Tag Archives: oregon antelope hunting

Chris & Lucas’s 2023 Steens Antelope Hunt…

September 1, 2023 Frank Biggs Leave a comment

Prolog:

As promised, Frank…here’s the story. The big buck we missed was in the same basin you and I each had a waypoint in. The one we ended up taking was about a mile from one of your other waypoints, and way further off the road. I had some waypoints scattered around the area, too.
You never quite know what the landscape really is until you’re there and put your own eyes on it.

I appreciate your help and affirmation on some of the spots. I kind of wish we’d had time to explore all of them…but we weren’t going to leave bucks to find bucks, everything in this story was within about 3-4 mile stretch. We didn’t stray too far out of it except when weather was too bad to drive the dirt. Had we needed more than a day and half, I’m sure we would have extended out further.

Story:

June 10th I was going through my normal routine early in the morning, scrolling through FB as I sat on the throne. I saw a friend had posted they had drawn a coveted elk tag and realized results were up! I immediately opened my ODFW account to see if I had drawn my 600 series tag, not even considering I would draw my Steens antelope tag with only 11 points. There it was, “Successful” for antlerless deer. Wait, what? Successful for Steens antelope? I had to do a double take, close out and sign back in to make sure it wasn’t a mistake. Well shoot, I wasn’t planning for that. But I immediately knew I was taking my 13 year old, Lucas, to fill this tag. He has busted his rear end since he was 8 hunting with me, trying to get him to shoot a deer since he was 9 with no luck. Within a week I had reserved a camp site and was knee deep into E-scouting on OnX. Within a month my map looked like a Christmas tree with waypoints. I reached out to some people I know more familiar with the area than me, even though I had been there before. I had the tag previously in 2011 and my dad had the tag in 2010. So I had a general knowledge and knew where I wanted to focus. One I reached out to was a fellow by the name of Frank with Bwana Bubba Adventures who runs the Oregon Pronghorn – Antelope Hunters FB page. He was always posting about offering info and waypoints so i reached out to him through email. He provided a few areas I had not looked into, but more importantly further confirmed some of the areas I had already focused on, one of which ended up being spot on. Calls to the local bio reaffirmed some of my waypoints.
There was only so much more I could do with no time to take a scouting trip before season, so I spent the following weeks dreaming and talking with Lucas about what to expect, looking at pictures for visual aids, where to aim, etc. Talking over plans and areas with my BIL and my wife’s cousin who had wanted to tag along and camp up on the mountain to scout and glass for us. This would end up being a game changer having them along. With rifles zeroed 2 weeks before season, it was almost time to head over and have a day of scouting before opening day. As the trip loomed closer, my wife decided to extend a stay with her sister and the kids at Sunriver another day, meaning Lucas would come home Wednesday and we’d turn around and drive 6.5 hours to camp the following morning. Being the kind to jump at an opportunity for more time in the field, I changed our camp plans to start on Wednesday so we’d have a full 2 + days of scouting. You know, to save the kid a few hours of driving time.

Wednesday morning rolled around and I hit the road to meet the family in LaPine and get over to camp. That evening we took a drive up the mountain to enjoy the views with the plan to hit the scouting hard in the morning. With the glassers planned to arrive Friday morning, my goal Thursday was to find a camp up on the mountain for them to get to that would allow them short access on their E-bikes to glass and scout nearby in the areas I had wanted to hunt. On the way up to find a camp we pulled off to the side to get out and glass a large basin. A short hike to a vantage point and soon had a group of antelope in my binos. They looked to be 1500 yards or more away, but could clearly see a buck with the group. From that distance, I thought this may be a good one. I quickly got back to the truck to get the spotting scope, returned to Lucas and got it set up. As soon as I found them I knew this buck was as good as we would possibly find. I told Lucas to take a look so I could sit back and watch his reaction. It was nothing short of spectacular to see his face when he looked back at me. Opening day goal was set. We would end up checking back on this basin twice the next day confirming he was still in the area and undisturbed. This area happened to be one I had marked on OnX and was very near a waypoint Frank had sent me for affirmation.

The rest of Thursday was spent glassing other areas and driving quite a bit, only to see one small buck. Friday morning came around and we were up early again to recheck the buck. A quick hike and glass confirmed they were still there, so we were off to meet the others and guide them to their camp site. A slow drive with a camper on the truck, we got them all settled in and hung out for a bit talking about the upcoming hunt. They took a ride up the road a ways to do a quick glass and get a lay of the land. They came back with no news, not a big deal. Evening came around and we were headed back to our camp with one last stop to look again. Still there. We got back to camp to get an early sleep, 3:30 was going to show up quick with the anticipation of opening morning.

Opening morning and we were on the road from camp by 4:15. I’ve been surprised too many times by unexpected hunters beating me to my spot. We made it to our planned parking spot and waited a few minutes to get a little closer to sunup. We couldn’t see anything anyways, I wanted to at least have some visibility as we hiked in so I could see if we busted them out. We waited on a small ridge as the landscape began to lighten up. We spent the first 20 minutes of daylight glassing everything we could see and couldn’t turn up any antelope. Shoot, maybe somebody stopped in after us Friday night and busted them out. There was still a lot of ground we couldn’t see behind the contours of the basin, we just needed to get up on the plateau and start our progression around the rim with a higher vantage point. As we crested the first ridge I was stopping every couple of steps to glass through the sage brush in front of me to the basin below. Third stop to glass and there they were, tucked back into an arm of the basin, about 600 yards, staring right at me. Dangit, they were a lot closer than the night before in a totally different area. We slowly got down on the ground and took packs off to come up with a plan. We were clearly spotted, but they didn’t seem to concerned with us. Up on my knees to look again and evaluate, some were still looking right at me while others had started walking to the left. The rocky ground wasn’t going to work for belly crawling, we only made it about 10′ before we had to get up. Glass again, still there, still looking our way. I decide to get the big red cow off my pack, it had worked before in a much wider open area than this. We made it about 20′ with the cow when we got to the next spot to see them and they were trotting up the hill away from us. Well, that didn’t work. We kneel down and watch as the crest the ridge and stop. Some are looking back at us, some are looking over the ridge. I just want to see what their next move is so I can decide our next play. Soon they all turn to look away from us so we take advantage of the moment to get out of sight, get our packs back on and decide what to do next. After regrouping we get uphill a short distance to get glass on them again. We got up just in time to see them going out of site to the right along the top of the basin. We have 3 options at this point, discussing as we watch to make sure they don’t get out into the basin below us. We can get to the bottom and hope they went back down over the next ridge. We can cut straight across this bottom of this arm of the basin and come up right behind where they disappeared. Or we can continue working our way up onto the plateau and hope to meet up with out in the open. We decide to go the high route as it would give us the greater view and we could already see most of the basin from our current location and they weren’t out there. If we got high, we could come back down to the basin from out of site and hopefully get above them. If they were still out, we would be able to spot them from a long distance and come with a plan from there. In hindsight, we probably should have taken that plan of attack as soon as we saw them. Live and learn, I guess. They weren’t in a hurry, so maybe they’re just over the next ridge.

