YJRR

First off I am an experienced bow hunter... BUUUUUUTTTTT only for muleys and whitetails. So I just wanted to pick your brains as to what I need to bring or some clever tactics you guys use. My buddy and I will be in western South Dakota during the beginning to the peak of the projected rut, we plan on decoying and I will bring my blind as well just in case we find a fence crossing or a watering hole that we can't pass up. So what gear should I bring and tactics should we use?

Don't worry about listing obvious stuff like good glass (bino's & spotting scope) this thread is as much for me as for the guy that needs this info but is too shy to ask.

Howler

Skip the fence crossing idea, I've tried it and they avoid the crossing like the plague when there is a blind set up with in bow range. They have to have water and that's why they will come to water with a new blind set up near by, but believe me, they will find a way through the fence in order to avoid getting close to a blind just to get to the other side of the fence.
Be proficient for long shots, and hope for close shots. A range finder is a must!

YJRR

Thanks for letting me know to avoid the fence crossings with the blind, we will definitely be thankful we won't be wasting hours on that since we only have 5 full days of hunting

We have been practicing out to and including 90 yards with the small black hole target and to date we have only missed the target once and we've been hitting up every 3D tourney within 100 miles. Plus I ordered my Leupold RX-1000 TBR and it should be here in a week.
Oh and equipment update, I will be shooting a 70lb Mathews Reezen 6.5 and he will be shooting a 70lb Mathews Monster and we will be bringing a 70lb DXT as a backup.

Dakota79

I am going to have to respectively disagree with your statement about fence crossings. I outfit in northwest South Dakota and every year we take Antelope on fence crossings. You can't just use any crossing but once you find one that is heavily used they can be a gold mine. One example would be a fence line that is all sheep wire except for one gate and that is the only place on that entire fence that the Antelope are able to go under. It works every year for us. The best advice I can give is to never give up. If you bust a stalk pick your head up and go find another one because you never know when the next one is going to work

Blackelk

My buddy and I have called in a few from time to time. It can work. Decoy's can work but can scare them just as bad sometimes. Pick your ambush close to cover first of all and learn to almost double your distance on shooting capability. Antelopes have about 315 degree vision. It is not hard to stalk into shooting range if you watch the antelope long enough to see the direction that the goat is feeding and get ahead of him and intercept him. Don't always work. But if your gonna stalk one it's one of the best methods.

Once not long ago a buddy and me put the slip on an ole goat by having me off in the distance waving my hand in the air while he came around behind the antelope and took a shot at 37yds. He missed the shot but we chalked it up as a future method that could work often. You have to keep the antelope attention even if it means making noise and speeding up the hand movement just to keep him looking in your direction.


Waterholes is the best.

mez

I prefer to spot and stalk. Sitting in a blind on a water hole is BORING!!!!! Very effective but mind numbing. Antelope have short memories. If they bust you they will have forgot that you exist once out of site. Go right back at them. You can chase the same heard around all day if they stay on the property you are hunting. If they don't want to leave it almost takes an act of God to get them to leave.

Decoying can be effective but you need the right goat in the right mindframe. You will scare them off about 98% of the time with a decoy. A few situations to look for. If you see a small buck trailing a herd try to get between the herd and small guy and stay out of sight. Eventually the herd buck is going to chase off the little guy. When he does try to get between him and the does. As he is coming back to his does pop up the decoy. This is way more effective than just sneaking up on a herd and popping up the decoy.

Follow a herd until they bed down. Once they bed down sneak in as close as you can get and wait. If the does get up and begin milling/feeding the buck will eventually get up and go round them up. When he gets up pop up a doe decoy. This, by far, has been my most successful decoying tactic. Takes a while to get the right situation but when you do it works about every time.

As for the gear, bring a pair of heavy leather gloves and knee pads. The carpenter/contracter knee pads that are hard plastic are what you want. There is going to be prickly pear cactus everywhere and you don't want to have to watch where you are crawling. A camelbak is also handy.

Buckmaster519

If you can find a tank and somehow climb a tree then that is great or where ive had luck is sit on on a windmill by water as well as a blind. Pronghorn do have short memories and bad depth perception. Most landowners cut a fence short from the bottom up because they cant judge distances well so they will go under the fence. A spot and stalk is awesome, just keep low and stay cover to cover if possible. Like said above you may catch them in the open so long shots may happen. They usually arent as weary as whiteys or muleys until really spooked. as long as you plan your route right you should be fine.

God luck and get you a speed goat so you will be able to say you have slayed the fastest land mammal in north america.

Good Luck,
Colten

Howler

And that may be true with a fence, such as sheep wire, that the goats simply can't pass through anyway or anywhere else. Where I hunt, it's all barbed wire and the fences are old, not tight, not too tall. Even though we spent the time to walk the entire fence line and lower and or block any and all lesser used crossings, the goats still were able to get through, get under, and several even jumped the fence to avoid getting near our blinds. I tried blind sit on crossing two years in a row. The first year I set up our blinds a week before season started and left them set up for the entire season. The 2nd year, I set the blinds up a month before season, and they still avoided the crossing. I did have two small bucks use a crossing near my blind one time, and it was only because the larger dominant buck hazed them to the crossing and bascially forced them to cross, and then the big buck went back to his herim.
SO, I guess a good point has been raised, IF the fences are tight, tall enough, and no other crossing options are available, then crossing sitting can be effective. Just wasn't on the ranch that I hunt.
Good luck!

Wheatley

I like the stalking method the best as well. If you will be in hilly terrain it works very well. We have been busted many times but get back at them and give it another try.

Howler

That's what makes S & S so much fun on antelope, if you screw up a stalk, get on a high spot, glass, spot the next target and you're right back in the game.