Author Topic: Antelope Hunt  (Read 1412 times)

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Offline e_collop

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Antelope Hunt
« on: June 18, 2005, 07:25:05 AM »
I am thinking about a pronghorn hunt for next year, probably WY.  I have no idea how to go about it.  Is a guide worth $1000-2000 or is it easy to go on your own. Also any areas that you suggest?  Probably want to stay in the eastern half.  Any help is appreciated.

E

Offline vahunter

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Antelope Hunt
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2005, 03:17:06 PM »
antelope success is very high on either public or private land.  For $1-2K, you're paying to hunt on a private ranch w/ a guide thrown in and who is probably a ranch hand in the off season.  Lot depends on whether you're a bow hunter, rifle, etc...
Pay the big bucks and you will be guaranteed to draw a permit on private land unit, and most likely get a trophy antelope.
Public land is high success also, but it might take you a decade to draw a license.
Wyoming's game and fish dept. website will give you drawing odds and success rates.  
For private ranch hunts check out 88 Ranch or Spearhead Ranch, both north of Douglas.  Spearhead (mainly bow hunting) has a website (google it).

Go for it.

Offline colorado bob

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Antelope Hunt
« Reply #2 on: June 18, 2005, 04:48:37 PM »
It's a DIY hunt.     Lots of antelope in WY.      It's a good fun hunt.      Hunt  public land------Don't shoot the 1st one you see------you'll get a decent buck.      Heck, half the fun is finding out where to go, planning, the drive there, camping, etc.      DIY.       CB

Offline Buckskin

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Antelope Hunt
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2005, 04:07:58 AM »
I went to WY last year with 3 buddys on private land, we paid $600 per gun and we were done by 10:30 opening morning, all good animals.  Then went for muleys.  We saw a lot of good bucks on public also. If I were to do it again, I would go as if planning to hunt private, and go a day or 2 ahead of time, stop by the local watering hole and talk with the locals.  They are very willing to let people shoot their goats.  We talked to at least 6 different people the night before our hunt that said we could come out and hunt their property, and that we could give them whatever we thought the hunt was worth.  They would've been very happy with a couple hundred $.
Buckskin

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Offline alsatian

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Antelope Hunt
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2005, 06:30:50 AM »
Do it yourself, unless you are looking for a trophy.  Sometimes outfitters figure out where the big bucks are, lease this land exclusively for their clients, and charge big $$$ to hunt for the big horns.

I hunted Unit 23 last year for my first pronghorn hunt with my son.  Unit 23 is undersubscriber -- at least last year -- which means fewer permits were applied for than there were permits allocated.  There are LOTS of pronghorn in Unit 23, and land owners are glad to thin them out a little so they aren't grazing vegetation that otherwise commercial livestock might be grazing.

We paid $125/gun for two days hunting very near Gillette, Wyoming.  My son took a 13.5" buck.  I took a doe.  I think it would also be possible to hunt public land in this area.

I preferred my doe to the buck for eating.  I'm thinking in the future of just getting a non-resident doe permit -- about $30 or $40 I think, and readily available over-the-counter, I think -- and hunting on public land, perhaps later in the season to avoid hunting pressure.  This would get my costs down even further.  By the way, we like the pronghorn meat quite well.  My wife and teenage daughter like it considerably better than venison.  I sort of like it better than venison, but not a lot better than venison.  Advice I read says get the hide off it quickly and get it cool.

To get it back home, I cut into meal sized packages, wrapped in freezer paper (two layers of plastic wrap on meat, and then wrapped tightly in freezer paper), and froze with dry ice.  For two pronghorns (maybe 30 LBS of meat per animal, I'm just guessing), 10 LBS of dry ice in the bottom of a large cooler, 1/4" of newspaper on top of the dry ice, all your meat, another 1/4" of newspaper on top of the meat, another 10 LBS of dry ice on the top.  Close the ice chest and seal the edges well with duct tape.  As the dry ice warms up it converts directly to CO2 gas which is dry (hence "dry ice"), some of which will escape from the ice chest. I have been told that this CO2 gas can cause hunters in a tightly closed vehicle to pass-out, perhaps having an accident.  I don't know if this story is accurate or not, but I kept this in mind and opened my trucks windows occasionally as I found myself getting a little sleepy on the road.  I found that the 20 LBS of dry ice froze my meat rock hard and lasted three days.  I checked after three days and found the ice slimmed down to very thin waffers so I added some more dry ice which was enough to get me home two days later.

Offline mid-western

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Antelope Hunt
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2005, 01:05:55 PM »
Has anyone hunted Antelope in area 88 (Wyoming)?

I drew a tag for that area and was wondering what to expect in terms of numbers and quality of animals.  

This will be my first hunt outside of my home state...Indiana.  :grin:

Offline NONYA

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Antelope Hunt
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2005, 06:23:21 PM »
Here in Montana i can buy an over the counter archery tag that is good for the entire state,cant beat it!!! :D
If it aint fair chase its FOUL,and illegal in my state!
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Offline longwalker

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ANTELOPE HUNT
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2005, 04:49:19 AM »
One thing to keep in mind. Antelope hunting is usually done in warm weather. This means you must take care of you game as quickly as possible.  I hunt in western South Dakota. My standard plan is to skin and quarter the animal in the field. This allows the meat to cool as fast as possible, helping to preserve the the quality of the meat. I can't impress on you enough the need to cool the meat and get it out of the skin. Once this is doen you have some time to finish the job. Have a cooler of ice ready to get the meat in to when you get back to camp.

Your reward will be excellant table fair. And the memories of a geat hunt.

longwalker