Best place to hunt for Mule Deer & Antelope?

[Jimm]

night hunter, IMHO you cant beat wyoming for the combo antelope and deer. I especially am fond of the north east part of the state. If it works here are some pix of a left over license hunt in that area that was 5 days of hunting , great long range opportunities and very affordable[image][/image]

 

[ricka0]

I have to agree with BigSky on the antelope - but you can get a 3 pt buck pretty easy out of the rut - I've never seen a deer during hunting season as big as the monster bigSky shot - Two hunts are better than one - but if you don't need monsters you can do it in one trip.

 

[Sasquatch]

I have to agree with the other members who say wyoming is the place to go for combo deer and pronghorn. The 80% of pronghorn being within a 300 mile radius of casper should be true since most of WY is withing that radius. terrain in the state allows for anything from spot and stock or sit in a blind archery to shots as far as you are capable of with your rifle.

 

[Big Sky]

Since you guys seem to like photos of mule deer here is another. This is my wife's first mule deer. I put her on this buck just as the rut was beginning, around mid November. It was on publicly accessible land by the way.

 

[Guest]

Big Sky,
Thanks for the pic bro. I'd be proud of that buck, and prouder if my wife shot it! Great job!

 

[Big Sky]

Thanks, I was pretty proud of her. In fact I'd say I was more proud of her and that buck than anything I have killed myself.

 

[CanadianLefty]

[ QUOTE ]
... If you wait until the end of the antelope season to kill a buck (beginning of November) you run an extremely high risk that many of the bucks will have shed their horns. This happened to some out of state friends of mine this year. I begged them not to come out that last part of the season but they insisted that they wanted to combine deer and lopes. The ended up just looking for any antelope with horns let alone a trophy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Big Sky: Wow! You just taught me something I didn't know.

I thought Pronghorn (horn in name) meant that they were like true horned animals and didn't shed. Also, I have never seen a Pronghorn 'in velvet' and I have seen lots of Pronghorns. Please tell me more about this. thanks

 

[Guest]

I'm looking forward to some similar experiences with my wife. She's been shooting for almost a year at the range, but she says she's ready to do some hunting!

 

[Big Sky]

Canadianlefty, they don't grow velvet. The horns shed each fall around the end of October on in to November. The horns are constructed of hair-like material (sort of like your fingernail.) When they shed it comes off as a sheath. In other words the horns are hollow inside. (see picture below) Underneath is bone with new hair growing. If you don't believe me, talk to any taxidermist that's worth a darn in your area and ask him about cleaning antelope horns and the skull/bone underneath for mounting. I live in the heart of antelope country and in 10 years I have found a grand total of 4 antelope sheds. They deteriorate quickly and near as I can tell little critters love to eat them.

If you really want to know more go to the site I borrowed the image from. It has a good article all about antelope. Here is a link to the article.

http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/3_2004.htm#article1