Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Antelope hunting question #2.

I assume that you read #1, but for those of you that didn't I'l be hunting antelope for the first time. I'll be hunting outside Casper the last 4 days of the 2009 season. What will the weather/wind be like at this time? I have a 7x57 FN sporter with a 24" barrel. It's long throated, but shoots 150gn Partitions around an inch @100yds A2725fps. I stumbled upon this load early in load developement and stopped as it is perfect for what I do. This gun, except for factory Hornady LMs, doesn't seem to like lighter bullets but I haven't tried too hard. My other choice would be a relatively heavy 26" barrelled 280 Zastava Mauser. Scoped, it weighs over ten pounds. My load for it is 150gn BTs @2950. With theses its a .75" gun. I could try to load 120BTs if needed. I shoot the 280 better under hunting conditions because of the weight. Which of these woukd you choose? thanks, capt david

63 degrees with a NW wind at 15-20 mph.

Maybe in the first 4 days of the season, but I have never seen those winds in the last 4 days of the season. Maybe more like 69 degrees and 9.7mph-22.3mph

really though- who knows. It could be windy as hell or calm. Snowing, raining, sub zero, or hot enough to hunt in shorts and a tee shirt.

Hemi

Hence my reply........

Cappy-either gun will do you just fine, no need to chase another load down.

Weather could be below zero and white to 80....as for the wind it could be calm (but highly doubtfull... ;)) and it could be hooking along at 50-60 mph.

My best friend lives in Casper and I may be heading south this fall for a while as well being as he and his son's all drew some really good bull tags. All 3 of them will be using their do all guns (25/06's).

Dober

Let's see now, during the typical Wyoming antelope season, I've experienced blazing sun, no sun, sixty mph winds all day long (no kidding), no wind all day long (no kidding), six-inches of snow and a hellacious blizzard, bluebird fifty-degree days and I've seen 10 degrees above.

It can fry your noggin, blow your eyes dusty, freeze your bag ... or be the most perfect of weather.

Pretty much, pack clothes so that you can layer ... to add or strip off.

Goats are a blast to shoot and they are diurnal, so they are active during most daylight hours. Don't shoot the first buck you see and when one absolutely takes your breath away with lotsa black, shoot that one dead.

The classic guys like the 7X57 and such for antelope. Fine, but not for me.

My average goat, over my last twenty, or so, kills would be 325-350 yards. Yes, I've killed them at 100-yards and I've also killed them at 500++, but 350-ish yards would come pretty close to an average.

Could be the country or could be I'm not as good a hunter as most Internet folks. Gimme a fast-stepping .25 caliber any time.

By the way, American pronghorn is as good a meat as is on the planet. They can also take a bullet, so make sure the first round is the last ... again, in my very limited experience.

Steve

I'd go with the unit that is simply the most accurate. Do some serious paper shooting at extreme distances, work up a proper drop chart, and you will likely become comfortable and confident out to 4 or 500 yds.

Actually I find the advice to use long range guns is over rated. As I said on the similar post I have taken most of my antelope with a muzzle loader and not a modern style in=line but rather a patched round ball from a side hammer. I have also used a 45-70 shooting black powder loads at a whopping 1200 fps.
The other antelope I have killed or been on scene at their demise have been killed with rather normal cartridges such as .303 Brit, 30-06, 243 or 6 MM Rem.
If one counts on a long range rifle to make the really long shots he is likely to be disappointed as the antelope will likely have seen you far outside of the gun's reach.

One more thing is that antelope will often bolt and go on a mile or two run but by staying concealed one can sometimes get a shot as they often return to an area very close to where they started. It almost seems the crazy bast**** go on these mad dashes to exercise the young. I have had this happen while I was totally hidden by crawling into a pile of russian twistles. I remained hidden and have no idea why they bolted after 20 minutes of my not moving.
Another thing to remember is they are very curious. Once I had left the truck to stalk a small group. After they ran off another buck came wondering along, passed within 50 yards of the truck and continued until he came within range of where I was hiding.

OK first of all, this is not a 'full out' gillie suit. It is a lightweight mesh with fake cut-out leaves. It weighs around a pound and basically breaks your out-line I use it sitting on a stool dove hunting.
I live at the extreme southern tip of Texas(port isabel) and hut north to central Texas, as far as weather For clothes I'm good to days ranging down to freezing or so. My plan is to take what I got and if need to by a jumpsuit at a big-box-store. I'll also take my shooting sticks and buy or borrow some kind of a stool/chair. I have very little idea what the area looks like, other than rolling hills and low 'scrub.' thanks again. capt david

I'd take the lighter weight rig as it is more than accurate enough. The longest shot I've taken at antelop was a measured 297 yards and I've had many opportunities at stone-throwing distance.

the rifle will be fine.

I've had it from 15-90 degrees during the same week (different years). The wind will be at least 10 mph, at time a LOT more.

You'll need to check right before you go....

A note on Antelope: They can quite easily be patterned. They are very territorial, and they tend to go the same places on a regular basis. If you spot a good buck and it takes off for a 1 mile sprint, you can be pretty sure of two things. The first is that the buck will come back to where you spooked it in a few hours. The second is that if you spook it again, it will sprint to the same area in did the first time.

