Fishforfun
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2016
- Messages
- 116
I have to agree to disagree with most of the posts on here. It's all good advice for the most part. I've guided hundreds of antelope and harvested dozens myself. Antelope is my favorite game animal as well but I've had good and I've had bad. I'm of the opinion that the diet of the antelope along with the manner and timeliness of death are the biggest contributors to taste. Antelope have very long hollow hair. It's been my experience that hanging them in a shaded area with the hide on for up to 3 days produces the best meat. They actually cool very fast this way and it allows the meat to age some without the risk of flies laying larve on the meat. I've had antelope from the field to the freezer (iced coolers) in very short amounts of time and I've still had good and bad (gamey) meat. It's more of a rarity to have bad ones but it does happen. I've also noticed that they seem to be more gamey when they're harvested closer to the rut. Same for both does and bucks. I think the hormones have something to do with that as I've rarely ever had a bad archery antelope. The rare exceptions have been when one didn't die right away because of a marginal hit. Laying them in the truck or on any surface for any longer than a half hour is a BIG NO-NO. That's a sure way to spoil the meat. They must be hung or put on ice as soon as possible. Putting them on ice in a cooler as other suggested is the best way to assure you have good meat but I also believe that there are circumstances mentioned above that could lead to more gamey meat.
I always plan on boning the in the field and getting them on ice if I can't hang them. I take a hitch mounted hoist to hang them from the bumper of my camper if they're close to a place I can load them into the truck whole.
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So you're good with hanging an antelope in the shade in WY in Aug?