Antelope that have ran taste bad?

elks96

elks96

Long Time Member
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I often hear this, but despite having several lopes under my belt in all sorts of situations. Never once have I had a lope taste bad/gamey…

I really don’t know how running would affect the lopes meat. I mean they run, that is what they do. Anyone who has spent time watching lopes will realize that several times a day they seem to just run for no reason.

I will use my lope this year as an example… I shot a spot and stalk archery lope at 43 yards. The lope spun on the shot and I ended up with with a very poor shot. Nearly 3 hours later and 4 miles of tracking, I finished the lope off… Once dead I did the same thing I do every time. Immediately skinned the lope and quartered. In 45 minutes from death all meat was clean and on ice. No hair on the meat and I will not touch the meat with my hands that makes the hair…

despite being one of the oldest lopes we have taken, he is eating as good or better than any. Again with a dozen or so lope killed in the rut, from the road, out of alfalfa fields, in the sage, running, laying, water hole, good fast killed, poor shots and more. They have all ended in the same quality/flavor etc.

So honestly with lopes can it be adrenaline?
 
They are super strong sage tasting. Maybe it's where I hunt them but I have yet to taste one that isn't strong. Same goes for all the folks I know of that hunts them.
 
RookieWYhntr said:
They are super strong sage tasting. Maybe it's where I hunt them but I have yet to taste one that isn't strong. Same goes for all the folks I know of that hunts them.
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Where is that? I have shot lopes from several areas and have yet to have one taste anything but mild…
 
yoteduster said:
Keep the hair off the meat while skinning is the most important thing in taking care of a antelope.. IMO
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I fully agree. I did a test/experiment and took some hair clippings wrapped in paper towel. With in an hour the oil from the hair had spread throughout the paper towel. Not imagine a bunch of hair all over the meat…
 
BeanMan said:
Two problems with speedgoats. Not enough meat and it’s hard to get a tag in Colorado.it’s my favorite game and after about ten of them and a few of of Wife’s I’ve never had a bad one.
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I agree. Never had a bad pronghorn and I am pretty hard too please. I don’t eat elk anymore, don’t like it. All deer, moose venison is strong but I’ll eat it. Pronghorn tastes mild to me.

The hair on antelope reeks and I’m sure it tastes worse. Smell a horn if you want to gag.

However…… This taste discussion comes up often. Im beginning to believe there is more to the idea that we all taste things differently. Some things, very differently.

Example. I absolutely hate the taste of something’s others love, spinach, turnips, oysters, peppers, (I can take the heat I just don’t like the flavor) pumpkin, sweet potatoes, etc.
 
Wasn't it Patrick F McManus that said, "Cook antelope on a cedar plank. When it's cooked throw the meat away and eat the plank!"

I actually enjoy antelope meat. The key is to cut it up and get it cold as soon as possible. If you really want to do it right, freeze milk and put the meat directly on it for a couple hours. It pulls the strong amino acid taste out of the meat.
 
I killed 3 speed goats…..The first one my dog refused to eat. The other 3 were great. The first one stood up out of his bed and I dropped him. The other 2 were walking
 
Nothing better than antelope backstrap-medium rare. If past M/R it is fed to the dog! Just kidding, point being don't over cook.

I've killed-a bunch. Never had a bad one. Do skin as soon as possible, not anal about need to get on ice but do cool as much as feasible.

Up the rifles
 
They may smell strong, but they never have a strong taste. I always attributed the strong smell to the rut. The meat is always mild. Lousy tasting antelope has to be the handler.
 
I have one that tasted not so good, I learned that you have to get the skin off and not get hair on the meat. Not had a bad one since.
 
And this is what I like about MM. I shot a nice buck (25 years ago) during the rut. We immediately skinned it, quartered it and put it in our cooler. Put ice on it when we got back to town (30 minutes later). It was a warm day, camo t-shirt weather and I know we didn’t pay any attention to getting a few hairs on the meat! Well, got home, cooked some up and it was off-the-map (meaning tasted like $hit) gamey. Swore we’d never hunt them again, as we eat what we shoot. Based on these posts, I realize the bad taste was likely based on our handling of the meat! Dumb-a$$!! May have to rethink going on a lope hunt.
 
