Misty Opening Morning

Daybreak this morning marked opening day for antelope season in Colorado which means our hunting adventures for this year has officially begun! The weather on this special day greeted us with a blast of morning mist that swept across the prairie slowly releasing multitudes of tiny water droplets upon whatever lay in it's path. It was a slow soak. Like condensation building on a cold glass on a warm summer day, the fog taunted my very not waterproof pants to try and stay dry. The mist won.
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I reached my waterhole around 5:30 A.M. As light began to unveil my surroundings, I settled in with hopes that a speed goat or two would come my way. A girl can hope! I've been watching a couple of bucks that visit this spot frequently over the last couple of days, so chances were good that they would make their way to within arrow's range this morning. They also seem to be hanging with a group of cows and the cows were heading my way. Have I mentioned that I don't like cows? I don't like cows. They scare me a bit. Anyway, after giving myself a pep talk that the cows will not hurt me and to lay as still as possible against the embankment I was against, my peripheral vision alerted me that there was an animal at about 40 yards. Yep - cows. So, for the next hour (maybe 1/2 hour, but felt like an hour) I spent a game of "please don't look at me" with cows. The thing about cows though.. they are curious. So, I had to stare them down at very close proximity. I never realized how much cows burp and sling snot. It was actually a bit comical. Finally after my "little" cud chewing friends meandered off, I slowly looked over the burn and realized 3 antelope were grazing not far off. However, they never made it over to my spot. It wasn't meant to be this morning.

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With my mist drenched pants, I picked up my antelope decoy on the hill, bid farewell to the speed goats that had vanished somewhere into the fog and called it a morning.

​As I was driving home anticipating filling my grumbling stomach with breakfast and a hot caffeinated beverage, I spotted two really nice antelope grazing toward a ravine not too far off. I knew how to get to the ravine quickly. Breakfast would have to wait... I pulled over, grabbed my bow and range finder and ran down the ravine. However, as I crested the top of the steep dirt incline, I realized that I didn't time it quite right. The goats had made their way further down than I thought. So I sat and watched as they walked along the fence line grazing away from me. I was not about to give up yet - with the goats at about 200 yards off I had to give it one more try. Now, completely soaked with the fog following every footstep I wondered if it would be possible to simply walk up to within range. I had just watched another hunter do the very same thing on a hunt captured on video, and I thought it was worth a try. As the goats took another step into the fog, I took another step forward. However, the mist swallowed them up before I could gain any ground. The mist and goats won this opening morning.

We are headed to an afternoon barbecue and hopefully will be back for an evening hunt! More to come...