Was my experience normal...or did I somehow F&#K up?

[RemingtonRules]

I would say Keep Hammering, but does not seem to apply. Keep Trolling

 

[DoveEater]

Well you did ask if you effed up and the consensus is pretty much yes. And then you get pissy because you didn't get the "aww poor baby" reaction you were looking for.
Just use this as a part of the learning curve of hunting big game and move on.

Its all good, happily I just recently scored another FCFS tag, this one is a muzzleloader tag for antlered mule deer up in a prime area of Northen NV, and the season starts Sunday, and this time I have managed to arrange to spend five whole days out in the area with a professional guide, and I'm eager to learn all I can from a pro instead of just wandering around on my own.

Of course, if I get a nice buck and post about it online, some people will probably trash talk me for "cheating" by hiring a guide, and that's ok, one has to have a thick skin these days.

 

[seeth07]

@DoveEater the only thing you actually screwed up is your attitude. Hunting isn't about killing something, its about the pursuit, adventure and a whole slue of other things. Your decision to go back for another try shouldn't have been influenced by the Antelope you saw (or didn't see). You had a tag for that area and the tag was issued because Nevade fish and wildlife felt there was an Antelope there for you to pursue. Hell, the lack of animals seen would have personally drove me to try again and figure it out. I like the challenge.

 

[Dsnow9]

@DoveEater the only thing you actually screwed up is your attitude. Hunting isn't about killing something, its about the pursuit, adventure and a whole slue of other things. Your decision to go back for another try shouldn't have been influenced by the Antelope you saw (or didn't see). You had a tag for that area and the tag was issued because Nevade fish and wildlife felt there was an Antelope there for you to pursue. Hell, the lack of animals seen would have personally drove me to try again and figure it out. I like the challenge.

This!

 

[perma]

Its all good, happily I just recently scored another FCFS tag, this one is a muzzleloader tag for antlered mule deer up in a prime area of Northen NV, and the season starts Sunday, and this time I have managed to arrange to spend five whole days out in the area with a professional guide, and I'm eager to learn all I can from a pro instead of just wandering around on my own.

Of course, if I get a nice buck and post about it online, some people will probably trash talk me for "cheating" by hiring a guide, and that's ok, one has to have a thick skin these days.

 

[cgasner1]

Its all good, happily I just recently scored another FCFS tag, this one is a muzzleloader tag for antlered mule deer up in a prime area of Northen NV, and the season starts Sunday, and this time I have managed to arrange to spend five whole days out in the area with a professional guide, and I'm eager to learn all I can from a pro instead of just wandering around on my own.

Of course, if I get a nice buck and post about it online, some people will probably trash talk me for "cheating" by hiring a guide, and that's ok, one has to have a thick skin these days.

Most of us aren’t anti guide. I’ve killed bulls in 5 states without one and it’s almost been 20 years since I haven’t punch a bull tag. I hired a guide this year for a Audad tag I drew area has very checker boarded access and I don’t have the time to learn it or want to drive 1000 miles across some nasty country in December. Guys do find it funny when people don’t have the you tube experience and pull up and blow a booner over on the first morning

 

[DoveEater]

Alrighty, I'm back from my successful guided mule deer hunt, and I'm going to post what I learned, especially in case someone else without much real-life hunting experience comes across or is following this thread.

Though as some posters already pointed out it was basically insufficient glassing.

Here is what I really did "wrong" during my unsuccessful antelope hunt: My idea of "glassing" was to hike most of the way up a hill or ridge (I at least knew to avoid skylining my silhouette) and spend a few minutes or so visually scouring a hillside or valley, looking for actual antelope bodies, and when I did not see any antelope after scanning the area with my binos, I immediately went back to the truck and drove farther down the road.

I now know that for some, "glassing" means spending HOURS IN ONE AREA "picking apart every sagebrush", then moving a little distance away, and again visually picking apart every bush looking for the difference between an antler tip of a bedded down deer and a bush branch.

No offense to guys who actually enjoy doing that, and my guide said he really does enjoy doing that, but that is way too tedious for me.

But it was amazing how many more animals the guide would find. At one stop I scanned the area I thought pretty well with my binos and saw no deer. The guide spent some more time looking with the spotting scope, and then was able to point out to me several deer I had missed.

 

[Rzrbk]

Update: I've requested a username change from AntelopeEater to DoveEater, because I was able to successfully hunt a bunch of doves this weekend, yay!

In case anyone is interested, this "lucky but dumb" guy who just started trying to get into big game hunting this year, reached out to several hunting guides soon after starting this thread in the hopes of getting professional help to try to get an antelope.

