......and the Antelope play

[EddieWalker]

Hi Rob,

Yes, he's 28 inches and my best by far. He was taken in Eastern Montana near Broadus. That was one of those hunts that you hear about, but never expect to live.

We'd hit the rut at it's peak. Just on the drive from Broadus to the ranch, we saw a dozen bucks. Then while hunting, I let 92 legal bucks go before shooting mine on the third day. There were literally running out in the roads in front of us. One decent 4x4 that I would have been happy with any other place or time, came out after a doe so fast that we hit the brakes. He ran in front of us, then they followed the road for several miles. We just drove along the side of them watching.

Every day we saw on average 5 to 6 good 4x4 bucks over 25 inches. I let one go that was only 23 or 24 inches wide, but super tall. He might have been over 30 inches tall, plus he had cheaters on both sides. Really a nice buck!!!

My hunting buddy shot a 5x5 plus eyeguards that scored 185 gross, but had all sorts of deductions. Mine went 155, but he doesn't have eyeguards.

He was in a draw with 7 or 8 does when I spoted him. We had drove past him and I looked back just to make sure there was nothing there, and I saw one of the does. We stoped to see what else was there and he took off across the valley.

The shot was in the 300 yard range and I missed. You can see on the video that I shot right between his antlers as he was running away. On the other side of the valley, he turned to climip up and out, when I hit him in the ribs. It was a good lung shot, but it didn't stop him. The next shot droped him.

We had two more days on the ranch, so we shot a bunch of prarrie dogs and I got a nice sharptail grouse for my collection.

Eddie

 

[3RRL]

Larry,
It's interesting that you posted photos of those Antelope and that video is great. I was just talking with my hunting partner about maybe going pronghorn hunting in the near future. Neither of us have ever hunted them before. I may have to come visit you after all?

Eddie, that Mule deer is magnificent and he is super tall too. Besides elk, mule deer hunting is my favorite. The most I ever saw was just above Logan, Utah. You may remember Rulen Jones who played defensive end for the Broncos? He was our guide on his 20,000 acre lease. I ended shooting a 26" perfect 4-by on the last day of the hunt 15 minutes before end of shooting time. Distance was 342 yards in the dwindling light. One shot dropped him using my Weatherby 30.06 with Hornady light magnum 165 grain ammo. I was very fortunate and he was still in velvet.

 

[gsganzer]

Been to Africa.
Went to Alaska.
Shot this.
Shot that.
Yada yada yada.

But I did NOT see a JackAlope on the wall!

Hmmph. Some big hunter. No JackAlope. I will be impressed when I see the JackAlope on the wall!

Good pics and stories.

Later,
Dan

Jackalope??? Those are only for fools. You haven't really hunted until you've hunted Snipe. Hunting sheep, goats, buffalo and leopard is for sissy's. The real work starts when you set your sights on hunting Snipe.

 

[higgy]

snipes are fun to hunt. Just need a flashlight and the directions to the engine room.

 

[GuglioLS]

"Neither of us have ever hunted them before."

Rob,

Well that makes three of us.

As always mi casa es su casa.

Come on over when your dust settles. (I know where there at )

 

[dmccarty]

Jackalope??? Those are only for fools. You haven't really hunted until you've hunted Snipe. Hunting sheep, goats, buffalo and leopard is for sissy's. The real work starts when you set your sights on hunting Snipe.

Well, I figured once Eddie has FINALLY worked his way up into the lower rings of the Higher Hunting Circles and gotten a JackAlope then, maybe, if he is good and lucky, he can go after some Snipe. But he has alot of work to do to get there.