I hunted with two WWII veterans in their eighties, and after patterning the antelope, I could place my friends in a location I could influence the antelope to go to. By influence, I mean I could get them to walk or trot to where my friends were by kind of herding the antelope with my truck from about 500 to 1000 yards.

Antelope meat is the very best, so bring some bags of ice if it is warm, to cool down the animal. Then get it to a locker plant asap.

Field shooting skills, an accurate rifle, good binocs and range finder will serve you well for Antelope. They are one hulluva lot of fun to hunt.

Steve

Cap'n,

Feel free to buy or borrow a bucket or stool to sit on and wait, but hunting pronghorns in Wyoming like you do whitetails in Texas is kinda wasting the trip and the experience. If you have some physical disabilities that would prevent you from doing the spotting and stalking method, then I can understand getting set up in a likely spot and waiting on them. However, you wrote that you would probably do both the spot and stalk and the stand methods. The spot and stalk method is so much fun with pronghorns that I can't imagine using the stand method unless there is a particular buck you've ID'd and patterned.

In the places in Texas that I've hunted, with the exception of one place out towards El Paso, I haven't had the opportunity to spot and stalk because the vegetation and terrain are not conducive to spot and stalk. When I went pronghorn hunting in Wyoming last year, one of the things I liked best about the hunt was doing a completely different type of hunting than I would be doing "back home."

Unless you are hunting archery or ML remember you have to where hunter orange somewhere, so if you still want to go with your mesh outfit you will have to wear an orange hat.

My "antelope rifle" is my old Remington 725 in .280 Remington. I have had perfect success with my handload, 139 grains Hornady Interlock PSP BT bullet, 56.0 grains of IMR 4350, and CCI L.R. primers. Last shot I made was at 215 yards, broadside, the buck standing still. He literally just dropped onto his front knees and fell over. There was nothing left of his lungs but small pieces. Bullet went through-'n-through.

Either of your two rifles will do just fine, although I would be tempted to take the lighter weight one. I'm kinda lazy and don't like to carry anymore weight than I have to.

As already said, if you get one, gut it and cool it down as quickly as possible, then get it to the locker. Taken care of properly, antelope meat is excellent.

L.W.

If your rifle performs the way you need it to, why sweat it?

I've seen pronghorns killed with .22-250 and a .338WM, but your 7X57 is almost as flat as most .270W's. And 150grns is an excellent weight for the .284 bore.

Sage goats are very easy to kill - with an accurate rifle in the hands of skilled shooter. If your rifle and load have given you good service, then practice shooting at a cardboard [life size] cutout of a pronghorn at 200, 300 and 400 yards in preparation for your trip to Wyoming - at least several dozen shots. Can help you learn range estimation too.

If you spend enough time in the Cowboy State you'll discover the weather there can indeed be as fickle and extreme as others have said. Last time I visited Yellowstone it snowed in July!

But I liken hunting pronghorns to dove hunting, - an early, easy, hot short-sleeve hunting experience, but for a big gaminal.

Also, if you can injun-up on your pronghorn and kill it without pumping itself full of lactic acid from running all over the place, then gut and skin it and cool it within 30-45 minutes of shooting it, you'll enjoy some great warm-weather venison!

Actually I prefer an early season pronghorn (properly killed, cleaned, cooled, butchered and cooked) to mule deer meat.

I always have a big bag of ice with me just for cooling the dead pronghorn. And cut them up myself, although there's nothing fancy to it.

I've killed a lot of antelope and used most everything from a 243 to a 300 Win Mag including a 357 revolver. You can generally get reasonably close, and my average shot is probably around 175 yards. Yes, they are easy to kill- if you hit them right. Hit them wrong, though, and they can go a long way. Don't be fooled by the "open prarie" either. They can disappear more easily than you would think in that open environment. Use a relatively light, easy opening bullet. They aren't large or heavily boned- think in terms of your Texas whitetails. I think antelope are candidates for the Nosler BT and Sierra bullets.

take em both, you'll need a back up gun anyways..

I've taken three antelope so far in life. Hope to get a few more opportunities one of these years. Every one of 'em was a fair chase, spot and stalk deal, ( I call it sneakin & peekin'). Used a 25-06 with a 117 gr. Sierra Pro-Hunter (#1640) on two and a 300 WSM with a 150 gr. Nosler Accubond, (#56719) on the other one. But I've also had that wild Wyoming wind get the best of me a couple times. Two out of three were taken in T-shirt weather in 2003 and one in 2006 just the snow was rolling in. Had a very experienced Wyoming guide tell me that even a 243 is an excellent 'lope cartridge as long as it's accurate. He said you just have to put that bullet where it belongs. Back in '03 my buddy had two tags and filled them both from the same herd at long range. He dropped one with his 7mm STW, the guide said "let's sit tight" and not too much later the herd circled around again and he filled tag #2 from about 300 yds. It's really a blast; I love all the walkin and crawlin and the suspense of the stalk, don't forget the kneepads, you might need 'em. And it really is amazing how they can sometimes vanish in what seems like such a vast, wide open area. But the fact is, that despite their fantastic eyesight, you too can usually vanish out there also, at least enough to get within decent rifle distance.

I have probably killed 40+ in my life time & your 7X57 will do just fine. My experiences with the Nosler BT's are not good (.243 to .300 mag). They give too violent expansion. So if you value the meat my advice would be to not use them.