Greetings AR Colleagues,

Three of us have a Wyoming antelope hunt set for October. I've read and heard a variety of opinions on the quality and handling of antelope meat ranging everywhere from the "worst to the best game meat ever". I've also heard that field dressing antelope is different than other game and those opinions ranged from "just gut them in the field to make sure you skin them and cool them immediately in the field".

I'd be interested in current opinions on handling the antelope from the time it is down. We'll be hunting in early October so I expect the temperatures to be cool but they could range from a warm spell to a snowstorm.

What say ye?

Thanks

Paul

Well I've had great Antelope meat and pretty rangey stuff too but you can best your odds for good meat if you do all of the following.
Make a clean kill on a relaxed Antelope.
As soon as the pictures are over get everything on the inside.......outside.
As soon as you can get it hung and skinned and leave it in the shade in a game bag.
If it is warm get it in a cooler.
Keep the ice in the cooler drained so its cold but not swimmin.
Chances are in October you will have decently cool weather but sometimes you never know about the plains it could just about be 75 degrees as well.
Good luck on your Antelope hunt!

Having killed dozens and eaten them all I have my own experiences for your consideration.

First off: NEVER and I mean never shoot an antelope that has been run, is running (even is you think can make the shot)and try as best you can to get a nice DRT or doesn't travel far shot placement. A paniced death sprint will leave you with some great skunk bait. The only really bad antelope I've had were: Shot when they stopped in front of me after running 5 miles from some other hunter. Wounded and run by someone, me at least a few times over the years that I recall. Were antsy when I shot them, they saw me and were spooked, whatever and they took off like a shot after a good bullit strike and sprinted like mad for several hundred yards before piling up.

After the anteolpe is down: Be very careful if you intend to mount it. Anteolpe hair will come out in huge chunks given even a bit of help. Never drag an animal you intend to mount and be careful moving it about. My suggestion is to bring some queen size panty hose along and cover the front end as soon as possible. You may want to cape the animal before you gut it as the blood will stain the hair very easily and though it may be bleached your taxidermist will not be happy. Be very carefull with the cape, put it in the hose, roll it gently and put it and the head in a clean bag.

If you don't care to mount your goat then just split it from back to front, all the way to under the chin so you can get all the windpipe etc out, now. Remove the guts and clean the body cavity of any stomach or gut contents. If you are headed back to your vehicle to get a game cart lift the antelope up onto some sage brush open side down (lets any additional blood drain out and keeps the eagles from eating the hams while you are gone). [Yes, I've had it happen].

Back at the truck or camp you can skin you animal and hang it in the shade, IF it's late in the day and cool, highs in the 50's with near freezing or freezing overnight temps. IF it's hot, temps in the 70's or warmer and the nights are just in the 40's I've found the following method to produce the best eating meat.

Get a concrete insulation blanket (OK, I'm a contractor so I've got some of these.) Anyway, they are basicly two plastic tarps with some foam insulation in between, one tarp is black, the other reflective metalic. Put the tarp metalic side down. Put the antelope hair side down on the tarp. Break the ribs so the front quarter lay flat, cut the ball and sockets on the rear legs so they lay flat. Now, from your giant cooler or several coolers, pull out several gallon milk jugs that you froze full of water. Pile them on the antelope. Fold the tarp over, the metalic side will now be up and reflecting heat. After a few hours you will want to open the tarp up and wipe the condensation out of the animals body cavity. Fresh milk jugs are nice but only need replacement when half melted. I've kept up to five animals at a meat temperature (bring a meat thermometer to stick into the hams) of 40 to 45 degrees for several days with this method. If you don't have enough milk jugs and must use ice, use block ice only, and put the ice, not the meat into plastic garbage bags to keep the melt water off the meat. Also, check and wipe out any condensation or leakage asap.

As both prior members have said, field dress the antelope immediately and cooling it down is important. I know nothing about concrete bags, but the theory is good. Personally, I believe it is important to skin the carcass as soon as practical. In the field is much better than waiting to get home.

As far as the meat is concerned, the steaks can be great. Season them with garlic powder, seasoning salt and black pepper. Melt some butter and spread it on both sides. Cook the steaks hot and fast over hot coals to medium rare, making sure to sear each side. It can be some of the best meat you have ever had. The balance can be made into great jerky.

keep a couple coolers in your truck (with ice). skin it, cut into quarters, and put on ice as soon as possible. wear rubber gloves too.

