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I just returned from my third season hunting antelope in Owyhee County, Idaho. The first year I sat in a blind and waited for an antelope to show up. It didn’t happen and I was hot and miserable. Hating that there was nothing I could do but wait I decided to spot and stalk antelope my second year.
Most people who hear this come from my mouth think I’m crazy. They may not always express it verbally but sometimes you can hear more from silence than words.
I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to hunting I know very little. I didn’t grow up hunting. Rather, just before my 41st birthday I thought I’d give it a try. Sure there are other sites which likely have more information but I’m giving you my beginners perspective. These are all things that I’ve had to figure out on my own. My hope is that if you’re new to bow hunting, spotting and stalking antelope, you’ll find something useful.
How Far Does An Antelope Run If They See You?
As a beginner this will most definitely happen to you at some point. Whether you get too close to one and they startle you because you didn’t see them and run off, or if they see you and slowly move away, antelope will move away from you. Last year we met a hunter who shot an antelope with a bow. He said he was coming up over a hill and the buck charged at him as if he were another antelope. It is possible for them to run towards you but it hasn’t happended to me yet.
If you’re very lucky you’ll still be able to see antelope (rare) after they trot off. The ultimate goal is to not make them run quickly away because they can cover a lot of ground in very little time. Following them around the desert my experience is that they’ll typically cross 2 mountain ridges, and that’s trotting away. If you’re not up for a good hike either sit in a blind and hope to get lucky or get your legs and lungs underneath you.
Here is some data from the Map My Hike app on a day when I hiked the most.
Elevation changes: (4717 ft – 4556 ft)
Total Distance:
Calories Burned & Elevation Gain
I happen to enjoy hiking so it was fun to me to follow them around. Getting to explore areas that most people don’t venture into on foot gives you a satisfaction that is difficult to put into words. You’re connected to nature, you’ll see things you’ve never seen before, and with time you begin to pick up on the subtle rhythms around you. It’s pretty cool. Coming up on my 44th birthday I also feel a bit like a badass. Ya know, because I think we all remember a time when 44 was old.
How Close Can You Get To An Antelope If They Can See You?
This year I had an [amazon_textlink asin=’B07FQVHB56′ text=’antelope decoy’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’jphphc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’c19c5121-abb4-11e8-9230-a3531325905c’] on my bow. The closest I got by approaching them with a decoy, where they didn’t run or move away, was about 200 yards. For 5 days it was pretty easy for me to get within 200 yards of an antelope or a group of antelope. If you’re hunting with a rifle, taking an antelope by spotting and stalking should be pretty simple. At least I think it would be significantly easier than with a bow.
Watch For Patterns
Each day I did different things hoping to get lucky. There were a few days I looked for a place to hide on a water hole and other days when I’d follow them across the land. Coming up over a ridge one day I didn’t see the antelope that were laying down. Of course they saw me and trotted off. I began moving to follow them and I didn’t see the 1 that stayed behind. Twice this happened and I could have thumped myself in the head. I haven’t stalked antelope enough to know if this is a regular pattern but keep an eye out for one that may stay behind when the others run off.
Generally antelope don’t have a set pattern. They don’t always sleep, eat, or drink in the same area everyday. This is why I sat in a blind for 6 days my first year and never saw an antelope even though we saw antelope at that water hole the week before. You can read about my first year’s adventures here.
Blind sitting for pronghorns is checkers. Spot-and-stalk hunting is chess.
This year has been wet and cool so water was everywhere. One day I actually went back to camp early because I got cold. Can you believe it? The next day it rained until 2 pm and the morning after we woke up to frost.
Since I’ve hunted the same area for 3 years I finally feel like I have a general sense of where they roam. Even then, it’s a pretty big area with lots of elevation changes. There were some instances where my husband spotted antelope not far from our camp. On other instances they were a couple of miles away. Of course no real rhyme or reason, that we could pick up on, for why they were where they were when they were.
Stalking Antelope Just Over The Hill?
