With application season pretty much behind us, leftovers becoming available and hunting season just around the corner, most of us have our plans pretty well fleshed out. However, many of you may still be contemplating the leftover lists, looking for an opportunity to hunt.
I’ll mostly talk about the Wyoming and Colorado leftovers here, but the thought processes should apply elsewhere.
More often than not there’s a reason tags go unclaimed in the draw, and it’s not always because it’s a bad tag to have. But you need to do your research BEFORE you buy a tag. It all boils down to supply and demand, but we need to look into both variables to see why the tag has leftovers, and whether or not it’s worth having.
On the supply side, units with high game populations frequently issue a lot of tags. So just because the tags are available, it does not mean no one wants them. It’s just that there’s a tremendous number available. Here in Colorado, a unit with one of the highest deer densities and excellent trophy potential is available as leftovers most years. Areas with population problems often make it to leftovers. Colorado’s top elk density unit has tags available in leftovers for nearly every season. Areas that are just in a population maintenance mode, are rarely as good for a meat hunt as those whose populations are above objectives.
Sometimes there will be areas that traditionally to draw out, with a fairly steady number of applicants. But if the managing game department suddenly increases the tags, the public may not have been prepared and the unit will go undersubscribed. Check out the draw stats for both this year and last year. Was there an increase in the number of permits? That might indicate a growing population for you to take advantage of.
One of the big factors affecting demand would include public access. This is easy enough to figure out with a simple atlas or map showing public land ownership and the major county roads. The antelope tags I buy in Wyoming every year are always available as leftovers, but Wyoming Game and Fish discourages people from purchasing tags for that unit with their asterisk, meaning public access is poor. It may not be full of contiguous blocks of public land, but there’s enough, especially when you include Wyoming’s Walk In Access and Hunter Management Areas. And don’t overlook checkerboarded areas for deer and antelope hunting. My favorite parcel for antelope is just a single 640 acre (1 sq mile) section of BLM land. It always has a large herd of antelope on it after 10 am.
Wilderness and difficult terrain conspire to discourage many hunters. If you’ve purchased my full data sets, you’ll see that some of the best units are wilderness-heavy and/or incredibly steep, rugged country. In Wyoming, that’s a major issue for nonresidents, because you can’t hunt a designated wilderness without a guide, but it shouldn’t hold back a hardcore hunter in other states. Also, look closely to see what proportion of a unit is wilderness. Is there still enough country left to hunt outside of the wilderness area? Most hunters just don’t want to fool with backcountry camping. But if you’re willing to, you’ll open up tremendous possibilities for yourself. Road closures to popular areas also discourage some hunters who had traditionally hunted in a place they could drive to.
But, as often as not, a tag goes undersubscribed for good reason. Frequently the game numbers are way down, and even the locals are giving up on hunting the area. While most hunters don’t pour over the statistics, long term trends of poor success and infrequent game sightings go noticed eventually. Heavily pressured areas take a toll on those who are intolerant of “pumpkin patches”. Despite an areas popularity, few hunters dream about hunting elbow to elbow with other strangers. But tolerance to hunting pressure is relative. If you’re used to heavily hunted areas in your home state, what locals consider heavy pressure may not bother you at all.
Sometimes, it’s just the season that hunters don’t like. Here in Colorado, 2nd season deer tags and 4th season elk tags aren’t very popular; leaving some high quality tags available in places that you wouldn’t think would have leftovers. 3rd season is very popular for deer hunters, but low on most elk hunter’s priorities.
New hunts and new boundaries also create confusion or poor awareness amongst hunters. This year, with 3rd rifle season in Colorado being extended to a full nine days, you’d think more people would know about it. But many of the folks I’ve talked to had no idea. Also, keep your eye out for new late or early season opportunities that are outside of the traditional hunting seasons. Because game departments tweak their seasons and hunting opportunities each year, new hunts pop up without the knowledge of many long time hunters. In fact, I talked to an outfitter this year that had no idea that there was a new late elk season in his area. Many of those guys just don’t pay enough attention to the new regulations each year. Yes, they’ll know for next year, but having first crack at migratory herd in an area of heavy public land appeals to me, and there are leftovers of the tag I’m talking about.
Lastly, we usually have a few weeks between finding out what the leftover list looks like and the date the permits go on sale. So try to get a little scouting in if you can to verify that an area looks like it holds game and the public lands are accessible.
My point is that there are many factors that go into whether or not a permit is available as a leftover. Sometimes it’s a supply issue, other times it’s a demand issue. So make sure you do your due diligence when considering a leftover tag. Also, keep in mind that a limited permit isn’t always better than an unlimited one. But more often than not, we need to take advantage of leftover limited permits in order to maximize our hunting opportunities. They aren’t all marginal permits, some of them can be fairly desirable. Wyoming leftovers are on sale now, Colorado leftovers go on sale in person and over the phone August 10th. Good luck out there and do your homework.