We back out the way we came, get out of site of the basin and begin working our way up to the top. As we approach the crest of the first ridge and turn to start moving along the top a coyote runs right in front of us at about 30 yards. As we watch him bounce away through the sage in the direction we were aiming for, we smile at each other as we see only his head “boing-boing-boing” disappear over the hill. I’m hoping he doesn’t spook the antelope we are supposedly headed for, but thankful Lucas got to see a coyote up so close to us. We take 3 steps and hear “PPPHHHHFFFFFF” behind and to our left. I turn to see the buck standing at 7 o’clock, guessing 250 yards from us. What the…how the heck did he get behind us? Suddenly it’s a rush to get set up: tripod deployed, can’t kneel down he’d be out of view…can’t get the rifle set properly, need to take the backpack off…backpack off…there he goes running…disappears over the ridge…turn right, get reset, he’s going to come up in front of that knob…there he is….300 yards, aim upper third of body, right behind the shoulder…breath, don’t squeeze until you’re holding steady…whenever you’re ready and feel steady, don’t rush…BANG!…right over his back, dust flies just behind him…takes off running quartering away…reload, adjust your angle….buck stops, turns quartering away….aim straight on, you went right over him on the last one…BANG!…shot in front…takes off running right, same distance….reload, reset, wait for him to stop….stops, stays broadside this time….aim straight on, right where the brown meets the white…BANG!…shot is in front of him again. Buck take off quartering away again. He stops again at I’m guessing is no less than 400 yards. I tell Lucas no shot, we’re too far. Just watch him and let’s see where he goes. After a few seconds he takes off on a trot to our right toward the basin and out of site as he moves behind the next hump of the ridge.

Whew! That was some excitement! I talk him down from the excitement. I can tell he’s upset, but he’s not broken. That’s a lot to ask of a kid who has never had the crosshairs on a big game animal to suddenly go from 0 to 60 unexpectedly. Not a big deal, bud. We all miss, and a clean miss is better than a bad hit. I could tell after the first shot he was no longer steady, the misses were getting further away. We needed to regroup and catch our breath and see if we could catch up to him again. We were already heading that direction, I’m hoping he dropped down into the basin again and we’d be able to find him and just take our time and see if we can put another plan together. A mile and a half later we’ve looked over every inch of the basin and out over the plateau and neither the buck or his does are anywhere in site. Dang. Everything worked out but the shot, and I should have just told him to aim center elevation. Hopefully that isn’t the last opportunity we get at a buck. We hike our way back to the truck still constantly glassing everything we can see. By now it’s almost 2 miles back, so we have time to talk and discuss what we can do better, and just relive the excitement. We get back to the truck and head to the glasser’s camp to see if they’ve spotted anything. They arrive on their bikes shortly after we got there. They could see for miles in all directions and did not see a single antelope. Boy, at this point I’m wondering how many chances we’ll get. That group was really the only animals we had seen since Wednesday with the exception of the lone little buck Thursday afternoon. We eat lunch and rest for a bit since we had been up since 3:30 am. We decide to leave these guys and head back to our camp to rest some more and figure what our next venture will be. We make a run out to a higher vantage point to glass again where the morning festivities took place and still cannot find them anywhere, now with even more visibility. Glassers promise they’ll get down there that evening if we don’t come back and see if they can spot him up. Back to camp we go. Forecast calls for a thunder storm very soon…this could get interesting.

Saturday afternoon, the weather forecast is no lie. As dime and nickel size hail is pounding our trailer, I watch the runoff flooding the campground through the window. I fear this hail is going to crack the vents, it sounds like somebody throwing handfuls of gravel at us. Sunday is looking to be more of the same and even worse on Monday. We discuss our expectations and goals and agree that as much as we want that big buck, or another of similar stature, we need to think about taking the next shot we get no matter the size because there’s no telling how much we’ll be able to hunt with this incoming weather. We decide that we’ll keep looking for a big buck through the evening and starting Sunday morning we’re going to open up our expectations. We spend the evening on the maintained gravel roads, knowing I don’t want anything to do with the “dirt” roads after a rain like that. I get a text that the glassers have spotted a group about a mile away, tough stalk, but doable. Looks to be a decent buck in the group, maybe a second smaller buck. Not wanting to chance the road to get to them, we decide to play it safe that evening. First thing in the morning we’ll hike in to glass the big buck basin and if we can’t find him we’ll head to their camp and hike in to see if we spot their group from the night before. Just before dark they follow through with their promise and confirm that basin is clear of any antelope. Try to sleep and hit the ground running on Sunday as discussed.

