Falling Antelope

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Barnacle Brad

New member
Watched a guy - or guys, drop two goats this afternoon. Pretty good shootin I guess. One fell dead and then I heard the report, then another one tipped over and no report was heard!

I am going back to see about a buck that was still alive when I left. Was getting ready to put a stalk on and realized my orange was at home. Early seasons are great for making a guy get all his gear ready. Even if it takes a trip or two...hahahahaaa...
 
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Barnacle Brad

New member
We had a great opening day...4 hours, two goats.
 

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tahunua001

New member
those are some nice goats... man I miss antelope meat. tough as heck but with a little bit of tenderizing and country fried just right....yum.
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
those are some nice goats... man I miss antelope meat. tough as heck but with a little bit of tenderizing and country fried just right....yum.
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I've never had a piece of antelope meat that was naturally tough.

I have, however, had plenty of people (myself included) cook it too hot and too fast, which causes it to toughen up and dry out.

But, cook it low and slow.... it's tender and juicy.
One of my wife's favorite ways for me to cook antelope is essentially a butter 'poach'. The butter is heated to just before it starts trying to separate and bubble, and then that temperature is held as little medallions or fillets of goat are nestled in the pan. When the blood in the pan coagulates and holds together (but hasn't darkened), the meat is well-done. If the blood starts to darken or crisp on the edges of the globs, the meat is overcooked and will be tough and dry.
 
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Barnacle Brad

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Thanks for the nice comments. I have to agree that we have not had any issues with tough meat even from the bucks. That said, we make a lot of burger out of them. Mostly cuz we need a lot of burger. There are many local folks who look down their noses at you if you mention eating antelope, but all I can tell them is that the meat is as delicious as any other venison. I doubt they could pick an antelope steak from deer if I cooked it for them, and if they had a bad experience, to look at the meat cutter or handling of the game. It doesnt take too much to screw up meat, especially when hunting in 80-90 deg weather.
 
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tahunua001

New member
hmm, well when I lived in antelope country we did backstrap steaks which were always pretenderized, a few round roasts which weren't tough but were also always slow cooked and the rest was always burger, not much else you can do since they are so small. still miss the taste. I prefer it to elk, now if someone could engineer an elk that tastes like antelope I'd nominate them for the nobel prize!
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
I prefer it to elk, now if someone could engineer an elk that tastes like antelope I'd nominate them for the nobel prize!
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Absolutely.
I like Elk, but if you could breed a large cervid that tasted like speedgoat... I'd be all over it.
 
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Barnacle Brad

New member
Gear:

Shooting stix - hand made
Bushnell 8x42 field glasses with Crooked Ridge harness
K98 sporterized Mauser in 25-06
Sightron SII 3-9x40 scope
Hornady Interlock 100gr sp over 42gr Varget

Setup:

We spotted two bucks out near some utility poles from a good ways off. We closed the distance by half or so and observed one buck heading back towards the highway and safety. We lost sight of the other buck and so made the decision to go at the one we were watching. He was hung up on a fence line and from past experience expected he would reverse direction if pushed and head back for the BLM.

Execution:

I got out of the truck behind a rise that obscured my movement, found cover in low ditch with some large sagebrush in it, and deployed my shooting stix. My partner eased the truck around the corner and toward the buck as I kept watch for him to move. Finally I spotted him much further away than I expected and moving away from my position. I lined up a shot on his neck and squeezed one off, but missed (later discovered a nick in his hide below his chin). The shot turned him though and back toward me he came. He was not spooked though and I racked another round in. I knew I had time, so I looked for my empty case, then back at the buck, and back and forth a couple times til I figured I better forget about the casing and put a round through the now broad side buck. I put one behind his shoulder and watched him put on a nice forty yard burst before piling up in a cloud of dust. I think the range was inside 125yds. He fell within 3-400 yds from where my buck from last year fell.

The other buck was sheer luck! We failed to turn on a two track that would have run to the east. We traveled west instead looking for a turn around, then started back to the road we were wanting. Coming down the hill, Tysin spotted a buck heading for the road to our left. I told him to kill it and as he got the truck stopped and out the door, I was shoving the gun to him. He leveled up and shot dropping the buck with a neck shot, just on the edge of the road 30yds ahead of us. An hour had elapsed since we loaded my buck up. I have had worse days fishin....;)
 
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