Showing posts with label antelope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label antelope. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Gear Talk, Part 2: Antelope
In the introductory article on equipment pairing, I said I’d break down the articles by guns and loads, clothing and footwear, and camping equipment and specialized gear. But I think it makes more sense now to do it by species and habitats. I’m going to start off with antelope gear and the conditions under which they are normally hunted. If you’ve done your homework assignment from last week, hopefully you have an understanding of the terrain and vegetation in which you’ll likely be hunting. Terrain and vegetation are every bit as important considerations as the species being hunted when selecting or purchasing specialized gear.
As I mentioned in last week’s introduction, even antelope country varies, certainly not as much as deer or elk, but it’s important to understand the basic habitat features in your hunting area. I’m going to go over the major differences in each habitat and how your gear selection might be affected. The rangeland texts have 3 broad categories of range; deserts, prairies and grasslands, each of which have several subcategories. Of the deserts, you have Sonoran, Mojave, Chihuahuan, and Cold Desert (or Great Basin) deserts. Your prairies are generally categorized as tallgrass, mixed, shortgrass, Palouse and fescue. The grasslands are categorized as California, semidesert and mesquite-acacia woodlands. Each habitat is dominated by specific grass and brush species, some which can dictate your antelope gear and tactics. I’ll try to address these where the habitat difference may affect gear selection as we go.
The Antelope Gun:
I’m not going to get into archery equipment for antelope, other than to say you need to be prepared for longer shots. Archery equipment is also less fascinating to me, so I’ll focus on rifles, and throw in a little bit on muzzleloaders. When looking over your choices for what to take on a hunt, first know the legalities of the state you are hunting. Many states do not allow .22 caliber centerfires, even for antelope, most states have limitations on magazine capacities for semi autos, some states also have different minimum calibers for elk and larger game. We all know, or should know, shot placement trumps all talk of cartridge choice, action design, stainless vs blued or synthetics vs wood arguments. But I’m going to go through some scenarios and thought processes for elk, deer and antelope gun selections, including personal preferences, beliefs and feelings with the understanding that when I declare something better or more suited for the object at hand, it implies all other variables being equal.
As I mentioned before, not all antelope habitat is equal, and therefore some specialized guns are more suited to certain types of terrain. However, you should be prepared for windy country and long distance shot opportunities. The Interstate 80 region of Wyoming is the only gap in the Rocky Mountains, which acts to really focus winds more than anywhere else in the United States. And there’s a lot of antelope there. Antelope usually feel safest in areas with the least amount of cover so they can see danger coming. Antelope are also close to half the weight of deer and even more lightly built with a slightly smaller vital zone. This means that above all, you’ll want a rifle that allows you to be precise in your bullet placement. Magnums aren’t necessary, but because they flatten out the trajectory and higher velocity cartridges drift less in the wind (given equal weight and ballistic coefficient), they tend to be quite popular. Retained energy is of low priority when selecting a chambering for antelope, but it usually goes hand in hand with flat trajectories and minimal wind drift.
Other factors to consider when selecting or building an optimum antelope rifle includes stock style and rifle weight. Some specialized stocks, such as the newest generations of tactical stocks and many thumbhole stocks are designed to be shot from the prone position. A wide forend is also handy when resting the rifle over a pack, but awkward in shooting sticks. An oval forend is a good compromise over a round forend when it comes to using rests with a sporter style stock because they tend to roll less. I also recommend a longer length of pull for stocks you intend to shoot from prone. Your eye and forehead will be a little further from scope and less likely to be dinged in recoil, which is also a good reason to not go with too heavy of a cartridge.
One good thing about antelope hunting is the terrain is usually gentle enough that you won’t scratch up a beautiful gun. The stability of synthetics and laminates are nice for precision rifles, but properly sealed wood can be nearly as stable. So if you have a nicely stocked rifle, antelope hunting will give you the least amount of heartache. Rocky country can be hard on the gun, so use a tight sling when crawling to keep the gun off the ground (slung across your front). If it’s raining or snowing, the antelope will be difficult to find and you’re probably better off waiting until the storm passes. Therefore, blued steel is rarely a problem in antelope country either.
The most common and useful accessory in antelope country is the bipod. They are a wonderful aid in steady shooting from the prone position. The most stable versions will have you closest to the ground, but you are also limited by grass or shrub heights in some areas. When strategizing on your stalk, look for areas with bare ground, lower shrubs or small dips in the terrain to better utilize a short bipod. I find bipods that are designed to be used while sitting not particularly stable. Longer bipods are certainly better than an unsupported rifle, but a short bipod and shooting sticks seem a better combination. If you have a muzzle break on your rifle, be aware of the dust signature it will put off after you fire. If you place your shot well, it doesn’t matter if the antelope pinpoint your position, but the dust cloud may also obscure signs of a hit for you or your spotter. At a bare minimum place a handkerchief below the ports to minimize the dust.
