Frank Sr. and Frank Jr. with their Silvies Antelope

Early on I had told my old running partners, Frank Sr. and Frank Jr. that they needed to put in for the Silvies Pronghorn – Antelope tag.   Low and behold one of the Frank’s drew the tag for second season.  At that time I was working for a Sporting Goods Company in Portland, OR as the Operations Officer and was able to get a loaner Garmin GPS the     “E- Map” for them to use.

I had taken the time to put in GPS coordinates that would enable them to find the truely big Pronghorn – Antelopes that occupied the area. “Frankie if you take the time and not shoot the first nice buck you see, you can get a real wall hanger buck.”

I suppose I should explain the GPS coordinates and how I came about with them!  I have spent a great deal of time in the Silvies Unit and neibhoring units on weekend scouting trips.   I also had the privelege to know many of the ranchers in the area from spending so much time in the area.   Ranchers do like to talk about the land and will give vital information on the whereabouts of game and game that they might have taken off the land.   I have made a habit of collecting the information.   When I was with Fisherman’s Marine and Outdoors I was able to become an expert with GPS’s and gave a couple of classes.   I would never leave home without a GPS!

I did not receive any calls during the hunt and I wondered how the boys did on the hunt.
I had to meet the two Franks at their store for a run and see the results.  As can see the pictures tell the story.  Not the whole story mind you, but the end results.  Frank Sr.’s comment to me was  “Bubba you were right on with the waypoints, we saw more than 14 big bucks and tried to kill them all.”  Ok!  They did miss a couple of them at long range, but when it counted they netted the one that counts.  This buck was running with about 60 does and a couple of smaller bucks.

Having the right knowledge about a spot that you have never hunted can make the hunt successful.  In the past 8 years, I have dial too many to count on the use of GPS and waypoints for hunting spots.  Pronghorn – Antelope have been the most successful for me.  Most have not hunted for them and know that they need to find out about them in a quick manner.  That is a service that I can offer for a reasonable fee.
The Garmin GPS systems have been a great too work with and I have never had a failure in the field with a Garmin product.

Frank’s Son-in-Law!   He is 6′ 6″! Check out the Horns!

Bwana Bubba