Alberta pronghorn hunt

[srupp]

Hmm 1o years to be exact...all the knowlege and skill was Phil..Ibsaw my first pronghorn 5 miles and 48 hrs from where I spotted this guy and harvested him.
Steven

[IronNoggin]

Don't mean to steal Steves thread but heres more on the Elk around suffield. If he gets a chance in his busy retirement to write up his story he may include some of the Elk we saw.
http://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/herd-of-8...cull-1.2052516

if the Alberta Government wanted to open up a few thousand tags and this particular zone to even bowhunters there would be all sorts of hunters wanting an opportunity to hunt them that never got drawn.

Just got off the horn with a Good Buddy over that way. He well knows his way around, and has been watching this elk herd expand for many years. Says now with over 8,000 of them in the one area, they represent the Largest herd (and elk density) in the Province. Also says the restrictions are FAR too tight, and that any possibility of simply maintaining their numbers under today's restrictive hunting opportunities are a Fool's Dream. Instead, he (and I) suspect they are looking at a continued population explosion, something damn near guaranteed to force the "cull" mentality to the forefront. MUCH better idea to liberalize the seasons and numbers available to hunters! BTW: He also noted seeing several dozen bulls there this fall alone that would "top 400 inches upstairs". Time to start applying!

Cheers,
Nog

[srupp]

printed out the story..now cant get it transferred over here grrrrrrrr
steven

[srupp]

So after 10 years of apply for the permit I finally won the coveted trophy pronghorn tag for Alberta zones 150 and 151 and 152. I would first like to thank Roxanne Phils wonderful wife for allowing Phil to come hunting and opening up their wonderful home for my visit. And of course Susan my lovely wife for her patience and allowing me to go hunting and all many wonderful meals prepared for our trip.
In desperate need of two hip replacements, and two knee replacements.. Resulting in the necessity to use a cane it was kind of funny the fastest land animal in North America capable of 100 km an hour versus the slowest Hunter from British Columbia... Top speed 100 m an hour..lol
I left Williams Lake and headed red deer Alberta where I met up with my hunter host Springer and the following morning we met up with Marco Pilon from Sugar Creek taxidermy.. For some tips on proper care of a pronghorn cape. After purchasing the pronghorn tags and Hunter licenses for Alberta we hook up with Phils travel trailer and the two trucks headed south east to our hunt location. We took the scenic route southeast Calgary and soon I could hear Phils excited voice over the walkie-talkie.." Steve .. Pronghorn on the left.! And I got to see my very first live pronghorn. It was smaller than I thought, and much lighter color but it was beautiful. We soon arrived at our camping spot it was semi private, semi-locked, semi-gated and only one other visitors that in another group of pronghorn hunters.

[srupp]

I have to agree with TJ over the next two days we covered over 600 km and saw very few pronghorn and not many shooters.. We saw lots of deer and lots of elk.. Somewhere exceptionally large.. And of course miles and miles of complete flatness. One of the ranchers was outraged over the amount of permits for pronghorn and indeed one of the residence of Patricia that had a tag thought that.there were only 12 tags given out.. And was livid when he heard that there were actually 206 tags. In my opinion the amount of tags were excessive, the amount of hunters excessive, and the amount of huntable pronghorn bucks was very limited. Obviously they still had not recovered from their winter die offs. We also had the privilege of having Phils son Blaze... Along with us as he also had a pronghorn tag that had taken him 12 years to obtain to obtain Blaze is a very fine gentlemen.. With a great sense of humor extremely helpful and a fun type of guy to have at camp.

