Bittersweet antelope 2018
 

Well back in the spring my dad, brother and myself decided that this would be the year for antelope. The ol boy had enough priority to draw a tag but my brother and I weren't to sure if we would but regardless I was gonna head south with the ol man if I had a tag or not. Along comes the draw date and wouldn't you know it. The three of us all drawn for trophy antelope. The "hellya" phone call went out and the planning began.

I got in touch with a ao member that I had bought a Yukon 1940 wood stove from the year before. We had kept in contact with a text here and there. Must of been within a few days Bob was sending me the odd text with a picture of antelope in it, asking is this one good enough? I'd reply sure but you tell me because I've never seen one before. After multiple pics Bob sent me of various antelope I knew we were in for a hunt of a lifetime.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to near the end of August. The ol man made a appointment to see his Dr. He was having severe neck pain. The Dr requested a ct scan that wouldn't be scheduled until Oct 15. Well that's no good I said and told him to get in touch with a private imaging lab. 2 days later he goes for a ct scan for a sore neck and comes home with brain and lung cancer. Well wtf do we do now was the question. The ol man went thru the cross cancer institute and come out feeling pretty good. Yep he said we're going. Perfect was the general consensus. Dad was doing good even with a few of the mix ups with the meds he was talking. Saturday of the thanksgiving weekend we had a family dinner and discussed more on the trip and what time I'd be there to pick him up. Things were good. Tuesday comes around and he was admitted into the hospital. The question come up "now What?". After talking to various family the opinion was that dad was excited to go and would not want us boys to miss out. After talking it over with my wife and brother it was decided that we were still going to be leaving for milk river on Saturday. Wednesday comes and goes. On Thursday my dad passed away. We were blessed that it was quick and painless just as my brother and I had wanted for dad.

With heavy hearts and missing our hunting partner we headed south. Telling stories about the ol man. We stopped in Calgary where a met tirebob Bob. A heckuva nice guy by the way. He set me up with some studded duratraks for my truck and a set of blizzaks for the wife's. If you've never drove in Calgary it will soon become apparent the many refer to drive with their heads up their arses. Had to drive all the way to claresholm before a could find a classy liquor store that sold baby duck wine. A hunting trip ain't a hunting trip without a bottle of baby duck to toast your game.

We get into milk river and checked into our room at the sandstone motel and decided we should go for a tour. I called Bob and asked if he wanted to to get together for a nightcap. Sure he said. We found our way to the can/us border via some back roads and proceeded to Bob's house. We had a couple of drinks and was honoured to meet Bob and his wife Jessie. Bob says ok I'll pick you guys up in the morning. So off we went back to our room.

Morning rolls around and we meet Bob in the restaurant along with a couple of friends and ao members of my brothers. After breakfast Rick and Ron go their way and we go ours. It is very clear that in the 60 years that Bob has lived along the border that there is not many square inches of ground that he hasn't covered. He showed us antelope and instructed us in the Do's and Don'ts along the border.

To be continued

Please do.
I thinking this is the start of a special story.

Sorry the ol'man Is not there but your right he would want it that way, waiting for more of this beauty story to play out....

Love the story so far. I feel like the chubby chick from the movie Misery, as she’s super excited reading the story the James Caan has to write after double tapping his ankles.

I'm already teary-eyed. A very powerful story. A good reminder to all of us to get it done today, don't wait for "someday"...

Compelling story. Really sorry bout the home front....



I owe ya a lunch and a drink some day eh?

Damn. Bitter sweet so far. My dad lingered, glad your dad found peace quick. Looking forward to the rest of the story. Grew up looking at 'lopes on the Milk River down by the border south of Cardston...hope you get one for dad. TC

Great story so far!

Looking forward to the rest of the story!
And hopefully some pics

Like others, too am looking forward to the rest of the story. Sad to hear of your Dads passing. It hits close to home for me I tell you, and can empathize.

I've a feeling your Dad will funnel a couple of good Bucks to you fellows.

Good luck guys.

Sorry to hear of your fathers passing.

Sorry to hear about your dad. 104 is the hidden gem for pronghorns.

I'm also sorry to hear about your Dad, but it sounds like you are honoring his memory in away he would love. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of this story like everyone else.

Finally someone else drinks fine wine 🍷 j

Passing
 

Sorry to hear that

Great story. Sorry to hear about your father.

Please continue... it is a very fitting tribute to your father. I am darn sure he would approve.

I’m sorry to hear about your dad. Take care and good hunting.

Bitter sweet story forsure. Sorry for your loss, but I am glad it was quick. Looking forward to the good ending.

Going through something similar as my hunting buddy (brother) has a CT scan tomorrow to see results of chemo and radiation. We missed our trip this year but he's raring to go next year so here's hoping. Sorry for your loss and I know he was in on your hunt.

Thanks for the kind words fellas.

So back to the hunting story.

We toured around with Bob all Sunday. Checked his cows and he showed us some interesting historical things. We come across a couple of gophers that Bob loaned us his 22 mag to send them to prairie dog heaven. A little farther up the road we come across one of those critters that like to dig holes in the shoulders of the roads. Out promptly came the 22 mag again. Bob put some lead in the air and gave the badger a belly ache. He handed the rifle to my brother who gave chase. Never ever did catch up to it. After a little more scouting and touring around we called it a day and made a plan for opening day.

