Juniper is one of the premier Oregon Pronghorn Hunts

“I am also a long time subscriber to onXmaps and use it religiously.”

First off..  Thank you Frank for the tips…  As many know the Juniper unit antelope hunt is an incredible opportunity.  I was fortunate to have unexpectedly drawn the coveted tag with only a single preference point.  The news came as a great surprise and the time to scout was severely limited with my prior commitments.  This lead me to some online research and the discovery of the Bwana Bubba Adventurers.  Upon contact with Frank, he sent me some places to look in search of antelope.  This being my 5th Oregon antelope tag, I had set my sights on killing a high caliber animal.  This is my story…..

On to the hunt…  Due to previous commitments with my oldest son, I was unable to make the season opener and did not arrive in the unit until Monday afternoon.  My son and I quickly setup camp, made a sandwich and headed out in search of our quarry.  We immediately headed for a spot Frank had pinpointed for us.  We weren’t 15 minutes from the trailer when I had spotted an animal apparently fleeing a waterhole that someone was driving into.  It was immediately evident the animal was a billie antelope and we fought to get into a better position to see.  We caught up with him 4-5 different times, but every time he was 750+ yards away and we just couldn’t make a good determination what caliber animal he was.  Based on the glances of occasional clarity, he appeared to be a really solid billie with good height and prong length.  This guy’s worth a second look…   The adventure continued into the sage and a few hours passed before any antelope were spotted in some nearby fields.  There were a few billies, but nothing worth watching to see if an exit from private was going to be a probability.  The evening found us trekking across what seemed to be an endless plateau of sage in search of the billie we had encountered earlier in the day.  As we hiked in search of our prey, the probability of killing an animal in 4-5’ tall sagebrush seemed a monumental task.  As darkness overcame us, the billie had gave us the slip and was securely hidden in his native territory.

Day 2 – We awoke early and headed to another location marked by Frank that allowed us to glass in a Westerly direction.  As the light slowly illuminated the desert floor, we patiently glassed a large bowl full of tall sage.  We found one good representative billie in the 13” range with decent prongs managing a small group of nannies a little over 500 yards from our position.   This was an easy pass and we moved on.  The next few hours we drove, hiked and glassed numerous locations to only find a few nannies and two very young billies.  Upon exiting the area we stopped to speak with another hunter whom was struggling to find any antelope in the area.  With this information and what we had also encountered it was determined to mark this spot off the list of places to revisit.  It was decided to head a little further South and explore during the heat of the day.  The road that separates N. Juniper and S. Juniper seemed like a good choice.  After a dusty 4 hour ride in the truck, we determined our choice was less than stellar…  Not a single antelope had been found upon the stretch of road.  We came out few miles North of the Narrows and made the decision to head further South.  After traveling another hour South we made the turn back into the unit again.  The next 10-12 miles were bumpy and dusty, but our hopes were high despite not locating any animals.  Then, all of a sudden we located several animals.  As we continued to glass, more and more of the tan and white creatures appeared scattered amongst the cattle in the area.  The next several hours were spent locating and investigating billies.  By the time the sun had set we had passed on 10-12 billies ranging in size from 8-13” all within a 3 mile radius.  The drive back to camp was long and filled with discussion around our discovery and future prospects.