Sunday morning comes later than expected. I set my alarm for 4:00…weekdays. Somehow I still awoke by 4:30, but we’re on the road a bit later than we wanted. It’s already getting light as we pull into our parking spot and make the walk to high ground to glass the basin. 20 minutes of full visibility and glassing every inch of the basin and plateau above we confirm that they still have not returned. Disappointed but far from discouraged we hike back to the truck and finish the drive to camp. It’s early enough the glassers are still in bed, so we get grab the spotting scope, rifle, and tripod, leaving our packs at the truck, to hike up the hill and see if we can spot the group of antelope from the night before. Less than a minute and we’ve got the spotted. A loooong ways away. We watch them for a few minutes and decide that buck is worth making a move on.

We walk back to camp as the glassers are pouring their coffee and come up with a game plan. We’re going to get higher up our ridge to a little better vantage point and watch a bit longer to see if they move or bed. We all make the trek up and get set up with spotting scope. From this point, we could see the entire canyon and the glassers could watch and guide us as we made our stalk. After about 10 minutes we have determined there are two bucks in the group, one is definitely bigger than other, and that one is our goal. 6 of the 8 antelope have now bedded down. We come up with the best route to get below them and stay concealed as we come up the mountain on the other side. This was key, as we had to drop down a rock ledge in the bottom and come up the rock ledge on the other side. There was really only one way to go that looked like this was even doable without completely skirting the bottom of the entire canyon to get around the rocks. I get my pack on and tell Lucas all he’s carrying is the tripod. I’ve got everything we need and all he needs to worry about is getting the tripod set and making the shot. We drop off the side of the mountain into the canyon and we’re soon out of site of the antelope. Now it’s up to us to stay on route and the glassers to let us know if the antelope get up and move. We were about to make the first stalk of Lucas’ life and the most exciting I’d ever been a part of.

As we descend into the canyon I am checking glassing the antelope every few steps to A) make sure they haven’t busted out yet and B) know when we can pick up the pace. It doesn’t take long until we are out of view. We pause to gain our bearings and I tell Lucas we are out of view we’re going to speed up a bit to get to the bottom and find a crossing. I should have taken a picture of the bottom either on the way there or back. There was no easy crossing. We descended down a rock face, carefully choosing our steps and me waving the tripod in front of the ledges to try and make sure there were no snakes hiding out of view. Cross the creek by rock hopping in the very bottom, and back up the other side. The other side is a lot steeper as we pick out way up the ledge and finally crest the rocks. As we get out of the rim rock we sit down to catch our breath and drink some water, looking up hill to try and find the path we decided on from the top behind us. Everything looks different from the bottom, we already had to cross at a different point than we had anticipated once we finally put eyes on the terrain. As we rest and look around, we can’t see more than 100 yards up hill with the slope of the ridge. We are entirely at the mercy of the spotters behind us, and a fair amount of luck. After maybe 2 minutes of rest I check my phone: They are up and moving to your right…get up the mountain…500 yards away. Dang, let’s go bud, we gotta roll. We cut straight up, no side hilling. As we reach the base of the rim rock we had planned on coming up behind there is an old two-trac, now a cattle trail. I drop my pack there, knowing it will be easy to find when needed and I don’t want the extra bulk and weight going up the rest of this hill. We get under the rim rock and I text “Which way?”…”Keep angling up about 2 o’clock, they’re all up and moving toward your right, they’re heading for that glass strip”…Glass strip? What glass strip? All I see is hill. This was a key point because as far as the spotters could tell we could see everything they were telling me…That was not the case: this hill was much steeper than they could tell from behind us. This will come into play shortly.
We continue on our direction until we cut a cattle trail going up hill and the ridge levels out a little bit. I can now see close to 150 yards up hill and some sparse junipers spread out. We pick a nearby large tree and slowly aim straight at it. Now I’m getting real anxious, expecting to see horns and eyes above the grass above us at anytime staring us down and not ever having a chance at a shot. We make the first tree, check my phone: You’re on the right path…first one is less than 300 yards…they’re going to cross straight in front of you. Uhhh…I can’t see 200 yards so they’re going to cross out of view. We pick another tree and start heading that way, now angling toward them and really taking a gamble. Next tree, check my phone: they’re right up on that flat in front of you, can you see that flat?…Nope, can’t see anything flat…There is a lone juniper on the next ridge in front of you, behind that is a big dead tree with a black trunk, can you make it to that? I see a juniper, I don’t see a big dead tree anywhere. That tells us how much steeper the mountain is than they can tell: a 20′ plus tree is out of our sight and less than 100 yards from us. Lucas picks up the dead top of a tree in that direction, we figure that must be it. We cut toward it and slowly start to see more of that tree and know we’re headed in the right direction. We get to a lone juniper and stop to glass. No animals. I tell Lucas to get the tripod set to his elevation, we can’t kneel or we won’t see them, we have to stand. He gets the tripod set, takes the rifle and gets it set and tucked into his shoulder. I check my phone….They’re less than 100 yards, can you see them?…Nope…They’re going to come over the ridge to your right. We adjust our angle and shift to look to the right where we can actually see quite far. Check my phone…They’re feeding right in front of you, not far. Still can’t see them. I’m now looking through my binoculars even though I can’t see more than 75 yards up the hill. Then I see the first one, only it’s back. Then it sticks it’s head up. Small buck. I whisper to Lucas, turn your body, they’re right in front of us, keep still, keep your head behind the scope, finger off the trigger, just breath.
Now I can hear his broken staggering breathing, I just hope his jelly legs hold strong. He finally whispers “I see him”. Good, stay behind the scope and breath, we’re not shooting that one. Two, three, four, five start appearing through the grass and coming straight at us. All 5 are bucks, all very small. I know there’s a big one with them, we’re just trying to wait him out. At this point they are less than 50 yards and getting closer. I tell Lucas “Second buck from the left, he’s got wide horns, get the crosshairs on him and breath, don’t shoot, just hold on him as long as we can, finger off the trigger”. These bucks are all 6″ at most, but this one is different with horns going straight out to the side. We’re not leaving this stalk empty, if that big buck doesn’t come over the ridge we’re going to take this one. Lucas has worked too darn hard for the last 4 years without killing a deer, at this point getting a buck is the only option.
They continue to feed closer as I keep scanning the ridge hoping that big buck comes into view. I finally make out a 6th animal off the left that just appeared from behind a juniper, head down. I don’t say anything yet, I just watch. The buck picks his head up and I know instantly it’s the one. I whisper to Lucas…All the way to the left by that juniper, it’s the big buck, shift that way and hold where white meets brown…you on him?…yeah…ok, breath, hold, whenever you’re ready squeeze. The buck starts walking toward the others as I’m watching, waiting for the shot. Now I have 2 other bucks in my field of view and this one isn’t stopping. 8′ away from the next buck, 6′, 4’…Bud, if you’re ready you gotta shoot before he catches up to the others…nose is even with the next buck’s tail…