When considering a bullet for antelope hunting, consider that the bullet needs to expand well at the reduced velocities that are a reality of long range shooting. A high ballistic coefficient is helpful to reduce drop and wind drift, but often requires stepping up in bullet weight, thereby negating the gains in BC. High ballistic coefficient bullets really shine at longer range than most are capable of shooting at, so study the ballistic charts to come up with a bullet that will shoot flat, but still expand. Few rifle bullets will expand reliably below 1800 fps, and even fewer below 1600 fps. Nosler Balllistic Tips and Hornady SSTs seem ideally suited as antelope bullets, provided impacts are kept below 3000 fps. Penetration is low on my list of concerns with an antelope bullet, as their chests are not much more than 12 inches wide and their bones are much lighter than deer’s.
Gun weight is of minor consideration in most antelope country. However, in terrain that is severely broken by breaks, coulees or badlands you may not want a very heavy rifle. Heavy rifles and heavy barrels are great for stable shooting, but a pain to lug around. Also pay attention to the amount of roads in your area. If there is contiguous public land 3 or 4 miles from a road, you’ll want to stay with a sporter weight rifle, something under 10 pounds.
For muzzleloaders, my top priority is a flat trajectory. In states that allow it, I’d consider a .45 caliber. If you’re stuck with a .50 caliber, drop bullet weight as much as possible in order to increase velocity and flatten trajectory to reduce your margin for error. Where scopes aren’t allowed, consider a combination of rear peep sights and front globe sights. The major disadvantage of globe sights, poor visibility in low light situations, is negated by the fact that antelope aren’t very active at dawn and dusk. A long sight radius is helpful in precise shot placement; so long barrels serve two functions here. They slightly increase velocity and increase sight radius, creating less margin for error in your shooting. Another way to increase your sight radius is to move your rear sight further back on the barrel. Most muzzleloaders are designed with a steep drop at heel for shooting from the offhand position. This will make proper sighting more difficult when shooting prone, so consider at least a leather cheek piece to raise your head on the stock to get better alignment with the sights.
Optics:
For rifle scopes on a specialized antelope rig, I like the higher magnifications. There’s little doubt that a 4x scope is sufficient for antelope hunting, but with a thick crosshair, it can be difficult to be precise with shot placement beyond 200 yards. If this gun is a dual purpose rifle and you want a smaller scope, go with a fine crosshair. A thick crosswire may appear to be the same thickness of an antelope’s leg at longer distances. Since you shouldn’t need to make a fast shot in low light on an antelope hunt, there’s no need for thick crosshairs. I’m not concerned about weight in antelope country, so 18-24 oz scopes don’t bother me. Large objectives aren’t necessary, but they often go hand in hand with high magnification. Turrets and bullet drop compensating reticles are also very handy, if you know how to use them.
In flat, open country, a rangefinder is extremely valuable. But the biggest drawback to most designs is the poor ranging of nonreflective targets (like antelope) at longer distances. Here’s where it pays to have the best you can afford. Beyond 300 yards trajectory matters and many of the cheaper laser rangefinders are worthless at those distances. If there are no large rocks in your area to get a good reading, investing in a higher quality rangefinder makes sense. Trying to get a reading on antelope, grass clumps and brush can be an exercise in futility.
Many people think a spotting scope is useful in antelope country, but unless you are good enough to trophy judge the difference between 13 or 14 inch long horns, or 70 versus 80 point B&C scores, leave it at home. Remember, antelope do not hide, so there is little need to try look under every sagebrush bush with a 60X lens.
Binoculars are useful if you are doe hunting. Does are obvious when they are standing next to a buck, but sometimes you’ll come up on a lone antelope and not have a reference for the black cheek patch and the ears may be obstructing smaller horns. 8, 10 or even 12X binoculars can be put to good use here. In hilly country with a good vantage point they are also useful for determining whether antelope spotted at long range are moving or lying down and helping to pick your visual cues for waypoints on a stalk. If there is any snow on the ground, antelope can sometimes be difficult to pick out when lying down.
Clothing and Footwear:
Here’s where the habitat really matters when antelope hunting. In some mixed grass prairies, you can get away with tennis shoes and shorts. In Great Basin sagebrush country, or with badlands, breaks or coulees, you’ll want something with better ankle support if you’re climbing in and out of minor drainages. While knee high snake boots aren’t normally necessary, they can give you a little piece of mind in early season hunts. If you’re hunting steep, rocky ground, get something closer to 8 or 9 inches high. In steep, rolling sandhills and sandsage, you’ll want high ankle support. Insulation really isn’t necessary in most antelope country and uninsulated boots will keep your feet cooler on longer hikes. Waterproofing isn’t necessary either, but I like it as I sometimes can’t quite clear a smaller creek. Typical upland bird hunting boots can be comfortable in the longer grass of the mixed grass prairie.
