Antelope spot and stalk archery tips and tricks

[MOcluck]

I'm headed to WY for archery antelope. Planning on a mix of spot and stalk and sitting ponds. Sitting ponds in a blind is close enough to whitetail hunting. But the spot and stalk is a whole new game. Anybody got some tips or tricks? I understand the basics. But I was wondering about the nuances. Wind, time of day, terrain features, be aggressive (like elk) etc.

 

[Shortstop07]

Have wanted to hunt Antelope but once again I was unsuccessful for the idaho draw. Read a lot and seen a lot of videos and i believe that is animal you can pursue all day as they seem to move a lot. Depending on the weather you may sit a water hole all day. I do know don't chase em as you don't catch up to them. Try to beat em where they are headed. I am sure someone will post mich more useful information bit good luck to ya this season.

 

[Overdrive]

Antelope are goofy! One day they'll walk right past you when your standing there or even in your truck, the next day they're running from you a half mile away. I've used flagging to pull them off of private before to get them during rifle seasons, this year I'm going to try flagging during my Archery OTC in Colorado and see how it works when they aren't rutting as much as they are during the rifle season.

 

[MOcluck]

☝Nice. That's the kind of information I'm after. I'll look up flagging for antelope, never heard of it. I've flagged geese though.

 

[WCB]

Don't let them see you until you are close enough then shoot them? but seriously. If you have a decoy theoretically get within at least 200yds if not 100yds then pop it up. One day everthing will try to run you over...other days they gone.

If you can bed them in the evening a lot of times they bed in little cuts or other stalk-able positions. Mark them very well and get out there early and sneak in on them. They normally stay bedded until it is easily light enough to shoot and stay in the same place you bedded them the night before. Had clients kill many goats that way.

 

[diderr33]

I just bought a decoy so hopefully that helps. I normally just try to find them bedded or feeding below a hill

 

[ELKOHUNTER]

If you beat their eyes stalking them is easy. I prefer the goats that live in rolling hills or serviceberry.

 

[TheGreek]

Jace Bauserman has a short book on archery antelope hunting called Bowhunting the Prince of the Plains. It’s about $10 on Amazon. It’s short, but I thought it was pretty informative.

 

[Jon Boy]

Man my advice is do not stalk them unless you get them bedded in ideal terrain. You'll likely be seeing lots of goats but the trick will be just waiting for the right stalk. I've tried stalking them and decoying them all over God's creation and it just does not work unless you have good terrain features. The moment you make one brazen move they will pick you off so freaking fast it's amazing. Another tactic is to get within 100 or 200 yards and just sit and wait and hope they feed past you. Also, they do not like crossing fences, if you have some feeding along a fence you can likely set up in front of them.

For the record I've never killed a lope with a bow but have learned a lot of hard lessons I'll be giving it another go after a 5 year hiatus in a few weeks!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[Brettboss]

Honestly, and hate to say it but it's a great hunt from the truck. Cruise roads and find groups in fields that have some topography. It doesn't take you getting behind trees, boulders, mountains to get close, just a slight rise in a field is often good enough to get close. They have great eyes so you have to put something between you and them, especially if there's more than one. You're going to have to crawl so knee pads and gloves help given I usually find them in cactus.

 

[Page Master]

Seems a lot of the wisdom for hunting them is whether or not what you are attempting is possible or not. You can waste a lot of your day on animals you have zero chance of even drawing on. Like others have said, plan to hunt in their rut with decoys (which may not work if its heavily hunted OTC/Public) or sneak in undiscovered. Comes down to luck finding either situation.

 

[Laramie]

By far the easiest way to shoot them is at water from a blind. I have taken a couple archery while stalking but it's tough. Shots were 57 yards and 62 yards. Getting in their way and letting them come to you is the easiest outside of the water hole sit. If you are hunting for a trophy, I strongly recommend patterning a specific buck and shooting him at his water hole. Trail cameras are great tools if you have the time and a water hole where they won't be immediately stolen.

 

[diderr33]

Honestly, and hate to say it but it's a great hunt from the truck. Cruise roads and find groups in fields that have some topography. It doesn't take you getting behind trees, boulders, mountains to get close, just a slight rise in a field is often good enough to get close. They have great eyes so you have to put something between you and them, especially if there's more than one. You're going to have to crawl so knee pads and gloves help given I usually find them in cactus.

truth right here. It can be a large waste of time walking “X” amount of miles in one direction. I usually drive the roads until I find them in a stalkable location. Glass the terrain and plan the approach. I picked my current hunting area because it had a ton of terrain features. It has good draws with good flats. Perfect for bow range shots. I’ve wasted a lot of time trying to get close to the flat ground/ no cover bucks. And find the antelope threshold for distance in your area. It will change day to day too. Where I hunt it was 200 yards (didn’t care you were there) 100 yards (started getting nervous) <100 yards (bust out of there). Opening morning I had a 10 yard opportunity on a nice buck that I judged his feeding pattern perfect. He was just at a slow trot and tried to “meh” him to stop. Yeah that doesn’t work on goats too well . And practice your long shots. I shot mine at 72 yards last year. I’ve been practicing 100 yards + with the bow quiet frequently. 97 yards first arrow of the day and 60 second arrow. (Moved my sight after to adjust)

 

[MOcluck]

Opener is getting close. Thanks for the tips. I'm going to employ a little cross of what I've read and some Missouri turkey tactics . I'll try and put'em to bed then slip in. We'll see how it goes here shortly.

 

[Scott/IL]

I’ll be trying for the first time in a few weeks. With the wife still on Covid leave from work, she’ll be tagging along. Going to try to make it a fun week in Idaho, mainly hunting from the road (not exactly my cup of tea). With any luck I’ll tag a representative animal and get to show her a new part of the country she hasn’t been before.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[blacktail sniper]

Ill be in idaho next week as well. Whereabouts u headed? My son has a cow elk tag too one of those weird mile from irrigated pasture deals

 

[zpooch]

I'll probably be giving it a shot this month as well. I half ass tried for a day last year and couldn't seem to get closer than 90 yards

 

[hutty]

Terrain is key, bedded animal helps as well. Knee pads are key for crawling and keeping thorns out. Was successful 2 years ago with bow after several days of failure. One of the most enjoyable hunts I have done. Bringing my bow this year (doe tag).

 

[justin davis]

Sneak within bow range with them seeing you and shoot them ha

they have amazing eyes. 100 yards is pretty easy. But cutting the distance from there can be tough

this is the last one I arrowed. Crawled in a ravine for an hour to close the distance to 50 yards in this buck

 

[MOcluck]

From that picture, it definitely looks doable! Nice job!