CRACK!!!”…I see the buck fall and leg start kicking in the air…He’s down! Reload and watch him in case he gets back up! Lucas fumbles to reload but gets another round in the chamber, safety on…He’s watching through the scope but he can’t see because the buck’s behind the ridge, I see the leg stop moving. You got him bud! He’s down!…He’s down?!?…Yessir, he’s not going anywhere! Hugs and tears…I’m so proud of you, you did awesome! That’s the big one! We take a knee for a moment to catch our breath, and he checks his heart rate…160 BPM.
Now it’s time to move in. We start straight at him. As we get closer I tell him to move to the left and come up behind just in case he jumps up when we get there. We get closer and I know he’s done, there’s no way he’s getting back up. I stay back a few feet and watch him walk up to his buck with my phone on video to capture it. This has been the greatest stalk I’ve ever been a part of, and one of the greatest moments of my life. I give Lucas a couple of minutes to take it all in and look around the mountain we are on. As he takes the horns in his hands with tears in his eyes and the world’s biggest smile, I can’t be more proud of what he has accomplished and how hard he worked to get this buck. A few posed pictures and taking in the moment and the awe of what we just accomplished and now it’s time to get to work.

I take my time walking him through the dressing process, through every step, and show him what I’m doing, explain why I’m doing it this way, talk about being careful with the knife when you have to reach up into the chest and feel your way around everything and you can’t see anything inside. We get it dressed and dump the blood out. I have him take the rifle and tripod, both of our binoculars and sweatshirts that won’t be needed anymore, and tell him to get to my backpack and I’ll meet him there. I start the drag the 250 yards or so to my pack while the spotters get their gear together and start working their way to meet us. I get back to the pack where we can see the entire path we started from and start contemplating either cutting it in half or cape and quarter. As the rest of the team arrives we decide at this point with 3 adults, let’s cape and quarter and leave anything we don’t need. The guys jumped right in and started helping caping to the head and cutting quarters while Lucas and I stuffed the game bags. We made short work of cleaning and got the packs loaded. BIL took front quarters and backstraps, cousin took both hind quarters, I took the hide and head, Lucas took the rifle and tripod and extra gear. This was the hardest packout I’ve ever done with the terrain we had to cross, and by far the most rewarding. It’s difficult to put into words how something can be both the worst and best trek ever made. But it was. I both hated and loved every step of the way out of there.
I can say with all honesty that had those guys not been there I would most likely not have even attempted the stalk that we did. Pack out aside, there was no way we could have got to the point of having a shot the way we did without having them behind us directing us. Odds are we would have busted them out of there before ever getting a clear view with the terrain. The stalk, the shot, the packout would not have ever been possible without them there for us. And to be able to share that moment with my son and them, to experience the lows of a miss and the highest of highs with a long difficult stalk, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I still ask Lucas daily if he’s come down yet, and his response is always the same: Not much. The boy is hooked for life, as if he wasn’t already. And now he is more set than ever on getting the black tail buck we chased last year that he’s had nightmares of.

Author: Chris Schnider

Co Author: Lucas Schnider

Hunting Equipment, Hunting Ideas, Pictures, Successful Hunters 2018, Taxidermist, Uncategorized

2018 Warner Unit Pronghorn Hunt – Rick N.

September 8, 2018 Frank Biggs Leave a comment

Having the Right Tools for the Hunt bring success! @onxHUNT

**All 3 tag holders were successful in the 2018 Warner Unit Hunt in Oregon**

Frank,

I wanted to follow up with you regarding my 2018 Antelope hunt. My family finally drew three tags for the Warner unit second season rifle hunt. We have waited a very long time building the points necessary to receive these tags. Quite frankly too long. Nearly three years ago my dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The effects of Parkinson’s cause a steady decline in motor skills among many other conditions. So, by the time my dad drew the tag this year he has went from an in shape active person to a frail man who has lost most of his mobility. He was able to obtain a disability permit which allows someone who is hunting with him to harvest an animal on his behalf. My dad did draw a tag along with myself and my brother in-law and we all wanted to make the best out of this hunt

Our goals for this hunt have changed considerably since we began acquiring points nearly fifteen years ago. I have taken up archery hunting and now spend most of my hunting time with a stick and a string these days. My brother in-law and I used to hunt with my dad and has considered giving up the sport due to the fact he has lost his hunting partners. My dad has continued to “hunt”, which consists of taking a drive through the woods a couple days a season with either my brother in-law or a close friend my dad has. The three of us agreed we were not setting out to take trophy’s, at least in the sense that most people think of when they hear the word trophy. We instead wanted to create good memories and share a good hunt together. If we managed to fill a tag or two we would be happy with that.

**Great that dad was able to make the Hunt with the two sons. Getting to have great memories of a great hunt is important…**

None of us have ever hunted Antelope before and this hunt would likely be our only time we would ever hunt Antelope. None of us had ever hunted in the Warner unit either and the only knowledge we had of the unit was from me passing by on the highway. I did some work in Nevada for a couple years and would pass through the area. I saw many Antelope in the fields along the highway as I passed through. When we were notified we had received the tags in June I knew we needed to do some research if we were going to have a successful hunt.