Regarding clothing, noisy clothes aren’t a big concern, but durability is when slithering around in the rocks and cactus. Knee and elbow pads are useful due to the 1 to 3 inch high prickly pear cactus that is so common in all but the mixed grass prairies and sandhills. If you aren’t planning on bringing elbow pads, a fleece or thick jacket and leather gloves may help ease the pain on some stalks. Scent proofing can’t hurt, but I wouldn’t purchase it just for an antelope hunt. Antelope do use their sense of smell at shorter ranges. I’ve underestimated their noses many times and have been frustrated by fickle winds when trying to get within 100 yards when guiding youth hunters. Sage-heavy camo patterns look odd in open prairies where the only thing resembling a shrub is a sharp yucca. Waterfowl camo blends well with most prairies, but not so much in the sagebrush deserts.
Packs and Camping Gear:
I frequently hear from people stating their desire or willingness to pack into some remote area to hunt antelope. That just isn’t necessary, and more than likely will be unproductive because you just can’t cover enough ground. Antelope are generally spotted and then stalked from a road. If they aren’t in the square mile you are presently in, you just drive on to the next piece of public land where they are visible or stalkable. Throughout most antelope country, the landownership pattern is too spotty for you to want to commit to one small area.
Due to the accessible nature of most antelope country, backpacking gear and horses are just a burden. Camper trailers and RVs can get you close to most of the country you might hunt. It’s unlikely you will experience a significant snowfall in early to mid October throughout most of the plains, so tire chains are probably superfluous.
A small backpack that you can use as a shooting rest is very convenient in antelope country. On rocky ground(typical in Cold Desert/Hot Desert/Great Basin or just overgrazed country), it is easier to get a steady rest over a pack than it is with a bipod. But if the grasses are over 6 inches high (anywhere outside of the deserts and shortgrass prairie habitats), it’s difficult to use a pack as a rest. You’ll rarely be out of sight of your truck for very long, so you don’t necessarily need a large pack that holds a lot of gear. A wheeled game hauler is a nice luxury but antelope are easy to drag with two guys. On longer stalks, it’s probably faster to just drag the antelope back with you rather than go back to the truck for the hauler. A portable game tripod and winch for skinning and butchering is a very useful addition to the camp gear. Cooling the meat off in warm weather and getting the meat into a cooler to keep it clean will make the meat much better for the table.
Other Specialized Gear:
I mentioned knee and elbow pads and snake boots in the clothing section and a rangefinder under the optics. But decoys and blinds are other pieces of gear to consider for the archer. Decoys should not be used during rifle season. Long sits in a blind are accepted by archers, but rifle hunters will benefit from being more mobile. Crow calls and doe bleats are often used by bow hunters to get a buck to stand still for a shot, but similar noises can be made with your mouth. A map and GPS with UTM grid coordinates is another useful tool. BLM lands are often illegally posted as private lands, but more often there is no sign at all. So it’s important to know exactly where you are. There will not always be a fence to help you differentiate between public and private lands, and sometimes a fence separating public land pastures will confuse you if you aren’t well equipped with maps.
Like most men, I find gear planning an integral part of hunt planning. Can you hunt antelope without any of the fun stuff mentioned above? You bet. Having general purpose gear allows you to handle a lot of hunting situations to some degree of adequacy. But if you’re looking for an excuse to purchase something new or specialized, or don’t know which categories of your gear cache could use the most updating; hopefully this article was of some use to you.
I’ll follow up with elk and antelope gear pairing articles in the following weeks.
As I mentioned in last week’s introduction, even antelope country varies, certainly not as much as deer or elk, but it’s important to understand the basic habitat features in your hunting area. I’m going to go over the major differences in each habitat and how your gear selection might be affected. The rangeland texts have 3 broad categories of range; deserts, prairies and grasslands, each of which have several subcategories. Of the deserts, you have Sonoran, Mojave, Chihuahuan, and Cold Desert (or Great Basin) deserts. Your prairies are generally categorized as tallgrass, mixed, shortgrass, Palouse and fescue. The grasslands are categorized as California, semidesert and mesquite-acacia woodlands. Each habitat is dominated by specific grass and brush species, some which can dictate your antelope gear and tactics. I’ll try to address these where the habitat difference may affect gear selection as we go.