I handled my antelope meat the same as I do my deer,pig,elk,bear,etc.

I gut it andf get it cool as quick as possible.

I have let it hang in a barn for 4 or 5 days with the skin on when it was cold weather, ie below 40*.

If I shoot some thing when it is warm or hot weather I just skin it and get it on ice asap.

I do not let my meat "get wet" in the cooler.
I place the meat in plastic bags keeing it seperate from the ice water. Just do not close the plastic bags till the meat has totally cooled off.

The wife and I would usually shoot one buck each, and she would shoot one doe, and I would shoot two. We liked antelope meat, never got a bad one.

The common sagebrush diet doesn't help !
Dress out immediately as is the way for any game . If it's warm use ice to chill it down. Meat spoils at temperatures above 40 F.

I always hunted near Casper. From the time I pulled the trigger to the time the animal was at a meat locker was no more than 25 minutes. Gut it quick. Be VERY GENTLE WITH THE ANIMAL OR MOST ALL THE HAIR WILL COME RIGHT OUT. The meat locker had the skin off in about 2 minutes after I arrived. Every pronghorn I killed was good eating. The first pronghorn I had in AZ was meat given to me from a friend who bowkilled it in August I think, or early Sept. It was the worst meat I ever had and I don't know what happened with it's care once killed. It took from 1991 to 2004 before I tried antelope again it was so nasty.

I always carry a 6 gallon water container and get all the blood off of the meat until I can hang and skin as soon a I can.I use an Otter sled to drag them in so the hair does not slip .

Like HunterMontana, I've killed and eaten several dozen antelope. I had antelope burger for dinner last night.

Basically, I don't do anything different with antelope than I do with deer, elk, or any other big game animal. I gut them where they fall, block the chest cavity open, and turn them belly down (in shade if there is any) while I go back to camp to get my wheeled game carrier. Dragging them through the dirt and sage brush doesn't help the flavor.

Back in camp, we hang them in the shade and cover them with a game bag or sprinkle black pepper over the exposed meat to deter blow flies.

On the drive home, keep them under a tarp to keep the sun off and to help keep them clean.

Once home, I'll hang them in the shade in my shed until I cut them up, usually no more than a day or two.

I don't skin them until I'm ready to cut them up. Once cooled, the hide helps keep them clean and keeps insects away.

When I cut them up, I remove all the bloodshot meat and anything white. I'll add 8-10% beef fat to the burger and it's just as good as any other wild game.

I did my Masters degree on pronghorn and learned a lot about them from my major professor, Dr. Bart O'Gara. He literally wrote the book on them.

The first thing to consider is that you do not want to handle your goat the same way you do a deer or almost any other species. The pronghorn is unique among ungulates because of all the glands that they have. For bucks, there are two cheek glands, a gland behind each horn, one in front of the tail on top of the back, metatarsal glands on the hocks and inter digital glands between the toes. I'm sure I forgot some.

What taints meat the most is getting gland material on your hands and then transferring it to the meat. The first thing we do is to hold the horns of the lope near the bases and have our picture taken. Then we begin dressing it, transferring the gland material from the horns to the meat via our hands. When dressing a an antelope, wear plastic gloves. Do not let any part of the hair side of the hide touch meat when your skinning it. Cool the skinned carcass immediately, even dunking it in a cold stream to cool it quickly. Let it hang at around 36 deg. for at least seven days. Best recipe I know of for great tasting pronghorn meat.

465H&H

NEVER gut one of those stinkin goats. We go gutless; skinning and pulling the quarters- then de-boning the quarters into bags, de-bone the lions, and any other meat. Place meat into BREATHABLE game bags and place in a cooler with ice, but the ice NOT touching the meat/bags, and the lid cracked to allow breathing. After it is cool to the touch al the way through you can place the meat in plastic bags and into the ice.

A couple additional tips- have a couple pair of rubber gloves- one to use skinning and one to use de-boning. Talk to your taxidermist before going afield on how he wants the cape cared for.

Antelope meat is a little more work than other game animals, but properly cared for antelope is worth the effort.

