We finally made it back to another hunting season. The archery season for pronghorn antelope is open tomorrow morning. The rifle season doesn’t open for antelope until Sept. 15, but the lion’s share of archery elk and deer areas will be open on the 1st. There are even a few elk and deer limited quota tags that will be open to rifle on Sept. 1.
But for now, it’s basically archery antelope season. With the drought we’ve been seeing across most of the state, you might have good luck if you know of a water hole in your hunt area. There might not be many places those goats can go for a drink, so they’ll likely come right past you if they get thirsty. You can also find a trail they’ve been using to come and go from the water, and set up somewhere along that.
This is a good time to get out after antelope with a bow, because they won’t be as cagey as they’ll be once people start shooting at them. And without rifle hunters out there, too, you can use a decoy to get them to come closer to you. But your time is limited. The dove season opens on Sept. 1, and once the dove hunters start punching holes in the sky with their scatterguns, the speed goats will be much more leery of humans. And they can spot you from a lot farther away than you can spot them. I read somewhere that their vision is equivalent to what we’re able to see with 8- to 10-power binoculars. And once they see you and decide you’re out to get them, they’re gone. They can’t run for long at 65 miles an hour, but at that speed, it takes less than 60 seconds for them to be a mile away.
Antelope tomorrow, and then season openers every couple of weeks for the foreseeable future. Good luck this season.
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