None of the guides had availability with such short notice, but one of them did mention that Unit 33 has gone really downhill for antelope in recent years. Which made me feel better about not being able to find one there.

I thought for awhile about going back out to give another try for a 'Lope, especially after watching that Adam Sandler clip about finding the dog one of you posted in this thread.......but 18 hours roundtrip drive to a place I had already spent numerous days in without seeing any antelope was just not appealing. Especially because I would have to do it completely solo.

I do sincerely thank those of you who reached out with PM's with advice and spots, I'll try to return the favor sometime as I gain more knowledge and experience.

On the Friday before the Holiday Weekend I called the NDOW office to see if I could return or transfer the tag since there was still some time left, and even if I couldn't get a refund I still wanted to let someone else have the chance, but the lady I talked to there said there was no way to transfer or turn back in that tag.

Yesterday I went jump-shooting for doves at a place that was only a little over an hour drive my home and it was an absolute blast! I think I'll probably stick to action-packed closer to home small game hunting trips for awhile.

I'd suggest trying to have a good spotting scope on future antelope hunts. Another poster already mentioned that you will eventually learn what terrain/habitat is worth glassing. Binoculars are like pea shooters in big country. For antelope, I try to have two spotting scopes with one mounted on my window mount and another on a tripod where I can quickly adapt to the situation. You'll cover a lot more ground a lot more thoroughly with the spotting scope.

 

[p_ham]

Alrighty, I'm back from my successful guided mule deer hunt, and I'm going to post what I learned, especially in case someone else without much real-life hunting experience comes across or is following this thread.

Though as some posters already pointed out it was basically insufficient glassing.

Here is what I really did "wrong" during my unsuccessful antelope hunt: My idea of "glassing" was to hike most of the way up a hill or ridge (I at least knew to avoid skylining my silhouette) and spend a few minutes or so visually scouring a hillside or valley, looking for actual antelope bodies, and when I did not see any antelope after scanning the area with my binos, I immediately went back to the truck and drove farther down the road.

I now know that for some, "glassing" means spending HOURS IN ONE AREA "picking apart every sagebrush", then moving a little distance away, and again visually picking apart every bush looking for the difference between an antler tip of a bedded down deer and a bush branch.

No offense to guys who actually enjoy doing that, and my guide said he really does enjoy doing that, but that is way too tedious for me.

But it was amazing how many more animals the guide would find. At one stop I scanned the area I thought pretty well with my binos and saw no deer. The guide spent some more time looking with the spotting scope, and then was able to point out to me several deer I had missed.

So.. let's hear about that deer hunt!

 

[Gr8bawana]

DoveEater - No offense to guys who actually enjoy doing that, and my guide said he really does enjoy doing that, but that is way too tedious for me.
It's too bad you feel that way. Looking for game is actual hunting. Seems to me you're more into the killing aspect of it.
But to each his own.

 

[antlerradar]

Here is what I really did "wrong" during my unsuccessful antelope hunt: My idea of "glassing" was to hike most of the way up a hill or ridge (I at least knew to avoid skylining my silhouette) and spend a few minutes or so visually scouring a hillside or valley, looking for actual antelope bodies, and when I did not see any antelope after scanning the area with my binos, I immediately went back to the truck and drove farther down the road.

I now know that for some, "glassing" means spending HOURS IN ONE AREA "picking apart every sagebrush", then moving a little distance away, and again visually picking apart every bush looking for the difference between an antler tip of a bedded down deer and a bush branch.

No offense to guys who actually enjoy doing that, and my guide said he really does enjoy doing that, but that is way too tedious for me.

I admit it, I can be lazy at glassing. I often find myself scanning instead of picking a place apart. It does help to pick a place apart, but I also find plenty of animals just scanning. I think your difficulty with finding animals has less to do with method of glassing and more to do with your lack of practice.

 

[williaada]

Dove-Eater, sent you a PM glad you got back at it and got to see some deer on your second go around.

 

[DoveEater]

Update:

I just looked at the statistics from the Nevada Department of Wildlife that are available now regarding my hunt in 2023.

https://www.ndow.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2023-Antelope-Harvest-by-Unit-Group.pdf

For what my 2023 tag was for, second season ALW for Antelope in Unit 033, I was one of 25 hunters....and only 9 of the 25 hunters were successful.

So I was one of the majority of hunters for that time period and unit that was not successful.

