The 1 Thing You Learned- ANTELOPE

[NEWHunter]

I've run into that problem being confined to a wheelchair. I hunt from a pickup truck now, which makes getting close tough. Any out of the box ideas on how to fool them from a truck?

I have taken my Dad to WY a couple of times - MS has him more or less in a chair. Get a hunting season extension permit in WY and you can start your rifle season a few days earlier than everyone else. They are much easier to get at from a truck or an atv before the army shows up. A unit with a 10/1 opener helps so that they are rutting around and a bit less nervous. Have a flag available or a piece of T-shirt tied to a pole - hasn’t hurt yet.

In this case, turn the atv off at 800 yards, put it in neutral, starting pushing (only when their heads are down), and be thankful for the downward slope to the animals and the well placed tree and bush. Stop at 300 yards to take the shot and hope dad doesn’t miss.

 

[NEWHunter]

Have you ever heard of people making escape routes for antelope? I'm thinking like making some low spots in the fence, or constructing some kind of structure to funnel them to a strategic spot. People put in this kind of effort for whitetails in the East, so I'm just wondering if anyone does this for antelope in the West?

On last year’s antelope hunt there was a group of antelope hanging out in a fenced section. My brother and I set my dad up at the gate and tried drive them toward him as we would deer in WI. Unfortunately, we found out the antelope had a pretty well defined escape/entrance route from the pasture and they gave us the slip. By the night before opener they had found their way back to the pasture. We put them to bed and I stopped up their primary escape route at dark. Ended up chasing them around opening morning and missed the shot at the bigger buck. Took home this guy as a consolation prize. If my dad hadn’t already tagged out, I would have set him up 300 yards from the escape route and had him wait.

 

[Oregon Hunter]

I have taken my Dad to WY a couple of times - MS has him more or less in a chair. Get a hunting season extension permit in WY and you can start your rifle season a few days earlier than everyone else. They are much easier to get at from a truck or an atv before the army shows up. A unit with a 10/1 opener helps so that they are rutting around and a bit less nervous. Have a flag available or a piece of T-shirt tied to a pole - hasn’t hurt yet.

In this case, turn the atv off at 800 yards, put it in neutral, starting pushing (only when their heads are down), and be thankful for the downward slope to the animals and the well placed tree and bush. Stop at 300 yards to take the shot and hope dad doesn’t miss.
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Sweet, that's an awesome idea I've never thought of before! Thanks a million for sharing. I bet my brother won't be as enthused though about having to push me around the prairie hahaha

 

[Oregon Hunter]

On last year’s antelope hunt there was a group of antelope hanging out in a fenced section. My brother and I set my dad up at the gate and tried drive them toward him as we would deer in WI. Unfortunately, we found out the antelope had a pretty well defined escape/entrance route from the pasture and they gave us the slip. By the night before opener they had found their way back to the pasture. We put them to bed and I stopped up their primary escape route at dark. Ended up chasing them around opening morning and missed the shot at the bigger buck. Took home this guy as a consolation prize. If my dad hadn’t already tagged out, I would have set him up 300 yards from the escape route and had him wait.

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I like the idea of camping out on a likely escape route when they're a bunch of other hunters around. Might be a low impact way to have them driven into you

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

Don't hit bone

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

Make sure you have plenty of beer

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

Keep the hearts

 

[Jimss]

I spent around 30 days this summer and early fall in over a dozen Wyo antelope units. One thing I noticed this year more than others is a huge movement of animals before the end of the summer. There was very little moisture from late June through the remainder of the summer and quite a few water sources actually totally dried up by fall. Areas where there were hundreds of antelope early were nearly void of antelope. I'm used to seeing these movements in Wyo due to snow but never have seen such dramatic movement of antelope from summer to late fall due to water drying up. You can bet I'll keep this in mind when selecting units and dates to hunt in future years.

 

[Slowlerner]

I'm headed to WY this year for my first rifle antelope hunt. I really appreciate all of your comments.

 

[Oregon Hunter]

Make sure you have plenty of beer

Solid idea. It's easy to forget how remote some antelope country can be.

