I will be going to Wyoming with my son in law for the antlerless antelope hunt this fall.
Never done it before.
He and all his friends have rangefinders, and claim they shot their antelope last year at ranges greater than 300 yards.
That is beyond my personal comfort level, and don't want to take a chance on just wounding one.
I will be using my 257 Roberts with 115 gr. Ballistic tips at about 2800fps., and I am willing to crawl on my belly like a herptile. Are there any other good ways to get closer? Say 100-200 yards? Thanks.

Oh, yeah. Do they field dress like a deer? Is there anything different to look out for?

Welcome to the website sniper!

First off congradulations on going for speedgoats. They are alot of fun. Does are alot easier to get IMO, not that I ever tried to kill one... always got closer to them than the bucks I hunted.

I've never killed a pronghorn over 250 yards. Depending on where you hunt they will either be more or less spooky and that dictates how close you can get to them.

Secondly, terrain can help or hurt you. You didnt say where you will be hunting and while there are some places in WY where its as flat as a pancake as far as the eye can see, usually there are some hills and ravines around you can use to get closer to the animals.

Pronghorn have GREAT vision... they can see stuff you need binoculars to view. But circling around and getting in a depression or getting a hill between you and the goat, you should be able to get pretty close. This has been the strategy for my wifes goats 90% of the time. We'd follow them till they got near a hill then circle around with the hill between us then come up over the top.

Where are you hunting and what is the hunt date? I might have more advice for you with that info.


-DallanC

Sniper,

Antelope huntin' can be the most fun you'll ever have , with your clothes on.

A .257 Roberts is an "OK" gun for goat huntin'. If you will be hunting with experienced hunters, they will help you get sighted-in. I assume you have a scope on your gun. Some shots at these animals can be aways off. My suggestion is to get zeroed-in at 200 yards. It will be 2" high at 100 yards, 8" low at 300 and 24" low at 400, if your starting vel. really is 2800 fps. I use a life-size cardboard cutout of an antelope to get used to shooting from most field positions. Have a friend place it at an unknown distance from you, then use your range-finder and take your best shot. Practice, practice, practice. You'll have more fun if you are prepared and you will get that goat .

Gut it out like a deer, be careful of loose hair, cool it out quickly, get the hide off and in a processing-plant as soon as possible. They are fine eatin'.

Kodiak wrote:

Gut it out like a deer, be careful of loose hair, cool it out quickly, get the hide off and in a processing-plant as soon as possible. They are fine eatin'.

Good point. We shoot one, drive over to it ASAP (we hunt private property ... the landowner himself drives us LOL), snap some pictures then quarter it up right then and there and get it on ICE.

It makes a HUGE difference in the quality of the meat! The faster you get them on ice the better they taste, and it really is a pretty good meat IMO.

Hair on an pronghorn is hollow and it wicks away moisture from the meat very quickly. Some people shoot one in the morning, throw it in the back of the hot dusty truck while the rest of the guys hunt for their goats. Many hours later they head to town and get them processed. Once they get the meat back people are surprised it tasted bad? LOL!

We use Coleman coolers you can plug in to 12Volt power... it gets'em cooled down fast and you dont have to worry about ice melting or moisture from the melted ice getting on the meat. Usually we harvest both goats by noon then head out on the 8 hour drive back home. By the time we get there there is usually 1/4" of frost in the coleman coolers. Very neat pieces of equiptment.


-DallanC

DallanC wrote:

Welcome to the website sniper! Where are you hunting and what is the hunt date? I might have more advice for you with that info. -DallanC

Dallan:

Thanks for the welcome.

I looked at the map,and we are in unit 98, which is just northwest of Kemmerer. I think it starts Sept 10. I'm getting excited!, yes, I am!

Quote::

Are there any other good ways to get closer? Say 100-200 yards?

