Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Pronghorn Antelope Meat

I have never tried pronghorn antelope. How does it taste? Is it similar to any other meats? Any tricks to preparing it?

I don't have any to prepare, but I am looking at possibly doing a hunt and I want to know what I am getting into.

Has a little more flavor than venison. One of the biggest issues with antelope is getting the
animal broke down and the meat cooled right away.
Makes great summer sausage if you find it a little strong for you as steaks etc.
Just my 2 cents.

Properly taken care of it is fantastic....I've had several non hunters who've tried it for the 1st time, try and buy some from me.

Yeah..its just fine if you cool it ASAP.

Only tip is like venison, NEVER cook more than medium rare...

Some of the best meat there is, snap a pic, bone em out get it cooled. Nothin too it

+1 I'll take antelope over mule deer anytime and maybe over elk. Not sure why but I think Wyoming antelope taste best??? Maybe because most of the ones I've shot there have been later in the season when it was cooler but whatever the reason they have all been tasty.

I agree with all of the above, and might add that I think it might be a bit sweeter than whitetails and muleys. Get that hide peeled within a couple of hours and cool the meat asap. I highly recommend that you set up a hunt so you can try it.

Agree with all of the above.

Antelope sometimes gets a bad rap because they are usually shot during warmer weather and the meat is not handled properly.

Makes a huge difference on what they feed on.Sage brush country YUCK. Eastern Colorado on winter wheat and sorghum forage.Better than any other big game meat with the exception of maybe Rocky Mtn bighorn

Makes awesome jerky in a smoker!!! Haven’t eaten much antelope as steaks and burger... We just jerky it all..

Hunted antelope in the Wheatland area of SE Wyoming, rancher had huge alfalfa fields for his cattle. Best wild game I've ever eaten! Brought some antelope steaks to an archery shoot once, just about had a fist fight for the last piece of it! Lol!

I've eaten two bucks, both shot in cool-to-cold temps and handled properly. A grilled to medium, bacon-wrapped backstrap filet was one of the finest pieces of meat I've ever eaten. I have three 1 lb. packages of backstrap left in the freezer, and I'm chunking up for a batch of Speedgoat Chili using this recipe. I think it's delicious.

Went in 2018 with a retired friend who had an antelope hunt on his bucket list, and, after eating his buck, he is itching to shoot another one.

Everything above is true. I dread the year we don't draw. Its coming soon

Some of the best game meat there is imo. I agree with the sweeter comment above, but have no idea why? I've always butchered my own. Aged in a cooler on ice a couple days.. Can eat it the same as any other red meat,, but different flavor for sure. Most of them I've shot have been in sage brush country. Don't know I if they ate it or the bit of short grass around. They are a lot of fun to hunt.

My wife and I have killed pronghorn in Montana (where we live and primarily hunt), along with plenty in Wyoming, and a few in Colorado and New Mexico, from late August in New Mexico to early November in Montana. Have never been able to tell any difference in flavor between antelope taken in sagebrush and "other" country, however you want to define it.

The big difference is, as many people have stated, cooling the meat down after the shot. But we have found skinning immediately isn't necessary if the weather is cool enough, say less than 50 degrees. We have killed quite a few in Montana on sub-freezing days, and left the hides on until we butchered them 2-3 days later.

One thing I learned during considerable research on big game meat is that antelope--even the older bucks--don't have nearly as much connective collagen in their muscles as many other animals--and collagen is what primarily breaks down during the aging process. (If you really want to find out a lot of details of game meat care, the University of Wyoming's meat-research department has plenty--which is where I found out about the collagen, years before websites existed. The latest info is far more easily available today.)

All that said, I also suspect there's something in pronghorn meat that makes the taste buds of a few people hate it--much like cilantro tastes like soap to some folks. Came to this conclusion after more than one occasion when several people ate the same antelope steaks, and all but one thought it was great. One of those who didn't said it tasted like "dog food," though I don't know how he knew dog food tasted.

On the other hands, have served pronghorn to a number of non-hunters who raved about how great it was.

It helps if they haven't been running for miles as well. I killed a big 15" buck a few years ago. Watched him bedded at the edge of an alfalfa pivot. I snuck up and got prone, and waited for him to get up. I shot him at 358 yds with my 243. He took 2 steps and fell over. I got him cooled out good, but didn't skin him. Cut him up the next day. He was excellent eating, maybe the best big game I have had, and that says a lot, given how much wild meat we eat. I am sure the alfalfa didn't hurt any either.

Pronghorn is my favorite game meat by a fair margin.

One thing I have seen guys do is herd antelope along sheep fence and shoot them or run them around half the day. I believed this contributes to poor tasting meat, but have no scientific proof of it.

"One of those who didn't said it tasted like "dog food," though I don't know how he knew dog food tasted."


Mule Deer,

They must be eatin a better brand of dog food. I tried it as a kid.....just to see. It didn't taste anything like antelope (grin).

Ya gotta pan fry it like canned corned beef hash......a friend told me.....

Antelope can taste bad as others have said here, IF you don't cool it fast but if properly cared for it's excellent. In fact I'd call it outstanding if you care for the meat right.

One trick we use on every antelope we shoot is to get it into COLD salt water ASAP. Carry ice in a cooler if you can for the process.
The salt draws out the blood and the blood is where all the "gamy taste" is. not in the meat itself. If you let it set in warmer conditions the blood stays in the meat the taste can be very strong. But if you get it into cold salt water soon after you shoot, gut and skin it, the blood is drawn out and the water get quite red. I usually do this blood-draw 2 days in a row. When I butcher it up the meat is not near as red looking after that, and the flavor is better then many other types of wild meat.

I have done many a steak from Pronghorns on the grill and I do it very like fremont said, with bacon wraps over hardwood charcoal.
I marinade it for a day in white wine and garlic powder with a tablespoon of lime juice and some basil, then wrap bacon over it and grill it. Don't over-cook.
Cut the stakes thin about 3/4". Only grill for about 2 minutes on the 1st side and 90 seconds on the other.

I bet you'll like it