Larry Ashcraft
New member
Edit: it should have been 3 outta 4.
Kinda long, but bear with me, it was an interesting year.
As I mentioned in Labgrade's thread, We had 4 Pronghorn tags to fill this year, mine, my friend Bud's, my brother Gary's and his 15 year old son, Berke's. It turned out to be an interesting hunt. The drought had the animals all scattered so we knew it would be a tough year. My cousin Terry owns about 12 sections of land close to Limon CO and has access to lots more.
Started opening morning in the 7 sections north of the house. Bud started straight north and my son Jim and I started about a mile west and north. We found 2 nice bucks and 3 does and worked them until Bud got a shot. He misjudged the distance and over-shot the buck's back, then they ran past me about 60 yards away. I wasn't about to take a running shot on opening morning, and they weren't about to stop. Headed back to the house and got there about lunchtime.
About 20 guys were standing around eating and talking about strategies for the afternoon. Jim was walking around the house glassing the area and about 12:15 he came around the barn and told me to bring my rifle. We slipped away and I didn't think anybody noticed. Behind the barn to the south, was a buck about 1/2 mile away, just standing there. There was a rise between the buck and us so we were able to walk about 300 yards and then crouch-walk about 100 yards and then crawl the last 50 or so yards. When I could see the buck through my scope, he had lain down and was about 300 yards away. I waited until I caught my breath and then put the crosshairs right behind his front leg and squeezed. BOOM....Thwack. He was down and never moved. I paced off the distance and Jim walked back to get the truck. 296 paces, and I had hit him just below the eye and the bullet came out his neck. The wind was blowing and I hadn't figured that into my shot, but I guess I got lucky.
Now the cool part... Terry came driving out in his pickup with Jim inside. After the high fives I asked him if the shot had surprised them. He said "Heck no, Paul saw you from the house and yelled 'Larry's on one', so I yelled "Boys, we got a stalk". Everybody had been on the corral or on pickup beds watching the whole thing. I'm sure glad I made that shot.
The next morning Jim and Bud drove down the road while I waited at the ranch. They saw a buck in the middle of a green field of short CRP (burned off this summer). Bud started the stalk and Jim brought his pickup back to the house. About 1 1/2 hours later we heard 2 shots so we drove back and Bud was waving from the middle of the field. We got to him about 15 minutes later and he said "I got him and then he got me". He was dressing the buck out and put his knife down to re-position something and tripped on a leg, falling backwards on his knife. He had a big gash between his thumb and forefinger. We got back to the house and Jim and I hung and skinned the buck while the other guys got Bud cleaned up and bandaged. Bud took off back to Pueblo to get stitches (did I mention that Bud's one tough SOB?) and Jim and I loaded up the animals and headed back home. BTW, Bud's shot was at 450 yards, right throught the lungs.
My brother called about 4:00 that afternoon and said that his son had gotten his buck but he hadn't got one. They had to drive back to Albuquerque last night so they settled for just one.
Kinda long, but bear with me, it was an interesting year.
As I mentioned in Labgrade's thread, We had 4 Pronghorn tags to fill this year, mine, my friend Bud's, my brother Gary's and his 15 year old son, Berke's. It turned out to be an interesting hunt. The drought had the animals all scattered so we knew it would be a tough year. My cousin Terry owns about 12 sections of land close to Limon CO and has access to lots more.
Started opening morning in the 7 sections north of the house. Bud started straight north and my son Jim and I started about a mile west and north. We found 2 nice bucks and 3 does and worked them until Bud got a shot. He misjudged the distance and over-shot the buck's back, then they ran past me about 60 yards away. I wasn't about to take a running shot on opening morning, and they weren't about to stop. Headed back to the house and got there about lunchtime.
About 20 guys were standing around eating and talking about strategies for the afternoon. Jim was walking around the house glassing the area and about 12:15 he came around the barn and told me to bring my rifle. We slipped away and I didn't think anybody noticed. Behind the barn to the south, was a buck about 1/2 mile away, just standing there. There was a rise between the buck and us so we were able to walk about 300 yards and then crouch-walk about 100 yards and then crawl the last 50 or so yards. When I could see the buck through my scope, he had lain down and was about 300 yards away. I waited until I caught my breath and then put the crosshairs right behind his front leg and squeezed. BOOM....Thwack. He was down and never moved. I paced off the distance and Jim walked back to get the truck. 296 paces, and I had hit him just below the eye and the bullet came out his neck. The wind was blowing and I hadn't figured that into my shot, but I guess I got lucky.
Now the cool part... Terry came driving out in his pickup with Jim inside. After the high fives I asked him if the shot had surprised them. He said "Heck no, Paul saw you from the house and yelled 'Larry's on one', so I yelled "Boys, we got a stalk". Everybody had been on the corral or on pickup beds watching the whole thing. I'm sure glad I made that shot.
The next morning Jim and Bud drove down the road while I waited at the ranch. They saw a buck in the middle of a green field of short CRP (burned off this summer). Bud started the stalk and Jim brought his pickup back to the house. About 1 1/2 hours later we heard 2 shots so we drove back and Bud was waving from the middle of the field. We got to him about 15 minutes later and he said "I got him and then he got me". He was dressing the buck out and put his knife down to re-position something and tripped on a leg, falling backwards on his knife. He had a big gash between his thumb and forefinger. We got back to the house and Jim and I hung and skinned the buck while the other guys got Bud cleaned up and bandaged. Bud took off back to Pueblo to get stitches (did I mention that Bud's one tough SOB?) and Jim and I loaded up the animals and headed back home. BTW, Bud's shot was at 450 yards, right throught the lungs.
My brother called about 4:00 that afternoon and said that his son had gotten his buck but he hadn't got one. They had to drive back to Albuquerque last night so they settled for just one.
