Post by cedarthicket on Oct 10, 2015 19:31:03 GMT -5
About 8:00 AM September 1 (the first day of our hunting) I managed to get my very first antelope. A good friend and I were hunting in the northeastern part of New Mexico. It was a guided hunt by a licensed guide/outfitter. He had landowner vouchers that we used to purchase a regular antelope hunting license. These licenses were only good for 3 days and were valid only on the particular ranch that we hunted. That was not a problem because the ranch contained over 10,000 acres as I recall.
I have never done an African safari hunt for plains game. However, the way we hunted in New Mexico was similar to what I had envisioned some African safaris to be like. Our guide essentially drove us around on the dirt (sometimes gravel) roads until we spotted an antelope buck that looked “good enough” to take. Then we would get out of the truck, load our rifle, and begin the stalk if the antelope was too far away to risk a shot from near the truck. Of course, under New Mexico rules we could not shoot from or over a motorized vehicle or a public road.
The buck I managed to take was at a distance of about 220 yards. We had originally spotted him from perhaps 500 to 600 yards. This was too far for me to shoot with any degree of confidence, plus I would have been shooting directly toward a well-travelled public highway and parallel railroad track around a half mile away. So, we drove on the dirt road to a point near the railroad track and turned around so that we would be closer to the buck, plus not shooting toward any highway, railroad track, buildings, or livestock.
I was using a relatively new stainless steel Winchester Model 70 with a Bell and Carlson synthetic stock. On it I used a borrowed Harris bipod previously adjusted to my shooting from a sitting position. The scope was a Leupold VX-3 (3.5 to 10 power and 40 mm objective) set on 10 power. The cartridge was a .270 Winchester and I loaded it with a 129 gr Barnes LRX BT bullet, 58.5 gr Reloder 22 powder, and CCI 200 primer. The Winchester case was neck-sized only, having been previously fired in that rifle. Muzzle velocity was approximately 3085 ft/sec.
When I took the buck from a sitting position at 220 yards I had the cross hairs a tad higher than desired, but still near the back edge of the shoulder. The scope elevation setting was for a 200 yard shot. The bullet struck a little high, but produced a huge exit hole after hitting low on the spine. Needless to say I was glad I had not flinched. Taking a sitting shot using the Harris bipod helped a bunch. I did notice the tops of a few thin, brown stems of grass/weeds between me and the buck, but I decided to shoot as if they were not there. (See pictures.) It paid off!
It is no record-book buck, but I am very pleased to have taken him, especially for my first antelope. However, I must confess that I missed completely a somewhat nicer buck at 320 yards earlier that morning, shooting a few inches above its shoulder. (The guide spotted the bullet impact with his binoculars, which were equipped with a built-in range finder.) And, the miss was due to shooter errors. The cross hair was just barely on the top of the buck’s shoulder when I touched off the shot. Also, I did not compensate for a slightly flatter trajectory due to the higher altitude (which was a little more than 6000 feet above sea level versus a little over 600 feet where I sighted in the rifle). And, it turns out that I had the scope’s elevation setting for a zero at 340 yards back home. So, at least I had a clean miss rather than a wounded animal to be concerned about.
All things considered, we had a great hunting experience. And, my friend got a very nice buck the following day. (See pic.) Of course, we are having both bucks mounted!!
I have never done an African safari hunt for plains game. However, the way we hunted in New Mexico was similar to what I had envisioned some African safaris to be like. Our guide essentially drove us around on the dirt (sometimes gravel) roads until we spotted an antelope buck that looked “good enough” to take. Then we would get out of the truck, load our rifle, and begin the stalk if the antelope was too far away to risk a shot from near the truck. Of course, under New Mexico rules we could not shoot from or over a motorized vehicle or a public road.
The buck I managed to take was at a distance of about 220 yards. We had originally spotted him from perhaps 500 to 600 yards. This was too far for me to shoot with any degree of confidence, plus I would have been shooting directly toward a well-travelled public highway and parallel railroad track around a half mile away. So, we drove on the dirt road to a point near the railroad track and turned around so that we would be closer to the buck, plus not shooting toward any highway, railroad track, buildings, or livestock.
I was using a relatively new stainless steel Winchester Model 70 with a Bell and Carlson synthetic stock. On it I used a borrowed Harris bipod previously adjusted to my shooting from a sitting position. The scope was a Leupold VX-3 (3.5 to 10 power and 40 mm objective) set on 10 power. The cartridge was a .270 Winchester and I loaded it with a 129 gr Barnes LRX BT bullet, 58.5 gr Reloder 22 powder, and CCI 200 primer. The Winchester case was neck-sized only, having been previously fired in that rifle. Muzzle velocity was approximately 3085 ft/sec.
When I took the buck from a sitting position at 220 yards I had the cross hairs a tad higher than desired, but still near the back edge of the shoulder. The scope elevation setting was for a 200 yard shot. The bullet struck a little high, but produced a huge exit hole after hitting low on the spine. Needless to say I was glad I had not flinched. Taking a sitting shot using the Harris bipod helped a bunch. I did notice the tops of a few thin, brown stems of grass/weeds between me and the buck, but I decided to shoot as if they were not there. (See pictures.) It paid off!
It is no record-book buck, but I am very pleased to have taken him, especially for my first antelope. However, I must confess that I missed completely a somewhat nicer buck at 320 yards earlier that morning, shooting a few inches above its shoulder. (The guide spotted the bullet impact with his binoculars, which were equipped with a built-in range finder.) And, the miss was due to shooter errors. The cross hair was just barely on the top of the buck’s shoulder when I touched off the shot. Also, I did not compensate for a slightly flatter trajectory due to the higher altitude (which was a little more than 6000 feet above sea level versus a little over 600 feet where I sighted in the rifle). And, it turns out that I had the scope’s elevation setting for a zero at 340 yards back home. So, at least I had a clean miss rather than a wounded animal to be concerned about.
All things considered, we had a great hunting experience. And, my friend got a very nice buck the following day. (See pic.) Of course, we are having both bucks mounted!!
