This year was a lot like other years where i wanted to hunt antelope but didn't get drawn--sound familiar to all of you? ;-)
Any way i got a landowner tag from a guy who did not have a buyer and i was on my way to Clovis--all i can say is i am happy i bought the tag. It is one of those things when you go blind into the night! Never been to Clovis but i knew i would have a good time one way or the other.
I had helped my good friend Marshall in unit 21 Friday and Saturday and we didn't see a buck that was over his ears so we decided not to shoot one...tomorrow i will be with him again and i know we will get it done.
Back to the next part of the story--my son in law Tom and i left Phoenix at 6 am and 700 miles later we rolled in to the booming town of Clovis new Mexico with about an hour of light left. We went to the ranch and got our bearings strait and seen a few good bucks and had one picked out if i didn't see a better one...we spent a restless night at the Best Western and when the alarm went off at 5 am we jumped up and got it together and headed out--a cup of coffee for Tom, a Mountain Dew for me and a Egg McMuffin and we were cranked up and ready to hunt!
We passed by one buck that was a shooter but i wanted to see more and at 7:30 am standing on my tool box in the back of my F250 and looking through my 15's on a tri-pod sitting on the cab of my truck (the ground was as flat as i have ever seen) and suddenly there he was--the one i wanted. He was about three miles away and i need a better look so off we walked sun at our backs and rifle ready for that magic moment!
We were about 500 yards out and i knew we could get closer so we got low and kept that sun boiling at our back and it was good enough to get 258 and then the does started to worry--butts started to flair--they were doing the snort wheeze and i knew i had about 3 minutes to shoot--i got the Remington .280 ready and settled on the spot and as i squeezed the trigger the rifle barked and i was somewhat startled (which i hear is good) and all we could hear was that sssswwwwappp of the bullet smacking the buck and the game was over--just like that and at 8:20 am and 700 miles behind us this buck was mine.