And note: 0% of the harvested pronghorn in that time period/unit had horn length of 15" or greater, I personally don't care about horn length at this point, but the fact that every single one of the antelope harvested with the type of tag was below a size threshold that many antelope hunters do care about it further shows how difficult that unit/time period was.

I'm hoping I'll get a tag in the upcoming Wyoming draw, and a chance to do some glassing and hopefully finally get myself an antelope/pronghorn.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Update:

I just looked at the statistics from the Nevada Department of Wildlife that are available now regarding my hunt in 2023.

https://www.ndow.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2023-Antelope-Harvest-by-Unit-Group.pdf

For what my 2023 tag was for, second season ALW for Antelope in Unit 033, I was one of 25 hunters....and only 9 of the 25 hunters were successful.

So I was one of the majority of hunters for that time period and unit that was not successful.

And note: 0% of the harvested pronghorn in that time period/unit had horn length of 15" or greater, I personally don't care about horn length at this point, but the fact that every single one of the antelope harvested with the type of tag was below a size threshold that many antelope hunters do care about it further shows how difficult that unit/time period was.

I'm hoping I'll get a tag in the upcoming Wyoming draw, and a chance to do some glassing and hopefully finally get myself an antelope/pronghorn.

You received some lashing here - no doubt. Glad you learned something - lots of other folks have not harvested due to lack of experience/understanding. Good luck on future hunts.

 

[Shawn Rene]

I am posting because I am a relatively inexperienced adult-onset hunter, and am wondering if I somehow screwed up my antelope hunt.

After not getting an antelope tag in the regular draw in Nevada, my home state, I began obsessively checking the FCFS website as soon as it opened hoping to get a last minute returned tag.

Last week I got lucky and got exactly what I had been hoping for, an Antelope any legal weapon tag, horns longer than ears.

It was in Unit 33, an unusually remote area in Northwestern Nevada bordering Oregon that I'd never been to despite living in Nevada most of my life, but as soon as I started "e-scouting" the area I got super-excited and optimistic.

Unit 33 mainly encompasses the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, a huge chunk of over half a million acres of federal land that is supposed to be full of antelope, and its website claims "hunter success is high".

The season opened this past Tuesday, and I was fortunately able to juggle things around with my work and home life such that I was able to leave Monday morning, and just came back late last night.

To make a long story much shorter, a friend and I camped inside the vast Sheldon Wildlife area Monday and Tuesday night. We traveled EVERY INCH of the two main roads that transverse through the large area, the paved 140, and the gravel route 8a.

We stopped at lots of high points and glassed.

I got out of the truck and hiked up over numerous ridges and hill tops to check out flattish areas with more greenery than average that looked promising and that couldn't be fully seen from the road.

I did a multi-mile trek on foot to carefully approach a mostly but not entirely dry lake bed full of sage away from any road that was kindly recommended to me by Randy Newberg from this site. I did at least see some fresh looking antelope hoof prints in the mud by some water in that mostly dry lake bed.

In total, I saw zero antelope in the areas where hunting was allowed.

Yes, that is correct, ZERO antelope in the hunt-able area during the hunting season.

I saw numerous antelope outside my designated hunting unit alongside the highway while driving to Unit 33 the day before opening day. A nine hour one way drive.

I saw one lonely doe antelope inside a small area within the Sheldon where hunting is prohibited.

But during two full days from before sunrise to close to sunset of looking hard I saw exactly zero antelope in the hundreds of thousands of acres of hunt-able public land.

At least I saw a beaver, the first wild beaver I've ever seen, near the Virgin Valley campground inside the refuge. I also saw other game species like quail, dove, cottontail, I had a bit of an adrenaline charge when 3 doe mule deer suddenly ran right by me when I was trekking on foot, and while driving I even had to hit the brakes once when a big buck mule deer chased a doe across the road right in front of the truck, but no antelope in the hunt-able area.

Now, here is something I keep thinking about: During opening morning my friend and I stopped and chatted briefly with a couple who were glassing for antelope on the side of the road.

I mentioned we hadn't seen any antelope that morning, and they both acted SHOCKED!

The guy was like, "Huh? There's tons of antelope here". The lady was like "I've passed on ten bucks so far this morning, because I'm holding out for a trophy one".

Now, that was during opening morning when my friend and I were still full of optimism, and we were inspired by those comments to hurry up and go find any one of those ten bucks the lady claimed she had just passed on.

For the nine hour drive back with our empty cooler, my friend and I kept wondering aloud if that couple was just messing with us, or if they were somehow seeing tons of antelope while we were somehow antelope blind.