Rick, as many of the hunters I help, did everything right to have a successful hunt, especially wanting to harvest 3 bucks…

One of the first things I came across while looking for information on the internet was your web site (bwanabubba.com) and Ken Dixon’s story of his 2014 Warner Unit Antelope hunt. It was quite the story and I must say Ken did a fantastic job writing. By the end of the read I was feeling very optimistic about our chances. Ken detailed the information he had gained by contacting you. After my initial contact with you I purchased a onX Hunt subscription (which I had been contemplating anyway). After getting hooked up with onX you sent several waypoints which I was able to sync into onX. I then created “off grid” maps as onX Hunts calls them so I could still utilize the maps even without cell service. At your advice I contacted the wildlife bio in the Lakeview field office of ODFW, John. I mentioned the areas near the waypoints you supplied, and he indicated they were all good areas to focus on. During ODFW’s recent fly over counts of the Antelope in the unit there were groups of lopes in near all the waypoints.

One concern of ours was where to stay with my dad due to his mobility issues. After a few more calls we settled on a hotel near Lakeview. We would have to drive out to hunt each day but we felt this accommodated my dad the best. At this point we were set. We had done all we could remotely do to prepare for the hunt. None of us had the means to put boots on the ground or time behind a spotting scope but we were still hoping to do well. I had to work the night shift of opening day and make the five hour drive from east of Portland, so that meant my dad and brother in-law were on their own for day one.

A great hunt is when you see lots of game and are successful in getting what you are looking for…

I got my brother in law set up with some of the off line maps with waypoints on them so he and my dad could hunt on their own before I arrived. I told them to hunt an area Near Fish Creek Rim south of the Plush cut off road. I had been told the roads were better in the area and did not want them having vehicle troubles. They decided to go north out of the Freemont NF into the BLM country with water holes and more of the waypoints you gave to me. After a rough 6 hour ride through the dessert they decided to take my advice and head for better roads. They had not seen an antelope all morning.

Once they reached Plush it was easy to find the Fish Creek rim road . They went about half way through the rim road where they found themselves on some higher ground. They started glassing and soon found a couple groups of Antelope. One group had a nice buck trailing the herd. My brother in law thought if they continued down the road for another mile or so they would be within stalking distance of the buck. Once they dropped off the high point of the road they could no longer see the animals. They stopped where they thought the group would be just over a rise and my brother in law struck out in their direction. After a few hundred yards he spotted the group and the buck. He used shooting sticks and made a long shot and harvested a nice lope! My dad reached me while I was in route to the area. We met at the Adel store where a local offered cold storage. We had about two hours of daylight left so I hopped in with them and off we went.

As soon as we reached the area where the first animal was harvested we started seeing more animals. Soon we came over a hill and there was a buck only 100 yards from the road. This was perfect for my dad. My brother in law and I got out and moved off the road. The buck ran for a short distance then stopped at about 200 yards to look back. One shot and my dad’s buck was on the ground. The best part was my dad was right there and saw the whole thing happen. He was all smiles. We had two animals tagged and in the cooler on the first day.

The next morning we were in the same area. We spotted several bucks and more than 100 Antelope but none that I felt were worthy of my tag or were in a hunt able location. I can’t believe I was being a bit selective on my animal, but after taking two in the first day I felt much more confident we could close the deal. At about 2:00 pm We were on the move to a new area when I spotted a buck moving through some juniper. It did not appear to be aware of us so I thought it was the perfect time to put a stalk on him. I slipped into the junipers and made it about 100 yards when the buck turned and started heading my way. The wind was in my face so the setup was perfect. I watched as the buck raked a couple small trees and fed his way in my direction. He traveled about 300 yards until he was about 150 yards from me when he turned and gave me a good broadside shot. He dropped right where he was and it was done.

We had done it! Three goats in two days. We could not be more pleased with our hunt. Thanks to you Frank for all the valuable information you provided, it placed us in just the right locationto have success. I doubt my father will go on many more hunts and the three of us together, filling all three tags makes this hunt even better. It means the world to me to have shared this time with my family and to have these memories.

Thanks again, Rick Norris

Hunting Equipment, Successful Hunters 2016, Uncategorized

Derek’s 2016 Steens Pronghorn Hunt

August 31, 2016 Frank Biggs 1 Comment

A new predator in the hood has taken a liking to

Pronghorns the Steens Mountains

Derek's hard earned Pronghorn from the Steens Mountains in Oregon — Derek’s hard earned Pronghorn from the Steens Mountains in Oregon

The most frustrating hunt I have ever had! Left early Friday morning and after shredding a drive belt on the truck in Madras, Oregon made it to The Narrows south of Burns by 11:00 to start scouting. The plan was to ask landowners to hunt the pivots in Princeton. After talking to 3 owners I was informed that they had seen very few antelope this year, in the past there where 100’s and were considered pest.

They rack up the missing antelope to cougar problems. So that said went to 2^nd spot Dry Lake just south. The lake was half full and had multiple camps around it. Talk to a few campers/hunters and said they too had seen only a few antelope in the area. My son and I only saw 1 herd of Lopes that were staying around the Round Barn in Diamond on private land with only a very small buck in the herd.

The week before I had talk to O.D.F.W. & B.L.M., Burns, Oregon and all had said the same thing, very good water year and the antelope were spread out everywhere making them difficult to find.