I have only eaten about fifteen now, but each one was mild and very good.
Our favorite game meat.
All were killed in sage, none were hay field antelope.
 
I’ve had good results if you break em down quick and get em in the cooler. They don’t fair well for a multi day truck bed marinade like some other species. There’s not much meat on em and I shot my last 2 with a 300 rum and it’s fronts were pre quartered before I got to the animal.
 
We have killed several from several states, WY, NV, UT, NM, CA, and ID, all have been good, like others have said, very mild and tender, to me they have no strong flavor, you almost need to add extra seasoning, my sons Shiras moose he just got was the only other game I have tried that is as mild and tender
 
Had one last season we made into jerky for the dog. 1st one out of dozens that tasted awful and smelled even worse. Dog didnt mind though. Was a very old doe is all we could come up with cuz she was laying down, had her quartered and in the cooler within 45 minutes from being shot.
 
My family has taken around 100 of them through the years. We believe there is some difference between a resting one and one that has run hard. However, they are still good if cared for properly. The bad ones, to us, were in the early days where we would hunt all day and steadily pile up the back of the truck with carcasses. We made most of those early days antelope into jerky and sausage to cover the taste.
 
Antelope are the perfect test of whether you can do a good job skinning and cooling them quickly. It’s my theory that any and all bad antelope is a result of poor care in the field. I’ve killed them in 7 different states and never had a bad one, eating anything from cactus to chickpeas, bedded, rutting, old bucks and young does. They’re all incredible. If you touch the hair try to minimize touching the meat. Don’t gut it and drive around all afternoon and then go to the bar for dinner and deal with it the next day. I personally don’t gut them anymore. If they’re close to home they get tossed in the pickup and hung from the loader to do the work, if I’m out of state then they get gutlessed so I can get the quarters on ice within minutes. Most antelope seasons also coincide with warmer weather and if you think you can gut it and drive around all day looking for another one you’re gonna be one of these misguided folks who think they taste like sage.
 
I have shot over 30 antelope in numerous areas of Wyoming and never have had one that tasted strong of sage. All have been excellent tasting meat and my family prefer antelope over venison or even elk.
The one important thing my father in law taught me about taking care of antelope is to get them field dressed and skinned out as soon as possible. Antelope hunting most of the time involves hunting them in warmer weather and it is very important to get the carcass cooled down ASAP.
When we drop a antelope, we put the knife to the carcass in a matter of a few minutes and skin them out and put them in a deer bag and get them in the shade even if it is the camper shell of the pickup with the back left open to prevent heat build up in the camper shell. Unlike yotebuster we do gut them and prop open the chest cavity to aid faster cooling.
RELH
 
RELH said:
I have shot over 30 antelope in numerous areas of Wyoming and never have had one that tasted strong of sage. All have been excellent tasting meat and my family prefer antelope over venison or even elk.
The one important thing my father in law taught me about taking care of antelope is to get them field dressed and skinned out as soon as possible. Antelope hunting most of the time involves hunting them in warmer weather and it is very important to get the carcass cooled down ASAP.
When we drop a antelope, we put the knife to the carcass in a matter of a few minutes and skin them out and put them in a deer bag and get them in the shade even if it is the camper shell of the pickup with the back left open to prevent heat build up in the camper shell. Unlike yotebuster we do gut them and prop open the chest cavity to aid faster cooling.
RELH
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Exactly my experience as well RELH. For me it is nearly impossible to keep every SINGLE hair off the meat but that is what has to be done. Ignoring even a few is enough to taint the flavor. You just can’t be too careful.

Techniques for keeping every hair possible off are very worth sharing and learning. I’m definitely not as good at it as I wish I was, because it makes a huge difference!!!
 
Best antelope I have ever ate, shot gutted and hanging in walk in cooler within a hour of kill, I know this isn’t the norm…dry age for 30 days.
By god it’s tasty though!
 
