Field Judging Antelope

[Doc Holliday]

Never seen antelope until yesterday....saw a couple of groups along the highway as the sun was rising, then I saw this guy. He almost crossed the highway right in front of me but when I slowed and pulled over to take his pic he flared back out into the field. He looked pretty good to me....I thought if I had an antelope tag and saw him while hunting I would shoot him, but it made me wonder what an antelope hunter is really looking for? What makes a shooter buck?

 

[Tmac]

For scoring, mass first, with adequate length of prong and horn. Pronghorn Guide Service web site has some good Antelope judging exercises.

For me, if he looks big I shoot. Can’t judge those things well at all.

 

[MCS]

The ears are about 5.5" long you can judge by using the ears as a reference. The goat in you picture is not very big his prongs come out very low on his horns and he is not very tall.

 

[Rich M]

I can't tell. Would gladly shoot the buck in the photo. The big ones have horns that look outlandishly long.

 

[Digitata]

Followed

 

[Rackmastr]

Mass is so important. Wife shot a buck in 2022 that was only 13" long but mass made him a no-doubt shooter. A lot of guys severely under judge him as well when they look at field pics. Its shocking how quick mass adds up!

 

[Rackmastr]

Good example of how mass is important

 

[WestTex]

Definitely mass. Also, ideally, the prong will be high enough to get 3 of the 4 mass measurements below it instead of 2 below and 2 above.

 

[bohntr]

Definitely mass. Also, ideally, the prong will be high enough to get 3 of the 4 mass measurements below it instead of 2 below and 2 above.

Unless it’s P&Y where two must be below and two above the prong

 

[tkhuntsman]

Never seen antelope until yesterday....saw a couple of groups along the highway as the sun was rising, then I saw this guy. He almost crossed the highway right in front of me but when I slowed and pulled over to take his pic he flared back out into the field. He looked pretty good to me....I thought if I had an antelope tag and saw him while hunting I would shoot him, but it made me wonder what an antelope hunter is really looking for? What makes a shooter buck?

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Honestly from a score stand point he's mid 70's" but he has a really nice shape and is a beautiful buck. I usually have a few things I look at to field judge an antelope and they are one you need to look at for a little while before you pull the trigger if your really looking for score. The eye is approximately 2" wide look at it compared to the horn base if it's wider than his eye his base is going to be 6+" which is good. the ears are approximately 4" long you want the prongs to start above the ears and be as long as his ear sideways on the horn. You also want to see how many times his ears stack before the curve of the horn. If you can get 2.5 he's at least 14+". All together you get length, 3 mass, and the prong on each side for score.

 

[SwiftShot]

Never seen antelope until yesterday....saw a couple of groups along the highway as the sun was rising, then I saw this guy. He almost crossed the highway right in front of me but when I slowed and pulled over to take his pic he flared back out into the field. He looked pretty good to me....I thought if I had an antelope tag and saw him while hunting I would shoot him, but it made me wonder what an antelope hunter is really looking for? What makes a shooter buck?

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I got a great class on them from the lady that runs the Taxidermy shop in Montana where I hunt. Mass is important. She pointed out to use their ears to judge. You want thicker than 2.5x the ear and the fork to be above the tip of the ear. She stressed the fork above the ear tip as a great way to weed out sub par bucks.

 

[WestTex]

Honestly from a score stand point he's mid 70's" but he has a really nice shape and is a beautiful buck. I usually have a few things I look at to field judge an antelope and they are one you need to look at for a little while before you pull the trigger if your really looking for score. The eye is approximately 2" wide look at it compared to the horn base if it's wider than his eye his base is going to be 6+" which is good. the ears are approximately 4" long you want the prongs to start above the ears and be as long as his ear sideways on the horn. You also want to see how many times his ears stack before the curve of the horn. If you can get 2.5 he's at least 14+". All together you get length, 3 mass, and the prong on each side for score.

I believe it’s 4 mass measurements on each side. One at the base and then 1 at each 1/4 of horn length for the next 3. Example: if the longer horn is 12”, you would take measurements at the base and at 3”, 6”, & 9” (the location of the prong can make a difference)