Arizona Antelope Hunt

[go4steelhd]

Ok right on you were very close. When I first seen him there were heat rays and he was a long ways off. I figured he would go 85. Then I went back and found him at dark. He was half the distance away and no heat rays. I figured he would go 83 then. He looked like he had good mass with heat rays. Then when I took the pics that I  posted above without heat rays you can tell he does not have a lot of mass above the prong.

Now I will post the  references I use to score a buck on the hoof. But remember until you knock it down and put a tape on it you never know. All animals can fool you. I'm just posting this for guys that haven't antelope hunted this is not directed at anybody. Plus if you guys have any tricks you use to judge an antelope chime in. This could help all of us. This is just merely what I have come up with over the years. From magazines, videos, and my own hunting experience.

I have zoomed in on some good spotting scope pics for this. Each horn configuration has different tricks. In picture #1. This is a good angle for prong length and mass. I use the eye as a reference. Most eyes are 2 inches wide. Starting with the prong you can see it is over 3 eyes long, plus it curves in towards the end of the prong. So we know this buck has 6 inches plus almost half an eye. So 7 inch diggers. I looked at both sides but only posted a picture of one. This was his weaker side for prong length. Now for mass. For his bases he's an eye and a half wide, so we get 3 inches for the inside and outside of the base putting us at 6 inches plus the width of the horn from a frontal view.  This puts him a 6 1/2 inch bases. Then move up to just below the prong and use the same references you can see he has slightly more mass putting this measurement at almost 7 inches. Then above the prong is where it gets tricky. This  I just use a light, good ,and great . I will put both the top two measurements together on this. So if it looks light above the prong I say it's a 3" and a 2" mass = 5 inches. Good mass is 4" and a 3" mass = 7 inches.  And great being 5" and a 3 1/2" mass= 8 1/2. I have not seen a great on the hoof only at horn shows. This buck looks light due to his over all height  so I put him in between light and good. So I gave him a 5 to 6.
Then in picture #2 is horn length. I use the ears as a reference. For easy math I call them 6 inches. So when we  tilt the ear up straight and follow the the bend of the horn to his tips he looks three ears long. Putting us at 18" then we subtract 2 inches because the ear is 2 inches lower then where the bases start. This gives him 16 tall horns. This gives us a score of 83 with 5 inch mass above the prong and  85 with 6 inch above the prong. Again this is just my method  that works for me. Most of the time anyways.

[Bigshooter]

That is pretty much how I field judge them.  A couple years ago in Nevada I passed on a buck that looked a lot like yours.  Except he was a little shorter on length and a little shorter on the prong.  I passed on him opening day because  he looked like he had very little mass above the prong.  A couple days latter a young kid killed him and I got to see him up close.  His mass measurements above the prong were 4.5 and and 3.  I couldn't believe I passed on him.  He grossed just over 80.  I field judged him at 75.  The kids dad wanted his son to pass on the buck because of the low prong and what looked like light mass above the prong.  But the kid wanted the buck.  I'm not sure who was more surprised with the final score me or the kids dad.

[go4steelhd]

They can be really hard to judge. Especially if you can't get with in say 300 yards. I filled my tag on the wrong buck in Wyoming because he would never give me time to judge and shoot before talking off. I finally on the third day I took a quick look in the bino's and shot him. Then I walked up on a mid 70's. Not the 82 ish I was hunting. How was your hunt in Nevada? I put in there every year but that's one state I have never drawn a tag out of. A few of my buddies hunted it and said there were  very low antelope numbers. It was known more as a trophy area. But when you look at the stats they shoot some great goats.

[Bigshooter]

I drew a tag north of Elko.  I would have to look up the units.  It is a unit that is not known for huge bucks.  I saw 2 nice bucks.  The one that the kid killed and another one that was on a little sliver of private land.  He was huge.  I think he might have had 3 mass measurements below the prong.  I have no doubt that he was over 16 tall and he might have been 17.  He only had about 4 inches of horn above the prong.  His only week spot were his prongs.  They were only about 5 inches long.  He either stayed on the private all day or moved on and off of it at night.  I kept trying to catch him moving on to the private in the morning but when it would get light he would already be on the private.  I also tried to do the same in the evenings, thinking that he might leave the private before dark but that also never happened.  I saw anywhere from 30-60 lopes per day.  Which from the other hunters I talked to that was a lot.  Must of the bigger bucks I saw were 14 inches that would barely break 70.   It was 100+ degrees during the day and at night it would get down into the 30's which made for an interesting hunt in its self.  But I would be happy to draw the tag again.

[soccerguy]

Nice job on a great animal!  The failed stalk animal referred to in my Unit 9 post earlier was similar to this one.  We guessed him at 16-17" length, but shorter, higher cutters and only average mass.  We estimated him right around 80 and based on your score I think we were close.  Also, based on the sky in the pictures it looks like you avoided the leftover hurricane moisture that hit there a day or two ago.

[go4steelhd]

The weather was great on the opener. The last few days would be rough. We got caught in one of those flash flood storms you see on TV when we where coming back from Hoover Dam. It is impressive the amount of rain that was coming down. It was stopping traffic on the highway for awhile. Flooding the ditches and making rivers in no time.

[Bean Counter]

PHX got 3+ inches of rain just today... Before noon 

[Elkstuffer]

Great pronghorn! Congrats! Ty sent me a pic the day you shot it. Couldn't believe what I was seeing . How many points did it take for you to draw?

[go4steelhd]

Rick, I had two points going into the draw. I put in for the top two units in Arizona... Well lighting struck, and I got my first choice unit 10. I think it takes 22 or 23 points to draw. It's really been a cool trip. Great hunt, Super Buck, and we have been doing a lot  of sight seeing. I may never get back down in this area again. Unless the draws are kind to me again 

[Elkstuffer]

WOW! Good for you! I had 13 going into this year and I figured I would be waiting another 10. That is some good luck my friend. Congratulations again on an awesome buck!