Archers use a decoy, actually a 'flat' picture cutout of a speed-goat, to get close. Or, use a ground blind and hunt water holes.

popgun wrote:

Archers use a decoy, actually a 'flat' picture cutout of a speed-goat, to get close. Or, use a ground blind and hunt water holes.

Two more options less known but they work.

#1. Mirror blinds. Basically you get a piece of Plexiglass and put a 1 way mirror coating on one side. you then CAREFULLY keep it steady and walk towards the goat... goat just sees desert out there. The main problem is keeping it steady or its very obvious to see.

#2. The good ole red balloon trick. Antelope are curious and have good eye sight. A friend of mine hunted Speedgoats out here in utah when I was younger. His hunting partners dropped him off in the flattest country imaginable and handed him a red balloon, said "tie it to some sage then lay down and the antelope will come to you". He thought it was a vast practical joke but he went with it.

Well after a couple hours of not seeing anything within 10 miles of himself he got mad at the prank and laid down and went to sleep. Couple hours later when he woke up there was a buck antelope standing there 100 yards away staring at the balloon. He dumped it with a single shot.

And yes, that is an absolutely true story


You will be able to get within 200 yards opening day if there isnt any other yahoos chasing the goat you want. It can be a circus, just dont get frustrated. Goats will get into little nooks and depressions... or on backsides of hills so use them to your advantage. I'll warn you though "Murphy" is a goat hunter and his law is always in effect. If you see a goat next to a hill that would be perfect to use to get close, 9 times out of 10 the goat is between you and the hill and its always a several mile hike to swing around and get behind the hill before you can begin your stalk. Thats my experience anyway... the good news is its worked every time and we always got our bucks.

Your season is a tad before the Rut so I'm not sure if the bucks will be hanging with the does... generally they always do but come rut time around Oct 1st they are pretty inseperable to the does.

Regardless you will have fun. I'd sight that gun in for a 250 yard zero though and practice a 300 yard shot a few times.


-DallanC

You are going to have a ball. Your 257 Roberts will serve you well. Take you time remember Antelope will see a long ways off. Use the wind to your favor. Antelope are not hard to kill, wait for a standing shot a good hit till be rewarded.

Regardless, after you kill one get the skin off, quarter and get the meat cool as quickly as you can. When I hunt big game, I carry a pack frame. It is used to pack out the meat but also is an excellent steady rest and make- shilft blind. I carry a cheese cloth game bag to wrap the meat out in and tie it to the pack frame. Normally by the time I get back to the truck the meat is remarkably cool. Next stop is the cooler filled with Ice blocks.

This extra work you spend in the field will be well rewarded at home.

longwalker

Sniper -

First, welcome to the site.

Second, congrats on your choice of weapon. I picked up a Ruger .257 roberts at a gun show a year and a half ago and love it. Handloaded to +P pressures I get 3000fps with a 115g TSX and 2900 with 120g Grand Slams and Partitions.

At 2800fps it should do you fine. The 7mm Rem Mag loads I have hunted elk with for over 20 years pushed a 160g to 2850fps. I could have pushed them faster but the load was too accurate to mess with. Accuracy beats trajectory any day in my book. Use "Point Blank" to calculate Maximum point Blank Range for a 6" diameter kill zone and adjust your scope accordingly for 100 yards or, better, 200 yards with a target check at 100. Then practice out to 300 yards with clay pigeons. If you are hitting the pigeons or misssing by no more than an inch or two, you're good to go. Good luck!

I will agree about getting the meat cooled as quickly as possible. Antelope is my favorite wild game meat but you ruin any meat by cooling it slowly. My hunting buddy neck shot a cow elk a few years back. It ran off 120 yards but when the herd scattered we lost track of it and no one saw it drop. We looked but found no blood and after more than an hour with 3 of us of looking we decided he must have missed. Even though daytime temps were in the 30's and nighttime temps were near or probably below zero, the meat was pretty well spoiled by the time we found the cow the next morning.