I'd have to look it up but off the top of my head his prongs were about 8", his first was about 8" and he was over 15" somewhere.
Also I think that first buck you posted is close to 80" but +/- about 4-5" because of the blurry pics. From those pics I'd give him 13-6/8, 5-5/8 prong, 6-4/8, 7...
The biologist told us it's when the weather changes a lot going from cold to hot during the dry summer. So basically from now to August in Arizona and New Mexico. I'd guess bucks that don't have the visible ring are either in climates that didn't change that much when summer hit, or those...
They all grow at different rates based on genetics, weather, feed, etc. From now until August I've seen bucks put on 3" of length - very rare. I've seen bucks that didn't appear to grow at all. For 95% of the bucks, from now until August, they'll grow anywhere from 1/2" in length to 2" in...
We've only hunted the far western edge of 59. I remember that we killed a buck that looked 90 and scored 85 and that was our biggest buck up in that country. I can't speak to the rest of the area, but I'd guess it's similar.
As for what will happen - that's a tough question. I know everyone...
We used to hunt the Smith Ranch and the Craft Ranch in the north eastern corner of the unit. There are quite a few antelope up there. I don't remember exactly where the public land was, but I'm sure you can access some of it and find some bucks to chase. You probably won't be chasing any...
That's what we've been told by New Mexico ranchers as they've watched their herds move around the ranch during drought years. They explained to us the different feed in different parts of the ranch and how the antelope eat much higher protein feed during the droughts.
And when we look at what...
This would jive with my theory from 2011 - that a bucks future horn growth is directly related to that bucks health during the year it's born. Stands to reason that the healthier the doe, the healthier the fawn.
They transplanted bucks from 19A all over the state and the big horn size has never taken hold anywhere. Although the habitat never seems to affect the bucks with the ear tags. Their offspring however never seem to attain good horns. Over time I’d say you’d need to place crummy bucks into prime...
I've known Terry for over 20 years. He actually guided a couple antelope hunts for us back when we had a lot more leased ground in New Mexico. Great guy!
I have that book! It's huge.
As for the question: If you can picture the bucks horn core under his horn, once any part of the top no longer has part of the horn core beneath it's surface, then it's done growing. This is why the bottom part of the horn will continue to grow for the longest and...
I've never had the chance to scout for antelope in California. You mention Central Valley - are the antelope from that area gone now? Or just small with low populations?
That's what we've noticed on big bucks - they all have big horn cores. Long bucks have long cores and heavy bucks have massive cores. Which is why I was hypothesizing that bucks born on great years would be bigger throughout life...thinking that their horn cores (along with bones and bodies)...
Soil would be an interesting thing to look at specifically. I haven't dug into that yet.
The ranchers running sheep destroyed the antelope populations but it really had nothing to do with over grazing. It was primarily because of the many woven wire sheep fences that had to be used. We lease...
As far as I know the antelope in that area are all gone. I remember reading that all the habitat was lost because of the encroachment of unfriendly antelope habitat. I can’t rememeber exactly what kind. I’ll look it up when I get the chance.
We've guided to bucks over 87 inches in every single unit mentioned in this thread. Not to toot our own horn, but more to illustrate that any of the areas mentioned can and will produce great bucks. It's very difficult to know which units will be better than the others on any given year...
Maybe I should have clarified that cheaper motels aren’t so good in worland. Cheaper motels in thermopolis seemed to be nicer. I’m very cheap. ;) I probably haven’t stayed in all of them, though.
Unit 58: You could stay in Rock Springs. South half of the unit is all public.
Unit 60: You could stay in Rock Springs or Rawlins depending on which side you'd like to access it from. Northern half is pretty remote. Not a ton of antelope until late in the season when they migrate south. But...