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

JFC

Jeff O:

Judging is tough, so don't let them fool you. Pronghorn are like young studs in a bar. They will inhale, swell their chests, and stand on their tippy toes to impress the women. In this instance it worked, but we won't go there. RB does not like porn on this site.



Every pronghorn is unique as they are the most colorful of American game. Large or small, every mount looks great on a well lighted wall.

If you're driving and they see you, keep moving until you're out of sight. Don't stop to look. If you do, quite likely they'll start moving. Park and sneak back. In antelope country, sneaking back can be a lot easier said than done.

They're easy to kill. Almost any big game bullet from .224 on up will level one nicely. Just take the most accurate gun you have.

Hoping a 140-gn 6.5mm ELD-M will suffice.

1Minute, that looks like a young guy even to my rookie eye. Right up my alley!

Understatement of the year.




Clark

Nice shot, cookie!

Jeff O:

RockChucks out of sight, out of mind is a good mention.

I've not really conducted any serious research, but it seems my barn sized white crew cab 350 and my white Toyota Land Cruiser are both pretty good at sending pronghorn over the horizon. More sedate colors and smaller rigs don't seem to instill as much fear. If any rig is stock still, however, they fail to notice it. Returned and slammed the tail gate on my buddies fire-engine red Ford, and two pronghorn stood up that were bedded in the tall sage about 40 yds behind me.

Another thought related to their poor eyesight in the earliest and latest of hours. One might be pushing the boundaries of legal shooting hours, but a wide open approach in the very last minutes of daylight can go unnoticed until one is well inside of rifle range. Might help too to have the brightest of the horizons at ones back. I was helping a newbie hunter once and we took that tangent on a wide open lake bed. At about 60 yds I was sitting him up with a rock or two and my pack frame after boldly traversing about 300 yds. Something else spooked the group, and we were nearly run over. At 10 yards, I'm not sure I could hit a pronghorn going wide open. They can really pick them up, put them down, and always show us just one more gear.

I've successfully used the same approach on deer. Not tried it with elk.

Downside is one might be working up an animal in the dark.

Knock em dead,

great pic

takes glassing a lot of animals to accurately determine size

because of sage brush bi pod for me was useless and used sticks or fence post

260 rem with 123 amax

fun fun hunt

Next year bringing bow

You put the bullet in the right place it will.

I always figured a .25/06 would be an excellent choice for antelope. Using a regular cup & core bullet of 100 grains and a 6x scope.

The fun part is getting close to the antelope without them knowing you are there.

If you want to keep the hide with the hair on, don't drag it, not even a little. Antelope hair pulls out real easy and you'll have bare patches after just a few yards.

What if you parked that truck in the shade, Einstein? Assuming, of course, the truck has an engine and wheels.

Even more stupid than your typical posts.

So you will drive around looking for shade in pronghorn terrain?
Perhaps a tree that is tall enough to shade an animal that you have hung 10 or 12 feet above your vehicle? That's a tall tree!
Remember that this will be the type of terrain that antelope like.
You'll need something high to shade your 10 or 12 ft high display rack. Not impossible but rare in pronghorn terrain.
Planning to drive around adding some dust to your solar heated meat while you look for this 25ft (probably higher) tree?

Meanwhile if you were really that desperate to hang it you could have just hung it on any small tree available

... or you could just skin it and cool it and forget making a big show of it.


I hope that you never stop posting on this site.
Your absurd naivety is some of the best entertainment ever provided here.
And all of this free advice about mountain states species from a place where rifle hunting big game is prohibited nearly everywhere.
This is even better than when you claimed to be an elk outfitter because there was a captive elk farm in your neighborhood.

Just go have fun, that's what antelope hunting is-----FUN

Keep ice on hand in the cooler. We skin and quarter immediately and throw on ice in cooler. Do not drive around with merely gutted or even worse, ungutted antelope in the bed of your truck.

We don't shoot at stupid long range, so I think you're overgunned for the kind of goat hunting we do. Yes, I use my .264 on occasion, but have grown out of that and most of the time it's something smaller like a 260, 243 and the like.

