Complete Blessing: Spot and Stalk Archery Antelope

[Tunachaser]

In 2010, I was 16 and drew my first archery antelope tag. We hunted 7 days and came home with tag soup and some awesome memories. Four years later, I drew my second tag. I remember I was crossing the border coming home from Mexico from one of the most incredible fishing trips of my life, and I got the news. To be honest, I was bummed. I know that sounds extremely selfish but I was in a fishing mode. Thankfully however, my friends were able to get me jazzed about the hunt, and by opening day, I was shooting 90 yards, had several bucks picked out, and went to bed Thursday night struggling to fall asleep in anticipation for the morning. That evening was the first time we saw the buck that we soon named "Captain Hook," and he never left my mind.

 

Right off the bat the next morning, I stalked a nice buck with a bunch of does, and as expected with 10 sets of 10 power binoculars looking in every direction, we were busted. My mind wasn't in it. I couldn't stop thinking of "Hook". I wanted him more than any goat in the unit. And that evening, the Good Lord showed him to us. My brother Bennett and I immediately took off as he was hanging out with a small buck in a stalk-able spot at about a mile. They fed into the open however and my dream of an easy stalk went with them. But then the Lord gave us another gift. He bedded them down behind a large Juniper and we were able to close the distance to 200 yards. Then the bucks started feeding towards us. I was freaking out. I knocked an arrow and pulled out my rangefinder to range some points. Then the unthinkable happened. My only rangefinder died. A once and a lifetime trophy was feeding towards me in the most difficult country to guess range in and my rangefinder died. My confidence was almost completely crushed, but I stuck with it. Then I was given another gift. The small buck broke away from Hook. We were stoked but he began to feed away. I knew that if I didn't get aggressive, I might loose him. So I stood up with an arrow knocked and no rangefinder, put a Juniper between us, and I closed the distance to 100 yards. He then went behind a bush and I go to 90. Then he fed out to 120 and I closed it to 100 again. I played this game with him for close to 15 minutes. I was right on him but he was feeding too quickly. I had one chance for a shot at 80 yards (guessing of course) but my heart was coming out of my chest. I couldn't keep my pin on him!! I decided to keep risking it and getting closer.

 

Finally, God gave me the perfect tree and I was suddenly at 60 yards. If you haven't guessed already, I am positive that I had nothing to do with any of this stalk. It was all a gift from our perfect creator. I drew back, had time to breath and settle my bubble, and let the arrow fly. It looked perfect, and almost knocked him to the ground, almost like a rifle! He ran for about 100 yards plowing his head into the ground and then stopped. It was then that I realized that I had just arrowed a truly giant buck. I closed my eyes and thanked the Lord for everything, and opened my eyes fully expecting to see him on the ground. To my amazement, he was standing and looking around like nothing was wrong. He then began to trot. And I could tell that his front shoulder was broken but oh my goodness, when he got his bearings back, he ran like nothing I've ever seen. My dad watched him run a mile until it was too dark to see anything. I was crushed. Maybe an inch too forward and I missed all vitals. We knew there was nothing we could do that night so we came back at first light and began to tear the valley apart.

 

Five minutes into glassing, my buddy hunter picked him up bedded. We were all amazed! It was an incredible find. Without hesitation, Hunter and I took off to finish what I had started. After another long and stressful stalk, my second arrow found its mark at 56 yards. Again, the buck ran like mad, but quickly ran out of energy and we were soon walking up on our prize. And being totally honest, there aren't words to describe my feelings. All I could say was "THANK YOU JESUS FOR YOUR INCREDIBLE BLESSINGS." Anyways, the packout was long but sweet, as I was able to share it with some of the people I enjoy hanging out with most. My dad, my brother, and my friends Hunter and Austin.

 

And that is my story of "Captain Hook", the coolest antelope God ever put in my binoculars. Thanks for reading.

 

Shelton

 

 

[rageinthesage]

Great story and unreal buck congrats!!! Not that it matters but let us know what that beast scores. I'm still on cloud nine myself, can't wait to draw the tag again!

[lionhunter]

Great story and great buck!!!! Well done and well written young man!

[lionhunter]

Grandpa Tom is a proud man! I am sure!!!!

[hunter01]

Awesome buck and a great story to devoted to your antelope. Nice job!!!

[218buck]

That's a great buck awesome job if you don't mind telling what unit were you hunting.

[CouesWhitetail]

Loved your story and yes, you were truly blessed on this hunt!! Congratulations! What a real accomplishment to sneak up on an antelope and take him with a bow!

[Gary I]

Wow, thats it, just wow. Congratulations Shelton, hard work pays off big,(some blessings along the way don't hurt either). Way to stick with it and get it done....twice. Looking forward to seeing him in person. Congrats again.

[Mesabulls]

Awesome story and great goat. Perfect name for him!

[azhuntnut]

Now that is a big buck. I would love to hear what he tapes. It looks like his right side is close to 18 inches, plus great mass and cutters. Good job. David

[GreyGhost85]

nice buck, especially with a bow. Not sure about the part of being "bummed" because you draw your 2nd antelope tag and are 20ish years old? i have 18bp, my brother 19, dad 23 BP for antelope. i don't think any of us would be "bummed" with an antelope tag

[ZJARCHER]

GREAT buck man! God is great!

[Tunachaser]

Thanks everyone! It was an incredible hunt. We very unofficially green scored him a little over 82. I will probably have him scored again but I don't even care what he scores. From the second I saw him, I knew that he was the buck I wanted and it was amazing that God let me take him home! Gary, I can't wait to get him down to you along with our California Hogs.

 

Grey Ghost, I know that it was selfish for me to be upset with an antelope tag. But I had reason. My last hunt absolutely kicked my butt, and I knew that it would be so hard. At the time, I had developed a ton of bad habits with my shooting and I didn't feel worthy of having the tag. A tag that I really do believe is the hardest archery hunt in the world, maybe only rivaled by Ibex (no experience just hearsay) or real Free Range Mountain Aoudad (I hunted them with a rifle in February and they are incredible) with a bow. Also, like I stated before, we were coming back from an unbelievable fishing trip, and hunting was far from my mind. But over the summer, I realized what I had and began to take it seriously.

[Couestracker]

Giant buck-very awesome! Congratulations on your stellar success. Is that a Game and Fish ear tag? Don't think I've seen one of those.

[Tunachaser]

Oh, he is 16 1/2" x 16 1/4". His left horn is longer which surprised me. Whitey, my grandpa was stoked! He came out to help scout but got sick and had to go home before we got an arrow in him.. You are the guy that I went Summer Sheep scouting with when I was like 6 right?