We moved south to New Moon Rd. Check out the waypoints I was given from Bwana Bubba based on using onXmaps HUNT and my Garmin GPS and did stop at all overlooks and canyons to spot. Saw nothing, 3 hours later we were at the end of the road at Fish Lake. Went to the top of Kiger Gorge and talked with a few camps that we set up on the road leaving the view point. Again no one had seen Antelope. Frustrated we headed back down and to the HHH road, above Fish Lake to get away from the main road. Had a very hard time finding a place to set a tent, thought we might have to set it on the edge of the road at one point. Found a meadow on a spring head right above Fish Lake on edge of private ground. With the lots of batches of Aspen trees were surprise at the lack of any animal signs. The Steens seems to be a dead zone with very little wildlife left…

Started opening morning glassing the open basins to no a fail, only a lonely doe across the Blitzen Canyon. Decide to break camp around 10:30, and headed back to main road. Came around the last corner and 20ft in front of the truck are 2 doe Lopes and seconds later 40 more crest the ridge in front of use. I jump out of the truck and go to the back of the truck and the Lopes all cross in front of use at 50ft away; there was 1 very nice buck in the middle of the herd. They see a fence in front of them and panic and turn around and pass us again, yet the buck is buried in the middle of the group. As they crest over the ridge he almost gives me a parting shot, but gone. We run up the road only to see they are circling the ridge above us heading back towards Fish Lake. We run up the road and rush to the ridge line were I get an open shot at 150yds, but cannot take it as I knew they were on the wrong side of the fence on private land. We watch the herds for over 10 minutes, traveling miles to the top of Kiger Gorge where they were fired on by the hunters camping on top.

Frustrated we went for gas in Frenchglen. Talking to other hunters, all had the same story can’t find Lopes. Decided to skip going back to New Moon Rd and opted to head to the South Loop Rd south of Frenchglen. Drove and glassed for a couple hours. Lots of water holes and all were still wet. Saw A few other hunters driving and glassing. After only seeing herds of horses and cattle heading back towards highway 207, our goal was to find small spur round to get off on our own. At a junction I saw a rancher unloading his quad and hay bales. Stop and talked to him and was informed he had seen a small group of Lopes every day for the past week right above us working the area. He suggested a hunt strategy and told us about water holes up the old road he was using. We did the hunt the spot, saw no Lopes only horses so decided to make camp in the area. The area was more deer country with juniper trees and draws with open plains in between.

Next morning were up glassing before daylight on the plains above camp looking out towards Hart Mtn. Saw nothing, around 7:30 I get a buzz from my son who has locate the group in a draw find a mile above camp. 20 mins later I’m in the same area hugger under a Juniper tree watching the group in the draw. Saw 2 does and 4 yearlings mixed through the Juniper trees at 400yds, after 5 min I see a buck moving in the trees. My son decided he would move down the draw cross it and get to the other side. I was afraid they would see him and move up the draw out of range. The buck was now at 375yds. I decided I better make the shot as I probably will not see him again. I was getting ready to make the shot when I saw the does; they were closing their distance, walking right towards me up the old road. Told my son to stay put and turned the radios off. The does and yearlings passed to my right just 40yds away the buck was trailing, so ended up taking the shot at 60yds, dropping him in his tracks. There was 10 minutes of per thrill as he closed the distance to me on the road, thought for sure something would go wrong or the does would see me. Took care of the Lope and broke camp, was on the road by 11:00AM with the Lope in the rear seat of the truck and A/C on high.

Derek D.

Hunting Equipment, Hunting Ideas, Successful Hunters 2016

Kenneth’s 2016 Owyhee Pronghorn Hunt

August 26, 2016 Frank Biggs 1 Comment

Scouting more than 200 miles for Pronghorn

Hi Frank
Thanks a lot for directions that you sent me. I scouted from Wednesday to Friday and cover more than 200+ miles. Majority of the scouting was in my Ford truck in 4wd low range. I found a dandy buck on Tuesday morning on the south side of the Mahogany’s running off three other bucks from his 6 doe harem, between water and the bedding area. This I know, because I had spotted him and the doe’s the day before just as they entered the brush at 10AM. I camped in my Ford FX4 truck high above them that night and would hunt down in the morning.

The next morning I worked myself out on the bluff I figured I could find him. I found him, ranged him in at 350 yards with my Bushnell rangefinder and made the 1 shot kill with my Browning A-Bolt in a 7mm Remington Mag, topped with a Leupold V-3 4.5×14 50MM Gold Ring scope. Other items in my bag to make the hunt successful were my Garmin GPS with onXmaps HUNT Oregon chip and GIS hunt map.

Thanks Bubba

Kenneth D

Hunting Equipment, Successful Hunters 2014

Jeff’s 2014 Antelope Hunt Maupin-W. Biggs Hunt Units

September 11, 2014 Frank Biggs 1 Comment

This is another great story from a Pronghorn Hunter who waited the years to get a great tag!

Frank, here is my story and pics, the buck was taken on private land in the Maupin unit!

This year I was one of the lucky ones to draw an antelope tag for a unit close to my home. Since living in the area my entire life I knew the better antelope areas would be on private ground and would require gaining access to those areas, so the homework began. Having friends that own ranches in both units made access fairly easy, but finding a descent buck to take was not such an easy task.

What great Mass this Pronghorn! It is all about the Mass!

Since I had to work opening weekend I could only dream of chasing big ole lope bucks, and this was not easy. Monday and Tuesday I focused on a few agricultural areas that always held a few antelope, and while I saw a few descent bucks I knew the area held some bigger bucks and continued to hold out for that special buck I had waited 12 years for. Wednesday I changed gears and hunted close to home, with a tip from a rancher about a dandy buck he had seen a week earlier. Excited and ready to seal the deal I got an early start and headed out to the area that the rancher had seen the buck previously. The weather was fairly cool in the morning with a strong breeze blowing from the South, and rain clouds threatening to pour some much needed moisture on the dry ground, wow I thought to myself this feels like deer season. As I proceed through the gate I see 12 doe and fawn antelope running down the road in the direction I’m heading, I was thinking to myself that this is already looking good. Feeling motivated and ready to see a good buck antelope I park the pickup and head in the direction of some newly planted fields that the big buck was spotted last. I stopped at a fence-line that overlooked the fields, and glassed down the draw towards the fields and saw a few antelope milling around. Being close to 1000 yards away I made my way down the draw for a closer inspection. As I got closer I could tell there was an exceptional buck antelope lying down among the others, and knew this is the one I had waited 12 years for. As I made a plan to crawl and hide my way closer to the buck I wished I would of brought my knee pads, but had so much adrenaline pumping through my body I really didn’t feel a thing.