So, did I somehow do something wrong?

I thought antelope were supposed to be a relatively easy DIY hunt, basically just drive around and look for them, then try to sneak up within shooting range of one once you see one.

But I somehow couldn't spot one to even have a chance to stalk one. Is there some special way to look for antelope I just don't know about?

It sounds like you put a tremendous amount of effort into your hunt, and it's frustrating when things don't go as planned, especially after hearing about others' success in the same area. It's not uncommon for hunting experiences to vary widely, even within the same unit or area.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Dude, how deep you gonna dig this hole?

 

[Beignet]

Dude, how deep you gonna dig this hole?

Shawn is PUMPED about the antelope draw.

 

[Zim]

I am posting because I am a relatively inexperienced adult-onset hunter, and am wondering if I somehow screwed up my antelope hunt.

After not getting an antelope tag in the regular draw in Nevada, my home state, I began obsessively checking the FCFS website as soon as it opened hoping to get a last minute returned tag.

Last week I got lucky and got exactly what I had been hoping for, an Antelope any legal weapon tag, horns longer than ears.

It was in Unit 33, an unusually remote area in Northwestern Nevada bordering Oregon that I'd never been to despite living in Nevada most of my life, but as soon as I started "e-scouting" the area I got super-excited and optimistic.

Unit 33 mainly encompasses the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, a huge chunk of over half a million acres of federal land that is supposed to be full of antelope, and its website claims "hunter success is high".

The season opened this past Tuesday, and I was fortunately able to juggle things around with my work and home life such that I was able to leave Monday morning, and just came back late last night.

To make a long story much shorter, a friend and I camped inside the vast Sheldon Wildlife area Monday and Tuesday night. We traveled EVERY INCH of the two main roads that transverse through the large area, the paved 140, and the gravel route 8a.

We stopped at lots of high points and glassed.

I got out of the truck and hiked up over numerous ridges and hill tops to check out flattish areas with more greenery than average that looked promising and that couldn't be fully seen from the road.

I did a multi-mile trek on foot to carefully approach a mostly but not entirely dry lake bed full of sage away from any road that was kindly recommended to me by Randy Newberg from this site. I did at least see some fresh looking antelope hoof prints in the mud by some water in that mostly dry lake bed.

In total, I saw zero antelope in the areas where hunting was allowed.

Yes, that is correct, ZERO antelope in the hunt-able area during the hunting season.

I saw numerous antelope outside my designated hunting unit alongside the highway while driving to Unit 33 the day before opening day. A nine hour one way drive.

I saw one lonely doe antelope inside a small area within the Sheldon where hunting is prohibited.

But during two full days from before sunrise to close to sunset of looking hard I saw exactly zero antelope in the hundreds of thousands of acres of hunt-able public land.

At least I saw a beaver, the first wild beaver I've ever seen, near the Virgin Valley campground inside the refuge. I also saw other game species like quail, dove, cottontail, I had a bit of an adrenaline charge when 3 doe mule deer suddenly ran right by me when I was trekking on foot, and while driving I even had to hit the brakes once when a big buck mule deer chased a doe across the road right in front of the truck, but no antelope in the hunt-able area.

Now, here is something I keep thinking about: During opening morning my friend and I stopped and chatted briefly with a couple who were glassing for antelope on the side of the road.

I mentioned we hadn't seen any antelope that morning, and they both acted SHOCKED!

The guy was like, "Huh? There's tons of antelope here". The lady was like "I've passed on ten bucks so far this morning, because I'm holding out for a trophy one".

Now, that was during opening morning when my friend and I were still full of optimism, and we were inspired by those comments to hurry up and go find any one of those ten bucks the lady claimed she had just passed on.

For the nine hour drive back with our empty cooler, my friend and I kept wondering aloud if that couple was just messing with us, or if they were somehow seeing tons of antelope while we were somehow antelope blind.

So, did I somehow do something wrong?

I thought antelope were supposed to be a relatively easy DIY hunt, basically just drive around and look for them, then try to sneak up within shooting range of one once you see one.

But I somehow couldn't spot one to even have a chance to stalk one. Is there some special way to look for antelope I just don't know about?

Maybe I read this post too fast but I don’t recall seeing the word “water” even once. Anytime I’m lope hunting, that’s the first thing I focus on. Finding water, preferably running streams. If I didn’t find any at first, I’d begin checking the more remote drainages further into the hunt. And no way would I leave after just two days. Also, I’d arrive 3-7 days prior to my opening date to scout. Not sure what you did.