The Antelope Gun:
I’m not going to get into archery equipment for antelope, other than to say you need to be prepared for longer shots. Archery equipment is also less fascinating to me, so I’ll focus on rifles, and throw in a little bit on muzzleloaders. When looking over your choices for what to take on a hunt, first know the legalities of the state you are hunting. Many states do not allow .22 caliber centerfires, even for antelope, most states have limitations on magazine capacities for semi autos, some states also have different minimum calibers for elk and larger game. We all know, or should know, shot placement trumps all talk of cartridge choice, action design, stainless vs blued or synthetics vs wood arguments. But I’m going to go through some scenarios and thought processes for elk, deer and antelope gun selections, including personal preferences, beliefs and feelings with the understanding that when I declare something better or more suited for the object at hand, it implies all other variables being equal.
As I mentioned before, not all antelope habitat is equal, and therefore some specialized guns are more suited to certain types of terrain. However, you should be prepared for windy country and long distance shot opportunities. The Interstate 80 region of Wyoming is the only gap in the Rocky Mountains, which acts to really focus winds more than anywhere else in the United States. And there’s a lot of antelope there. Antelope usually feel safest in areas with the least amount of cover so they can see danger coming. Antelope are also close to half the weight of deer and even more lightly built with a slightly smaller vital zone. This means that above all, you’ll want a rifle that allows you to be precise in your bullet placement. Magnums aren’t necessary, but because they flatten out the trajectory and higher velocity cartridges drift less in the wind (given equal weight and ballistic coefficient), they tend to be quite popular. Retained energy is of low priority when selecting a chambering for antelope, but it usually goes hand in hand with flat trajectories and minimal wind drift.
Other factors to consider when selecting or building an optimum antelope rifle includes stock style and rifle weight. Some specialized stocks, such as the newest generations of tactical stocks and many thumbhole stocks are designed to be shot from the prone position. A wide forend is also handy when resting the rifle over a pack, but awkward in shooting sticks. An oval forend is a good compromise over a round forend when it comes to using rests with a sporter style stock because they tend to roll less. I also recommend a longer length of pull for stocks you intend to shoot from prone. Your eye and forehead will be a little further from scope and less likely to be dinged in recoil, which is also a good reason to not go with too heavy of a cartridge.
One good thing about antelope hunting is the terrain is usually gentle enough that you won’t scratch up a beautiful gun. The stability of synthetics and laminates are nice for precision rifles, but properly sealed wood can be nearly as stable. So if you have a nicely stocked rifle, antelope hunting will give you the least amount of heartache. Rocky country can be hard on the gun, so use a tight sling when crawling to keep the gun off the ground (slung across your front). If it’s raining or snowing, the antelope will be difficult to find and you’re probably better off waiting until the storm passes. Therefore, blued steel is rarely a problem in antelope country either.
The most common and useful accessory in antelope country is the bipod. They are a wonderful aid in steady shooting from the prone position. The most stable versions will have you closest to the ground, but you are also limited by grass or shrub heights in some areas. When strategizing on your stalk, look for areas with bare ground, lower shrubs or small dips in the terrain to better utilize a short bipod. I find bipods that are designed to be used while sitting not particularly stable. Longer bipods are certainly better than an unsupported rifle, but a short bipod and shooting sticks seem a better combination. If you have a muzzle break on your rifle, be aware of the dust signature it will put off after you fire. If you place your shot well, it doesn’t matter if the antelope pinpoint your position, but the dust cloud may also obscure signs of a hit for you or your spotter. At a bare minimum place a handkerchief below the ports to minimize the dust.
When considering a bullet for antelope hunting, consider that the bullet needs to expand well at the reduced velocities that are a reality of long range shooting. A high ballistic coefficient is helpful to reduce drop and wind drift, but often requires stepping up in bullet weight, thereby negating the gains in BC. High ballistic coefficient bullets really shine at longer range than most are capable of shooting at, so study the ballistic charts to come up with a bullet that will shoot flat, but still expand. Few rifle bullets will expand reliably below 1800 fps, and even fewer below 1600 fps. Nosler Balllistic Tips and Hornady SSTs seem ideally suited as antelope bullets, provided impacts are kept below 3000 fps. Penetration is low on my list of concerns with an antelope bullet, as their chests are not much more than 12 inches wide and their bones are much lighter than deer’s.
Gun weight is of minor consideration in most antelope country. However, in terrain that is severely broken by breaks, coulees or badlands you may not want a very heavy rifle. Heavy rifles and heavy barrels are great for stable shooting, but a pain to lug around. Also pay attention to the amount of roads in your area. If there is contiguous public land 3 or 4 miles from a road, you’ll want to stay with a sporter weight rifle, something under 10 pounds.
