NEWBIE 19A PRONGHORN SUCCESS
This hunt touched all 3 bases and then slid into home plate like a .300RUM! We all know how lucky I was to draw 19A General Pronghorn with only 9 points, so I won’t bore you with testimony to the months of scouting and time invested learning from other hunters. In short, I did the homework & it paid dividends! Some of you had asked for “the story”, so I’ll fast forward to 12hrs before Opening Hour.
I had a target list of 4 bucks spanning 3 different areas of State Trusts & National Forest from Prescott Valley to Chino Valley. I had observed each of these bucks just hours earlier—defending their does, breeding their does, and raking desert flora. At one point I was pinned down behind tall Deer Grass just 100yrd away, thinking this chaos was better than any Outdoor Channel show I’ve ever seen. My target list had been established. Then, a curve ball was introduced.
My hunting partner for Opening Day suggested I come put eyes on a buck he thought was “pretty good”. We then both glassed “Tall Boy” for over an hour. He chased off 2 other competing bucks to defend his 3 does the entire watching. Often times cresting a hill to provide a silhouette of his tall horns. This sealed the deal: the silhouette of his tall horns. All other negative features became a moot point, as this animal was impressively tall. “Tall Boy” just became the #1 on my target list.
04:00 we left camp to arrive before sunlight in hopes of taking him where we last saw him. As it often turns out, he wasn’t anywhere to be found. We hiked several hours & miles before spotting him on TOP of a rolling hill, some 1200yrd away, again silhouetting his horns. There were no other hunters this deep off the road, so we patiently watched him work those does down the hill, chase off 2 coyotes several times, frequently pass along his genes, and close the distance to around 600yrd. When the opportunity allowed, we used flora to hide our advancement as we belly crawled/boot scooted to a vantage point on a downward slope just 480yrd from his grass grazing on the prairie. 09:20, Boom Boom (hit him twice), .300RUM, 480yrd, smiles from ear to ear on 3 dudes. AZGFD Draw, No paid professional guides, No paid private ranch access, No cheating. Earned it the hard way!
Special thank you to Mark B (coueswhitetail.com acquaintance) & Jake M (fellow FF who decided a day of hunting is better than any day at work). Both made my ‘once in a life-time tag’ more memorable than each will ever know, and even documented it (YouTube: Craigs 2021 AZ Antelope Hunt). BTW, I named my trophy “Tall Boy” as a play on words; A “Tall Boy beer” is 16oz… This buck’s beams are over 16”. Conservatively scored 80.25”. This was one for the books… or at least a campfire ring and some beer.
