Antelope Hunt Dates

[Chow_Hound]

Taking the wife and 2 kids on an antelope hunt to 47 this year. If the season dates are the same as the past, the type 1 season will come in on a Weds (9/25) and the type 2 season will come in on a Sat on 10/5.

My wife and daughter aren't going to have great stalking skills and really need a shot under 200 yards. Looking to have a good time and see lots of animals. Ideally I would like to pick a time when crowds are manageable and the animals aren't too skitish.

I assume I want to avoid the opener. Wondering if I am better off hunting during the week between the 2 opening weekends like 10/2-10/4 or waiting until something like the 3rd weekend of the season. Or would I have to go later in Oct for the animals to really calm down? I have read that later in Oct they can start getting in big herds and migrating and can be difficult to hunt. How late in Oct would that be? At some point in Oct to we run a much greater risk of bad road conditions?

Thanks

 

[TOPGUN]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-24-13 AT 10:07AM (MST)[p]I'd wait until the second or even third week of October when the bulk of the crowd will be gone. The animals shouldn't herd up that early and the weather shouldn't be that huge of a concern. They should also be less skittish then compared to right after either of the seasons get going. If you use the terrain properly doing spot/stalk, the latter skittish can be lessened quite a bit by not letting them see you.

 

[elkantlers]

I was in 47 two years ago on the opener. I will NEVER hunt opening day antelope again. It was an absolute zoo. My wife and daughter both had tags and I was in the same boat as you, wanted a close shot at standing antelope. That didn't happen. We finally got away from the crowds by hunting public land that was surrounded by private that we found using GPShuntingmaps. Once we did that we only saw a few other hunters. Both got nice antelope that afternoon. I would wait until the middle of the next week.

 

[bowhunt10]

Hunt the opener and be nice and comfortable. Hope its's not too crowded or don't where everyone else is. I've hunted in a unit with 500 tags twice and seen parts of it crowded and parts of it are we sure the season is open. Hunt the last week of the season and hope for good weather that you can hunt and try to find the goats as they will all be together somewhere. So much for a close stalk. Can we say BRRRRR. I vote for the opener and 1 full day of scouting.

 

[tagsoup]

I would not hunt the opener. I would wait a week or two before I started to hunt.

"Go hunt for meat at Walmart."

 

[Whiterock]

I have hunted 47 twice and had good hunts,but I talked to the game warden and he said the antelope numbers are way down from 3 years ago.Do you have pref points? the weather has alot to do with antelope numbers and quallity.
Let's hope for an easy winter and plenty of rain this next summer.

 

[Chow_Hound]

Whiterock,

Yes we have 3 points. Should be able to draw but you never know if they cut a bunch of tags (which it sounds like they probably should do). I know numbers are way down, but my son is a senior so this is probably the last year we will be able to go as a family because once he is in college his schedule won't allow it.

Thanks

 

[BuzzH]

Upsides and downsides for either going early or late.

Upside to hunting early is that the pronghorn tend to be less spooky. The weather is usually nicer for camping, and the road are better. You also have your pick of ALL the available pronghorn. However, thats only an advantage if you have the time to spend 3-5 days prior to the season looking over 300-500 buck antelope each day. Not to mention that 47 is a huge unit...5 days wont even do it the justice it deserves if you're truly looking for the very best bucks.

Downside to opening day is the pressure.

Upside to the late hunt, is that IME, the antelope are much more concentrated in both geographic area as well as herd size. Its much easier to look over a lot of bucks if theres 20-50 bucks in each large herd. Its also much easier to pick out the better ones as you're comparing them to each other. Migration of different bucks into the unit can be a good thing as well. Typically the pronghorn are a little less spooky then right after opener.

Downside is the weather usually isnt as good. They're harder to stalk sometimes because of all the eyes in the big herds, seperating out the buck you want is more difficult, etc.

IMO, if you dont have the time to spend prior to the opener, you're really not at any big advantage to hunt early.

I killed these bucks near where you want to hunt late in the season...both out of large herds. Shot one at maybe 200 yards, the other at 50.