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My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

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My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Tigger » 10 24, 2017 •  [Post 1]

and what a hunt it was! After the first half day, we were a little disappointed in the number of antelope we were seeing on public land. Like we hadn't yet seen any antelope on public land. Zero. We did have a tip though for the next day. Day 2 started with us overlooking a valley on a moderate sized piece of public land and sure enough, there were 4 does down there! As we were trying to grow horns on the does, my daughter whispers to me, "DAD!!". I look over and to our right and a very small buck and doe had just come out of this teeny little drainage. they were standing 40 yards from us trying to figure out why there were two strange beings on their prairie. We weren't really very ready and had to remove scope covers and put one in the pipe. Then spin around and put the bipod down. By now, they were behind us 150 yards. She wanted to know if she should shoot one, and I said, "based on how hard it is to find a goat on public land, if you want to shoot an antelope, I would shoot one". She cannot shoot the bigger of the two as my truck is right behind it! BOOM! The one on the right staggers a few steps and falls. Just like that, she has her first antelope! Great shot for a 13 year old who has limited experience with rifles.

Day 3 found us looking over the same valley with nothing but a couple of does at 1,000 yards. What to do? Make something happen I guess. To make a long story short, we asked permission from a rancher and somehow were granted it. We made a great stalk (full of cactus needles, 100-yard belly crawls, disappearing bucks, wind, wind and more wind and then finally success for me. I shot this buck because of his awesome curls. He scored 72 2/8 which I consider to be huge for my first antelope hunt!

It was a special hunt with just my daughter and I. I really encourage those of you with kids to bring them on a western hunt. You only control their lives for so long and then you will wonder what you were doing that was so important that you couldn't take your kids hunting.
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby BrentLaBere » 10 24, 2017 •  [Post 2]

Congratulations to you and your daughter! What a fun hunt.
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 10 24, 2017 •  [Post 3]

How awesome is that. Congrats to you and your hunting partner!
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Roosiebull » 10 25, 2017 •  [Post 4]

Awesome hunt!

I am jealous, that is some amazing eats there!
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Swede » 10 25, 2017 •  [Post 5]

Congratulations to both of you. BTW, do you like eating antelope?
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Tigger » 10 25, 2017 •  [Post 6]

Only have had the tenderloins so far and they were awesome. Very mild.
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Swede » 10 25, 2017 •  [Post 7]

Some people like antelope and others want nothing to do with it. I have had some I thought was good, but have had some that I didn't like at all. If you got some you would describe as mild, you are a winner. I consider that a real bonus.
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Roosiebull » 10 25, 2017 •  [Post 8]

Tigger wrote:Only have had the tenderloins so far and they were awesome. Very mild.

I have had it a few times, it is my favorite game meat....love that stuff, I would trade all of my elk for well taken care of pronghorn meat.
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Tigger » 10 26, 2017 •  [Post 9]

I think there are 2 very important parts to making sure your antelope meat is good.

1. You have to get that hide off and meat cooled right away! In my opinion, the meat should not leave the kill site with the hide on. I did the gutless method on both and it was easy. If you can't make that much effort, you should be rewarded with bad meat.

2. They spend time in sagebrush. Their hair falls out really easy. Spreading sagebrush-smelling hair all over the meat means...sagebrush tasting meat. Not rocket science, but it is harder in reality than it is in theory. Have a plan for dealing with hair on your meat and you will be happy in the end.
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Roosiebull » 10 26, 2017 •  [Post 10]

I have heard that over and over, get the hide off and meat cooling ASAP. the hair makes sense too...though I don't know I would mind a little sage flavor as much as actual hair in burger or something.

the first time I ate it, it was from a big P&Y buck, and I thawed out the steaks, one steak had a big ridge of fat running through the middle, a big no no with deer or elk. I decided I would eat that one and give my wife the one with no fat.

I cooked them up and was really blown away, even with the fat (which was no longer really visible) it was really mild, and really good! texture like deer, or young bull elk, and a really pleasant but subtle flavor.

I am going to try to make it over to Wyoming to go hunt with my buddy next year, target will be antelope....ate my first mule deer last week, and that is excellent too.
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Backyard » 10 27, 2017 •  [Post 11]

Way cool Tigger! Congrats to the young lady. That should keep her hooked!
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Lefty » 10 30, 2017 •  [Post 12]

Congratulations to both of you!!

We use to do a number of Wyoming doe tag hunts, , all over the counter at that time. The most family fun hunts we had.
My daughter drew Idaho one year, we spent 7 days of hunting on very big buck. I messed her up on an excellent 25 yard shot in a blinding snow storm.
Just plain good time with my daughters.



Roosiebull wrote:
Tigger wrote:Only have had the tenderloins so far and they were awesome. Very mild.

I have had it a few times, it is my favorite game meat....love that stuff, I would trade all of my elk for well taken care of pronghorn meat.

In our family antelope is by far the most preferred meat
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Washington Wapiti » 11 22, 2017 •  [Post 13]

Those are two great looking speed goats Tigger! One of the things I really miss about living in Utah, is seeing pronghorn nearly every day. Kudos on an impressive stalk too, and doing it the "hard way" on those open country critters. They love those flat-ish areas, with 5 miles of visibility in every direction lol.

I've only had the meat once, and that was at The Burnside in Portland. I thought it was a bit gamey, but it's probably a different eating experience when you've taken it from the field to the table yourself.
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Washington Wapiti » 11 22, 2017 •  [Post 14]

Lefty wrote:Congratulations to both of you!!

We use to do a number of Wyoming doe tag hunts, , all over the counter at that time. The most family fun hunts we had.
My daughter drew Idaho one year, we spent 7 days of hunting on very big buck. I messed her up on an excellent 25 yard shot in a blinding snow storm.
Just plain good time with my daughters.



Roosiebull wrote:
Tigger wrote:Only have had the tenderloins so far and they were awesome. Very mild.

I have had it a few times, it is my favorite game meat....love that stuff, I would trade all of my elk for well taken care of pronghorn meat.

In our family antelope is by far the most preferred meat



Last time I looked into WY doe tags, they were $30 or $40 bucks for non-res. I was shocked at such a great price. That was in 2011. Still about the same?
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Re: My daughter and I went antelope hunting....

Postby Tigger » 11 22, 2017 •  [Post 15]

we both had anylope tags. Dunno on doe only.

It was a special trip and as time goes by, it seems more so all the time! What fond memories!
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