Antelope Rookie - What do I need to know?
 

So the stars have finally aligned and it looks like I'm going to be able to draw my Trophy Antelope tag this year and actually have the time to go hunt.

I have enough priority and have a zone picked with plenty of permission.

After that I'm lost. I have no idea when to start scouting.

I have no idea if they are like the Mule Deer down there and when you find them they generally stay close to the same area unless pushed?

How do they react to pressure?

Honestly I know nothing about hunting them, so that's what I'm hoping to gain here is some knowledge from those that do.

Any and all info is welcome

Thanks
Hilgy

I show up a day or two before the season opens, to scout around. If I find a good one, I will watch it until dark the evening before the season opens, and be back at legal time the next morning. The biggest issue, is judging horns, if the horns are relatively straight, they look longer, if they have big curls and make that heart shape, they actually look shorter. Good glass is a necessity for spotting at distance, and I find a window mount handy. If pressured, they will move off, but will often be back later.

Some tips posted on other similar threads:

Drive down and give yourself 3 days of scouting before the season. Any earlier and they may be in a different spot opening day.

Get permission on big blocks

Have several bucks pinned on your GPS. If your #1 gets blown out, move on to #2 quickly

Have tire chains, extra gas, a cooler full of block ice or frozen water jugs, knee pads, and some type of shooting rest or bipod.

It is a significant advantage to be able to shoot long distances in the wind.

Be able to pack your gear in and meat out. If it’s dry, you MIGHT get foot access if you’re lucky.

Figure out what you are doing ahead of time re: shoulder mount, caping, euro etc. you don’t have a lot of time before the hair starts slipping.

Permission is probably the hardest part of the hunt these days, if you have that wrapped up you are miles ahead. Shoot lots this year and have fun

Last antelope I shot was in 2010 with my kids 243 win. Next time I will be using a rifle and bullet that isn’t so susceptible to wind drift.

Antelope
 

Scout, scout, scout and Get on em opening morning!!

Carry a rangefinder!

The antelope are such small targets you always think they are further away then they actually are.
Pretty easy to over-estimate the distance and then shoot over them.

Very important advice, especially if you are used to hunting moose and elk in the bush. I found antelope very hard to estimate range without a rangefinder. The first one I shot I wouldn’t have taken the shot if I didn’t have someone with me who had a rangefinder, the antelope wasn’t nearly as far away as I thought it was. Also if you can see them, they can see you, don’t skyline yourself

Don't get discouraged by the end of the second day.
By the third day most hunters have tagged out or packed it in.
From Wednesday on you you will see very few hunters and al of a sudden a herd pops up from nowhere and there's not 10 other guys watching them.
Stop and glass often. The little buggers are short and can be just below line of sight in what looks like flat ground.

Scout for permission at least a month before season, take off the 5-10 days before the season and have plan A/B/C sorted out for opening morning.

Goats are territorial and they don’t travel too far from their home spot.

Antelope hair/capes are VERY fragile, do not grab onto the hair to turn or move the animal. Hair will pull out in clumps or snap in half. The hair is hollow and soaks up blood so rinse it with water or it can stain. Cool the cape and the meat quickly. Freeze only when air cooled first to prevent slipping.

LC

When you get one do NOT drag them by the horns like you would a deer they will come off (good for the taxidermist not so good for you). They like open country, not coulees or overly steep hills, They only eat sage brush is a load of Justine.
They are small and if you see "ivory" on the antler tips then it "may" be a good one. Bino's, Water, a flat shooting cartridge, no cannon needed. Look for the ladies and you will probably find a buck.
P.S. they are really good eating if they have not been run hard and do keep the hair off the meat it will taste better. Don't let their stence turn you off, they taste better then they smell. Cook like lamb hot and fast.
Good luck.

Preplan, obtain permission, scout, range time with selected hunting rig out to your comfortable distance, have plan A,B and C figured out.

Don’t forget to stop by and say thank you to the landowners.

Enjoy the complete hunt not just if you get one or not.

One of my favourite hunts I've ever been on, Im sure you will enjoy the heck out of it. I highly recommend taking a few days before season opens to scout around and look for a few bucks, take a good spotter, rangefinder and decoy. I was surprised how useful the decoy turned out to be. Best of luck to you!

Decoys during a firearm season aren’t a great idea in my opinion, you never know who has a 1500 yard whiz bang and wants to try it out. Archery is a different story.

LC

I have been drawn for trophy antelope in Alberta 4 times since 1990 and been successful every time, twice I had a partner with me that was also drawn and we both tagged out the first day, the other 2 times I went it alone, I really hope I live long enough to get another tag and am still in good enough shape to walk them up, I'll be 80 by then.

For me a couple days scouting just before the season opened was the key, find your target buck and put him to bed, antelope won't move at night unless they are disturbed, be back the next morning well before sunup and have your stalk planned. I can reaffirm in rifle season I would leave the decoy at home, practice out to 400 yards or so with the rifle you are going to use and be confident with it, a range finder is a must as are good optics, out of the 4 I have taken the farthest shot was 337 yards.

The best advise I can give you is to be prepared and enjoy every aspect of the hunt, it takes a long time to get a tag, the season is short so don't waste a minute of it.

Good luck

If You can find a big buck on private land where the farmer only lets a couple guys on or even better only you it will be a much more enjoyable hunt...Make a scouting/permission trip the first week of September and be the early bird to the worm.

You need to send an email request to hunt on some land down in the SE end of the province, and you'll need to drive to the farmers residence to get written permission every where else. Sometimes we'd see game, look up the landowner, drive 10-20 miles to their place to get written permission, they'd write a note so the CO would know you have requested properly, then you'd drive back to the spot and they'd be on the next farm over.

