Antelope at The Dinner Table

hikenhunt

hikenhunt

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On August 18 my son posted a picture of me with my 1st archery Antelope. I've heard soooooo many people say how almost unedible Antelope meat is. Well I have to say that the Antelope steaks we barbequed this evening were awesome !!! The meat was very tender and not gamey at all ! All we did in the field was skin the animal right away and get the meat on ice immediately.

I will be pursuing these critters again for sure. I hope others can or have already had this same experience.
 
I would have to agree with you. Antelope is one of my favorite meals. I also love hunting them so it works out perfectly.
 
i kill antelope all the time for the meat. i am no trophy killer when it comes to the goat.

absolutely the best game meat out there! good for steak and eggs.
 
I was told the exact same thing by a few hunters, that antelope wasnt very good. I to must disagree. I think its very good especially if shot off a hay field!! You should try some antelope roast with potatoes, onions, carrots and 2 cans of cream of mushroom. Let it roast for 3 hrs on 350. Its great!
 
People are ridiculous. You did the right thing by getting it on ice right away if you are able to. All 3 antelope I have taken have been obn ice within 3 hours. This years was on ice within 45 minutes as I brought a cooler filled with dry and cubed ice. Its possibly the best game I have ever eaten.

Its unfortunate that people dop not know how to properly care for their game meat sometimes... Its not a deer so dont age it like it was and you will be fine.
 
Thanks for the responses.

I was really curious about what kind of feedback I would get. It appears the stories about how nasty Antelope are to eat are founded in poor care for the meat once the animal is down.
 
i've had bad and good.

i'll tell you i learned alot from sites like this.
the first 3 antelope i ate was absolutly horrible! 1 from wyoming , 2 from oregon. and it's not like we didn't care for the meat, but like someone stated- we cared for it as if it was a deer. we got it cooled down that eaving-- horrible- gave all of it away.

this year for my wifes antelope i read as much as i could on these forums. all info said to get it on ice FAST.

so i kept an ice chest full of ice everytime we left, when she killed her goat we snapped 10 quik pics and got that sucker skinned and on ice{ also being very carefull about not getting the hair or any piss on the meat}


i was so sure i'd hate it that i "pre gave" the whole thing away--



well i decided to save 1 backstrap. we went over to my wifes grandparents house, who i gave the antelope to, and had fresh backstraps that night---- FREIKING GREAT!! i was bummed i had give it all away. since then we've eaten up are 1 backstrap and it has been some of the finest table fare i've eaten.


LESSON LEARNED!!
 
Harvested my first goat this archery season. Had the meat on ice within one hour and in a freezer about 9 hrs later.
Made most of it burger and it is freaking awesome. Made for some great tacos. The backstraps were better than any mule deer meat.



Bucks and bulls may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!
 
I think alot of times people, myself included, absorb too much from other peoples opinions. I was told all my life that if you shoot a deer that's been running it will taste like garbage. I finally experienced it myself last year. It ran for 1000yds +/- before it came into our canyon (bumped by another hunter). It tastes no different than the deer I shot pretty much out of his bed. But my experience with lopers is almost true to the wives tale. My first lope was great. One shot kill, hadn't ran. My second lope had ran a bit, it tastes pretty gamey. I hope to add another good one to my stats next year.

Nanny Mountain Goat whoops even the good Antelope! Yummy!
 
It also can depend on what they are eating.In Arizona I have never had a bad antelope and I think the reason is because we do not have much sage brush.I shot a buck in Idaho and cooled it down fast and it was very strong.I shot another buck in Idaho that was very good.One was shot in a alfalfa field and the other was shot in sage brush.You can guess wich one was the strong tasting.It is the same with bear.I have shot some that were great,because of eating prickley pear cactus and some that were bad.
 
The Antelope I got was within 3-4 miles of alfalfa fields but in the immediate vicinity all there was was wild grasses and sage brush.
 
I love antelope. My girls and thier friends have all enjoyed it as well.My wife didn't care for the burger I made with chili but I dropped a few steaks on the charcoal grill and they loved em...Just wished I could draw the hunt again....
 
I will be able to have an opinion of my own after tonight. I've got tenderloins thawing as I am typing this reply. He was on ice half an hour after falling over 20 yards from where he was shot. My only regret was not having my bow on hand. He was way too preoccupied with a local doe to care what I was doing.
 
What you do not want to do is shoot a speedgoat after it has run and gotten fevered up. Pretty much any animal with a build up of lactic acid in it's tissue is going to taste... well like crap.

Especially when you consider that an antelope would be more of a sprinter compared to an elk, that acid builds up pretty dang quick.
 
Would this cooling process also work with mule deer? shot a muley couple of years ago and didnt recover it till the following morning (9-10 hrs later) and it tasted not very good, So if I iced the meat asap. would this help on the taste? Thanks.
 
TWO BASIC RULES HERE FOR GAME MEAT:

1. DONT LISTEN TO THE CRAP WE HEARD FROM THE HUNTERS OF THE 1960
's & 70's.....DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS.

2. IF IN DOUBT.....MARINATE YOUR MEAT FOR 48 HOURS....YUM.

......................YD.
 
Anything that you can do to cool the meat off fast will give you a better change of the meat tasting better. It's been a long time since I have killed a Mule Deer (I've switched from rifle to archery) but one thing I remember is that boning the meat out and cooling it off fast helps the taste a lot.
 

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