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

Your way will result in horn degradation. For sure.

You do know that antelope horns are shed every year, right? Ever seen one after 6 months in the weather? Not pretty. I've got two on my desk right now.

They will come loose while hanging on a tree - eventually. They may split, delaminate, get chewed upon be squirrels, mice, porcupines whatever. Ever heard of UV light being good for biological material? There is NO upside to your method. None.

Sometimes you have to do everything... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maceration_(bone)

Does that mean you hunted smarter not harder while you were playing redneck? Lmao...

Oh, THAT'S not true. The upside is I don't have to deal with a stinking rotting animal head.

Hmmmm. Well, poop. I can keep it out of UV, and it should be ok with rodents... don't have many tree-dwellers here other than squirrels and I doubt they'd be interested. I hung an elk head in this way and some critter bigger than I'd accounted for got it out of the tree and ate the meat off the thing (I'm pretty sure it was Bigfoot, but it's just barely possible it was something else)..... grin....

I know this is borderline hearsay around here but I'm just not a big trophy guy. Having the skull/horns as a momento of the hunt would be cool but it's not really that big a deal to me.

No, I hunted hard and probably kind of stupidly <grin>. And stone cold sober. But back at the campground it was quite the social scene, and what I described was just... the truth.

PS- bet I'm rednecker than you.

Whatever. They are yours to ruin, or not. As for the "stinking rotting" part, that's only because you didn't deal with it promptly. But be that as it may, it's just a smell. Buckle up and have at it. This isn't hard.

Nothing wrong with that, nice work

Saw some cool rifles up there. I think having so many years to obsess over it leads to that. My favorite was a full custom 6.5 CM in a McMillan, about the same profile as my Bartlein #3 but with a Lilja, custom Remington-pattern action, forget which one, and a big Nightforce SHV. He liked my build (the fauX) a lot too; we could've traded and both been happy.

Also saw (and heard) the usual rifle stupidity. Guys taking "500 yard!" shots... with no rangefinder. Rifles with wack-ass scopes on them mounted all weird. Etc.

THe fishing up there is awesome. Native redbands, small rivers... my kind of fishing. Caught several in this range.

I unfortunately broke my old Berkeley Cherrywood rod some years ago... but I've been using that same Garcia 308 reel since the 70's, though I did have to procure another one for parts scavenging.

I've not had very good luck getting pronghorn skulls to come out looking nice. A lot of that bone around the nasal area is real light and fragile.
I've found aging them naturally works much better with deer and elk than with pronghorn The black horn covers seem to take a beating and the bone chewing rodents can do a number on the light thin bone.
Having a taxidermist do a euro mount was not a lot better. I found tons of that clear rubber glue holding together the skull I had done because so much of it fell apart during the skull cleaning process.

This is why anaerobic maceration works so well. Besides being easy.

Thanks! Yes, I think I've got the bug now. More so if it's as delicious as you guys say. I have eaten antelope but it was stewed in cream of mushroom soup base.... could've been about ANY meat.

Thanks Jud!

JeffO,

Maybe you should stick with activities like burning man. There you could smoke all the weed you want and oogle naked hippy chicks.

I find the way you are treating that antelope disgraceful. That unit is a premier trophy unit that takes years to draw. Many people covet that tag and hunt and would treat it with the respect it deserves and not be so cavalier about it.

You go on a lifetime hunt and don't have a proper camera? And spend time fishing? really?

And you plan to let the head rot in your yard. WTF?

Leave these tags for people who will appreciate them.

Good grief, what makes you think he didn't appreciate that tag? I don't know Jeff , but taking a camera on any hunting trip is not required! As far letting the head rot in the yard, I thought they were exchanging information. The unit he hunted is like most in our state, they take years to draw tag, and we covet all those tags! The information on units is correct also! Hart Mountain herd's are down, they don't let us shoot coyotes there anymore!

His actions lead me to believe he didnt show the animal or the tag the respect it deserves. If you had a clue and pay attention you will see a pattern of Jeff being a dumbazz, this isnt the first coveted tag he has drawn and blown.
WTF is wrong with Orgonians?

First you were making fun of him saying he'd have some long involved story, and shoot a dink. Neither of which happened.

So you were wrong, go ahead and admit it. Some people like to mount heads, some mount the horns. Some only care about horns and don't care about the meat which is the wrong way to think IMO. Some very good hunters mount neither head nor horns. It's really none of my business. That you're making it yours says more about you than it does about him.

And berating him for going fishing? Take a long step back.

Deleted.

Probably was a bit too rash; no need to do that.

Same

Jeff could post that our world was indeed round and would have to endure 20 pages of subsequent criticism. Just the way it is here.

I have a Wy elk tag in hand, and score or not, I will probably fish for at least 2 days during the season.

Have a good one,

the Earth is not round. It is a spheroid.