For muzzleloaders, my top priority is a flat trajectory. In states that allow it, I’d consider a .45 caliber. If you’re stuck with a .50 caliber, drop bullet weight as much as possible in order to increase velocity and flatten trajectory to reduce your margin for error. Where scopes aren’t allowed, consider a combination of rear peep sights and front globe sights. The major disadvantage of globe sights, poor visibility in low light situations, is negated by the fact that antelope aren’t very active at dawn and dusk. A long sight radius is helpful in precise shot placement; so long barrels serve two functions here. They slightly increase velocity and increase sight radius, creating less margin for error in your shooting. Another way to increase your sight radius is to move your rear sight further back on the barrel. Most muzzleloaders are designed with a steep drop at heel for shooting from the offhand position. This will make proper sighting more difficult when shooting prone, so consider at least a leather cheek piece to raise your head on the stock to get better alignment with the sights.
Optics:
For rifle scopes on a specialized antelope rig, I like the higher magnifications. There’s little doubt that a 4x scope is sufficient for antelope hunting, but with a thick crosshair, it can be difficult to be precise with shot placement beyond 200 yards. If this gun is a dual purpose rifle and you want a smaller scope, go with a fine crosshair. A thick crosswire may appear to be the same thickness of an antelope’s leg at longer distances. Since you shouldn’t need to make a fast shot in low light on an antelope hunt, there’s no need for thick crosshairs. I’m not concerned about weight in antelope country, so 18-24 oz scopes don’t bother me. Large objectives aren’t necessary, but they often go hand in hand with high magnification. Turrets and bullet drop compensating reticles are also very handy, if you know how to use them.
In flat, open country, a rangefinder is extremely valuable. But the biggest drawback to most designs is the poor ranging of nonreflective targets (like antelope) at longer distances. Here’s where it pays to have the best you can afford. Beyond 300 yards trajectory matters and many of the cheaper laser rangefinders are worthless at those distances. If there are no large rocks in your area to get a good reading, investing in a higher quality rangefinder makes sense. Trying to get a reading on antelope, grass clumps and brush can be an exercise in futility.
Many people think a spotting scope is useful in antelope country, but unless you are good enough to trophy judge the difference between 13 or 14 inch long horns, or 70 versus 80 point B&C scores, leave it at home. Remember, antelope do not hide, so there is little need to try look under every sagebrush bush with a 60X lens.
Binoculars are useful if you are doe hunting. Does are obvious when they are standing next to a buck, but sometimes you’ll come up on a lone antelope and not have a reference for the black cheek patch and the ears may be obstructing smaller horns. 8, 10 or even 12X binoculars can be put to good use here. In hilly country with a good vantage point they are also useful for determining whether antelope spotted at long range are moving or lying down and helping to pick your visual cues for waypoints on a stalk. If there is any snow on the ground, antelope can sometimes be difficult to pick out when lying down.
Clothing and Footwear:
Here’s where the habitat really matters when antelope hunting. In some mixed grass prairies, you can get away with tennis shoes and shorts. In Great Basin sagebrush country, or with badlands, breaks or coulees, you’ll want something with better ankle support if you’re climbing in and out of minor drainages. While knee high snake boots aren’t normally necessary, they can give you a little piece of mind in early season hunts. If you’re hunting steep, rocky ground, get something closer to 8 or 9 inches high. In steep, rolling sandhills and sandsage, you’ll want high ankle support. Insulation really isn’t necessary in most antelope country and uninsulated boots will keep your feet cooler on longer hikes. Waterproofing isn’t necessary either, but I like it as I sometimes can’t quite clear a smaller creek. Typical upland bird hunting boots can be comfortable in the longer grass of the mixed grass prairie.
Regarding clothing, noisy clothes aren’t a big concern, but durability is when slithering around in the rocks and cactus. Knee and elbow pads are useful due to the 1 to 3 inch high prickly pear cactus that is so common in all but the mixed grass prairies and sandhills. If you aren’t planning on bringing elbow pads, a fleece or thick jacket and leather gloves may help ease the pain on some stalks. Scent proofing can’t hurt, but I wouldn’t purchase it just for an antelope hunt. Antelope do use their sense of smell at shorter ranges. I’ve underestimated their noses many times and have been frustrated by fickle winds when trying to get within 100 yards when guiding youth hunters. Sage-heavy camo patterns look odd in open prairies where the only thing resembling a shrub is a sharp yucca. Waterfowl camo blends well with most prairies, but not so much in the sagebrush deserts.
Packs and Camping Gear:
I frequently hear from people stating their desire or willingness to pack into some remote area to hunt antelope. That just isn’t necessary, and more than likely will be unproductive because you just can’t cover enough ground. Antelope are generally spotted and then stalked from a road. If they aren’t in the square mile you are presently in, you just drive on to the next piece of public land where they are visible or stalkable. Throughout most antelope country, the landownership pattern is too spotty for you to want to commit to one small area.
