if they are in the area.   Based on my conversation with the taxidermist who was stationed at the Adel store, I decided to have my antelope mounted.  He measured one side at 15 3/8, but did not measure the other side.   The only downside to the trip was that we saw more hunters than we anticipated for the first three days of the season.  After the third day however, all but one of the hunting camps had left and on the fourth day we had the area to ourselves  Unfortunately, several of the hunters on days 1-3 were hunting like the cavalry out of ATV’s, jeeps, etc. and spooking every antelope in sight.  I don’t mind people using ATV’s to retrieve their game, but in my opinion, too many people hunt out of them and screw up the hunting for others in the process.    All in all it was a great trip.  We saw many antelope, sage grouse, mule deer and some wonderful scenery.  I look forward to the next time in another 10 years or so when I will be the ripe old age of 59.