Eating Antelope

Some of the best meeat ever IMHO. It just needs to be taken care of right away. Usually from the time I shoot it to the time it is skinned 1/4 and on ice is 30 minutes or less. Get the skin off, cool and let it age for only about 2 day max in a good cooler.

Try to shoot one bedded or really relaxed early in the season before they have ran for thier lives. Cook it about hte same as everything else wild. Dries out really fast so short cooking times and good marinades work well.
 
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I would agree with elks. Very good meat if you get it and keep it cool and keep the hair off it. They do stink when your field dressing and skinning them though. So don't let that scare you off the meat.
 
In order to have good sweet Antelope meat you need to know where their glands are. The first thing people do after bagging their Antelope is take pic's of the animal. They like to show the head off so they grab it up by the glands below and in front of the ears. Also the middle of the back has a big bad gland that if you touch it you got antelope that won't wash off easy. Then when you field dress your animal you spread the gland all over the animal. If you drip a drop of gasoline in a mud puddle it spreads quickly all over. This is basically the same thing that happens with oversight of the glands. Dress them quick, put on ice and get the hide off in a clean environment asap = great meat.
 
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Take care of it when you kill it, don't cook it too long and its as good as most meat you'll ever get. It will smell a little different when you cook it but it's not pork or beef so it shouldn't smell like pork or beef!
 
My experiences with eating antelope are all over the map. Some are definitely better than others. If you or someone else spends all day chasing one around then shoot it, odds are pretty good it will taste like trash. If you wake one up in the morning and it lives where is has something to eat besides sage they can be excellent tablefare.
 
It is excelent eating. I perfer it over most butcher shop meats. I try to shoot one that has been living in the pastures not the sage brush. They need to be taken care as soon as they are killed. Pack the body cavaty with ice and get it to a butcher shop to get the hide off ASP. You will have great eating. They just require a little more care.
 
Elks told you straight up about antelope meat. Especially the part about their running for their lives.

Last year I shot a napping buck in mid morning and he eats fantastic. One son in law shot a dry doe in the mid afternoon that was away from traffic and had not been run and she eats great. Other son in law shot a buck latish in the day that had been run hard by several other hunters and was fleeing on some serious adrenalin when he killed him and that one is ok eating but not like the other two!
 
pretty much what the others said.
I know all deer/elk/ect meat sucks if you kill it on the run but antelope have somthing extra.
I remember hearing/reading somthing about the adrenaline that antelope release has a sort of toxin into the meat that makes it really bad.
anyone else know about this?
sorry i really didnt add anything. lol. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
I've had Antelope from WY & TX. The meat from WY was bad. Then I harvested one from TX, it was GREAT!!!!! I DON'T know why. Maybe the different feed or how it was cared for after the shot. The difference was night & day!
 
Good dog food...

All kidding aside, I'll just echo what others have said. You need to take care of it right away. Dress it, skin it, and get it cooled off. Still I much prefer elk over both deer and antelope and definately deer over antelope. They do stink pretty bad, but then again, they are basically a goat and goats freaking stink!! But I would say they are funner to hunt then deer and elk, at least elk. There aint nothing "fun" about elk hunting...Its straight work!!

Never knew about the running and adrenaline thing. Makes sense I guess.
 
Antelope is probably my favorite North American game meat when prepared properly. Just grilled up a backstrap last night that melted in our mouths. As stated numerous times in this post, you've really got to pay attention to meat care. Shoot only calm animals and get the hide off and the carcass cooled in a hurry. If you can get the hide off and meat cooled inside of two hours, you will have a great piece of meat in my experience (20 or so goats in NM and WY). Push it much longer, particularly if it's warm (as it is during the antelope seasons of many states) and you're risking it.

Meat care is important for all game, but seems to really be critical in the preparation of tasty pronghorn. It's just not as forgiving as deer, elk, or other critters.
 
As far as big game goes I rate it like this
1 Big horn sheep
2Elk
3Moose
4 Deer
5Antelope
But that being said Antelope makes the best jerky. And Moose can be # 2 I think the worst one we tried to eat was a 380 Bull Elk My 15 year old son killed 4 years ago..............
 
I wont deny that Antelope can be good but you must do exactly what Elks and 4100fps said. You must take great care with it and do so rapidly. Personally, I donate my Antelope to charity when I kill one because other than making jerky out of it, I cant stand them. I do kinda live in the center of the worlds largest Antelope population. I have had good goat and then I have had some I wouldnt give to a dog. I live on Elk and deer and never buy beef for the freezer so you will have a tough time convincing me prairie maggots are better all around table fare then Elk.
 


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