We carry bags of ice these days, put bag in the body cavity after we get the guts out. Off to the meat packer the same day, not always easy as there are not many packers left around Pinedale now that the gas drilling employs so many. We use a few different recipes, ranging from lamb recipes to a marinade.

I have only been involved in the killing of 5 goats of my own, and from some of the comments some folks have made, the biggest hang-up concerning antelope and their quality as table fare rests solely in the mind of the person eating the stuff.

All five I killed were excellent and I handled them exactly the same way I do deer/elk and every other hoofed animal I have shot.

I gut the animal A.S.A.P., skin and quarter and put the quarters in an ice chest covered in ice, With The Drain Plug OPEN!

The melting ice will help get blood out of the meat and will drain out of the ice chest.

Too many folks make their minds up over 1 or 2 less than perfect experiences.

Antelope handled even remotely properly is excellent, but if they have been feeding heavily on sage it will give the meat a gamey flavor, fortunenately, the ones that have had the heavy sage taste are great, because me and the wife both like the taste of sage.

My advice is just treat the animal as you would any other game killed and cook it properly.

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
I did my Masters degree on pronghorn and learned a lot about them from my major professor, Dr. Bart O'Gara. He literally wrote the book on them.

The first thing to consider is that you do not want to handle your goat the same way you do a deer or almost any other species. The pronghorn is unique among ungulates because of all the glands that they have. For bucks, there are two cheek glands, a gland behind each horn, one in front of the tail on top of the back, metatarsal glands on the hocks and inter digital glands between the toes. I'm sure I forgot some.

What taints meat the most is getting gland material on your hands and then transferring it to the meat. The first thing we do is to hold the horns of the lope near the bases and have our picture taken. Then we begin dressing it, transferring the gland material from the horns to the meat via our hands. When dressing a an antelope, wear plastic gloves. Do not let any part of the hair side of the hide touch meat when your skinning it. Cool the skinned carcass immediately, even dunking it in a cold stream to cool it quickly. Let it hang at around 36 deg. for at least seven days. Best recipe I know of for great tasting pronghorn meat.

465H&H

this is great advice. the only time i've ever had a problem with pronghorn meat was when i neglected the advice above.

other than that, i treat an antelope the same as i would a deer. i do not skin it until after it has hanged a few days (3-7, depending on weather or temperature factors). as has been said, the hide protects the meat from stuff and also keeps the meat from drying out, which will happen. if you are worried about cooling the carcas down quickly, you would, in my opinion, be better off filling the carcass with a couple of bags of ice (still in the bag) or hosing down the cavity with cold water and good drainage for fast drying.

other than the time when the meat was tainted by the glands, our antelope has always been tender, delicate and flavourful.

As already written here, water should only be applied when the carcass is still warm, to make it evaporate fast. When not gutshot and both body cavities are only wet by blood, just take everything out and let it dry. The coagulating blood forms a kind of protecting lacquer.

We shoot many roe deer during summer and have to struggle also with heat, flies and many glands on the animals.

And yes, besides hygiene, proper aging some degrees above freezing is probably the most important parameter for meat quality.

duk - agree 100% with everything you say and your post is a good reminder for the advice i gave above. i should have been more clear when i recommended washing out the cavity.

whenever i have felt a need to wash out a cavity (which has been only on hot, sunny days or when the gut was punctured as you describe), the water has always been cold to help cool the carcass and i have taken care to make sure that it drains away fast, to be dried by wind or even with towels etc. i've edited my post to make it a little more clear.

I have shot, handled, & processed a bunch of antelope.

IMO it is a little easier to degrade the quality antelope venison compared to deer.

My advice is to get the carcass gutted, skinned, quartered and in a cooler/on ice ASAP. Use proper cleaning techniques so you do not contaminate the meat.

I age my antelope 3-5 days and it is some of the best eating available.

I had not heard of the glands on antelope tainting the meat, but it makes sense and will incorporate some new techniques when processing our antelope this fall.

Next time you have handled an antelope by its horns, smell your hands. That will convince you.

465H&H

and after all that...turn the whole thing into jerky.

jerky is good, but antelope deserves better than being all jerky or snack sticks or chili-burger or stew meat; properly cared for, it makes some of the best, most tender steaks one could want.