[srupp]

The first day we arrived was limited to the two last hours of the afternoon in driving around and scouting, and the next day we drove for 10 hours and covered hundreds of kilometers. We saw some exceptionally large elk and we saw one shooter pronghorn... With the amount of competition we decided to try for that pronghorn first thing in the morning. So September 29 opening morning of the pronghorn hunt found this along the river while still pitchdark. As the morning sun hit the vast open landscape we found our group of pronghorn.. So as it was out of the question that I would make this stalk it was decided that Blaze and Phil would make the two km stalk.. An hour later I heard one solitary shot and shortly thereafter Phil called on the cell phone... Pronghorn down!!!! The first hour in the opening morning and we had one of the two pronghorn already harvested... What a tremendous start. We drove to where the problem was and after some photos and ensure the license was properly attached, deposited the meat in a large cooler headed back to camp for lunch

after lunch we decided headed the opposite direction, as we were driving I noticed a group of about 13 pronghorn pop up on our right and I pointed this out to Phil..... As Alberta has a road every 300 m so we took the next road and try to intercept the pronghorn... Only we did too good of a job and got busted at a mere 30 yards... Over the next two hours we played tag with this pronghorn group.. Giving me the chance to see what I hundred kilometers an hour looks like... Running away..lol
there's a reason they call from speedgoats.
We also confirmed just what good eyesight the pronghorn really has.. Exceptional. And just how fast they could put distance between you and them... There was no chance of my hiking to intercept these goats.
Earlier on that morning I had said to Phil that I would rather be lucky than good anyday. And now that lucky was about to rain down on us big time.. Phil said rather nonchalantly if we can get Steven to the speed goats... Let's see if the pronghorn's come to Steven...? And so it came to pass that I got dumped on a flat prairie with Phil and blaze driving back down the road.. And I lay on the ground some 700 m away from the speed goats..
In looking around I noticed two does... Head towards the main heard from behind me.. I looked at here came a buck.. Out of the cheap seats some 400 to 500 yards away head towards the main group and in a straight line to me.. Like he was on a string...
I lay perfectly still. Through the scope as the buck slowly made his way towards my location.. Directly towards my location.. So he was at 300 yards.... Then 250 and 200 and then 100.. And so slowly ever so slowly he kept coming in my direction. Finally he was at a mere 70 yards and he stopped.
And then he turned sideways.
Now I was expecting a long-range shot and I had Hornaday 140 grain boat tail Spitzer bullets hand loaded capable of shots on pronghorn out to 500 yards... And here was my pronghorn of a lifetime and a mere 70 yards standing sideways in bright sunlight standing still. Unbelievable.
I slowly squeeze the trigger and the pronghorn dropped. Even from quite a distance I heard explosive cheers from Phil and blaze..
Blaze thoughtfully brought me my cane and I made my way to 70 yards to my trophy. We took pictures and headed back to camp after night of celebrating the next morning found me headed to red deer and the sugar Creek taxidermy under the capable management and artistic directorship of Mr. Marco Pilon... I will get to see the results in about a year.
I would especially like to thank Phil for his generosity, his hospitality his knowledge and his patiece and his willingness to take on the challenge of getting a severely crippled old man this wonderful pronghorn. I would also like to thank Blaze for his relentless help during this outing.
Susan for her love, cooking encouragement and willingness to allow my quest for pronghorn in spite of diminished retirement finances and extremely poor health.

Cheers
Steven

[Springer]

That brings back Memories Pal. It was such a fun hunt and the enjoyment of you finally seeing real live Antelope and not photos or Wild TV Hunts. Sometimes i wish we would have spent all 5 days but with an Antelope shortage and lots of Tag holders we had to get it done....sorry to the local guy from Brooks that had been watching the Buck Blaze got but he should have got out of bed earlier..
Marco will do an Amazing Job and Susan will take to that Gorgeous mount in a years time or so..

It was a great shot Elmer and this winter i will hopefully have it burned onto a DVD as part of "Miner League Outdoors".

[kennyj]

Great story Steven. Congratulations on your awesome speed goat! I hope you are back on your feet soon. Hip or knee first?
kenny

[srupp]

Great story Steven. Congratulations on your awesome speed goat! I hope you are back on your feet soon. Hip or knee first?
kenny

Thanks Kenny right hip replacement is the next surgery..then right knee..

Phil I couldn't be happier...and Marco will do it proud...I simply could not ask for a better friend and your efforts were over the top and will always be remembered as well as Blazes .
Thank you ever so much...

cheers

thankful Steven

[604redneck]

congrats on the speed goat steven!