Idaho Antelope Unit 45 and Optics

[idahoarchery]

Hey Rokslide,

Long time lurker here. My girlfriend and I were recently blessed with both of us drawing the unit 45-1 pronghorn tag this year. I have never hunted antelope before and I am looking for any information on how to hunt this. I will be hunting with a 308. Not looking for specific spots but just any information on the Unit. I wanted to take this opportunity as an excuse to spend some money on a decent upgrade to my gear. I have a pair of $200 Vanguards in 10x42 and I do not own any other pieces of glass. I feel like the key to being successful on this hunt is with good glass. Should I replace my 10x42's with a nicer pair of the same size? I'm just not sure as to what would help me the most for antelope but also balance for multiple setups/scenarios. I do mostly prefer to archery hunt and only hunt Idaho at this time, but I really want to make these tags count this year!

Thank you for reading,
idahoarchery

 

[Rob5589]

Welcome! Good luck with the lopes!

 

[idahoarchery]

Welcome! Good luck with the lopes!

Thank you!

 

[downthepipe]

My wife will be hunting in neighboring 44 which is more private farm land compared to 45 where the private land is usually not given for permission and the public land is open desert. In terms of glass my first question is do you have a scope on the 308 that you are confident with? I would rather have a good scope and below average Binos then the other way around because I want to be confident shooting out to at least 400 yards. Ideally, you have a nice scope, nice binos, and a nice spotting scope. I recommend you take a scouting trip and try out your binos. If you find out they just aren’t up to the task, you need to decide on a budget.

 

[HuntInWild88]

I'm pretty familiar with unit 45. If your not looking for a trophy the binos you have will work fine. They're not hard to spot. The hardest thing is to get into shooting range and being able to get a sturdy rest thats above the sage. When is your hunt. I have an archery tag for 46 so if its not at the same time I might be able to point you a few spots or help you. I have a decent spotter and have looked over enough bucks to know if its a trophy or not.

 

[SgtTanner]

Not familiar with the area, but these other dudes are spot on. Practice shooting further than you think you need to. Don’t need a spotter unless you’re really looking for a book buck. Hardest part is getting in good position to shoot without getting busted.

Good luck and have fun. Let us know how it goes.