A Father-Son New Mexico Antelope Hunt with the Bergara B-14 Ridge

“Can you put it on his shoulder?” I asked. “I’m on his shoulder” He calmy replied “Okay squeeze the trigger.”

Great News

April 22nd I checked my New Mexico profile as well as every other member of my family. Jaxon was the lucky one awarded a NM nonresident youth antelope tag! When my wife was dropping our kids off at school I ran out to meet them and before the kids could even get out of the car I opened the front door and exclaimed “I have great news, someone in this car drew a NM antelope tag!” When I announced it was “Jaxon” I could see the delight in his eyes and all over his face. “Dad we are going hunting in NM!!!” he shouted.

Practice, Practice, Practice
The planning and preparation began that day. Being too young hunt in our home state of ID this would be Jaxon’s first big game hunt. I had to decide what caliber rifle to put my young son behind. My initial choice eventually reared its ugly head as the wrong choice. I decided on my heaviest rifle my Bergara HMR chambered in 6.5creedmoor and put on a suppressor and aftermarket recoil pad, doing all I could to ease the felt recoil my son would receive. When you weigh 53 pounds recoil really adds up!
We made numerous trips to the shooting range and Jaxon seemed to shoot the set up fairly well. He definitely blew up more milk and juice jugs than he missed. But, I started to notice a disturbing trend each time we went to the range the number of shots he wanted to take was decreasing. So, I tested him, I worked the bolt and on an empty chamber and told Jaxon to shoot one more. I closely watched my son and saw him flinch and jerk very hard as the firing pin dropped on an empty chamber. The Creedmoor was not shot again. Here we are beginning of July and his first big game hunt only a month and half away I was feeling some serious pressure. Our next trip to the range it was my Bergara Ridge 22-250 that he would shoot. He was visibly nervous for his first shot,

after he took the first shot and he was able to actually see the milk jug explode in his scope, he was a totally new boy. He never again asked if he could be done shooting in any more trips to the range. His flinch went away and his love of shooting was back. My next concern was bullet selection, I had only shot Hornady Varmint Express 55 grain V-Max out of this rifle, it is my predator/varmint rifle. I was very leery about this bullet on an antelope. Time to take matters into my own

hands. I have a good friend who had worked up two different loads for his own Bergara Ridge 22-250. One with Hornady 68gr HPBT and another with the Hornady 73gr ELD-M. I opted for the few extra grains of bullet weight and a bullet I am very familiar with as I shoot a 147 eld-m out of my 6.5PRC. Handloads made, new MOA chart created and confirmed. The vast majority of Jaxons practice was 100-200 yards but we did get him out to 400 yards and he shot very well. In the time remaining before his hunt started, he put his time in at the range I knew both he and the set up were very capable. It simply would come down to how my young son handled himself in the heat of the moment when he was presented with a chance to take a shot at an antelope.

A Pain in the Ear
Our first day of travel we made it to Moab Utah. Up early the next morning, we were not long into our drive and Jaxon was complaining about his ear hurting. As the morning and miles rolled on, he mentioned and complained about it more and more. “Dad, I have an ear infection. It feels like last time.” Luckily, I was able to find a doctor’s office in Alamosa, CO. Three hours later we were again headed to New Mexico with an Amoxicillin prescription for his double ear infection.

Finally in His Unit
We scouted as much as we could that evening and found a buck I felt was a potential shooter come opening morning. We found a spot in the middle of a vast expanse of State ground to spend the night. Jaxon crawled onto his air mattress in the back seat of the truck and I turned in on my sleeping pad in the bed of the truck. A restless night ensued. I could hear Jaxon crying in the back seat of the truck around 12:30 a.m. so I got up opened the door and rubbed the back of his neck and under his ears. After a few minutes he fell back asleep.

Full Day of Scouting
We were up early, covering ground and inventorying as many bucks as we could. This was the day to introduce my young son to shooting prairie dogs. I knew this would be an opportune time for both Jaxon and I to practice getting set up quickly and correctly if the right pronghorn buck presented himself the next day. When you are consistently hitting prairie dogs from 100 to 150 yards, an antelope will seem easy. Talk about a fun confidence booster for a young boy.

Put a Buck to Bed
How often times in life the best laid plans can be foiled! We spent the last hour and forty five minutes of light watching a great buck in an area I felt was huntable. The buck bedded in an ideal spot where we could come in behind and above him to set up for a shot at first light. It was not to be, however, as a small group of bovine bulls bumped the antelope out of his bed, into parts unknown.

