Years back at a west Texas ranchers' social gathering, I ran onto a guy whose pet .308 had been stolen. I put out the word around "my folks" and found one for him, really reasonable. Put an old K6 on it and sighted it in. Went up to his 40-section ranch north of Marfa. Got into a bull session about Hereford cattle. We good old boyed for a while, and he finally said, "Well, why don't you let me give you an antelope hunt for that rifle?"
I figured a $300 package was a pretty good deal for an otherwise $1,500 antelope hunt.
It turned out that his son, the hunt manager, had been sorta shepherded by a friend of mine when the younguns would come down to south Brewster at Chili CookOff time. (Happening this coming Saturday.) I thus wound up halfway adopted as a genuine Good Guy, and son John and I went wandering around the ranch in his truck. We saw mulies and groups of speed goats and did a little miscellaneous cow work. Finally went back to the first antelope we'd seen and he was still waiting patiently.
Bank, whop, plop; the usual work and off to El Paso to the taxidermist for a shoulder mount. The taxidermist stretched those shoulders out to where I must have killed a 200-pound antelope instead of a 90- or 100-pounder.
Just under 15". Right here above my monitor.
And, yum, did he eat good! Superb when grilled at my back-country deer camp, chowing down with cold beer and watching the moon rise over Agua Fria Mountain.
Probably will be my one and only antelope, but, "It don't get no gooder than this!"