duckdog132

this is my first year hunting lopes and needing some adivce on which 308round will work best for the long range shot that will most likely take place. i know 308 may be a hair to big but it is the gun i shoot the best. any help would be appreciated.
JSS.

CalHunter

They aren't that hard to put down so any bullet your gun prefers will do just fine.

hillbillyhunter1

Also, you don't have to neccesarilyexpect long range shots on antelope. Of course if you'd want you could take some long range shots, but generally because of the broken topography in areas they live you should easily be able to sneak within 200 yds or lessif you pay attention and use the landscape to your advantage. You'll be able to see them at long range and plan a stalk (and if you blow it, there's always another antelope)

duckdog132

hillbilly you are about the 4th person to say that last comment. is there really that many out there?
this is my first out of state big game hunt. want to have everything perfect for it. any other ideas on bullet selection i dont want to put a huge hole in it. the only shell i have put through my savage model 12 are umc's(cheap) so i dont know what else shoots decent but that all they sell around here so i will be ordering what ever shell i need.

hillbillyhunter1

If you're in an area that's got antelope there's generally gonna be enough to go around. A lot of times antelope are spotted from the truck then stalked. Now spooky antelope may take off when you slow down to look at them, depending how far off the road they are. The trick is to drive past them over the next hill and then sneak back to look at them (if your into that).

I actually prefer to hike away for the road, spot and hunt them all on foot. You're much more alone once you get out of sight of the road. The only nice thing is to be able to have access to drive in and pick up your dead antelope...especially if it's hot out (likely). I wouldn't use the cheapest bullets, just something workmanlike that your gun shoots well and is for hunting as opposed to some military discount plinking bullet.

Wingbone

A couple of years ago my buddy and I went to South Dakota antelope hunting for the first time ever, total rookies. We had 2 tags each and, through a friend's connection,a ranch to hunt on. Spot and stalk hunting, we had our 4 antelope by 9:00 am thesecond day. The farthest shot was 250 yd., the closest was about 70 yd. Where you find antelope, you find a lot of antelope.

CalHunter

You'll see more antelope because they are out in the open during the day. They are a fun hunt. You don't need to buy expensive bullets for antelope. Remington Core-Lokt's, Winchester's base ammo, etc. will do just fine. Many people hunt antelope with .243's, 25-06's and 270's so any bullet size in .308 that you choose will be more than enough bullet. Have fun on the hunt.

skb2706

I live right in the middle of antelope country and pretty much finding antelope is easy, the difficult part is getting close enough to get a decent shot. You will find that the first couple days of the season they tend to be a bit stupid but by day three they are skiddish and will bolt at any little sound.
We have used just about every combination of gun and bullet available to shoot them and probably the best is something on the heavy side. Heavier for caliber bullets tend to be constructed heavier and hold together thus damaging less meat. Antelope are very easy to put down but what you want is to do that without tearing one all up. My gun of choice is a .300 Win mag and as long as I can get a rib to rib shot I don't waste anything. My son uses a much smaller rifle but the results are the same. His gun of choice is a .260 Rem using 140 gr. SSTs.

Shot this one off the neighbors winter wheat last year -