After 11 years of applying and 14 bonus points later I finally managed to get drawn for one of the highly sought after Arizona Antelope tags. Out of the ten permits issued I was lucky enough to get permit #10 in unit 4A.

A couple of weeks before the hunt I, along with a friend who already hunted that area did some scouting. The first buck we came across was a small guy with 10 or 11 inch horns and was running with 6 does. Figuring his horns were to small we kept on looking and crossed Hwy. 99 but didn�t see anything more than some day old tracks. Getting back on the black top we went North a few miles and spotted a doe that was bedded down. Getting out of the tree line and going a little further up the Hwy. we came on a bachelor herd of 5 bucks. The largest looking to have about 14 or 15� horns. Cruising up the road a little bit we found a wide spot to turn around after backtracking a couple miles we came on a dirt road leading off to the West. We had to work our way through the tire ruts full of water, around some mud puddles and over some rocks. But we finally made it up on a hill crest where we spotted that same bachelor herd on the run something spooked them, maybe us. Following that road a bit longer we came on a lone buck. He was a keeper with about 15� horns and a good spread, we watched him for a bit before moving on. Making it back to the blacktop we headed South to another dirt road going off to the West and to a windmill that was right on the tree line. Working our way further West and following a fence line. Topping out on a small hill we saw a gate in the distance and about 50 yards North of the gate was the buck I was looking for. He looked to be a mature 16� running with 3 does and a immature buck. Out came the spotting scope for a good look at him seeing how he was over a half mile away. He was grazing and all the does and the small buck were bedded down during the heat of the day. As we started down that hill, him and his does started to move down the drainage. We went through the gate and the road went about another mile and dead ended at a corral. Well I saw the buck I wanted and I picked out a spot to park my toy hauler, so ended our scouting trip.

A couple days after the scouting trip I took my rifle back out to the range to resight if needed. It wasn�t needed I put 4 rounds into the target the first 2 were touching I pulled on the third round but the fourth round was touching the first 2 and the one I pulled on was only about a 1 1/2� off to the right. I even impressed myself with a 3 round pattern that could be covered with a penny and all were 2� high and the windage was about a 1/2� to the right at 100 yards.

The hunt opened on a Friday so I showed up the day before and by late morning we, my Dad & me, had the ATV�s unloaded and camp setup. After a quick lunch I loaded up my blind material and decoy on my ATV and off I went to where I spotted that prize buck. As I topped out on that hill over looking the gate and drainage I came across him again but quickly lost sight of him as he rounded a curve. As the sun got lower in the western sky I went a good half mile up stream from the gate, picked a spot to setup my blind and then went a 100 or so yards to setup my decoy. With that all done I headed back to camp to wait until 0: dark 30 of opening day.

Opening day came and I was out on my ATV and covered it with blind material over looking my decoy. I sat there for about 7 hours and never saw a thing but heard a shot way off in the distance. As I headed back to camp I met up with our neighbors and saw he had a nice buck. As we talked I learned he was the running with 3 does and I let him know that was the buck I was trying for. I congratulated him on getting a fine buck, I was calling him a 16� and I was pretty close, the Game Warden measured him and his horns were 15 1/2�. A few hours later I was back out over looking my decoy but again I didn�t see anything except a truck. Shooting light faded and collected up my decoy and headed back to camp. Dad had a small campfire going when I returned so after unloading myself and restocking water, apples, granola bars & chips for the next day I settled around the fire with a cup of coffee. A short while later our neighbor came over and watched a buck bed down and told me where he was and I thanked him for the info. It ended up that we knew allot of the same people but some how missed meeting each other. A little while after he left my buddy Jim came wheeling into camp. Shortly before we bedded down for the night Jim said he was going to stay in camp. Long before daylight I was out again to where the neighbor bedded a buck down or so I thought. I guess I must have zigged where I should have zagged because I never saw the buck. Around 10:00 I was back in camp and learned that Jim and Dad planned to go on an ATV ride. I went back to where I was the day before, I sat there about a hour before I spotted my first herd of �goats�. They were a good 1000 or more yards away from me grazing North along a ridgeline on the other side of the gate. After they moved out of sight I went down to the gate to see if I could open and close it. Opening it was more difficult than closing it because I could use the quad to help hold it shut while I secured the chain. From the way them Antelope were acting I felt fairly confident they would stay on that ridgeline my guess paid off because they shortly came into view. Staying 800 to a 1000 yards behind them I watched them bed down during the heat of the day. After waiting an hour I started to creep towards them getting with the wind in my face as it should be. I sat there in the hot sun for a couple of hours before the first doe showed herself. She was followed by several more does followed by that good looking buck. But he was only visible for a second before he vanished for good. After waiting a while for him to show himself again, which he didn�t, I headed back to camp to resupply my water. Then I headed back out but I didn�t see anything more than a few trucks. At dark I headed back to camp to eat and sit around the campfire listening to what my Dad and Jim had done and seen. It seems they met up with a guy that wasn�t settling for anything less than the 18 incher he spotted a couple weeks before the season opened. He also told them of a huge Prairie Dog village out to the SW.

