Antelope Question - Page 2

Crankylove · October 27, 2009, 11:13 PM

Quote:

I carry atleast ten gallons of water to clean the blood and hair from the critter and to help cool the meat...Most of the hunting in SW Wyoming is done during warm weather and getting the animal cooled down is important. I also believe that little is gained in "aging" antelope as it is a delicate meat. Mine is usually in the freeze within 24 hours

You nailed it ^

Too many people don't wash it, or cool it quick enough, and then all your work is for nothing. I also hear too many people wanting to hang for several days like it is a side of beef. Antelope has so little fat (read that as practically none) that hanging longer than it takes to cool the carcass is just wasting meat.

My brothers and I also hunt south western Wyoming for our speed goats, and have taken quite a few nice ones. Couple months and we get to put in for more.........can't hardly wait.

zeisloft · October 28, 2009, 11:24 PM

phoneguy, we got yall beat. 3 of us just returned from NE WY with 15. We brought a box freezer and generator in a trailer. Good cold weather helps! Tasty stuff!
~z

Phoneguy · October 29, 2009, 02:38 PM

Quote:

phoneguy, we got yall beat. 3 of us just returned from NE WY with 15. We brought a box freezer and generator in a trailer. Good cold weather helps! Tasty stuff!
~z

Very nice. It's alot of work if you are like us. We bone everything out ourselves. Lots of folks will drop theirs off at a butcher and pick up the meat on the way out of town.
You must have got some extra tags. some of the guys that went with us only wanted a couple Doe tags. One guy bought 4 extra tags and killed all 4 of his one morning. We brought 8 back to camp at one time. Like I said.... it's a lot of work but worth every minute.

zeisloft · November 2, 2009, 02:41 PM

Yep, we bone everything out also. A 3 man operation with some experienced knives makes it go quite a bit easier. We typically take about 10 mins to process each of em. 2 guys working together on the hanging rack to skin and bone out the carcass one guy on the tailgate boning out the front legs. Separate everything by its final destination: ie hams become steaks or jerky and go into one bag, front legs, rib meat, neck scraps all get bagged up for our sausage grind, hearts, livers, backstraps, and tenderloin all get their own bags. That way everything is much easier once you get home, just a matter of throwing it in the freezer.

And yes, we all got 4 doe tags and 1 buck tag each. Agree, worth every minute

~z

Phoneguy · November 2, 2009, 02:48 PM

Question for you. Leaving proof of sex attached for a doe. How big a piece of meat do you leave attached to the udders?

zeisloft · November 2, 2009, 05:00 PM

Interesting thing on that…we had a discussion with the WY game warden on that issue. He said if we kept “proof of sex” WITH the meat we were ok. They just wanted to be sure that the lbs of meat vs the tag count worked out. He suggested we keep a “bag of ‘giners” for the proof. So we had a ziplock bag full of our “proof of sex”. Word to the wise, don’t stuff your ‘giner bag in the holes in the bed rails of your truck on a cold day; they will freeze in place and make extraction of said bag quite difficult.

How did yall do it? That was the primary reason we brought freezers, we thought we would only be able to quarter the animals. Fairly unclear in the regs
~z

Phoneguy · November 2, 2009, 06:55 PM

We were told that we had to keep proof of sex attached to an edible chunk of meat. One Warden said if we left it attached to a ham we were ok. Another said a piece the size of your fist was acceptable. We do less than that but we put it in a bag with the tag and label it as Doe#1 etc. and label the boned out meat as Doe#1 etc. We have had a Warden stop and talk to us but never asked about Tags or what we killed. He was just counting how many people we had with us. Wyoming is pretty good about harassing out of state hunters. Lots of $$$ comes in from them.
I have a Friend that actually got the dates mixed up on the two areas he was hunting and killed a Antelope doe a week before Season, dropped it off at the butcher then on the way to the other area he realized what happened. He thought he was busted for sure. Called Fish and Game and turned himself in, assuming the butcher was going to call anyway. The warden said "Well....... I don't want to hear of you guys doing that again" That was it. No ticket, got to keep the meat and go on to the other location to kill his Buck.

Phoneguy · November 2, 2009, 06:56 PM

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

October 28, 2009, 11:24 PM	#27
zeisloft Senior Member Join Date: June 7, 2005 Location: Amarillo TX Posts: 419	phoneguy, we got yall beat. 3 of us just returned from NE WY with 15. We brought a box freezer and generator in a trailer. Good cold weather helps! Tasty stuff! ~z __________________ A scalpel can be just as effective as a broadsword Obviously, Occam was not a reloader

November 2, 2009, 02:41 PM	#29
zeisloft Senior Member Join Date: June 7, 2005 Location: Amarillo TX Posts: 419	Yep, we bone everything out also. A 3 man operation with some experienced knives makes it go quite a bit easier. We typically take about 10 mins to process each of em. 2 guys working together on the hanging rack to skin and bone out the carcass one guy on the tailgate boning out the front legs. Separate everything by its final destination: ie hams become steaks or jerky and go into one bag, front legs, rib meat, neck scraps all get bagged up for our sausage grind, hearts, livers, backstraps, and tenderloin all get their own bags. That way everything is much easier once you get home, just a matter of throwing it in the freezer. And yes, we all got 4 doe tags and 1 buck tag each. Agree, worth every minute ~z __________________ A scalpel can be just as effective as a broadsword Obviously, Occam was not a reloader

November 2, 2009, 05:00 PM	#31
zeisloft Senior Member Join Date: June 7, 2005 Location: Amarillo TX Posts: 419	Interesting thing on that…we had a discussion with the WY game warden on that issue. He said if we kept “proof of sex” WITH the meat we were ok. They just wanted to be sure that the lbs of meat vs the tag count worked out. He suggested we keep a “bag of ‘giners” for the proof. So we had a ziplock bag full of our “proof of sex”. Word to the wise, don’t stuff your ‘giner bag in the holes in the bed rails of your truck on a cold day; they will freeze in place and make extraction of said bag quite difficult. How did yall do it? That was the primary reason we brought freezers, we thought we would only be able to quarter the animals. Fairly unclear in the regs ~z __________________ A scalpel can be just as effective as a broadsword Obviously, Occam was not a reloader

November 2, 2009, 02:48 PM	#30
Phoneguy Member Join Date: October 27, 2009 Posts: 25	Question for you. Leaving proof of sex attached for a doe. How big a piece of meat do you leave attached to the udders?

November 2, 2009, 06:55 PM	#32
Phoneguy Member Join Date: October 27, 2009 Posts: 25	We were told that we had to keep proof of sex attached to an edible chunk of meat. One Warden said if we left it attached to a ham we were ok. Another said a piece the size of your fist was acceptable. We do less than that but we put it in a bag with the tag and label it as Doe#1 etc. and label the boned out meat as Doe#1 etc. We have had a Warden stop and talk to us but never asked about Tags or what we killed. He was just counting how many people we had with us. Wyoming is pretty good about harassing out of state hunters. Lots of $$$ comes in from them. I have a Friend that actually got the dates mixed up on the two areas he was hunting and killed a Antelope doe a week before Season, dropped it off at the butcher then on the way to the other area he realized what happened. He thought he was busted for sure. Called Fish and Game and turned himself in, assuming the butcher was going to call anyway. The warden said "Well....... I don't want to hear of you guys doing that again" That was it. No ticket, got to keep the meat and go on to the other location to kill his Buck.

November 2, 2009, 06:56 PM	#33
Phoneguy Member Join Date: October 27, 2009 Posts: 25	Sorry for hijacking the thread.