Paul Carter – “You want someone to put in with ya?”
Jeff Pettit – “Sure.”
…and that’s pretty much how Paul was able to swing a rifle
antelope tag with Jeff!
Jeff and Paul had been friends since junior high, and have
done quite a bit of hunting together over the years. When Arizona Game and Fish posted the draw
results, the two had reason to go out had celebrate over a beer. They had managed to draw Unit 9 rifle
Antelope tags!
On day one of the hunt, a decision was made to split up and
hunt different areas. Paul watched the
night before as a great buck and a handful of does fed while the night set in. Now, the first morning of his hunt, Paul was
setting his rifle up to prepare for a shot at the same buck that had moved his
does to the side of an open hill. Paul
had his daughter Makenzie along, and she watched in anticipation as her dad
settled in behind his rifle. The buck
was feeding behind some scrub oak, and as he stepped out Paul breathed “here we
go!” The buck reared up and shot off the
hill when Paul pulled the trigger! The
open country allowed the crew to watch the buck as he stumbled and finally went
down for the count near the bottom of the hill.
Makenzie was a mess! You would
have though she was the one that pulled the trigger as she jumped up and down and
did a little dance for us!
Pictures were taken, and McKenzie made a few observations on
how bad antelope smell (and she is absolutely right) as the antelope was packed
out to the truck. Now the group was off
to help Jeff…
Now it’s the afternoon of the first day as Jeff watched a
unique antelope feeding with some does in the distance. Just the build of this bucks horns were
enough to get just about anyone sold, so the stalk was on! As Jeff neared the group of antelope, a doe
looked up and busted Jeff! After a short
stand off, the curious doe began to circle toward Jeff’s right to try and get a
better look with the rest of the herd following her. At one point, the antelope were just over a
hundred yards when they came to a stop looking Jeff’s direction! Jeff squeezed the trigger and the buck went
down in his tracks! For the second time
that day, the celebration was on! Jeff
made his way to his 24” wide antelope buck and the ritual of pictures and high
fives took place all over again!
