# 09 rifle goat



## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I got to the badlands a little late on Friday. The section I sat in for opening elk had 16 antelope in it including four bucks, and one was very nice. When I got there Friday two guys were walking in with the wind at their back. I drove around to the SE corner of the section, and sure enough here they come. However, they were also running next to the Theodore Roosevelt Park fence and on private land. I sat for ten minutes with them at 700 yards and ten yards inside private land. At last they crossed, but as quickly found a hole through the park fence. I had a couple of minutes to shoot, but had decided on a 3X9 Leupold Tactical on my rifle. I have had some damage to my right eye from UV light, and a slight cataract. I could see the nice buck clearly through my binocs, but with right eye only I could not tell buck from doe through my scope. That scope gets switched today.
So Saturday morning I hiked up to the top of the highest butte I could find. By 8:30am I had five bucks spotted to pick from. As I get older I find myelf considering the easiest pack out rather than the largest horns. One nice buck would have been a mile pack through rough country. A slightly smaller buck had gone out of sight behind a butte 100 yards off a trail and didn't come back out in the open. He was about three miles away over rough country, and I opted for the Duramax over the Danners.
When I got there it was tough to tell which butte it was he went behind. In an instant there he was bedded 70 yards off the trail. I didn't dare stop so kept on driving for a few hundred yards and around a corner where the vehicle was concealed. I hiked into a quartering wind for a couple hundred yards then crawled over a low butte. He was bedded at 367 yards. Just as I cleared the top he got up and walked behind a ridge. I could see about six inches of his back and thought that was enough. I held a little to high to make sure I cleared the ground, and also cleared the antelope. He run to 500 yards and stopped to look back and see what all the noise was about. The last time I drug a deer a half mile wasn't that bad, but I must be sitting in the rocking chair to much. That and I was to stubborn to gut him because I wanted to take him to camp and practice boning without gutting. 
This antelope was a mile north of an antelope I shot with a bow eight years ago. They have to share genetics because they have the same wide rack. However, the bow antelope was a couple inches larger. I thought about holding out for a larger animal, but from the butte top that morning vehicle tail lights looked like an anthill out there. I didn't know there would be that many hunters in that area. 
Anyway, here he is, and anyone want an older high quality Leupold Tactical?










Here is a pic of the bow shot antelope from eight years ago. It looks like I need to dust my mounts.


----------



## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Sounds like you made a nice shot...... :beer:


----------



## Goosehauler23 (Apr 7, 2008)

Nice goat! What kind of rifle and caliber were you shooting?


----------



## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Winchester model 70 in 270 Winchester. I used 130 gr Ballistic Tips with R22 powder. Since I shoot prone a lot I switched the stock to a Bell and Carlson thumb hole.


----------



## holmsvc (Nov 26, 2003)

Here are a couple pictures of my 09 goat. I shot him Sunday in unit 2 A.


----------



## bretts (Feb 24, 2004)

Nice work! Looks like he's got some ivory tips :beer:


----------



## zogman (Mar 20, 2002)

Plainsman,

Great job on the Goat :thumb: Very nice heater too. Does it have the original barrel? Famous saying "Old age and treachery will overcome........." Can't remember the rest :lol: 
And how much for the scope????


----------



## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

"Old age and treachery take youth and skill every time". 

Yup, original barrel. I'm still trying to stabilize 150 gr bullets. I have a load that pushes a 150 gr to 3070 fps. That's just shy of the factory Remington 7mm mag. They group 1/2 inch at 100 yards, but are not stable at 800 yards. They are not going subsonic, so I am a little baffled.

How much for the scope? I don't know. I need to get back on Sniper Country and find what they are going for. I paid $325, but one site says they go for $400 to $500 to people who are familiar with their quality. I need to find out what a fair price is. There is not a mark on either of the two that I have.

holmsvc that's a very nice antelope. The horns caught my eye. I didn't think that a wide spread like that was common, but evidently it isn't as rare as I thought. They say an antelope is nice if the prongs are above the ears. Mine had that, but he didn't have much above the prongs. Yours looks very nice and symmetrical.


----------



## bretts (Feb 24, 2004)

Nice work on the goat Plainsman, really like that gun!


----------



## fhalum (Oct 7, 2008)

Congrats, Plainsman. Sounds like it was a great shot, and you ended up with a nice antelope. Well done!


----------



## wurgs (Mar 3, 2008)

Congrats to both! :beer: Good to see some nice bucks survived the bad winter. Hopefully there will be a few around to choose from this weekend when I go help my uncle get his.


----------



## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Nice looking pronghorn you have there.


----------



## spoiler92 (Jul 30, 2003)

Shot my first Pronghorn in SE Colorado


----------

