Pronghorn As Food

lodgepole · Oct 6, 2005

I just bought some land in N. Central Wyoming that is covered up in pronghorns. I have hunted deer and elk for years and consider both fine table fare, but have never killed or eaten pronghorn.

I wont kill them if I dont intend to use the meat. I have heard they arent very good as compared to deer and elk.

Is that true ?

YukonDall · Oct 6, 2005

LOPE WAS MY DADS FAVORITE, ALOT OF PEOPLE REALLY LIKE IT. ALOT OF IT DEPENDS ON THE CARE THE MEAT GETS EARLY ON. SKIN IT AND GET IT COOLED DOWN ASAP. SOAK IT IN YOUR FAVORITE MARINADE/ & FIND A GOOD RECIPE. ITS A LITLE DIFFERENT THAN DEER/ELK, BUT GOOD. YD. (DONT OVER COOK).

n2chukar · Oct 6, 2005

A Bold Statement

If you take care of it properly, then I would put it up against any wild game. The most important thing to do with an antelope is to get the hide off it immediatley as the hair follicles will begin to shrink back into the meat.

I know a guide who believe sin this so strongly that he skins them before he guts them.

Antelope is a wonderful meat and I have decided after years of eating deer and elk that the Pronghorn has moved into first position.

AZWALKER · Oct 6, 2005

RE: A Bold Statement

Antelope also makes excellent jerky. Just got some off the rack at home... Taaassssty!

It also helps if they don't run 200 yds after you shoot them. The faster they drop the better they taste.

Thats what my father in law says anyway. I've only shot one and it ran 200 yds. so I wouldn't really know anything else.

Donnie

opportunist · Oct 6, 2005

RE: A Bold Statement

It's a lot better tasting than a rutted up ol' muley.

intimidater37 · Oct 6, 2005

RE: A Bold Statement

last year i had 25 lbs of hot dogs made out of my antelope its the best hot dogs you ever had!!!

BeanMan · Oct 6, 2005

RE: A Bold Statement

Antelope is my favorite hands down. All of the rules for caring for meat apply. They are best if they go down without knowing what has happened.

Cheers,

BM

PronghornHunter · Oct 6, 2005

I love the meat so if you need someone to come up and kill a few look me up...wink,wink.

BigPig · Oct 7, 2005

Antelope in Wy don't get no respect. Get them cool fast and make a clean kill. Last year, I dumped mine with one shot and he never knew what hit him. Mine tasted great. My buddy crippled his and had to shoot it several more times before he knocked it down. His is hardly edible.

lodgepole · Oct 7, 2005

Thanks boys.....I wanted to hear from someone outside Johnson County. Seems like everyone here regards antelope as challenging targets but not much more. I guess when you cant swing a stick without hitting one you start taking them for granted and dont appreciate them so much.

AZWALKER · Oct 7, 2005

Thats an understatement lodgepole!!!
I remember when I first met my wife and she'd only been in AZ for 7 months after moving here from Wyo. We were on our way up I-17 and we saw a small herd of goats near Dugas. I got all excited and pulled over to glass them up. She look at me like I was some kind of idiot and even said " They're just Antelope!!!"

You Wyo guys just don't understand what its like for us out-of-staters. We just don't get to see Antelope in our gardens. I'm not saying you don't appriciate them, I just think alot of you don't realize what you have in your own back yards... literally!

I walked in to a Maverick in Riverton the morning of my hunt and asked the guys behind the counter for a conservation stamp, he asked what I was hunting, I said Antelope, then he says " You came all the way from Arizona to shoot an Antelope?"

You guys just don't understand!!!

Anything I drive 2000 miles roundtrip to shoot WILL taste good, whether I like it or not!!!!

Donnie

DougW · Oct 7, 2005

Get it cooled down fast, and it's as good or better than muley meat.

PronghornHunter · Oct 8, 2005

Yeah Azwalker they just don't understand. I have lived in Riverton most of my life and when I head out of town I always have my optics with me and will pull over and glass at the first heard of goats I see and that's not even during antelope season. I check them out all year long.
I get funny looks from fellow hunters when I tell them I actually get out of my truck and will spend countless hours stalking and crawling just to kill a antelope. I always hear how easy it is to kill a goat. Those are the hunters who race up to them and jump out slinging lead in all directions hoping they hit something.

By the way I have killed antelope lying down napping and have killed them after running several miles and they don't taste any different. People say they taste bad after being run.I think that is a myth or wives tale whatever you want to call it.

eelgrass · Oct 8, 2005

AZWALKER,
Anything I drive 2000 miles roundtrip to shoot WILL taste good, whether I like it or not!!!

Ain't that the truth! LOL. My wife tells me "You spend that much time and money, you're eating it one way or another"

Antelope has it's own taste. I like to say it is "sweeter" than venison. Can't beat it IMO.

Steve

imstillinrut · Oct 9, 2005

Best eating wild game as far as I am concerned.......I'm another guy who will skin them before gutting.....quarter them out and get them on ice as quick as possible.......

It's the first meat to disappear at our house....

AZWALKER · Oct 10, 2005

Yeah, I figure now that its all is said and done I paid about $20.00 a pound for my goat. Best tasting animal I've ever had!!!

Honestly, I ate antelope as a kid and didn't know any different. Now as an adult (my wife would dissagree with the adult part) I really do like it. You can't just sit down and expect it to taste like beef and you can't sit down and gorge yourself on it. You have to appriciate it for what it is. Its wild game meat, its not going to taste anything like a McDonalds hambuger. I think if people ate more wild meat and less beef they would actually dislike beef. Back in 2001 when I got my elk, it was the only red meat I ate for about 5 months. When I went back to beef I couldn't hardly take it.

When you eat any strong meat, be it Antelope or Javalina or an old nasty sage buck, you have to clear your mind of any expectations and like it for what it is. Its not bad, its different.

Donnie

Dodger · Oct 10, 2005

I just had some of my antelope on my elk hunt. It was the first time I had ever had antelope and it was the best game meat I have ever had. Tender, oh man, and it did taste a little sweet. I used A1 mesquite merinade on it for 8 hours and then grilled it. It was awesome.