I was fortunate enough to hunt yesterday on some private land south of here for late season doe antelope. A friend of mine who knows the property like the back of his hand was escorting me. We were able to put a stalk on this goat and one other that was with her earlier, but that was not meant to be. They had been hunted pretty hard and were somewhat skittish, so we had to make another plan, and elected for a longer range shot.
We had to crawl on hands and knees for about 100 yards or so to get into position for this shot. My friend had never seen anyone who carries a rear bag or 16 lb. rifle into the field before. Good thing for us the path where we crawled was a two-track that had just been graded about a week before. So, no stickers. Bad, because it was the fine talc-like dust EVERYWHERE!
I was able to range the antelope with the dust filled Swaro after the crawl thru the prairie and came up with 712. I already had the HUD up in iBallistic on my iPod, and scrolled thru to 715. A slightly quartering shot destroyed the onside shoulder/joint and the ribcage behind, along with devascularizing the ventricles of her heart. I held no wind, even though I saw about three different mirage waves at varying distances. I thought that they would all cancel out and as it turns out, they did.
You don't hear about too much long range hunting with the AR10 platform, much less one in .243. I have shot several antelope with this combination using the 87 VMAX and can say that is WELL suited to the task. I think that this shot was about the extent of its capability as there was no exit, but all of the destruction was ample for a clean, quick kill. I have 100% faith in this system as I have used it for years on coyotes and know it very well.
Mr. badger was at 121 yards and he got to hear an 87 VAMX right down his earhole. I think he liked how it sounded. He will make a VERY nice fur for the wall. Ms. doe will meet Mr. Weber tonight and we will have backstraps and taters. I'm so freakin' stoked.
I had to work the two nights before, and we were out both nights. I had to work the night of the hunt too so I was tired as hell, WAY too amped up on who knows how many cups of coffee, sleep deprived... it was so cool.
We had to crawl on hands and knees for about 100 yards or so to get into position for this shot. My friend had never seen anyone who carries a rear bag or 16 lb. rifle into the field before. Good thing for us the path where we crawled was a two-track that had just been graded about a week before. So, no stickers. Bad, because it was the fine talc-like dust EVERYWHERE!
I was able to range the antelope with the dust filled Swaro after the crawl thru the prairie and came up with 712. I already had the HUD up in iBallistic on my iPod, and scrolled thru to 715. A slightly quartering shot destroyed the onside shoulder/joint and the ribcage behind, along with devascularizing the ventricles of her heart. I held no wind, even though I saw about three different mirage waves at varying distances. I thought that they would all cancel out and as it turns out, they did.
You don't hear about too much long range hunting with the AR10 platform, much less one in .243. I have shot several antelope with this combination using the 87 VMAX and can say that is WELL suited to the task. I think that this shot was about the extent of its capability as there was no exit, but all of the destruction was ample for a clean, quick kill. I have 100% faith in this system as I have used it for years on coyotes and know it very well.
Mr. badger was at 121 yards and he got to hear an 87 VAMX right down his earhole. I think he liked how it sounded. He will make a VERY nice fur for the wall. Ms. doe will meet Mr. Weber tonight and we will have backstraps and taters. I'm so freakin' stoked.
I had to work the two nights before, and we were out both nights. I had to work the night of the hunt too so I was tired as hell, WAY too amped up on who knows how many cups of coffee, sleep deprived... it was so cool.
