Oklahoma Antelope
 

I'm no amateur to deer hunting, but I have drawn a once in a lifetime antelope tag in Oklahoma's Cimarron county. Know little to nothing about pronghorns. Any advice or direction would be much appreciated. Especially any insight on private land available.

RE: Oklahoma Antelope
 

They're active all day long, which makes them fun to hunt, no need to be up at sunrise and out til sundown.

They'll be near water, i forget if its, 1,2 or 4mi radius of a water source.

Anything in the .243-.270 range would be ideal goat gun, soft bullets that expand fairly quickly are ideal, otherwise you'll punch right through them.

They're fun to hunt, not too difficult, if you have more than a couple days to hunt them, you'll get them figured out.

Having the sun at your back I think is good, makes them more curious/hard to see you in the glare of the sun in my view, they're curious so they may come to you....., though if they're between you and the sun, they spot you very easily, with you inbetween them and the sun, much bettter.

Good luck, shouldn't be too tough to get on them/figured out. I'd say 200yd shots are common/avg.

Read up on how to judge a mature goat, they're very difficult to judge.

RE: Oklahoma Antelope
 

Interesting... I live in Oklahom and Ihave never heard about Cimarron county. I googled it and saw it is in the desolate panhandle. Sounds like a fun hunt!!

RE: Oklahoma Antelope
 

Whiskeysnoot,
I was lucky enough to draw the hunt last year. If you hunt private land expect to pay around a $300.00 trespass fee. I hunted private land andhad a huge goat within 40 yds. the first morning. It was my first encounter and expected this to be a regular occurance. It wasn't. My encounters kept diminishingeach subsequent outing. The last day of the hunta game warden came to my hunting area (you have to check in and let them knowwhose propertyyou will be hunting) and told me I was one of two hunters left in CimmaronCounty.He suggested I go to Rita Blanca public hunting area as manygoats had been taken thereduring thehunt. I took his advice and after a 45 minute drive to the area, I killed a decent goat within 2 hours. It wasn't close to the one I saw the first day but definitely respectable (he's on my wall).

If I had it to do over I would hunt the Rita Blanca and save the money. Just my 2 cents.

PM me if you would like some names of land owners in the area.

Mike

From my experience they aren't that difficult to kill once you find them. Have a plan for after the kill if it's going to be hot weather. I've had all mine on ice in less than an hour after the shot and took all the precautions you hear about to keep it clean. For the life of me, I can't remember a more nasty tasting animal than a freaking pronghorn! It's honestly the only animal I've ever taken that I cannot eat. Wife refuses to allow it in the kitchen it smells so 'goaty' when it's frying. I suppose it could just be an individual preference as I'm somewhat picky about things. For example, I can't imagine eating liver or pickles ever in my life but many people love both. For what it's worth, all of ours have come from the sage flats with no agriculture around.

Yes there is some public land with them on it. Only problem is it gets hammered by hunters and fights have been known to break out over people walking up on a water hole while someone else is sitting in a blind.

Ate my first antelope last year and it was fine. Meat was certainly lighter colored than the whitetail venison we shoot in Illinois and Missouri. I believe you are cooking it wrong. Or, your palette prefers a different taste.