Cyber Scouting

Joined
Oct 16, 2017
Messages
717
Location
Upper Michigan
When you're cyber scouting to pick a unit, what are you looking for as far as topography? It seems like the land needs to be open, but how hilly and steep is too steep? Is there anything in particular you like to see on google earth or onx? Whitetails I like to see marsh that transitions to a food source in a perfect world. Is there a perfect world of the Antelope world?

Thanks
 

Bulldawg

WKR
Joined
Aug 8, 2014
Messages
928
Location
Minnesota
When you're cyber scouting to pick a unit, what are you looking for as far as topography? It seems like the land needs to be open, but how hilly and steep is too steep? Is there anything in particular you like to see on google earth or onx? Whitetails I like to see marsh that transitions to a food source in a perfect world. Is there a perfect world of the Antelope world?

Thanks

Public land, that’s the only thing that really matters. Water is important but they will travel a long ways to get it. I know there is more reason to what they do, but they just wander around it seems a lot of times. They don’t bed in cover, they have patterns but then they’ll be super sporadic as well.


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OP
C
Joined
Oct 16, 2017
Messages
717
Location
Upper Michigan
Public land, that’s the only thing that really matters. Water is important but they will travel a long ways to get it. I know there is more reason to what they do, but they just wander around it seems a lot of times. They don’t bed in cover, they have patterns but then they’ll be super sporadic as well.


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Am I making it harder than it needs to be then? Is it as simple as find enough public to be satisfied and go hunt it? I'm not too concerned about getting a big buck, I really just wanna go somewhere I've never been and hunt something I've never hunted with a reasonable chance of bringing back some meat and horns.

Thanks
 

Fishforfun

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 1, 2016
Messages
116
I have found terrain to be very important to finding just a few here and there to finding large numbers. When I hunted WY it was obvious what was mike deer country and what was antelope country. Sure they intermingled but one type of terrain definitely attracted one over the other. Just my experience.
 

Rich M

WKR
Joined
Jun 14, 2017
Messages
5,102
Location
Orlando
It is nothing like whitetails - antelope live in wide open spaces, will see you move a finger at 300 yards. It is uncanny.

Access to public land is key - the more access the better. Figure out where you can draw with your preference points, then check with the local biologist or game warden (usually real nice folks) and see if there is a huntable number of animals on the public units you have access to. Then run with it. When I went, I asked the guy if he thought I would be able to get one - wasn't looking for a trophy and had a monster at 25 (yes twenty five) yards on opening morning - shot a yearling out of that group.

Show up early to the party and drive the unit, see where they are - don't even slow down for the ones on private property, you should see plenty. After you do the drive, then go and walk into the areas where you can't drive or see from the road - see where the critters are.

If you see them there today, good chance they will be there tomorrow. They need water and food daily and shoudl have some kind of pattern.

I hunted one of the "poorer" units in WY and had multiple shot opps with little to no pressure from other hunters. In that unit, there was one big parcel most DIY guys were focused on. Worked out nice - never did it before that, thinking about going back and debating on whether or not to try a "better access" unit.
 
OP
C
Joined
Oct 16, 2017
Messages
717
Location
Upper Michigan
I have found terrain to be very important to finding just a few here and there to finding large numbers. When I hunted WY it was obvious what was mike deer country and what was antelope country. Sure they intermingled but one type of terrain definitely attracted one over the other. Just my experience.
What would you say is mule deer country; semi wooded, open with cover? How much does topography play a part?
 

Fishforfun

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 1, 2016
Messages
116
What would you say is mule deer country; semi wooded, open with cover? How much does topography play a part?

Depends on the state but for central WY topography was key. You can find ravines and steeper hills that the mule deer liked to hang out in and the antelope did not. Their best sense is vision. They need so see as far as possible and then use their speed to evade. To do that, the terrain must match those attributes.
 

Bulldawg

WKR
Joined
Aug 8, 2014
Messages
928
Location
Minnesota
Yes I think you are lol.

The biggest thing I guess is to make sure that the public land in the unit isn’t timbered. People always say to get out and walk and cover ground that way, I never had good luck with that, always felt like I was wasting time, the places that I hunted we do a lot of driving because the pieces are spread out. I probably have driven past antelope that were just on the other side of a hill I didn’t want to walk over, but if I did that to al the hills we wouldn’t have filled all the tags that we have.


Am I making it harder than it needs to be then? Is it as simple as find enough public to be satisfied and go hunt it? I'm not too concerned about getting a big buck, I really just wanna go somewhere I've never been and hunt something I've never hunted with a reasonable chance of bringing back some meat and horns.

Thanks




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OP
C
Joined
Oct 16, 2017
Messages
717
Location
Upper Michigan
Yes I think you are lol.

The biggest thing I guess is to make sure that the public land in the unit isn’t timbered. People always say to get out and walk and cover ground that way, I never had good luck with that, always felt like I was wasting time, the places that I hunted we do a lot of driving because the pieces are spread out. I probably have driven past antelope that were just on the other side of a hill I didn’t want to walk over, but if I did that to al the hills we wouldn’t have filled all the tags that we have.







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Lol that's how I operate. Thanks for the info. It looks like as a nonres you'd have to cover alot of ground driving to weed out the junk spots.
 

Jimss

WKR
Joined
Mar 6, 2015
Messages
2,074
A lot can change from 1 state to the next....1 unit to the next.....and from 1 time of year to another.

I never thought antelope liked trees until I heard about antelope in Western N Mexico that hang out in PJ-like , arid tree country. NM is pretty much an anomaly. I've seen a few antelope here in Colo at around 10,000' elevation...but then again that's not common. Antelope generally like open prairie country.

In most arid states....look for water in relatively open country and you should find antelope. Once hunting season opens antelope tend to move away from roads. Where you find them the first couple days may be void of antelope after season opens....especially units with lots of roads and hunting pressure. As mentioned above, you likely won't have a place to hunt unless you have permission to hunt private land or there is a chunk of public land in a unit. If a unit is mostly private land and only has a few patches of public....guess where hunting pressure will be?

Another consideration is timing of hunting season. I know several units in Central Wyo where there are antelope all summer and early fall. After the first big snowstorm there may be 0 antelope present for miles and miles. Those antelope have to go somewhere....hopefully they remain in the unit you drew!

I guess, what I'm trying to say is antelope country isn't always cut and dry! It definitely helps having experience in the particular unit you will be hunting!
 
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