There are instances where you’ll see antelope on a hillside or you’ll see them cross over a hill top. My advice is to make your best guess at which route will give you the shortest shot distance when you reach the summit. Before you reach the summit take one last drink of water and leave your pack behind. I think this is also a great time to nock on an arrow. My guess is that the window to shoot an antelope is probably pretty small if you’re stalking them.
Before you really get into stalking at a close range make sure you have knee pads as a bare minimum. Elbow pads and wrist guards/gloves are optional I think. (Typically it’s hot and I try to wear as little as possible.) Some camouflage pants have knee pads in them. For me, I have really long femurs so the knee pads don’t line up correctly for me. When I bend my leg they sit on my thigh and don’t cover my knee. #tallgirlproblems I bought this set of [amazon_textlink asin=’B079D8PR5K’ text=’rollerblading knee pads’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’jphphc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’d19946b6-abba-11e8-aece-457c2b63f1b6′] locally to wear under my pants.
I did lots of walking while in a crouched position, crawled on my knees, and crawled on my elbows and toes while quietly trying to cross a ridge with antelope on the other side. Just a heads up: since the camo you’ll be wearing will likely we warm weather camo, which is pretty thin, expect to get a hole in the knee of your pants. I did. It’s not a big hole and the pants are still wearable but if this concerns you maybe cover your knee pads in camo tape and wear them over your pants.
What I have learned from trying to sneak up on antelope just over the hill. Last year I got pretty close to a decent sized buck. I’m guessing he was about 50 yards away but I couldn’t get an accurate measurement with my [amazon_textlink asin=’B00ILFLT24′ text=’Bushnell range finder ‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’jphphc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’484d0ab2-abbc-11e8-9eeb-75dea081dfab’]because of the sage bush I hid behind. That year I was too impatient, afraid he’d run off before I had a shot. Since nearly everything where antelope live is dry and crunchy I know my impatience to get in a good position is likely what made him trot off.
This year I had an instance where I tried to peek over the ridge. The antelope saw the top of my head and by the time I crawled over the summit they were long gone. If they see you; they will run.
My last attempt this past week climbing a summit was my most successful. First I crawled on my knees, then on my stomach. I moved a bit at a time with a 30-60 second pause between each movement. As I crawled I’d slowly reach over and move my bow out ahead of me just a bit. The antelope weren’t just over the hill, they were just over the hill and out a little ways. I was able to get into a sitting position with my decoy out in front of me. There were about 8 antelope just at the bottom of the hill. I sat very still, they looked at the decoy, and I didn’t scare them away. My hope was that one of the bucks would run towards me to close the gap but it didn’t happen.
Best Advice: Practice
I don’t get a lot of time out in the desert chasing antelope. The other problem is that I’ve done all of my learning during hunting season. If you can, get out there before hunting season. If you can find 5 consecutive days to spend in the area you will learn a lot about the group you are following. These last 5 days have been a great education for me.
Will I Spot And Stalk In the Future?
I don’t know if I’ll go back to a blind next year. This year I found my own “blind” sitting in a patch of sage bushes which was phenomenally cooler than an actual blind. If I know they’re nearby I can patiently wait but when I don’t see anything I like having the option to go looking for them.
Having a tag sandwich 3 years in a row makes me mad, it fires me up, it makes me want to never hunt antelope again, and yet there is a part of me that won’t be satisfied until I get what I want.
The photos of me trekking around were taken with a [amazon_textlink asin=’B07BMJDZPJ’ text=’Lollipop Phone Skope ‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’jphphc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’0c2d0fea-ac79-11e8-a21d-3f16abcfae51′]attached to a [amazon_textlink asin=’B00BIKFJ6Q’ text=’Spotting Scope’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’jphphc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’216fdf0c-ac79-11e8-87c6-f7e4ea8687b0′]. I was about 3/4 of a mile from my husband when he took these.
Originally posted on August 29, 2018 @ 23:55