Early the next morning I was back in the draw where I bedded the Antelope herd down. Setting my decoy up and hiding in front of a bush, to break up my image, I sat there about 20 minutes before that same herd showed up. But all I saw was around a dozen does. And they soon disappeared over the ridge. Waiting a while I slowly cruised up on top of that ridge and found numerous canyons they could have disappeared into. Staying up on the ridge I followed it North to the spot I bedded that herd yesterday finding the head of a new canyon that explained their vanishing. following that ridge until it played out and I headed back to camp cuz my buddy Jim was to head home after lunch. After the farewells to Jim back out I went this time to a different ridge. Cruising South I came to a large flat drainage where I observed a couple does. Thinking that a buck wouldn�t let those girls roam alone I sat back and watched them. Soon a third doe arrived and she I recognized her as the one that ran with the buck taken earlier in the season. Crossing that valley I start up the hill until it flattened out. Turning to the East I saw in the distance a rocky creek bed and I saw some movement. Freezing and shutting down my ATV the movement stepped out from behind the junipers, it was a herd of Elk. That herd was made up of 16 cows, 4 calves and one bull. He was very impressive, a beautiful big 6x7, and was only 70 yards away according to my range finder. After they moved quite a ways up that creek bed I crossed over it and topped out on a small hill over looking a valley. Working my way down I spotted a herd of Antelope slowly grazing up the valley and there was one 14 or 15 inch buck with them. Following them for about a half mile and slowly closing the gap between us. Then all of a sudden that buck turned and ran off at full speed and running until I couldn�t see him through my binoculars anymore. Curious as to what spooked him so bad I started to glass the entire valley. About a couple miles away I spotted a glint of light and spied a pick up truck leaving. I settled myself into a bush for some shade and rested for about a hour. Across the valley and about a mile away was some odd colored dirt, as compared to the rest of the valley. As I slowly closed the distance I saw some movement off to my left. Glassing that spot I saw 3 or 4 does moving. But as the glasses came up I saw something off to my right, turn my binos that way I saw a huge herd of Turbo Goats consisting of 18 does and one buck. Every time I tried to get closer to them they would further distance themselves. I finally got within 560 yards, not a comfortable distance, and not able to slip in any closer I took the shot. In a cloud of dust the does bolted off but only ran a couple hundred yards then stopped. Glassing the area I shot I couldn�t see anything so I scanned the does. Not seeing the buck in with them I knew I made a hit. The last doe was looking back to where they were so swinging my glasses back over there I spotted a pair of horns. Starting up my ATV caused that buck to stand up and try to move away so shutting down the ATV I resighted him in and took a second shot. This time I was sure I made a good shot because of the stream of blood gushing out of him. After a short wait I motored up to him and tried to lift him up on the ATV, not being able to, I tagged him and put 3 foot long blaze orange flagging tape on each horn and waypointing him on my GPS I took off to find a road that would take me back to camp. Stopping about every 200 yards I would �flag� a bush, it ended up that I was only about a half mile to the road I started from. Back in camp I enlisted my Dad to help so off we went to retrieve my �Lope�. Getting field dressed and loaded on to my quad we headed back to camp. Back at the trailer we already devised a way to hang him so we could skin and quarter him and from there the real work began. I did a European (Santa Fe) mount and both horns were 13 5/8 and every other measurement were exactly the same and has a 9 1/4 spread. I have him on display at my friend�s, Jim, auto parts store.

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