One day, two pronghorn

M

MarkCO

New member
Got up at 4am, drove 4 hours, hunted for 5, drove 4 hours home, butchered and in the freezer. Will be making breakfast sausage in January after we get some pigs to go with it.

Hunting doe Pronghorn in Colorado has been pretty easy all things considered, but this year, with the changes they made, it was a little harder. I have never seen the Pronghorn so skittish. I can only assume that being chased for a week before doe opens made it so. Also, the few idiots that went blasting across the prairie (not on established roads as required) chasing them did not help. Game warden checked our licenses on the way in, and stopped us later and offered us a Pronghorn he had confiscated, but nowhere to be seen when the idiots went cross country.

Anyway, my 14 year old got his with a 500 yard shot using a Mossberg Patriot in .243 with a Burris E1 3-9. I shot mine at 430 with a Ruger American Predator in .243 with a Burris XTRII 2-10.

We rewarded ourselves with a round of sporting clays on Sunday. :)
 
K

kraigwy

New member
How did you like the Predator?

I used mine for the first time hunting goats on opening day. Mine was a 6.5 CM. I fell in love with that round playing with my wife's RPR 6.5CM.

I like going out the day before and setting up camp on the prairie. Even though I hunt not far from town, we like listening to coyotes and watching the stars.

I got two with my RA Pedator, wife got one with her RPR, my Granddaughter got hers with wife's Model 70 in 243, and son got his with his RPR in 308.

3 bucks and two does, nothing to write home about.

Before anyone ask about pictures, I took several, but my I-phone is lost some where in the middle of the Thunder Basin National Grasslands.

I'm gonna have to change my antelope hunting procedures. Wait all year only to end the hunt the first day. But I still have deer and elk hunting coming up.

Still I think I'll spread out my antelope season in the future. For no other reason, then to have an excuse to camp on the prairie.

I do recommend people give the 6.5 CM a look see, its an extremely accurate long range round, perfect for longer ranges at antelope where you don't want them spooked, before they spend the morning running from others.
 
M

MarkCO

New member
Pictures, I honestly don't take many. I have three from the hunt, the three of us in the morning, my boy took one of me prone before I took my shot and one of me about 100 yards into the drag.

I really like the Predator. Very accurate. I literally put the bullet exactly on the crosshair hold (I dialed). It is also light and I don't care about keeping it pristine with the plastic stock. I have grouped it from 5K to 8K feet, hot and cold and it just holds groups together amazingly well for a hunting rig. Having both an RPR and the Predator in .243, the Predator definitely is my preference for hunting.

I am thinking of going to the Burris C4 Plus 4.5-14x42 for an optic. Putting a 23 ounce 2-10 on a 6.2 pound rifle seems a little off to me, but it is what was sitting on the shelf at the time.
 
E

eastbank

New member
we just got back from wyoming(newcastle) for prong horn and tagged out with 5 being taken. decent size, but no records. we lost our 40' sportsman trailer when the trailer next to ours caught fire and had to rent a u-haul to get back to pa. eastbank.
 
M

MarkCO

New member
I love the .243Win round.

My first rifle was a Win670A in .243Win my parents gave me when I was 13. Last year, my oldest, who was 13, shot his first Pronghorn with it. He got his own .243 for his 14th birthday. My youngest, now 12, got drawn for elk, but not Pronghorn, so he will likely get a Pronghorn tag next year, and he will then also hunt with the same .243Win I used as a teenager. Kind of cool and they both really appreciate that.
 
K

kraigwy

New member
Eastbank, sorry about your trailer, but glad you had a good hunt. Lots of goats here in Newcastle.

I run the Sight In Days for our Range for out of state hunters the last two days before Opening day.

You being from PA reminds me of a guy I met from PA a couple years ago.

He showed up a couple at the range with a new rifle, said he bought it in Rapid City on the way through and wanted to check it out. Cabela's boresited it and he needed to confirm the zero.

I was spotting for him and mentioned to his partner that I didn't think I'd want to spend all that money and drive across the country to hunt with a rifle I never fired before.

The Partner laughed and says he does that every year. Gets about half way to his hunting grounds and calls his wife saying he forgot his rifle and had to buy another.

I got a kick out of that. It didn't take him long to get on, he seemed to know what he was doing in the shooting department. Great couple of guys.
 
E

eastbank

New member
after the fire(started at about 3:00 AM saturday)) we were put up in the fountain motel, and ate at the local eateries,(we liked the place on slate road) we were treated very well by all we met, a special thank you to your fire department and all we interacted with. no one got hurt and we saved most of our hunting equipment and were able to go hunting later on saturday. eastbank.
 
K

kraigwy

New member
Just for info, I talked to Carey (owner of the camp ground) last night.

He was impress by the way you handled the tragic situation.

Hope all turns out well and you come back for another visit to Wyoming.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top