MuleyMadness Hunting Forums

This year I am going to be hunting antelope in Colorado with my bow. I was wondering how people hunt antelope with a bow. Or any tips any one has for me.

Water hole in a blind is the most common and successful. Decoying works as well but you need a little rut to help you out with that. If you have the contour to support it you can do spot and stalk.

Stickflicker is the guy here to ask.

Water hole or windmill is the best way. I did take one staulking once. but you better have a lot of patence. the drier the better. here's a pic of a doe I took, I look so bad cause I was sick and had a hi temp.

My cousin to this nice buck on the same trip.

Antelope live in a home range that is no more than 4 miles distant from a water source so finding a good water source is key to finding antelope.

Also during the rut Antelope bucks become extremely aggresive and will not tolerate other bucks trying to breed does so decoys tend to work well.

When is the antelope rut?

I agree with what has already been said. Stands on water probably account for more bow killed antelope than any other method, but it is pretty satisfying to kill one through the use of a decoy or by stalking. In years where it rains throughout the season, these latter methods may be the only way to go.

Antelope do tend to have a fairly small home range, particularly during the rut. If you can, spend some time learning the home range and escape routes of the buck(s) you wish to hunt. It doesn't hurt to spook them a time or two, to see where they go when they are spooked, as long as you do it before the season opens.

The rut will vary by area, so I would expect that someone from Colorado could help you more than me as far as the rut in your area. In Arizona it tends to be mid-September to later September. Like the elk rut, it can vary in timing and intensity a little from year to year as well.

The great thing about antelope hunting, is that you can often see antelope at all times of the day, and aren't limited to just morning and evening hunting like you are for most other species. Try some things, make some mistakes, it's all part of learning and creating great memories of the hunt!

Marvin

From my experience, the rut here in Colorado starts around the middle of September and runs until the middle of October.