As you can see there is little Public Land (BLM). It is best to get yourself lined up with a rancher. This mapping would help to find someone! The MAUPIN unit for sure lacks, the West BIGGS unit has some huntable Antelope BLM.

As I was working my way closer to the buck I realized he had gotten up and was chasing the other bucks around and feeding in between sparring matches. I was running out of cover and came to a slight rise in the terrain that allowed me to get a perfect rest and range the buck at 305 yards. I decided that this was as close as I was going to get, and set up for the shot. I placed the cross hairs on the buck’s front shoulder and squeezed the trigger. As the recoil of my 257 Weatherby came back the old buck dropped in this tracks. I took a moment and thanked GOD for such a fantastic opportunity, and taking such a great buck. As I walked up to the buck I couldn’t believe the mass of his horns and that this beautiful animal was mine. I spent a quiet moment with the great antelope buck just admiring him and taking in the moment.

The hunter with his great trophy. Doing the research, brings rewards!

The bucks horns measured 14 1/2″ Long, with 6″ Prongs, and a little over 7″ Bases. The buck holds his mass all the way to his 3rd quarter and has lots of character. I couldn’t have asked for a better antelope hunt and realize how lucky I was to experience this rare opportunity to hunt pronghorn in Oregon. This buck is very close to being able to make Boone & Crockett! Depends on the 90 day drying period! Jeff H.

Successful Hunters 2013

Larry L’s Whitehorse Antelope Hunt – Oregon 2013

September 9, 2013 Frank Biggs Leave a comment

There is a bit of humor with this story, as Larry met me in by day job. He and the wife were looking at RV’s, in particular 5th Wheels. I gave him and wife some literature and my card. A couple of days later I get an email from Larry about Antelope-Pronghorn Hunting in Oregon. He has found my website and had put 2 and 2 together. I did send Larry waypoints that he loaded to his Garmin GPS. He is one of Oregon’s finest and knows how to use a GPS. He is 1 of 4 that drew Whitehorse Lope tags in 2013 that made contact with me. I did read that he found some private land to access. The waypoints that I gave him and the others were keys waypoints through-out the unit. Whitehorse Unit has lots of Pronghorns!

This is Larry’s Story as he has written it!

It was late, 11:30pm, when I drove into the hunt area about two hours south of Burns. This hunting trip hadn’t gone well so far. The season started on Saturday and I had training to attend on the following Monday and Tuesday, so wouldn’t get in until late Tuesday night. My hunting partner, Rich, had headed over from the Portland area on Saturday and had set up a base camp. The plan was for him to hunt Sunday, Monday and Tuesday while I would sleep in the front of my truck Tuesday night at the edge of the White Horse Unit and hunt for “speed goats” into base camp, Wednesday morning.

Tuesday morning, the last day of training, I received a text message from Rich letting me know that he was really sick, had pulled camp and was headed home. I knew it had to be bad as it had taken us six years to draw these tags. After training, I met Rich outside of Salem and caught up on the Antelope hunting, where to set up camp and how he was doing. Rich didn’t look good at all, but assured me he could make it home.

The buck has quite the horn configuration! Never know about Lopes and the horns!

11:30pm, Tuesday, I pulled off the highway, opened a ranchers gate and drove back onto BLM land a couple hundred yards back and tried to sleep. Note to self… I’m getting too old to sleep in the front of a pickup truck…

5am Wednesday, my alarm goes off and I awake to a false dawn. It’s still warm, about 73 degrees and I work up a sweat just getting my rifle and hunting gear ready to go. Cold coffee left over from a few hours ago works for breakfast and I fire the truck up. The road is rough although I’m just idling along watching the desert come to life. About two miles back in, I see a herd of twenty antelope about 1500 yards away off to the south. A look through the spotting scope reveals one really nice buck, some smaller ones and the rest does. Driving until I get a hill between the herd and myself, I park, put on some knee pads and gloves, grab my pack and rifle and head up the hill. Nearing the top, I’m in a low crawl until I almost crest out. The herd is gone! I see three antelope does is all and behind them only a few yards away, a muley and yearling. All of them finally feed out of the area, over the ridge top and are gone. Making my way back to the truck, I’m sweating pretty well now; for sure have to stay down wind if I put the sneak on anything.

Heading on down the road, I finally experience for myself why folks call these critters “speed goats” and talk about their acute vision. Easy to spot in the desert, even at a thousand yards, I’d stop my truck to get the spotting scope up and they’d take off like they were shot out of cannon. I spotted half a dozen more small herds and some individuals and every time I’d stop, all I would see was a dust trail.

Seventeen miles back in, I found what was to be base camp. An old corral, offering some wind protection, although dry with no water in sight. After receiving hunt location information from Bwana Bubba-Frank Biggs, I explored the area at home on satellite maps and had the coordinates on several possible waterholes. Checking out several of these I found them to be all dry. Not much snow pack last year I guess. I made my way to what mapped out to be a big one, but found that dry as well. From there, I headed to a ranch I could see in the distance, a spot of green in an otherwise desert landscape.

Driving into the ranch, I made my way to the main house but didn’t find anyone at home. Then I decided to head back and break out my camping gear and set up in that old corral. Just as I was leaving the ranch property, here comes a truck herding a single pissed off cow with some impressive horns. The cow rushes past me and the cowboy gets out of the truck and we meet right there. Sporting a very large drop mustache, I can tell that this man has been up the creek and over the mountain. I introduce myself and we start talking about antelope hunting. Before it’s over, I’m up to date on speed goats and a much better place to camp. Just as I’m getting ready to leave, the ranch owner suggests that I take a different road back, up towards some rim rock where he has recently seen some nice bucks.

It’s now about 10:30am and I head up the road I was directed to. About a half a mile up, I see a buck in front of me about 800 yards out. I stop the truck but he doesn’t seem too interested. A closer look with my binoculars, just as he’s headed down a draw out of my sight and I see what at first appears to be a hell of cutter and I say out loud, “That’s a shooter!”

