Juniper Antelope

[LIK2HNT]

Anyone hear of any good bucks being taken this year and the size? Last few years there has not been much talked about about this unit.

Thanks
Bill

 

[bonepicker]

Most of what I heard and saw for antelope this year was average or a little below. I only heard of one really good buck taken. Most seemed a little on the small side. Plenty of bucks, just nothing huge. It seems like the last two drought years have affected horn growth a bit but it seems like the antelope population is still going up.

 

[tchoate3]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-05-13 AT 09:11AM (MST)[p]I agree with Bonepicker, antelope in general are not growing to their full potential with the droughts we've been having. If you a patient man, which to draw an antlope hunt in Oregon you have to be, I would wait it out till we get some wet winters and springs. I cashed out my 15 points last year and kind of regret doing so. I you just want to kill an average one, they are out there, but a 80"+ will be hard to find in any unit.

 

[LIK2HNT]

Thanks
I am sitting on 17 NR points. I know with the points creep I still have a few years before I can draw the tag. Just trying to keep up on what the quality is, or if I need to be researching a different unit.
Thank again
Bill

 

[bonepicker]

The antelope are there and the genetics are there its just a matter of getting the right weather for a few years in a row. Several years ago, after those two above average water years, many of the bucks that were taken were huge, and that fall I saw many more huge bucks alive. I don't think that they have all died off, there is just less nutrition out there so it seems the horns are smaller for now. The moisture will swing back up at some point, could even happen this winter, there is still time. With how well the population is doing, you are in a great position to take a great buck when the conditions are right and you want to get a tag.