Day 3 – Again an early rise took us in search of the billie we saw that first day.  Finding a decent vantage point, we set up and glassed the sea of sage in search of the elusive animal.  As the sun rose and the temperature quickly climbed we decided our search was futile.  No animals to be found….  While departing a billie was located off the side of the road seemingly careless of our presence.  Luckily for him, we again were not interested in what he had to offer and we both moved on our separate ways.  Arriving back at camp, we packed a healthy amount of supplies to ensure lunch and dinner were covered and pointed the truck South again.  Arriving at our location early afternoon we quickly located several groups of antelope.  One group had a dominant billie that was definitely coming into the rut and spent all his time head down checking the nannies.  With the heat waves in full effect, it was quite challenging to judge him at over a mile but we again passed feeling he didn’t meet our standards.  A couple miles further down the road another group was spotted over a mile away and we began closing the gap.  Once within 900 yards we took another look from atop a small rise.  It appeared there was a group of billies and one worth taking a closer look at.  We geared up back at the vehicle and prepared to sneak in for a closer look.  Due to the lack of terrain, we struggled to get within 600 yards of the group.  Finally, by crawling on our hands and knees we closed the gap to 470 yards.  This was when we were able to determine with confidence there was a billie in this group worth our precious tag.  Unable to get into a prone position I was far from comfortable taking a shot at that distance.  A small bunch of taller sage was 70 yards ahead and I felt I could get the needed elevation to setup for an ethical shot.  As we crawled toward the sage two additional billies began running in from the East and gained the attention of the target group.  This gave us the opportunity to quickly close the remaining gap and approach our target.  I quickly began setting up for the shot on the bedded billie.  Before I was able to settle in, the other two billies came into the targeted group and put them into alert.  Before I could react the group had quickly traveled away and was now acting very nervous at 800+ yards away.  A quick assessment found that we could access some tall sage and attempt to move close enough for a shot.  As we progressed thru the tall sage the group again became anxious and didn’t let us get within 600 yards before moving off to a ridgeline where they again met up with yet another group of antelope.  Our cover was good and were able to again move toward the group leveraging the tall sage.  The antelope went over the rise and we picked up the pace.  Looking up a single billie had turned back and was now staring us down at 300 yards.  A quick assessment put him at about 13” so we waited for him to move off and we proceeded toward where the group had went.  Just after cresting the ridgeline a group of antelope materialized on the opposing hillside.  I snuck up to a shooting position and quickly picked out the largest billie.  As the billie chases a few nannies It just didn’t look right to me.  At 450 yards the billie just didn’t look right…  I hesitated long enough for the billie to move out of range.  Just as I sat up to scratch my head and figure out what happened, my other billie came out from under us.  He had been over the roll of the hill and just out of site from our position.  He and the others that were traveling with him now joined the other group that now totaled about 50 animals.  The group seemed to be settling down and we backed off in attempt to parallel their position to get closer.  When we felt we were close to parallel we eased to the edge using sage for cover.  Our silhouettes didn’t even break the ridgeline before the large group began moving away again.  We sat and glassed them as they traveled over the next rise…  Quickly deliberating about our next move we noticed another single billie traveling in our direction.  A quick assessment found him to be too small and we decided to give the group one more chance.  The sun had set and light was quickly leaving as we pushed the half mile to the next vantage point.  We crested the top to see them already 800+ yards away and still moving.  We were unable to get within a ½ mile of them.  Aborting the mission we would come back Thursday and try again….  It was a couple miles back to the truck in the dark and a couple hour drive back to camp that night..  It was decided while traveling back we would move camp in the morning in attempt to be closer to our quarry.

Day 4 – We woke early and immediately worked on breaking camp.  On the road by 9:00 we headed to the Narrows.  A quick check-in at the Narrows campground had us headed for our hunting grounds before lunch.  We again saw a few groups of lopes on the way in and decided the billies were not what we were searching for.  Pulling into the drainage we left the big billie in the night before we parked the truck, gathered our gear and went afoot.  After cresting a rise just out of site of the truck we were immediately pinned by some nannies.   The range was 300 yards as we squatted in the open terrain.  Wouldn’t you know it, they were in curious mode and wanted to check us out.  Not knowing what may be behind them we stayed put.  The nannies came to 64 yards before deciding to lose interest in us.  Unfortunately when they did spook, they went the same direction we were traveling.  We rose up and went about 75 yards when we saw the original group of 8 billies from the day before standing 450 yards away.  I saw the one billie that was noticeably larger than the other 7 and knew this was our group.  I needed a better shooting position and found a mound of dirt 50 yards ahead.  The nannies had now joined the group of billies and they were becoming increasingly anxious.  I quickly got into a shooting position on the mound and my son began calling yardages.  350, 375, 400, 375….  The group was unsure on what direction to depart, I had to shoot quick.  I identified the large billie thru the 95 degree heat shimmer and followed him until he momentarily stopped.  At the report of the rifle the lope immediately dropped in his tracks.  I rolled over and gave some high fives to my son as the remaining group galloped away in a dust storm.  Gathering up our gear we headed over to claim our trophy.  Approaching the billie, there was something wrong….  This was not the billie we had hunted the previous day.  In my haste, after chasing him miles the day before and not being able to get within 800 yards of him, I had taken the wrong animal.  The heat shimmer and my haste had resulted in harvesting the wrong animal.  Although saddened by my actions, we were also very happy with having harvested a beautiful animal that is proving to be excellent table fare.  

Thanks again Frank for your aid in making this a fantastic trip!

Pronghorn from a previous hunt in Oregon