Spend at least a day driving lots, and getting lots of permission.

They can spot you from a long ways away, and they'll be gone as soon as they see the dust from your truck stop when you pull over. Hiking over rolling hills can pay off despite the distance between spotting them on gravel roads.

Bring a cooler with ice. Take pictures!

THIS

Having only hunted trophy once and tagging out opening day, I have limited experience to offer. We scouted a few weeks before and filled in the voids we had with permission. Learning to field judge is key. I wished I was better at it. Depending on your zone, there may not be a great population of big ones and you have to weigh your time vs opportunity. Carry a shovel, a big container of water if conditions are dry.

A good spotter with a pair of window mounts with quick detach plates makes the "STOP, I SEE ONE" rodeo a little easier. I'd also recommend a taller bipod. The vegitation is taller than it looks. A game bag in your back pocket or a DOE decoy work wonders (but be aware of the risks). MY BIL got his to respond to a decoy that we flashed for a minute. Stopped him and he did a 90 in our direction.

Freeze Ice in blocks, water bottles or old pop bottles to make it last longer. Don't let anyone talk you out of any meat. It's by far the preferred big game meat in my house, especially in curry.

I guess that would depend on what kind of decoy a guy gets. I'm generally not a fan of any decoy for Big Game, however on this particular hunt it proved to be useful.

Bring as much patience as possible. Lots of guys are out there to ruin your day, expect it and try to enjoy it. Rules are broken in every possible way for antelope season by what seems to be the majority.

My recomendations;
- go early
- plan to stay for a while. the first day or two will be busy with people, then the hunting gets fun and you can spend time doing what you want. Although the antelope get real educated, real quick.
- learn to range and shoot as far as you can comfortably. Or learn to crawl.
- careful for snakes and cactus. Snakes are usually denned up but can be out on a nice day.
- try to learn what a nice antelope looks like, but who cares. Pick one you like and take it.
- antelope move fast and often, especially in rifle season. Sometimes sitting still and picking the right travel path is the most successful option. if you try to chase them, they normally circle back anyways.

all great advice... one thing i have done with a full-sized truck bed is bring the biggest step ladder that we could use in the bed ... as high point advantage is key ... it makes a difference...try it ... get good glass ... plus i have not seen an antelope harvested yet whose horns did not shrink after they hit the ground

Well guys thats exactly the type of info I was hoping for. Thanks to everyone that took the time to respond, I appreciate it.

I'm extremely lucky in that a very good friend and his wife both grew up in the area we intend to hunt and both of their families still run fairly large scale farming operations so permission and access is awesome. Honestly more land than a person could cover in 5 days.

My buddies brothers and BIL,s are all avid hunters so scouting will be happening even when we are not there which is nice. I think I'll plan a trip out a couple weeks prior to the season to have a look around and then plan to be there 2-3 days before opening day.

I guess my biggest hurdle is going to be convincing the wife that a new spotting scope is on the list. Better to ask forgiveness then permission I guess.

I haven't decided on whether I would shoulder mount one if successful or not but considering this is probably my only opportunity it probably should be done. Any tips on caping? Sounds like the hide can be difficult to deal with from some of the responses.

Thanks for all the replies and info so far

Hilgy

If you only need the spotting scope for this hunt I wouldn’t bother buying one. I would just borrow one.

Best of luck and please post up the hunt too!


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Find one ya like, shoot him first day. Don’t know what it is about antelope but people get stupid the later the season goes on. What you may see may make you never want to hunt antelope again

I've hunted antelope twice, didn't spend a minute scouting either time.

First trip I was guided by a local resident, who had access on all the land as far as you could see.

Right off the hop, other hunters stirred up the antelope, so they were out in the big spaces real early and tough to get close to.
One day we saw a huge herd headed to a waterhole, way out, a mile across this huge valley.

Buddy dropped me off and I ran all the way across there (I had cover most of the way from a strip of trees), then belly crawled the last bit.
I knew a big buck was in the herd and was hoping for a crack at him, but as luck would have it, the big buck lagged.

The leaders in the group watered, then were filtering across the waterhole, right to where my scent was drifting.
So I decided to take a medium size (15") buck, (100 yard shot) and that was my first hunt.

Second time, I went to a huge grazing lease. Slept in the cab of my truck.
Morning the hunt opened, pickups were driving passed my truck and heading on across the prairie.

I just grabbed my gear and headed off on foot into a huge valley.

I just sat there watching the land. A few hours later a huge herd, with a really nice buck came from the north, pushed by other hunters. So they were coming right to me.
I saw a dry creek bed in the bottom and ran down there, then watched for them to come.

They came though like 40 yards from me.

I dropped a near book antelope.

So all those pickups that drove by me, did me a favor by making a simple choice as to where to hunt.

Caping
 

Be careful when caping and carrying back to your truck. The hair is brittle and pulls or snaps easily. Don't take the entire cape off the skull. Let your taxidermist do that. Get it to them as quickly as you can and keep the cape cool during transport. Wipe any blood off carefully as soon as you can.

Whiz Bang bahahahahahahahahaha.
Not lying tho.

Every time I shoot an antelope a small heard would come and check me out while i was gutting it . They are not hard to find . they will find you sometimes
They don't like bushy areas or very flat areas .
They like open areas with long rolling hills so they can hide in them and have a scott on top of the hill watching over them . They also like running beside your truck when chased and for some reason they have to cross the bath you are on Also when a heard comes to a fence line they will go under it one by one at only one spot . Many people will wait till their buck goes under then takes the shot.
Never walk straight to them or they will run . Walk along them and take your best shot.

Rifle season is a 3 ring circus, be careful as it is crazy w/ hunters.