Monday opening day seemed to come quick. I can't stand being late so we were at Bob's house a 1/2 hr early. Bob had already fed his horses and had the coffee on. After a cup or to we headed out to where we seen a antelope that my brother liked. My brother won the coin flip so he was first up shooter. We developed a plan on how to sneak up on the antelope with some of Bob's guidance. Off we went. My brother had wanted to use my dad's Parker hale 243 and I took my Browning 26 nosler. After what seemed like a 1/4 mile of crouching and belly crawling we got within what I figured was shooting distance. My brother got all setup but for whatever reason he couldn't get the scope focused. So i passed him my rifle but like a novice i had forgotten to take my mag from the truck. The antelope had spotted us and were a little antsy so they didn't provide much time to get organized. Off they went over the ridge and gone out of sight before we got organized.

Back in the truck and down the road we go to the next spot where we'd seen goats. Sure enough there they are. This time my brother decided he'd use my 257 wby vanguard. We changed the bipods from the 243 to the 257 and developed a plan. Off we go keeping ourselves to the bottom of the ridge. Bob had said that the antelope will be coming down the valley on the the other side. We got to where we figured we needed to be then crouched, crawled and belly crawled high enough the we would be in good shooting position. I was higher up on the ridge and seen the antelope first. I told my brother to get ready because here they come. It seemed to take for ever and I'm sure if the antelope could talk they would've said seeing that guys head poke up and down out of the stubble looked like the wack a mole game. Lol. Sure enough they kept coming. A couple of does leading and then the buck. I said "take'im ". Then the rifle roared. Full frontal at about 75 yards with a Barnes 100 gr tsx. Boy do those thing penetrate. Lol. Right from stem to stern. Woo hoo my brothers 2nd ever big game animal is a antelope. Happy bunch of fellas we are, handshakes, back slapping, high fives and congratulations. During all the celebratory camaraderie we had failed to heed Bob's warning not to touch the horns. Some like ourselves may ask why? Well let me tell you it is because antelope **** on their horns. Lol. Bob come along with the truck and we proceeded to take care of my brothers trophy. For those that don't know me I'll be completely honest and say I've got a very weak stomach. Gut shot and me don't agree and some weird heaving sounds come out of me when I get a whiff of something unpleasant and a antelope shot stem to stern is a very unpleasant stink. Lol Now not only do I have antelope **** on my hands I'm hacking and heaving trying to get the little guy gutted and skinned. This provided much amusement to Bob and Jessie who come out to bring us a tarp. Anyways we got'er done, loaded and headed back to Bob's house to wash it up, 1/4 it and stick it in the cooler. My brothers friends had the for sight to bring a freezer which we put the antelope in.

With my brothers antelope taken care of we headed out again. It didn't take long before we located two more bucks. We sat there and watched them for a while then decided yep I'll take one. I was let out of the truck on the border road which is technically in the US of A to start my stalk. Off I go sneaking thru the standing wheat on my hands and knees to get in position that I could a good shot off. I got to 344 yards before I was high enough that I could setup my bipods to be able to see over the wheat. The antelope were watching me the whole way probably wondering what the heck is this guy doing lol. Well he didn't wonder long. I sent one, then I sent two. Before sending number 3 I waited til the wind was gusting. This time it was sent signed and delivered doa. Hell Ya. My 1st ever antelope. Once again I forgot about Bob's advice and touched the horns. Lol. Soon after my brother came and touched his horns. Lol. We drug it out of the field to my truck and took it up to a piece of property that Bob owns that has a horse shelter on it. I found that they are just the right size to gut on the tailgate so you don't have to be bent over like a dog humpin a football. Guts out we took it over to the horse shelter where we could hang it up and do a better skinning job. Once it was skinned we quartered it and stuck it in a cooler. We dropped Bob off at home and went to town to get ice for my meat and cape.

Day two we decided we'd give Bob a day off and we'd give Ron and Rick a hand scouting. Found a couple different goats for them but due to lack of permission they had to pass. Mid morning we get a text saying one down so off we go to have a look. A look, a few pictures and some heaving because it was shot in much the same manner as my brothers we were off again to scout some more. Scouting we did. We scouted ourselves right into a gopher patch. How lucky could we be? Well pretty lucky I suppose because it doesn't sound like many gophers are shot mid October. Don't know how many gophers we shot but I just happened to have a couple hundred .22 shells in my truck leftover from my gopher safari to claresholm earlier in the summer. After a hour or so taking turns shooting gophers we figured we'd better get back to scouting. No sooner did we get back to goat mode and we got another text saying all done and we didn't to look anymore. A quick call to update Bob and a invite for him to come to town for supper and our 2018 trophy antelope season was complete except for the drive home and a stop by Darren's at solitude taxidermy.

For the most part it was a great hunting experience. The people we met and the scenery down south are second to none. Our dad might not of been with us in body but he was no doubt with us in spirit.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

I've got pics but have no idea on how to get them off my phone and onto to the interweb. Lol.

Wish your brother all the best.

Great story and congrats on the goats my friend. I’m very sorry to hear about your dad.

Sorry to hear about the passing of your father. As was said earlier it is a fitting tribute to him that you and your brother decided to still go on the trip...

Sounds like a great hunt, congrats to you and your brother. I hope to do the same hunt one day.

I’m off to work but if you don’t get the pics figured out today text them to me and I’ll get them up for you tonight. I’ll PM you my number.

Very sorry to hear about your father passing, it’s never a good time to say good bye, but the fact you guys were able to still make the hunt during this time I’m sure will help the healing and most likely made your Pop proud looking down on you guys.

Congrats on your success and I wish you all the best in the coming days, you have a lifetime of memories to keep him close.

Thanks for sharing! Condolences.

LC

Thanks for the great story Norwest and condolences on the loss of your dad

Great story, thanks for sharing and sorry to hear about your dad.

Excellent, excellent write-up. Felt like we were there.

Thanks for the post. Sorry about your dad...