Later,
Dan

 

[OKnewguy]

Thanks GuglioLs for clearing me up on the travel at night. I do have a couple of the whistles ( I figured what the heck). I have been thinking about the night travel since our last trip. We started the treck into the mountains and it started to snow, so we started to go very slow beinng okies and all. Just about when we slowed down we started to see TONS of tracks in the fresh snow going right down the middle of the road. We only saw one deer/antelope or whatever it was and it was climbing up an embankment. It seemed like they had to be hidding when they heard us.
BTW you guys in NM have some beautiful area's. I have visited Carlsbad and ski'd all over NM.
Take it easy, Dave

 

[MikeD74T]

Eddie, Very nice trophy wall, represents a lot of hard work. I do have one question, what was the attraction with the zebra? One sees herds of thousands of zebra. What made this one or any zebra special? MikeD74T

 

[EddieWalker]

Mike,

I consider myself both a trophy hunter and a collector. Probably a collector more than anything as my ultimate goal is one of everything. I don't have the financial means to accomplish this, but it's my dream. The zebra is a beautiful animal that I wanted on my wall. I've seen lots of rugs made from them, but I wanted a shoulder mount to compliment my collection.

The one I shot was chosen because she was an older barren female that the owner of the ranch wanted culled. He and his trackers pretty much know and can reckognize every animals on his 30,000 acre ranch. She was in a small herd of about a dozen anamils and was the only female without a baby.

The owner of the land, like all conservationists, want to manage the animals to maintain a proper balance and numbers for the land. This one was just one of about a dozen that year he wanted to have removed for the overall health of his heards.

On a side note, and not to get too political here, places in Africa that have eliminated hunting, or made it illegal to sport hunt have seen massive declines in there wildlife numbers. Poachers are the biggest cause of this. When the wildlife has no financial value, then it becomes a nusance and competition to cattle or other farming enteprises. The land can only support a certain number of animals. If you bring livestock into the equation, something else has to be removed. Time and time again, it's the native wildlife.

With sport hunting, the hunters spend thousands, and in many cases, tens of thousands of dollars on these hunts. That money is distributed to the land owner, the native peoples and the government. Everyone gets a portion of these fees and the wildlife now has value. When people get something in return for the wild animals, they tend to appreciate them more and protect them.

Two proven facts. When sport hunting was banned in Kenya, the elephant population was almost totally eliminated. Even today when elephants are overpopulating there habitat in most of Africa, there numbers are still very low in Kenya. The money generated by tourist taking pictures isn't significant enough to protect the animals.

In another case, all elephants were left alone in a certain area of about a hundred square miles as an experiment to see what would happen. There numbers quickly rose to the point they started to ever eat there habitat. They continued to increase in population until the habitat couldn't support them. Then they had a massive die off from desiese and starvation. The land took another decade to recover and the elephant population is slowling increasing in that area.

South Africa has probably the most elephants of any country, yet they cull over a thousand animals a year. When you keep the numbers in check with what the habitat can support, you have healthier animals and larger trophies. The larger trophies generate larger fees and more income to protect them.

The second fact is the white rhino. At one point, there was only a few hundred left in exixtance. The landowners in South Africa captured some of them and brought them to there ranches. They were kept safe from poachers and allowed to reproduce. To help generate income, trophy hunters were allowed to dart these animals, where the horns were removed. This made the animals undesireable to poachers and gave the hunter his trophy without harming the animal. Over about two decades the population of the white rhino has climbed to several thousand and they are now at the point that it's legal to hunt them. Cost for a rhino hunt used to be $30,000, but with there growning numbers, the price is down to the $10,000 range.

There are dozens and dozens of stories like this from several species of our North American Elk, Sheep and waterfowl, to animals all over the world.

Sorry for such a long reply,
Eddie

 

[MikeD74T]

Eddie, Thanks for the long answer. I agree that over or under managing a resource ends in it's ruin. Another post indicated Wisconsin is darting whitetail deer with birthcontrol drugs to placate the anti-hunters at 4x the cost of just killing them. Both methods are costing the state much more in lost revenues. Every issue goes thru the cycle I guess.

Is Steph starting her own wall?? MikeD74T