Archery Antelope

[SouthPaw3]

Hi I’m new to Rokslide but have already gotten a lot of good information from the little time I’ve been on. I’m from Michigan and looking at doing a spot and stalk archery antelope hunt in Montana next year and am looking for any tips or tactics that have worked well for anyone in the past. Also if you’d like to share any recommendations for units that’d be great. Thank you

 

[WCB]

Welcome...I'd suggest reading through all the Antelope threads on here then come back with specifics. Archery goat techniques have been discussed extensively here. As far as MT....Eastern.

 

[SwampDonkey8]

You'll find great info on here but a few tips off my head. Perfect your longer range shooting. They are hard to stalk so if you have a little longer range that helps. Bring a decoy even if its an elk or deer. Good luck

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[Sled]

They don't see well up close but great far away. I use a shoot thru style decoy and find it effective if I move like an animal. They can't jump but are fast and agile. If you shoot at an aware pronghorn it'll be gone before your arrow gets there. 80 yards is a reasonable shot in my experience from spot and stalk. Sitting water is boring but works if your blind is good and has been there a while.

i'll edit to say i didn't mean they are physically incapable of jumping. they are poor jumpers and often become hung up on what they try to jump.

 

[ganngus]

At least 95% of big antelope are going to be out in the open. Unless your lucky enough to have one next to brush line or with an extreme piece of topography, it’s going to be hard to get on top of them. As such, Practice your long range shooting. I practice at 120yds for antelope.

Also, I have a speed arrow build I use for them that is different than my big game arrow builds. I have two of the same sliding pins that I keep in my bow case, one set up for my heavy arrow build and one for my fast.

 

[IdahoHntr]

I typically archery hunt antelope in Idaho, but my best advice is hunt country that you can actually stalk in. An area might be loaded with antelope, but if there isn't a break in the country for miles, it's going to be really tough to get on them with a bow. I typically will find areas that may have less overall antelope, but have better terrain features so that almost every antelope I see I can put a stalk on.

 

[Cornhusker]

One piece of advice is don't shoot 120 yards at an antelope, too much can happen in arrow flight time. They don't move much at dark I've snuck in on antelope in the early morning darkness that I put to bed the night before and waited for light and several times killed bucks.

 

[timbrhuntr]

I would add that going towards the third week of September when they are more in the rut might help with the decoy and also when someone says they can't jump don't believe it. I stalked a nice buck across a large field just staying out of range when he went into a dead end fenced corner because he can't jump I though I got him now. Until he jumped the fence with ease. I have since seen a whole heard of them run and jump a number of fences in a row . Also seen a buck chase a number of rivals out of a small pasture and everyone had to jump a fence to enter the pasture and then out as he ran them off.

 

[Sled]

I would add that going towards the third week of September when they are more in the rut might help with the decoy and also when someone says they can't jump don't believe it. I stalked a nice buck across a large field just staying out of range when he went into a dead end fenced corner because he can't jump I though I got him now. Until he jumped the fence with ease. I have since seen a whole heard of them run and jump a number of fences in a row . Also seen a buck chase a number of rivals out of a small pasture and everyone had to jump a fence to enter the pasture and then out as he ran them off.

have you noticed how low the fences are for antelope compared to deer? have you also noticed how many antelope are dead in that fence after being hung from that low fence? the generally don't jump the string and are poor jumpers in general (more apt to run). they're kind of the woody harrelson of the animal world. sure they can jump...they're just not any good at it.

 

[timbrhuntr]

I can't say I'm an expert on fence heights or pronghorn for that matter. I have just noticed that a lot of people say that pronghorn can't jump. I believed this until I began hunting them about 5 years ago and found they can jump fences just fine. I have only ever seen one hung up in a fence. That was a young calf that tried to follow its mother over a fence and got stuck. It eventually broke free and the mother jumped that fence 4 times as the calf balled and ran along it to the cattle guard and back. It couldn't get under the fence as it had a checked pattern instead of one strand of wire. It finally found a hole in the fence big enough to get through. Also the fences I see seem to be the same for deer and all other animals where I travel heightwise.

 

[Sled]

deer get hung up on 6' fences on occasion. pronghorn are hung up on fences less than 4' tall sometimes. our hwy animal fences are 8' tall typically. in wyoming they are usually around 4' and more geared toward cattle.

fwiw, when a whitetail hunter says the animal jumped the string they're usually referring to the animal loading up to bound away. that results in a miss over the back of the animal. antelope don't seem to load up that way and are still gone in a flash.

not trying to be rude just not sure where you're from since you don't have a location listed under your avatar.

 

[manitou1]

I think the proper terminology is: Pronghorn PREFER not to jump, especially fences. I have seen them do it many times, but it usually isn't as graceful as a whitetail clearing a fence! They much prefer to go under vs over.

 

[Overdrive]

One thing I've learned about Antelope over the years of hunting in Colorado and Wyoming is that The Bucks are very territorial and hang in the same area's Pre rut thru the rut. I'll see them in the same spots morning and night day after day, that's what makes them easier to kill during rifle seasons. I was just up putting a trail cam on some NF land for my upcoming Archery OTC here in Colorado and saw the same buck bedded in the same spot that I saw him back on July 2. There was another nice buck with him this time and I watched them as they worked up the sage mountain towards some trees to bed. This has me excited as the season opens on August 15th and I now have a pretty good game plan on how to get a chance at either one of these bucks which I'd be happy with especially with my bow.