Guys hunting without access to walk in cooler.
Think dry ice and layering cardboard in the kill cooler’s.
 
Where does the "stink" come from?

I just did a search and found a reference that said that pronghorn bucks have 9 glands and does have 6 glands. That's a heck of a lot of glands that produce "stink"! That's also a lot of locations where stink can be transferred to meat. To add to the stench....Not only do antelope have a gob of glands but bucks also pee all over their belly and legs during the rut.

Obviously it's important to get the stinky hair (from glands and pee) off quickly and allow the meat to cool down. I don't think many hunters understand that the "stink" can be transferred to the meat regardless of whether there is any stinky hair on the meat or not. Obviously it's super important to keep the stinky hair off the meat but there is more to it than that!

Have you ever smelled your hunting clothes after harvesting and processing an antelope during the rut? You may not have any hair on your clothes but they literally reek of musky antelope. My guess is you rubbed the stink hide and glands all over your clothes....plus your stinky hands touched your clothes.

If you harvest bucks prior to the rut your clothes likely smell fine. We harvested 3 antelope last year prior to the rut and there was almost 0 musky smell on our bucks. We shot another 4 bucks this year during the rut and they literally reeked! If you don't want musky smell hunt prior to the rut. Obviously late season bucks likely still have lingering stench even though they are done rutting. If you don't want to deal with smelly antelope hunt prior to the rut!

How many times do your hands and knife touch the hair of the antelope while skinning? My guess is every time you tug on the skin/hair and then touch meat you are contaminating the meat. Does your knife touch hair while skinning....does this same knife touch meat?

As an example of how smell from scent glands travel....think of how far away you can smell a rank road-killed skunk? It has nothing to do with hair touching your nose...the smell is in the air! The smell is worse the closer you get to the skunk and is horrible if you touch the hair and glands! Can you imagine what meat would taste like if you touched the hair around a skunk gland and then touched meat. Obviously if stinky skunk hair was on meat it would be even worse but I think you get my point.

So what happens when you place a stinky antelope cape in the same cooler as your meat? Do you think the smell transfers? I can pretty much guarantee that if you placed the same stinky skunk skin in a cooler with meat the meat would reek of skunk. I guess what I'm trying to say is you can likely contaminate antelope meat even if there isn't hair on the meat. Your reeking camo clothes after a hunt is a great example of this!

Yep, get the hide off the meat and allow it to cool down ASAP....but also try to touch the meat with hands as few times as possible. You may even want to swap gloves or baby wipe your hands after or while skinning? Keep the smelly cape and anything else that has been contaminated away from the meat!

I cape just about every antelope I harvest. Lately I've been life-sized skinning many of my antelope. In the case of life-sized skinning there is 0 hair on the meat...the hair is pretty much on the capes! Does the meat still have gamey smell on rutting bucks...heck yes because I likely touched it while skinning and/or likely placed the capes in the same giant cooler as the meat.
 
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Butchering one today that we've been aging for a week in a cooler. Mostly roast and steak with the front shoulders as burger. The hock have turned into a family crockpot favorite with the lions served as is grilled or stuffed with a jalapeno and cream cheese.
 
tailchasers said:
Butchering one today that we've been aging for a week in a cooler. Mostly roast and steak with the front shoulders as burger. The hock have turned into a family crockpot favorite with the lions served as is grilled or stuffed with a jalapeno and cream cheese.
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Grind the hinds and make roasts out of the fronts. Three cuts bone in, one blade roast, one lower leg and one shank roast. The connective tissue and bone is what makes the roast so good.
 
jims said:
Where does the "stink" come from?

I just did a search and found a reference that said that pronghorn bucks have 9 glands and does have 6 glands. That's a heck of a lot of glands that produce "stink"! That's also a lot of locations where stink can be transferred to meat. To add to the stench....Not only do antelope have a gob of glands but bucks also pee all over their belly and legs during the rut.

