Early in the year, my boy drew out a special anterless pronghorn antelope tag. It was special in that it was actually a two doe tag. I've never been to that part of the state but we made a scouting trip up there to at least look it over. Did not see alot of does, but enough. Lots of bucks there though but that's not what his tag was for.

My boy was shooting his new Savage Axis, left handed youth model in 7mm08. He bought it earlier in the year with his own money and we spent the summer working up handloads for it. We settled on 120grn Ballistic Tip Hunting bullets over H4350 powder. It was very low recoil but still pushing 2925 fps, plenty for deer or antelope.

Saturday morning found us on the corner of the unit ready to hunt! It was COLD... 24 degrees cold! Frost was heavy and water in the tire ruts from the previous days storm was frozen over. I was surprised at the number of other hunters there. Its big open country you can see for miles in and antelope stick out like a beacon... but they have 8x to 9x vision so its the getting close that is the trick.

I finally spotted a group of "goats" (alot of people nickname them "speed goats") about half a mile from the truck down in a small depression. I got my boy out and we made a stalk, getting within about 200 yards of them as we crested a hill. He got off a shot hitting a doe which went another 300 yards before pulling and standing, we were able to close the distance carefully and a 2nd shot put her down for good. He was so excited with his first ever antelope, as well as first rifle kill. He wanted to get it back to the truck ASAP so he could try to fill the 2nd tag. We took some pictures then quartered it up quickly and headed back to the truck to get it on ice. One in the cooler by 8am!



For the next few hours, we had different chances but with all the other hunters there pushing them around, getting shot at, they were getting wild really quickly and would run at the slightest motion.

After noon, I spotted a small band we hiked after. Got within 150 yards once but my boy couldn't settle the cross hairs down enough to take the shot. They spooked out and we kept following. A couple miles from the truck we crested a hill and saw a doe 200 yards away. It spooked circling around us but oddly it pulled up and stopped broadside. My boy was ready and nailed it perfectly.



1pm, both tags filled and headed home. I didn't expect to be done this early for sure. I even requested time off from work next weekend to spend more time up there hunting. Glad its done though!

What a lucky kid, 1 deer and 2 antelope his first year of hunting. Pretty cool.

-DallanC

He's having a Helluva year And I imagine you are as well ( proud pop ) Congrats to both of you !!!! Good times my friend, good times

Thats fantastic Dallan. Be sure to tell that boy of yours congrats from me and mine. Its good to see a new hunter enjoying the sport. Although he may not experience such great seasons every year this one will encourage him to keep on trudging along no matter what. I hope my seasons are as successful this year as his has been hahaha.

I think he's hooked.......congrats to the boy and a proud dad !!!

WOOO!!
Awesome!! Here comes a mighty hunter!

Congrats to both of you!

Well those 3 scores are gonna keep him goin for years ahead, if he ever has a bummer hunt, he'll know it only a glitch in the system. Way to go!!

Great stuff Dallan. Gotta be proud of that boy.

woohooo that young fella is setting the bar high. good on ya Dad for getting him out and teaching him right. proud of you both.

Yea, we are almost to that point where I need to tell him "you shot, it you clean it!". Maybe the next one I'll make him clean

PS: forgot to mention he 100% loaded up his own ammunition for this hunt. I've had him making small lots during the summer under my supervision while we worked up loads. For these, I set the scales and the dies and let him do it himself. I checked the cases with a flash light to make sure they all had even depth of powder... then let him seat the bullets.


-DallanC

Dallan, your boy done good...but to be fair, he has a great instructor mate. It's terrific that he is willing to learn all about the hunt, from the preparation of the tools (loading cartridges etc) to his soon to be learned dressing of the animal. These are lessons that will stay with him, and serve him well, for the rest of his life.

Seems to me you might need tp invest in another freezer of monolithic proportions if you both keep hunting the way you are...you will need the extra space.

When you and SWMBO are not able to get out there and hunt because of age, he will be able to keep you well fed mate.

Great going both of you!!

Dang Dallan, you guys are on a roll, congrats.

Good on him, I know what its like to taste success....

Congrats to DallanSon! That 7mm-08 did the trick!