YIPPEE! We’ve been drawn to hunt trophy antelope. My brother and I finally decided after eight years of using draw code 999 that 2009 could be the year we go on our first antelope hunt.

Preparations were made and we headed to Hanna on Sunday, September 27, 2009. We arrived at the Fox Lake Campground, just outside Hanna, and set up the RV.

The campground manager informed us that we could only stay three nights, as the campground was to close for the season. He mentioned that there was a horse in the pasture next to the campground that had a dog for a companion, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This sounded a bit odd, so after supper we walked to the fence and whistled, sure enough the horse and dog came over. The dog was a large border collie and looked very thin and hungry so we fed him our leftover stew from supper and some rye bread, which he liked. So did the horse, in fact; the horse reached the empty stew plate and licked it clean.

Monday morning before we left, we went to the fence and whistled and both the horse and dog came running. We fed the dog some leftover breakfast and then we drove into Hanna to buy a county map.

We headed out to spot antelope and managed to see four or five bucks, but we weren’t sure on what would be a decent size so we passed them up. Hopefully we had made the right choice, as this could be our first and last antelope hunting trip.

During the evening drive back to the campground, the mule deer seemed to rise out of the ground. We spotted 30 or 40 of them and at least 10 of them were big bucks. We stopped to get diesel at the Flying J and talked with a fellow hunter who had a buck antelope in the back of his truck whose antlers measured 12 inches, which he figured was a decent size.

After supper we again went to the fence, whistled, and shortly after the horse and dog came over. We fed the dog leftovers from supper and the horse a couple of small tomatoes. They were both very friendly and we enjoyed petting and talking to them.

Tuesday morning I made extra breakfast for the dog, but when we whistled only the dog came over.

The horse has a drink of beer while Polar waits his turn.

We drove around that morning and spotted more antelope but nothing we could shoot. Later, while having lunch on the side of the road, we met an oilfield worker named Marshall who knew all the ranchers in the area and also knew where all the antelope were. He gave us directions and sure enough, we found antelope and finally a good-sized one with a harem of nine does just behind a well site. As we watched him from inside the truck, another buck that was limping came too close to his harem of does and the fight was on. The smaller one was no match for the bigger one and he chased him around in a circle behind us. We had made an agreement that if circumstances prevailed, I could shoot the first antelope. Of course, no one knew what size that would be. Well, thanks to Aart’s watchful eye, he anticipated where the buck would reappear and pointed to where I should go and hide behind a pipe in the ground with a railing guard for a gun rest.

Lo and behold, the buck did come back right on the lease road to the well site. He looked tuckered out and was only focused on where his harem was, not on me. As he came closer and closer, he came too close and walked right by my scope sight. I had to leave my railing rest, stand up, and find him in the scope sight again. I shot him at approximately 25 yards, the closest that I had ever shot an animal. Sometimes fate can take a turn; our luck was improving.

Bert poses with his antelope.

We took the antelope to Terry Brummund’s place (my wife’s cousin) in Hanna where we hung and skinned the buck. We had made arrangements with Terry, who is an avid hunter, to use his garage to hang our first buck. We also met a friend of Terry’s there who had stayed at the Fox Lake Campground. He told us about the horse and that the dog’s name was Polar.

That night we were late and only had soup for supper, but I cut up sausage and cheese, with bread for the dog. We walked over to the fence, whistled and both came over. The dog wolfed down his supper and we gave the horse a tomato and our last orange. My brother had a beer in a cup that spilled a bit and “surprise”, the horse likes beer. Now we couldn’t decide if the dog thinks he’s a horse or if the horse thinks he’s a dog. We spent some extra time that night, petting and talking to our two friends.

Wednesday morning we had to leave, so this would be our last visit with our new friends. We whistled at the fence and both came over. The horse got a piece of banana bread and I made a special breakfast for the dog, which he ate heartily. He came over to our trailer with us and lay down to watch us pack up. When we were done, we called Polar and he got up when we came over to pet him and say goodbye. I gave him our last piece of banana bread and he headed back to where the horse was. I’m sure he sensed that this was our last get together, because he stopped halfway to the horse and turned his head to look back at us. We waived to him and said, “See ya boy” and then he continued on to the horse. We then got into the truck and left to find our next camping spot.

Now, I’m not sure if this story is about antelope hunting or about a dog and a horse. We had some mixed emotions about the two companions we had met and now we were leaving, not knowing how they would fare in the days to come.

We pulled our trailer to a reservoir campground site, left it there and continued our hunting. We met Marshall again and he gave us more areas to check for antelope.

When hunting in a new area the unknown factor can be intimidating. Marshall was a godsend; he was very friendly and he went out of his way to help us find our antelope. We had met so many nice people on our trip. Even the local game warden, who had stopped me on Wednesday, was very friendly and courteous.

Now the pressure was on Aart to get his antelope. Unfortunately, Aart developed eye problems that afternoon, which he has had in the past. We had spotted a small herd with a decent sized buck in the early afternoon and rather than take a chance on his eye problem getting worse he opted to shoot this buck. I dropped him off in the ditch and he took his shot at approximately 200 yards. Aart has never missed an animal at 200 yards or less. Bingo, we had our second antelope and the hunt was complete.

Aart’s antelope measured 13 1/2 inches and mine measured 16 inches. Is size really important? I don’t think so.

Overall, we had good hunting, good fellowship, and good memories of another successful hunting trip.

Meeting the dog and the horse was a bonus, and we will never forget them. ■

For previous Reader Stories click here.