Due to the accessible nature of most antelope country, backpacking gear and horses are just a burden. Camper trailers and RVs can get you close to most of the country you might hunt. It’s unlikely you will experience a significant snowfall in early to mid October throughout most of the plains, so tire chains are probably superfluous.
A small backpack that you can use as a shooting rest is very convenient in antelope country. On rocky ground(typical in Cold Desert/Hot Desert/Great Basin or just overgrazed country), it is easier to get a steady rest over a pack than it is with a bipod. But if the grasses are over 6 inches high (anywhere outside of the deserts and shortgrass prairie habitats), it’s difficult to use a pack as a rest. You’ll rarely be out of sight of your truck for very long, so you don’t necessarily need a large pack that holds a lot of gear. A wheeled game hauler is a nice luxury but antelope are easy to drag with two guys. On longer stalks, it’s probably faster to just drag the antelope back with you rather than go back to the truck for the hauler. A portable game tripod and winch for skinning and butchering is a very useful addition to the camp gear. Cooling the meat off in warm weather and getting the meat into a cooler to keep it clean will make the meat much better for the table.
Other Specialized Gear:
I mentioned knee and elbow pads and snake boots in the clothing section and a rangefinder under the optics. But decoys and blinds are other pieces of gear to consider for the archer. Decoys should not be used during rifle season. Long sits in a blind are accepted by archers, but rifle hunters will benefit from being more mobile. Crow calls and doe bleats are often used by bow hunters to get a buck to stand still for a shot, but similar noises can be made with your mouth. A map and GPS with UTM grid coordinates is another useful tool. BLM lands are often illegally posted as private lands, but more often there is no sign at all. So it’s important to know exactly where you are. There will not always be a fence to help you differentiate between public and private lands, and sometimes a fence separating public land pastures will confuse you if you aren’t well equipped with maps.
Like most men, I find gear planning an integral part of hunt planning. Can you hunt antelope without any of the fun stuff mentioned above? You bet. Having general purpose gear allows you to handle a lot of hunting situations to some degree of adequacy. But if you’re looking for an excuse to purchase something new or specialized, or don’t know which categories of your gear cache could use the most updating; hopefully this article was of some use to you.
I’ll follow up with elk and antelope gear pairing articles in the following weeks.
Game Density
The typical way of expressing game density is in animals per square mile. However, that assumes even distribution of an animal, which is of course, rarely the case. An argument could be made for deer having fairly even distribution throughout an area, as their average group size is usually small and they occupy a wide range of habitats. Elk, on the other hand, are anything but evenly distributed. Average group size during hunting season is about 6 animals according to some studies, and they rarely occupy low elevations year round. In fact, during the hunting seasons, in areas with the full spectrum of low altitude winter range and high alpine summer range (most of the Central Rockies), elk will rarely be below 8,000 feet, with 9,000 feet being about average.
So while there may be 4 elk per square mile of an entire unit, once you get up to an appropriate altitude and habitat type, the number of elk per square mile should drastically increase. But don’t forget, the average group size during the fall rifle seasons is about 6 elk, while during the rut it averages more than 10 elk. One might at first think that looking for larger groups would be easier, but that’s not usually the case. Just ask hunters in Montana, Idaho or Wyoming’s wolf country. The mean group size out there is much larger as defense mechanism, which greatly reduces the number of elk groups per square mile of suitable habitat, making it much harder to find the one or two herds in an entire river drainage.
To illustrate this mathematically, take an area with 2 elk per square mile (which is the average for the Northern Rockies but half of much of Western Colorado), and assume half that unit is actual elk habitat that is used through the hunting seasons. That gives us 4 elk per square mile of habitat. For an archer trying to hunt elk in the rut, when the groups are even larger at, let’s say 10 elk per group, you’re looking at just 1 group of elk per 2.5 square miles. In wolf country, where group sizes often are more than 20 elk, you’re looking for a needle in a haystack with one group per 5 miles of habitat. This is where the seemingly minor increase in elk density in good elk country can really help your hunting.
Many of Colorado’s better elk units have over 6 elk per square mile. And going with an area where half of the unit is appropriate elk habitat, which puts us at 12 elk per square mile or more than one herd per square mile during the rut and 2 herds per square mile during the fall rifle seasons. When you add in additional human factors and elk avoidance, you can see why most serious hunters talk about wilderness areas. Considering the average distance from a jeep trail during rifle season from a 1980s study was 1.3 miles, it’s obvious that you need to get away from the roads for consistent success.