Obviously it's important to get the stinky hair (from glands and pee) off quickly and allow the meat to cool down. I don't think many hunters understand that the "stink" can be transferred to the meat regardless of whether there is any stinky hair on the meat or not. Obviously it's super important to keep the stinky hair off the meat but there is more to it than that!

Have you ever smelled your hunting clothes after harvesting and processing an antelope during the rut? You may not have any hair on your clothes but they literally reek of musky antelope. My guess is you rubbed the stink hide and glands all over your clothes....plus your stinky hands touched your clothes.

If you harvest bucks prior to the rut your clothes likely smell fine. We harvested 3 antelope last year prior to the rut and there was almost 0 musky smell on our bucks. We shot another 4 bucks this year during the rut and they literally reeked! If you don't want musky smell hunt prior to the rut. Obviously late season bucks likely still have lingering stench even though they are done rutting. If you don't want to deal with smelly antelope hunt prior to the rut!

How many times do your hands and knife touch the hair of the antelope while skinning? My guess is every time you tug on the skin/hair and then touch meat you are contaminating the meat. Does your knife touch hair while skinning....does this same knife touch meat?

As an example of how smell from scent glands travel....think of how far away you can smell a rank road-killed skunk? It has nothing to do with hair touching your nose...the smell is in the air! The smell is worse the closer you get to the skunk and is horrible if you touch the hair and glands! Can you imagine what meat would taste like if you touched the hair around a skunk gland and then touched meat. Obviously if stinky skunk hair was on meat it would be even worse but I think you get my point.

So what happens when you place a stinky antelope cape in the same cooler as your meat? Do you think the smell transfers? I can pretty much guarantee that if you placed the same stinky skunk skin in a cooler with meat the meat would reek of skunk. I guess what I'm trying to say is you can likely contaminate antelope meat even if there isn't hair on the meat. Your reeking camo clothes after a hunt is a great example of this!

Yep, get the hide off the meat and allow it to cool down ASAP....but also try to touch the meat with hands as few times as possible. You may even want to swap gloves or baby wipe your hands after or while skinning? Keep the smelly cape and anything else that has been contaminated away from the meat!

I cape just about every antelope I harvest. Lately I've been life-sized skinning many of my antelope. In the case of life-sized skinning there is 0 hair on the meat...the hair is pretty much on the capes! Does the meat still have gamey smell on rutting bucks...heck yes because I likely touched it while skinning and/or likely placed the capes in the same giant cooler as the meat.
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Wtf did I just read? So you’re saying if I fart and chew bubblicilous while skinning an antelope the antelope will taste like a fart and bubble gum?
 
yotebuster17 said:
Grind the hinds and make roasts out of the fronts. Three cuts bone in, one blade roast, one lower leg and one shank roast. The connective tissue and bone is what makes the roast so good.
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So that flavor continues through but at low and slow heat? I cook the shanks in the crock pot and it's delicious! Haven't tried the other 2 on the bone and tissue.
 
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tailchasers said:
So that flavor continues through but at low and snow heat? I cook the shanks in the crock pot and it's delicious! Haven't tried the other 2 on the bone.
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Yeah. All the good flavor comes from the bone and the connective tissue. The lean meat doesn’t taste like much. That’s the reason most people trim it all away, they want it to taste like ketchup and barbecue sauce. I’ll never grind another front quarter as long as I live.
 
Yotebuster,
Have you smelled your hunting clothes after skinning a buck antelope in rut? Your undies may reek from a stenchy fart but not from chewing bublicious. If you skin a roadkill skunk you might as well toss your clothes even though you don’t get hair on your clothes.

I’m sure all of us agree that rutting pronghorn bucks generally are pretty musky smelling and some bucks you can almost smell before you get up to them?
 
It’s probably listed in here , but pronghorn taste different from location to location
our antelope eat sweet gamma grass and taste excellent, the sagebrush and more poor areas they taste stronger
 
Mule deer and whitetail have lots of glands also... preorbital, tarsal, metatarsal, etc. All wild hoofed animals have glands, as do most mammals.
I actually find the scent of a pronghorn buck less offensive than buck deer or an elk.
 

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