We hunt all day long and often kill 10-15 in a weekend and almost all of those shots will be under 300. They can be really stupid in the early morning and we pass on difficult animals to stalk to find another herd that may be easier when doe hunting. When they are bedded, they are difficult to approach, but usually on the crest of a hill that, if the wind is right, you can get behind them for 20-50 yard shot. Stalking antelope is FUN! Worrying about wind drift on live animals isn't.

Find an area, even if a long way from hunting grounds, that is out of the wind for the wall tent. Where I've hunted them in Wyoming, Colorado and Montana, it can get very windy. Or just get a motel. This one of the few hunts that a motel can be worth it for me.

I'm assuming you've got a buck tag, so start looking at antelope to figure out where your standards are if this is a once in a lifetime thing. If you expect you'll keep hunting them, pop the first one that tickles your fancy.

I would suggest that even artificial shade would do. Perhaps next to a building even. Your intelligence shines so bright.....probably wouldn't work for you.

In some cases, shooting and tagging an animal may conclude the hunt.....allowing a quick exit of those horrendous sunny conditions you speak of.

Shoot an animal, skin and dress the animal in the truck bed, drop meat in the cooler........also located in the truck bed. Complicated, yes, but could be done.

I don't think shade is something to be counted on in this area. I've hunted deer there several times.

I hope it's as much pure "fun" as described. While trophy hunting isn't a big deal to me it's hard not to carry some expectations with a tag that takes 15 years to get.

I'd say my most glaring missing piece here is a spotting scope. I hope my 13x Minox will get the job done. I had considered a higher-power scope for the 6.5 SAUM, but after putting that 3-10 SHV on it, and shooting extensively out to 900 yards or so (I won't be HUNTING at those ranges mind you) I decided that I liked the fit and function of the SHV on the rifle. The rifle itself is extremely accurate. For DEER (I'm also doing a pack hunt at the crest of the Cascades this fall) it's perfect. For antelope I have no idea. I could see wishing I had more X's on the top end of the scope. I could see mirage wiping out those extra X's. Heck if I know. I'll just have to make do with what I've got. Really liking the 6.5 SAUM cartridge and I'd contest that it's "overgunned"..... but then some wanker would pull up old quotes of mine about the TSX overpenetrating..... grin....

The 'shade' was all Alamosa's emotional breakdown........

Jeff-O

As mentioned, the stalking part can be some of the most fun hunting you will ever do. Anticipating their movement, moving in the arroyos and depressions between the rises, using yucca and cholla for cover, can be a hoot. "Playing the real game' as I've heard it described, is something you will enjoy and remember. I have made a couple long shots on pronghorn but I think the ones I worked to get close to were the most rewarding.

My situation is similar to yours in the respect that I have waited longer than you have for my trophy antelope tag. Each season I think it is this year for sure and applicants with fewer points even manage to draw. I've killed a good number of pronghorn but always for meat. When I finally spend my 19 preference points (or however many it ends up being) I'll be hunting differently than I am accustomed to.
One thing that really helped my confidence in estimating and judging them the past few years is just becoming a student of them. Search for photos of bucks, pull out your binos when you have the chance, visit your draw area and see what is there if you can. What I found was that by doing that it really helped me to more quickly pick out the ones I was interested in from the ones I wasn't.

A fella who occasionally posts here goes by Greenhorn. A couple years back he posted a photo of his wall with some pretty nice pronghorn euro mounts as I recall. If you search his posts or can get him to talk to you in a PM he would be someone with a serious background in trophy hunting. Might have some helpful advice.

This time next year you will be 'the man' when if comes to the 'how to'. Waiting to hear how it goes.

I don't know about THAT... grin... I'll settle for knowing a little more about 'em.

Funny.... I grew up quite literally in the arroyos (of New Mexico) at about 5000 feet elevation, and 90-degree heat... which describes the area they are likely to be on the mountain... we'd spend the whole day out there and cover miles and miles. We were obsessed with our rifles, which at that time fired .177 pellets as fast as you were willing to over-pump your Crosman... grin... but now I'm in my 50's and it's going to be a little different. I hope I can keep active all day in those conditions. We'll see. It'll be what it is. Side bonus: the trout fishing is superb there for big fat native redbands, so if the heat is killing me I can go stand in the river for a couple hours each day.

Jeff_O I sent you an e-mail. It may be helpful to you.