Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Antelope processing

I will be doing my first ever Antelope hunt in October. I will be carrying the meat to my favorite processor. I am pretty partial to sausage but don't want the entire animal in sausage.

Can you suggest what you think the best cuts to have done would be?

The cuts from the center of the ribs forward will tend to be tougher so use those.

Save the chops from the top of the back, sometimes called "backstrap" and butterfly them for some of the best game meat you will ever have. Make sure your antelope cools well, but don't believe the B.S. about having to skin it right away. The skin on doesn't cause a gamey taste in the meat, mis-handling the antelope will give you a bad taste and that can happen with any game animal.

Cool it down as quick as you can. Luckily I hunt where there is an irrigation ditch running. I tie the back legs open and toss it in the ditch for 30 minutes or so, rotating it at the halfway point. A hose and ice is an alternative if there has been rain and the water is muddy. The processor is 40 miles away, I skin it out when I arrive.
I agree with Rock Chuck - the back end is the best so if you are gonna grind more than normal - grind the front.

Properly cared for, antelope meat is some of the best wild game there is. So good, in fact, that I just cut them up myself! Not hard to do, but the key to good antelope meat begins when they hit the ground. I gut and skin immediately, and get the carcass cooled down as quickly as possible.
No mystery to cutting them up- remove the backstraps and tenderloins, then the quarters. Simply separate the major muscles, and cut them up into steaks. With the front quarters, sometimes I will save a couple of roasts, but usually just cut this meat into steaks as well. Scraps are saved for cooking chicken-fried or for treats for the dog. Burger is a waste of time. Double-wrap in freezer bags or paper, and prepare to enjoy some very tasty eating!

If you are a fan of sausage, then a processor is probably your best bet- I have gone that route in the past, with mixed results. The problem with doing processed meats, IMO, is they are usually 'batched'- meat from a lot of other animals are added to the mix, with unknown care and meat condition.

Agree completely. The only thing I'd add is the shanks, shoulders and neck are excellent for curry, stews, oso bucco and such. Slow simmer them until the meats falling off the bone. Heard so many fables about antelope being garbage I was shocked the first time I tasted any. Fantastic game meat.

The University of WY did a study a few years back where they took meat from antelope and other animals and treated it differently to see what would affect the eventual flavor. One of the tests was the meat was frozen wrapped in a piece of antelope hide, hair in, then thawed and eaten. The blind tasters could not tell any difference in this meat vs regularly treated meat.

I think most of the time antelope meat gets a bad rap because it is not cooled out quickly or the animal is not shot well and they run after being shot. This will just about guarantee terrible meat.

Todd

My antelope rig.
This allows me to wash the blood and any other mess out right away. Then I stuff a bag or two of ice into the chest cavity and put the carcass on a pallet in the back of the truck to allow air all around it. I also cover it up so the sun doesn't beat down on it. It's usually a 2 hour drive or better to the house. Despite all of that, I've still had a bad one or two. I guess sometimes it just happens.

I've read that antelope naturally is low in collagen, so it doesn't need to be aged as much s other critters. I am unsure of the truth to that, but antelope normally is more tender than other critters IME all else being equal. That may be because they're normally shot in warmer weather...where deer and elk often are shot in colder weather. I guess the early archery seasons can throw a wrench into that theory...

One other thing that I think makes a difference, is what that animal has been eating. Cropland antelope is as good as beef IMO. Sagebrush fed antelope can be good, but I've shot some that I suspect were eating greasewood which was not good at all.

We generally use the no gut method and try to have them quartered and in the cooler with plenty of ice in 30 minutes or so from the shot.Sometimes add dry ice for the long trip home. We'll process the next day after arriving home. Antelope is some of the best eating we've found, really look forward to the eating, not just the hunt.

We shin ours w/ in an hour of killing it.. of course we gut immediately.. since we hunt them w/ in 10 miles of the house we have different needs than most.. 3 or 4 years ago we ate the first antelope stk I have had in 45 years.. it was good,but we kill antelope every year, always just make the whole thing into jerky.. they make the beat jerky of all the game.👍

Our antelope season in in Sept and it's common to be 80F+ in the afternoons. Take lots of ice.

If anyone things antelope hide is good for the meat.Walk up to a stinky old buck and put your nose right against it. Skin the goats out ASAP,get it cooled down.You will get about 40 pounds of meat, maybe 50 of a bigger buck. It sure is good meat. It isn't all that hard to process your own

Doesn't take much to turn an antelope into some pretty cool cuts...

I like that. It is a great way to process the back strap with rib attached. I will try it next year.If I remember

Since it's still summer down here the first weekend in September, I skin, quarter and take all the meat I can in the field immediately after shooting one. It goes into a cooler with however much ice it takes to cover it to the top. I usually let it "age" that way for two or three days, draining the water and adding more ice, before cutting and wrapping. Down on the ranch, we had a nice walk-in cooler so anything we shot down there went into the cooler for at least a couple of days before it was skinned and cut up.

Our s are more likely to be in triple digits. 102 to 104 is pretty much the norm.

Why is the burger a waste of time? Too lean Im guessing? Gotta atleast be good for chilli, etc.

Also, for those who hunt Antelope but live east of the mississippi, how do you get your meat home? Ship it? Im looking at a 3-4 day drive in 2018 season.

I have killed a few antelope in my hunting . I usually have them skinned and on ice in 20 minutes. Backstraps and the inner tenderloins are pretty close to excellent when marinated in some burgundy wine and lightly broiled . In my humble opinion poor taste is a result of bad shooting or shooting winded animals that have been harassed alot. If you find a herd that has been running around public land all day with their tongues hanging out, They are not gonna be much for eating. Whatever chemicals flow through their muscles that give them the ability to run 55-60 mph ,does nothing good for the flavor. Shooting a bedded or rested animal cleanly results in excellent table fare. Burger from antelope is lean and dry but makes excellent chili and meat sauces.

I will add one more thing. The one antelope I have had that was no good for eating was entirely my fault. When I shot the bullet hit right on the left front shoulder ,just at the brisket line. Antelope can run 45-50 mph on three good legs. Took me 3 hours to get him. I am not to proud to say the dog had a hard time eating it..........