Antelope Tips and Thoughts
This past week Matt and Abby got the chance to go out to Wyoming on an antelope hunt. Never antelope hunting before, Matt took this summer to do as much research as possible on the do’s and don'ts of antelope hunting.
Some tools and resources that Matt used were: GOHUNT, HUNSTAND, YouTube, and asking family/friends.
GOHUNT and Huntstand allowed us to check out the terrain and get a good grasp on where we’d be hunting and to find a campsite to stay as well.
YouTube has great resources from packing lists, glassing, stalking tips, etc.. Would definitely recommend it. Finally family and friends were a huge help in our understanding of the land and tips on how to hunt.
What’s hard about antelope hunting?
Antelope can see you from a mile away. The hard part is getting close without being seen. Yet, if you can do that, you have to get drawn back and ranged without being seen as well. Using sage grass and hills are the best tips I can give you. Likewise, if you can find a lone buck or a bachelor group those help your odds as well. Going after a large group of antelope can set you back as that can put you at a disadvantage with having a higher chance of one seeing you.
It is a ton of crawling, Matt wore his Sitka Mountain Pants with removable knee pads. These help a ton with the pokey grass and weeds.
What didn’t work for them?
Decoys. Maybe it was how we were using them, but Matt didn’t seem to have as good of luck with decoys. Additionally, it can be really windy so with a bow decoy, it can make it difficult to shoot your bow or to crawl with.
Sitting over water. It’s tough. It’s hot. And it sucks. If you have a guide who has everything prepped I am sure sitting over water isn’t bad, but when you are doing public land I think stalking is your best bet.
Lastly, everyone says they don’t seem to care about the wind. That’s partially true. They don’t care about the wind until you are about 150 yards away. They get a whiff when you are closing in, then they run.
Matt’s Antelope
Matt was able to sneak up to his antelope and get a shot at 20 yards. We snuck around the hill, belly crawled about 100 yards, turned to our left and the 3 bucks were bedded down 20-30 yards away. Matt took his antelope with his Hoyt VTM and G5 Megameat Broadheads.
Check the video out here of Matt talking about his hunt!
Super blessed we were able to squeeze this hunt in. Hopefully in the future we can make this happen again!