I said wrong, I do not put hydrogen peroxide in my hunting lube, but in my bore cleaner. And I dry that out well and oil the bore when clean. The lube is a mix of Murphy Oil Soap and rubbing alcohol. Its purpose is to clean the bore and not lubricate it. Made my hunt. Left home at 6:10 AM, got to the oil patch gravel road in half an hour and then 11 miles to where I planned to hunt. It had rained the day before and the road was a little muddy. We got passed by a pickup with 3 or 4 hunters in it who sped on to the river bottom area I planned to hunt. So we drove to the next area south. No antelope, but no shots from them, either. Drove back to an oil well where we could see the bottom, no antelope there. Saw a nice buck out in the desert go over a ridge. Took my shooting stick support and walked out to look for him. Could not find him, he apparently went into the cottonwood river bottom, thick with brush. Began to drive a big loop to look for the antelope and found one close to the road. Good enough, otherwise it was just me in my Park Avenue Buick on these muddy roads the rest of the week until I got one. Not sure I could throw one in the trunk alone. I first saw him to the left of the black ridge in this photo, about 200 yards away. Sized him up with the spotting scope, decided he was good enough. Got out, capped the nipple, sat down to make the 200 yard shot (still air, I could do that), but he began to walk closer.
Here he comes..
These animals see a lot of traffic by the energy industry and are comfortable seeing people.
I was conflicted, did not want to shoot an animal this close. He came within about 40 feet of me. I needed only 25 gains of powder, not 90. I just did not want to shoot him.
Bob was about to have a stroke, wanting me to shoot and I didn't want to do it. Took half a dozen photos like this, over my rifle barrel.
I finally decided I had to shoot an animal, my granddaughters family really needs the meat. And I needed Bob's help loading the animal. So I shot it. The ball did not go through the 12" wide chest, from maybe 50 feet. (I wore a hunter's orange stocking cap for the shot per the law but changed hats for this photo).
The horns are 15". Bob was saying 15 to 17 inches, but I bet a six pack they were about 13", and I was OK with that. He got Samuel Adams Boston Lager, and a quart of Blackberry whiskey for driving and assisting. We put six half-gallon milk cartons of frozen water in the body cavity and got home pronto to skin it. It is in Carl's cooler and we cut and wrap it this week.
This was the easiest antelope hunt of the six I have made, and it was a great day.
