Shawna Scores!
- seazofcheeze
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Shawna Scores!
Saturday, October 9th, 2021 was the Montana antelope rifle season opener. Shawna drew an antelope tag this year, but she's been unsure of whether or not she actually wanted to hunt. She's had deer and elk tags the last two years, which were generous donations to Montana's FWP treasury fund and great stock for tag soup. Anyways, I certainly didn't want to pressure her into hunting, so I didn't. She decided she thought she was ready to shoot this year, so off we headed.
We haven't had hardly any rain all summer, but wouldn't you know it...Friday evening it started raining...and it kept raining, all the way until 1-2 p.m. on Saturday. Needless to say, we didn't get much hunting in the a.m. The evening of the 9th, we hiked in deep, since most of the road antelope are pressured off really quickly. We got into a good group about 2.5-3 miles back in a big piece of public. 14 to be exact...and not a single buck. It was the first day, and Shawna wanted to shoot a buck, because, she has a soft spot for, in her words, "mommies and babies". No problem, we had the next two days off.
This morning, the roads dried up quite a bit and we were able to get to a piece of public that was down an ungravelled two-track. The minimum maintenance roads in Montana are impassable when wet, so yesterday was a no go. Anyway, we spotted a group about 1.5 miles off the road shortly after sunrise this morning. Shawna had the spotter on her side of the truck and she said "looks like a buck I would shoot in there." Ok, let's find out! I'm still not 100% sure if she will actually pull the trigger or not, which is 100% fine with me. Again, zero pressure from me.
Off we go, there is a big drainage cut through this piece, so we hopped in that to cut the distance and stay out of sight. When we popped out roughly where we thought the antelope would be, we saw a group about 500 yards away across the fence onto private land, but no buck in that group. I told her we would circle back and check over the next knob. As we were cresting that knob, we spotted the top of an antelope back only 80-100 yards away. We ducked down and dropped our packs, Shawna racked a round into the chamber and folded out the bipod legs. We were going to crawl up the knob and try and get her a really close shot. Just as she started crawling, I looked to my right (2 o'clock) and noticed antelope horns coming our way!!! Pretty nice buck! I hurriedly grabbed the shooting stick of my still nearby backpack. Shawna sat up just as the antelope's eyes were cresting the knob and I got her the shooting stick. He was only 100 yards away and walking at us quite curious. I told her to shoot whenever she was ready. He walked about 10 yards closer and she let him have it. Dropped him on the spot. Woo hoo!!!
This is Shawna's first big game animal ever! She got a few turkeys when she was younger, but never had much interest in shooting before this year. I hope it continues, it was a blast. She didn't seem upset afterward, and the whole experience was really positive, nice buck, close shot (94 yards), clean quick kill, and all around good time.
On the way home, there was a mandatory game check station. The FWP officer there told Shawna her buck was likely 3.5 based on teeth, and he had 13" horns, pretty cool!
We haven't had hardly any rain all summer, but wouldn't you know it...Friday evening it started raining...and it kept raining, all the way until 1-2 p.m. on Saturday. Needless to say, we didn't get much hunting in the a.m. The evening of the 9th, we hiked in deep, since most of the road antelope are pressured off really quickly. We got into a good group about 2.5-3 miles back in a big piece of public. 14 to be exact...and not a single buck. It was the first day, and Shawna wanted to shoot a buck, because, she has a soft spot for, in her words, "mommies and babies". No problem, we had the next two days off.
This morning, the roads dried up quite a bit and we were able to get to a piece of public that was down an ungravelled two-track. The minimum maintenance roads in Montana are impassable when wet, so yesterday was a no go. Anyway, we spotted a group about 1.5 miles off the road shortly after sunrise this morning. Shawna had the spotter on her side of the truck and she said "looks like a buck I would shoot in there." Ok, let's find out! I'm still not 100% sure if she will actually pull the trigger or not, which is 100% fine with me. Again, zero pressure from me.
Off we go, there is a big drainage cut through this piece, so we hopped in that to cut the distance and stay out of sight. When we popped out roughly where we thought the antelope would be, we saw a group about 500 yards away across the fence onto private land, but no buck in that group. I told her we would circle back and check over the next knob. As we were cresting that knob, we spotted the top of an antelope back only 80-100 yards away. We ducked down and dropped our packs, Shawna racked a round into the chamber and folded out the bipod legs. We were going to crawl up the knob and try and get her a really close shot. Just as she started crawling, I looked to my right (2 o'clock) and noticed antelope horns coming our way!!! Pretty nice buck! I hurriedly grabbed the shooting stick of my still nearby backpack. Shawna sat up just as the antelope's eyes were cresting the knob and I got her the shooting stick. He was only 100 yards away and walking at us quite curious. I told her to shoot whenever she was ready. He walked about 10 yards closer and she let him have it. Dropped him on the spot. Woo hoo!!!
This is Shawna's first big game animal ever! She got a few turkeys when she was younger, but never had much interest in shooting before this year. I hope it continues, it was a blast. She didn't seem upset afterward, and the whole experience was really positive, nice buck, close shot (94 yards), clean quick kill, and all around good time.
On the way home, there was a mandatory game check station. The FWP officer there told Shawna her buck was likely 3.5 based on teeth, and he had 13" horns, pretty cool!
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- Ghost Hunter
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- Jackson Marsh
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Re: Shawna Scores!
That's just awesome
Congrats Shawna!
Congrats Shawna!
- BRoth82
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Re: Shawna Scores!
That's awesome, tell her Congratulations.
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Re: Shawna Scores!
Congrats
- Boogieman1
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Re: Shawna Scores!
Congrats
- john1984
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Re: Shawna Scores!
Congrats to your girl Seaz
- WV Bowhunter
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Re: Shawna Scores!
That’s awesome seez!! Big congrats to her!!
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity!!
- 1STRANGEWILDERNESS
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- muddy
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Re: Shawna Scores!
Cool, congrats
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- greenhorndave
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Re: Shawna Scores!
Congrats!
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Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts
Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts
- Birddog00
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Re: Shawna Scores!
Awesome, sounds like a great hunt!!
- Swamp Beast
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Re: Shawna Scores!
Great job, Shawna!
- jmaas07
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Re: Shawna Scores!
way to go Shawna!!
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