Grabbing my rifle and shooting sticks, I head out on foot where I last saw him. As I get within shooting distance of the draw, the buck I’d spotted breaks out at warp speed, 150 yards out, from my right to my left. I shoulder my 7mm Mag and follow him, leading just a bit and touch her off. The buck piles up, over on his back, kicks his legs about three times and then all is still. I scope him out and all I see are legs in the air. Watching him for a few minutes, I can tell this boy isn’t going anywhere except in the back of my truck.

I then walked back to get my truck and started a little cross country to get to my buck. About a hundred yards out from where he should be, I see a buck standing, looking at me. Stopping the truck, I open the door, throw my rifle up and take a closer look. I’m thinking, “Is that my buck? Did he get up? He IS standing a little weird and not moving!” Looking closer at his horns, they just don’t look right. I swing the rifle back a bit and see one leg of my down buck sticking in the air. Whew!!!! Glad I didn’t fire one off at that second one…. THAT would have been hard to explain!

Got the buck to the truck and loaded! Hoorah! Congrats to Larry on his first Lope!

Getting up to my buck, I discover that he is a non-typical. What I thought was a hell of a cutter was actually one horn down turned while the other was normal. 14″ on the good one and pretty good base. Not a record by any means, but a beautiful buck that will look great on my wall. The shot? Lucky! Blew the entire bottom half of his heart away.

Guess speed goats just can’t match 3,000 fps 7mm Mag bonded bullets.

Thanks Frank for all the hunt information!!!

Successful Hunters 2012, Successful Hunters 2013

Warner Unit – Archery Antelope Hunts – Oregon

August 13, 2013 Frank Biggs 4 Comments

100% Archery Antelope – Pronghorn Hunts

OREGON WARNER HUNT UNIT

I would love to say I have stories to go with the following pictures, but I do not have stories. Yes I gave out waypoints for the hunters and I am told the were killed with in 1 miles of on of my waypoints. My understanding that Holly T had chances for two (2) bucks over water and harvested her buck with one arrow in 2012. The other two bucks were harvested in 2013 a couple of days apart by Mark and Jim. I will have to see if I can attach a link to the video’s they made of the hunt in the Warner Unit of Oregon. John Mark does work for an bow manufacturer (Bowtech) in Oregon. He lives by the bow and is a most successful hunter.

John Mark, plus his family and friends do shoot Bowtech!

If you would like to get a hold of their video you can find it on the following site:

LINK: Faith in the Field

Holly with her Warner Archery Antelope. She got two chances on taking an Oregon Antelope with her bow!

John Mark took his Antelope a few days later on the hunt with Jeff in 2013!

Jeff took his buck on the opening day of the hunt! Great Buck from the state of Oregon

As you can see the Warner Unit which has not been devastated by Coyote predication on the Antelope fawns, has lead to a great herd in this unit! I do believe that if we add up the rifle hunters and bow hunters, my hunters are at 100% harvest in the Warner Unit!

Bwana Bubba

Successful Hunters 2013

2013 Pronghorn Hunt – Juniper Unit – Oregon

August 13, 2013 Frank Biggs 1 Comment

ACE’s 2013 Pronghorn Hunt

on the

Westside in the Juniper Unit

This is an interesting hunt that turned out to be a successful hunt for Ace who was hunting with his father. This is not the first time I have had similar accounts on hunting Lopes. Lopes can be crafty and escape a great stalk. A hunter can misjudge the distance as Antelope – Pronghorns are smaller than deer, so it can be difficult to judge the distance. WELL DONE ACE!

Ace with his 2013 Pronghorn from the Juniper Hunt Unit in Oregon. A well earned dandy Lope!

Dear – Frank

We got there on Friday and scouted til dark. We made the big loop and only saw 5 animals. Got up the next morning just before light and went out. It was too dark to see when we left camp so we waited on one of the roads leading to a water hole. I looked over and saw two bucks about 400 yards to our left and Ace shot at one that had a good size rack. Ace missed with 3 shots and they ran off.

The GPS was a Magellan and I couldn’t figure out the software or the unit and so I don’t have the coordinates and we ended up using the BLM maps we got in Burns on Friday. I have always used Garmin’s but a friend lent me this Magellan. The range finder was kind of useless because laying on your belly it gave bad readings and if you stand up the antelope can see you for a long ways.

We went down the road a ways more and saw some of to the right. He crawled out to get a shot and got a shot in a sitting position but also missed. He thinks he was shooting under the animals because the range finder was not accurate in the sagebrush. Then we saw at least one hundred (100) Antelope come over the ridge, but saw three (3) hunters and away they went from us.

As Ace was coming back to the rig we saw one male and six does about eight hundred (800) yards out but no way to get to them. We drove out the main road and headed North we went out another road and saw two groups out on a ridge. Ace crawled out to the gully and come down into it till he thought he was under them. I was watching at the rig with the spotting scope and he came up right under them with my guidance (hand signals). When he got to the top of the ridge they spooked and he got of a shot but missed again.

He decided that he needed to fire his gun when he was in the prone position because offhand and sitting he shook too much. We went out to the main road again and headed North and took a road East. He saw some out at a distance and crawled out to a point where he could get a shot and not be seen by the antelope. He took a shot and dropped this antelope. I drove out in the sagebrush to where the buck dropped, about 3/4 mile from the road. We field dressed it and quarterd it out right there and put the meat in the huge cooler on ice.

A few things we learned. Its hard to sneak up on Antelope on flat ground. Range finders are useless in flat ground with sagebrush. Knee pads are essential for crawling up on Antelope on your belly. You need to be able to cool the meat down fast. Walkie talkies are a great thing to have for communication. Its hard work to get a good shot at an Antelope. Thanks for the GPS points but we hunted on the west side of the unit and your points were for the east side mostly.

Bwana Bubba Adventurers