Option 2
I was confident this area held more shooter bucks. My main concerns were the type of terrain and our chances of getting close enough for Jaxon to shoot. Had I failed my son? We did not have a well laid out game plan for opening morning. We were going start his first ever antelope hunt playing with the cards we were dealt when the sun came up. Later, as I lay down on my air pad in the bed of the truck, I was struck with the magnitude of what tomorrow meant. My little boy would be on his first big game hunt! I am always excited, nervous, anxious before any opening day. But this night, this night was different, more special than the many preceding opening nights. This one took all those feelings and emotions ramping them up to a whole new level. I knew sleep this night would be elusive.

Opening Day
Arising well before sunlight, I got Jaxon up and ready. We set up the spotting scope, binoculars in hand we began looking over antelope as soon as it was light enough to see. I turned up two big bucks. I told Jaxon “it’s time to go.” Our approach, to my dismay, garnered the attention of a herd of the local beef cows that felt it was necessary to run up and circle around us. So much for remaining incognito. We finally reached the bottom of a large berm. We stayed low and crossed the depression of a pond. I then began getting everything set up for Jaxon to take a shot. I set up the tripod with the rifle secured in it quickly realizing it was far too low due to the height of the grass and sunflowers. I ranged the closer buck which I felt was the lesser of the two bucks at 235 yards and the better buck at 350. I got Jaxon set up behind the gun kneeling on the pad. He was still too low. I scooted in each leg of the tripod to increase its height, now it was too tall, above his shoulder. My nervousness and heart rate were rapidly increasing. I slid back down the bank and grabbed my EXO pack. I placed the pack on top of his pad where he knelt. “Dad, I don’t see any grass in my scope”, he whispered. As the buck was feeding he was walking in and out of shooting lanes for Jaxon. I kept moving the tripod trying to get set up in a lane between flowers and over the lush grass. During the couple of very intense minutes the nearer buck had continued his advance closer and a bit more to our right. I asked myself if I was really going to ask my seven year old boy not shoot the good buck, now around 200 yards, in hopes of him making a shot on a great buck at 350 yards. I took another quick glance through my binoculars at the closer buck who now gave me a bit of a quartering away view and I instantly knew I had made a mistake. Jaxon needed to shoot this buck! I quickly dialed the Leupold scope back down from 350 to 200 yards. Moving the tripod and adjusting Jaxon was simply too much movement. The buck pegged us. He turned and quartered towards us. I knew the two most likely outcomes. The buck’s curiosity would cause it to walk straight to us, decreasing the size of Jaxon’s target even more or worse the buck would pull the eject and be gone.
“Can you put it on his shoulder?” I asked. “I’m on his shoulder,” he calmly replied.” “Okay squeeze the trigger.” The muffled sound of the shot was followed by the unmistakable “THWAPP” of a bullet hitting home. The buck went about 30 yards stopped and began to tip over. “Do I need to put another one in him?” Jaxon asked anxiously.” “No, he’s going down!” I replied excitedly. As soon as the buck fell over and disappeared in the long grass I turned to Jaxon and told him “You just killed an antelope buck!” He quickly wrapped his arms around me squeezing with all his adrenaline fueled might. In that moment I had such a strange conflict in feelings; my son had just done

something so big, so grown up, so mature; yet I could feel him, my little boy, his little body so tightly pressed against mine. I was filled with such an immense sense of pride for what my young son had just accomplished. I felt deeply fortunate and grateful for this amazing moment we were sharing together. We excitedly recapped what had just happened and then we packed up all our gear and headed out to his fallen buck. This turned into much more of a process than I care to admit. I had, in my sheer jubilation of the moment, completely disregarded to mark where his buck had expired. So, we gridded in the very tall green grass until we came upon his New Mexico antelope buck.
After pictures and getting the buck dressed and in the cooler, it was now time to begin our long journey back home to Meridian, ID. We made it as far as Moab, UT that day. The hot tub felt extra amazing that night! This was a not an easy trip: 2339 miles driven, 50 hours and 38 minutes of driving in the truck traveling to the hunt and back home and time spent scouting. Two nights in a hotel and two nights sleeping in the truck… I sure hope we get to do it again someday!