For the sake of this argument, let’s call it 25% of the elk can be found under 1 mile from a road and 75% are over 1 mile. Let’s go back to a 2 elk per square mile unit, such as popular places like Colorado’s units 7, 8, 19 and 191 in the Poudre Canyon just west of Fort Collins. If you’re hunting within a mile of the road, don’t expect to find a typical herd of 6 more than once every 10 miles. Whereas in that same area, if hunting over a mile from a jeep trail (they are even further from well maintained roads), your elk herd density would greatly increase to one herd every 1.8 miles or so. In many units, there are so many roads and so few places where one can get much over 2 miles from the road while still remaining on public land, that it’s no wonder the success rates are in the single digits and the only elk you see are on high elevation private lands.
Since the whole idea behind westernhuntingdata.com is to put the odds in your favor, you need to be hunting where the game is and the roads aren’t. You can see how much a seemingly small increase in the number of elk per square makes. There are units in Wyoming with over 9 elk per square mile, 30 deer per square mile and 20 antelope per square mile. Colorado has a unit with 11 elk per square mile, several with over 9 per square mile and another unit with 25 mule deer per square mile. While Montana’s average elk density is about 2.5 elk per square mile, there are a few units with between 12 and 19 elk per sq mile. Idaho has a 10 elk per square mile unit. Oregon has several units that exceed that number and several deer units between 20 and 30 per square mile. Even California has units with more than 10 deer per square mile. If you want to succeed, you need to put yourself in a position to succeed. By arming yourself with information, you can make better informed decisions, put the odds in your favor and create your own luck. Obviously, hunting isn’t a game of pure chance, but there’s no reason to stack the odds against yourself any further than you have to.
So while there may be 4 elk per square mile of an entire unit, once you get up to an appropriate altitude and habitat type, the number of elk per square mile should drastically increase. But don’t forget, the average group size during the fall rifle seasons is about 6 elk, while during the rut it averages more than 10 elk. One might at first think that looking for larger groups would be easier, but that’s not usually the case. Just ask hunters in Montana, Idaho or Wyoming’s wolf country. The mean group size out there is much larger as defense mechanism, which greatly reduces the number of elk groups per square mile of suitable habitat, making it much harder to find the one or two herds in an entire river drainage.
To illustrate this mathematically, take an area with 2 elk per square mile (which is the average for the Northern Rockies but half of much of Western Colorado), and assume half that unit is actual elk habitat that is used through the hunting seasons. That gives us 4 elk per square mile of habitat. For an archer trying to hunt elk in the rut, when the groups are even larger at, let’s say 10 elk per group, you’re looking at just 1 group of elk per 2.5 square miles. In wolf country, where group sizes often are more than 20 elk, you’re looking for a needle in a haystack with one group per 5 miles of habitat. This is where the seemingly minor increase in elk density in good elk country can really help your hunting.
Many of Colorado’s better elk units have over 6 elk per square mile. And going with an area where half of the unit is appropriate elk habitat, which puts us at 12 elk per square mile or more than one herd per square mile during the rut and 2 herds per square mile during the fall rifle seasons. When you add in additional human factors and elk avoidance, you can see why most serious hunters talk about wilderness areas. Considering the average distance from a jeep trail during rifle season from a 1980s study was 1.3 miles, it’s obvious that you need to get away from the roads for consistent success.
For the sake of this argument, let’s call it 25% of the elk can be found under 1 mile from a road and 75% are over 1 mile. Let’s go back to a 2 elk per square mile unit, such as popular places like Colorado’s units 7, 8, 19 and 191 in the Poudre Canyon just west of Fort Collins. If you’re hunting within a mile of the road, don’t expect to find a typical herd of 6 more than once every 10 miles. Whereas in that same area, if hunting over a mile from a jeep trail (they are even further from well maintained roads), your elk herd density would greatly increase to one herd every 1.8 miles or so. In many units, there are so many roads and so few places where one can get much over 2 miles from the road while still remaining on public land, that it’s no wonder the success rates are in the single digits and the only elk you see are on high elevation private lands.
Since the whole idea behind westernhuntingdata.com is to put the odds in your favor, you need to be hunting where the game is and the roads aren’t. You can see how much a seemingly small increase in the number of elk per square makes. There are units in Wyoming with over 9 elk per square mile, 30 deer per square mile and 20 antelope per square mile. Colorado has a unit with 11 elk per square mile, several with over 9 per square mile and another unit with 25 mule deer per square mile. While Montana’s average elk density is about 2.5 elk per square mile, there are a few units with between 12 and 19 elk per sq mile. Idaho has a 10 elk per square mile unit. Oregon has several units that exceed that number and several deer units between 20 and 30 per square mile. Even California has units with more than 10 deer per square mile. If you want to succeed, you need to put yourself in a position to succeed. By arming yourself with information, you can make better informed decisions, put the odds in your favor and create your own luck. Obviously, hunting isn’t a game of pure chance, but there’s no reason to stack the odds against yourself any further than you have to.
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