Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game First antelope hunt imminent.... advice?

A skinning rack is a handy thing to have, especially if you are anticipating shooting several critters.
If it's just one guy, and one animal, a pronghorn laid on the tailgate of a pickup can be skinned in a matter of a few minutes, no problem. Antelope are not that heavy, especially minus guts, hide, head, and lower legs.

+1 on the tailgate. I'd never bother with a skinning rack.

A normal guy can pack out an entire buck, minus entrails, pretty easily. Then throw it on the tailgate and reduce to dinner-sized portions. Simple.

Shoot it in the ass. It will tenderize the meat.
Hang in tree for a couple of days at 90 F to develop that good flavor.

Yes! This will ensure that it will be easier for me to draw a tag next year when you and everyone you serve that meat to gags on it so bad you swear you will never shoot another...

Jeff

In OR you'll probably have plenty of junipers around. They'll feed early, go to water about 9:00 am, then shade up most of the day in this heat. I know these critters well and what they do in our part of the country.

You might also find wallows. They love to wallow in hot weather.

Build a display rack over the bed of your pickup. That will ensure maximum sun exposure.
You will find they are easily drug out by one person and even easier to skin and cool, but for some - all the world is a stage.

Have Deflave on ignore, can only imagine how stupid his posts and questions are?

I think you should GFY.

I've just been asking how to kill a pronghorn.




Dave

shooting them works pretty good

But what if it's warm outside?




Dave

Yes, young bucks are lighter than deer, and I've packed them whole on a frame if someone can help me stand up. Trophy type bucks though can have some weight on them, as they're about 25% larger than the typical 2 or 3 year old.

If one plans on using the cape for a wall hanger, they are a pain in the ass to skin. I swear one can sneeze at a live animal, and it will drop half its hair. Try dragging one, and you'll get to the rig with a naked animal in just a hundred yards. Bringing a partner along, even if it's just a kid to hold legs etc, will greatly facilitate handling.

Good luck out there,

Thanks 1Minute! Smoky over there?

I'm not planning on mounting it so no worries about the cape. In the unlikely event I kill a trophy <grin> I'll just keep the skull/horns anyway.

I'd heard that you really gotta keep your hands off the hair and hair off the meat with 'lopes.

Get the hide off ASAP in that hot weather.

I don't deal with the ice blocks, even in warm weather...I don't like that nasty film that it creates. I just skin and quarter them where they fall and get the pieces bagged up and in the shade or if I am close to town, to a locker.

As far as judging, they can throw you for a loop, no doubt. I look for prongs at or above ear tip length when the ears are up. Another thing is that, to me at least, mature bucks have horns that look black, where younger males have horns with a greenish broom tint to them.

Don't worry, it will still die.

I really, really need to Google up some antelope pics.

Older antelope bucks eat ok? My wife is a fan of eating young animals. I can get geeky about horns I guess but it's not a real high priority to get some sort of "trophy" here. Just looking forward to getting to know the critters a little. And kill something with my new rifle build.

They eat just fine. No one could tell the difference in a blind taste test.

Hey, 15 years of points, might as well make sure the wife's happy with the taste of a yearling.




Dave

Ditch the heavy gun--go light. Sub 250 yd shot should be easy to come across.

I did the gutless method of field dressing on mine. Nice and quick and helped cool the meat down pronto. They are so small that even leaving the bones in you won't have much to pack out and get in a cooler when the time comes.

As others said, judging can be hard and with the long wait to get a tag one can get too 'trophy focused', imo. If you can find a big guy, good but don't let that be the defining criteria. Focus on a trophy hunt more than a trophy animal...


Good luck.

Mojo, my thoughts exactly.

My heavy 7 WSM is an extremely capable rifle. Don't want to start a LR hunting debate here, but it's pretty special in that regard. And very well-vetted. Anyway, the plan is to primarily use the much lighter 6.5 SAUM.

Picked up a big new customer for my biz and I'm just trying to get myself un-buried so I can GTF out of here without a bunch of stress hanging over me.

Jeffo,

The real trophy bucks have a green tint to the horns and really pale faces,

The little ones have black horns and dark faces.
Good luck.

Oh and no need to cool the meat, heat will age and tenderize it faster.