 

[Oregon Hunter]

I spent around 30 days this summer and early fall in over a dozen Wyo antelope units. One thing I noticed this year more than others is a huge movement of animals before the end of the summer. There was very little moisture from late June through the remainder of the summer and quite a few water sources actually totally dried up by fall. Areas where there were hundreds of antelope early were nearly void of antelope. I'm used to seeing these movements in Wyo due to snow but never have seen such dramatic movement of antelope from summer to late fall due to water drying up. You can bet I'll keep this in mind when selecting units and dates to hunt in future years.

Do you think this would be the case in those areas most years, or just in the time of a drought?

 

[ShakeDown]

I have only hunted antelope OTC in CO w/ a bow.

1 thing I have learned - do not hunt antelope OTC in Colorado w/ a bow.

 

[Oregon Hunter]

I have only hunted antelope OTC in CO w/ a bow.

1 thing I have learned - do not hunt antelope OTC in Colorado w/ a bow.

Was it just super tough to get close, or something else you learned?

 

[ShakeDown]

Was it just super tough to get close, or something else you learned?

I was mostly being a wise-ass

CO has pretty limited public land access for OTC speed goats. High pressure. Tuned up animals.

True story I once watched 12 hunters on one bedded buck.

All that being said, it is a heck of a time and I will be there again this year.

My advice - stalk when an animal is bedded. Take your time, the flat land has more contours than it initially appears, hunt mid week to avoid weekend pressure, if/when you blow a stalk don’t get discouraged and keep your head on a swivel - I once busted a bedded buck on the walk back to the truck after busting my target bedded buck.

 

[Jimss]

Oregon Hunter, Things can change dramatically from 1 year to the next in Wyo depending upon conditions. There are general trends that occur for antelope movements at different times of the year. As an example, "most years" antelope tend to migrate a certain direction after the first deep snow. If you've spent time on the Shirley Basin during the summer there are hundreds if not thousands of antelope. After it snows it is a wasteland with almost 0 antelope.

Another example is a giant ranch where I've hunted for years used to have antelope scattered through the entire ranch. After historic drought years in 2012 the antelope pretty much voided about 1/3 of the ranch when water dried up. The feed and water on the other end of the ranch was a lot better and they've pretty much concentrated in that area ever since. With a few wet years they've trickled back to the other 1/3 of the ranch but not near the density they were before the drought years.

I'm certain in moist winters and springs at least some of the springs and reservoirs have water in the units I mentioned in my first post but if the antelope find better feed and water elsewhere they may not return. This same thing has happened in units 2, and 3 in NW Colorado. There are only a fraction of the antelope there compared to the 1980's and early 1990s due to lack of water.

As we all know winterkill can make or break a hunt.

I guess what I'm eluding to is it's always good to be aware of the year to year weather conditions before selecting a hunting unit. This may change dramatically from one year to the next!

 

[Tourguide]

Learned that I should have moved to a state where I can hunt them every year. Deer hunting in Michigan is a very distant 2nd place now!

 

[NB7]

I have taken my Dad to WY a couple of times - MS has him more or less in a chair. Get a hunting season extension permit in WY and you can start your rifle season a few days earlier than everyone else. They are much easier to get at from a truck or an atv before the army shows up. A unit with a 10/1 opener helps so that they are rutting around and a bit less nervous. Have a flag available or a piece of T-shirt tied to a pole - hasn’t hurt yet.

In this case, turn the atv off at 800 yards, put it in neutral, starting pushing (only when their heads are down), and be thankful for the downward slope to the animals and the well placed tree and bush. Stop at 300 yards to take the shot and hope dad doesn’t miss.
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Pretty work there, keeping your dad in the game. That's admirable

 

[Two Roads]

I wish they were bigger because they taste great on the grill.

 

[30338]

Muzzleloader low pressure tip. When the rut is kicking and the herd buck runs an intruder off, sneak in on the does. You can be in clear view of the buck and he can watch you crawl or walk towards the does and it has no impact on him. He'll still come right back to them. So the goal is to get to 100 yards downwind of the does and then wait for him to trot back into range.

I've just shot does doing this but hoping to draw a buck tag for this fall. But each time I have had bucks come right into range without spooking despite seeing me.

 

[Page Master]

If you make a bad hit, don't be afraid to push them.