T minus 4 hours-Oregon Malheur Antelope!

[strictlyRUM]

As soon as the kids hit the sack my wife and I are headed out for her first big game hunt. Last year she decided she wanted to deer hunt. After years of putting up with my addiction, she has decided she wants to provide for the familly with organic wild meat. It was too late last year as it is all controlled hunts around here. This year I put her in for deer, antelope, and sheep. All the critters she was interested in. We had been saving her points for the past six years in hopes when our kids get hunting age they would be able to draw a good tag. Well she drew an antelope tag in a unit I have spent some time in. This should have limited the amount of scouting time. Well the entire half of the unit I know and planned on hunting burned to a crisp. So after three trips, it looks bleak. I reached out to a few guys I know for some tips and hints. With the wife really wanting to hunt "the right way" she made the decision to leave the kids with grammy for the first day. We took them on one scouting trip and they werent as serious as mom was. With antelope being so few and far between she thaught we may need to be a bit more mobile and stealthy. They are only 2 and 6 so we have time. If we dont find one on opening day(tomorrow) we will come back to grab the kids and go back out.

We will try and keep you all updated but I dont get service too many places out there.

Jason

 

[JasonWi]

Best of luck! Friends of mine are out bowhunting them right now in SE Oregon.

 

[strictlyRUM]

Well guys...... This was not only not close to a live update, but we came home empty handed! Another year I am forced to reduce my opinion on our fish and game department. We had no shortage of antelope. Just none of age. We saw one that would go 12 and one that may go 13. Unfortunately they were on indian land and not public. We saw 10 or so 8-9 inch bucks. Passing on one that would maybe touch 12 on the first morning. Then it became very clear that fish and game told everyone that called in the same exact thing they told me. The one thing they told me that was obviosly not true was than "No, no one is calling in without a place to hunt because of the fire?" The few guys I talked to said they used to hunt the south end of the unit and it was no longer there. They said they called fish and game and they were told about the places we ended up. Seems that there were others that had asked about getting there points refunded and they were told the same thing that I was,"We would never do that. Those antelope didnt burn in the fire, they are now in the north end of the unit." So all 95 tag holders in the first hunt and the 95 in the second hunt were forced to hunt about 20% of the area that would have been huntable antelope holding public land. This boiled down to about 4 large meadows and a few table top plateaus at the top of the same mountain range. This made for some crowded hunting and very desperate hunters that were all shooting these 8-9 inch bucks. I cant see how this could be "just fine" as I was told.

Enough ranting and whining....... She did get a few chances but was overtaken with the shakes. She showed reserve that has taken me 20 years of hunting to get. Holding out for the perfect shot and not taking a shot when she didnt feel perfect about it. She couldnt get steady a few times and with antelope on high alert we ended up coming home with without an animal. She was happy and we had a great time. I was much prouder to have an empty truck than I would have been of the guy and his two full grown boys(mid 20s) cutting down 8 inch bucks on the run in a heard of does and fawns that were somewhat trapped against a fence looking for a way through. We had just walked away from that heard and were half way back to the truck when we heard the shots start. We watched them running back and forth on the fence and just turned around after the third shot to walk back. We continued to hear shots for the entire walk back and change into driving clothes for the drive home. 10-12 shots total. I just dont understand how grown men can be so desperate to fill there tag that they have no care left for the heard or the next year, or the next generation. We are trying to fit in a western oregon general deer hunt now. She wants to try that. She really didnt care to go back this weekend and try to find another antelope. We will try Wyoming in the next few years. Once the boys are a bit older and we can go as a group. Over all a very mixed bag of emotions on this hunt. So proud of my wife, so excited she has decided to hunt without any coaxing from myself, but so dissapointed in Oregon. It feels like the last 20 years I have watched it just go from pretty good, to not even worth messing with unless you get one of the premium hunts. I guess I will see with a limited unit elk tag, and a general deer hunt still this year!

Jason

 

[Shrek]

That's a bummer. Good luck with the rest of your hunts .