What camp do you belong in

[chucknbach]

Got into a discussion with Mom's husband on shucking hides on antelope.

Do you skin it in the field or wait till you get the animal home? Why?

 

[youngbuck]

I skin everything I shoot in the field. I will rarely cape a face out in the field, I usually do this back at camp. For antelope I do what ever will cause the least amount of damage to the cape if i am going to mount it. Antelope hair is really fragile. Lopes are a little different, just because the hair breaks so easily. I don't gut most animals either. I use a dorsal cut to minimize contamination to the meat.

 

[Magnumitis]

I wait until I get home, it is just easier that way.

 

[Broz]

After harvesting many antelope over the years, and eating every one of them, I have learn this.

The sooner you get it cooled out, the better the meat will be.

So here is what I do.

If I am way in on foot I debone right on the spot and get the meat out to a cooler asap.

If I am in dragging distance of the truck, I will field dress and get it to camp asap where we skin, then quarter them and put the 1/4's on ice in coolers as soon as possible.

If there is snow on the ground I field dress and fill the chest cavity with snow. Then get it to camp and skin and get on ice.

Antelope are the tenderest tastiest animals one could eat. The guys that don't like the taste are probably hauling them around on a flat bed in 50 degree weather too long.

Bottom line, get em chilled and skinned asap and enjoy some very good eating.

Jeff

 

[MachV]

A slice down the back to relieve the backstraps and then down the quarters to get them off for boneing. No gutting and the hide helps keep the meat off the dirt while boneing.
When I get home its a quick wash/process and I dont have hide/bones to get rid of.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Broz, You are 100% correct. Usually pretty hot when I hunt them and the sooner you can get them skinned and cooled down the better. My wife would rather eat antelope than any other game meat.

 

[HARPERC]

Broz said it pretty well. The comment "guys hauling them around on a flat bed in 50 degree weather" is good. Most of the responders have Wyoming locations in their info, not surprising, but having chased them from Nevada to Alberta, August through October. I'd point out it won't get down to 50 degrees at night in a lot of places. In those places be prepared to waste no time if you want the mount or meat.

 

[Nimrod]

When I shoot an antelope I'm 1000 miles from home give or take. They get skinned and iced ASAP.

Bob

 

[Tikkamike]

I leave the hide on them until I am ready to cut them up and have never experienced the "sage taste" people complain about. I believe the key is (with any animal) get them somewhere cool asap. Then when you are cutting them up keep it very clean. the hair is tubular and something about it carrys scent and tast a long way. so very carefully remove all tendon and white colored film from the meat and if a hair end up on the meat i dont just pick it off i slice that little piece of meat out and throw it away. keep things very clean and you are in for a treat. (keeping the hide on just keeps the meat from drying out the taste of the hair doesnt come through the hide unless maybe it does get too hot as the skin is thin. but a reasonable temp and you will be fine. ) I have killed probably 60-80 of them ...6 per year and have not had a bad one yet

 

[Ankeny]

In central Wyoming we are experiencing near record heat with daily highs in the mid to upper 80's so be prepared for hot weather even into October. For those who are traveling a long distance, I would suggest you consider not even gutting the critter if legal where hunt and if within your personal code of ethics. Lay a sheet of plastic or a tarp on the ground, skin (cape if mounting), remove the front and rear legs (retain evidence of sex on a hind leg if required), remove the back straps, make a cut along the back that will allow access to the tender loins and remove those, then put the pieces in a large cooler with ice or dry ice. If leaving the animal whole or if quartering, instead of just tossing him/her into the bed of the truck, lay them on a pallet so the air circulates all around the animal.

Tikka Mike posted just before me and I have to agree with him for the most part. FWIW, the outfitter I work for has put about 45 antelope on the ground in the last two weeks with temperatures in the 80's and we don't skin in the field.

 

[chucknbach]

First 2 I got this year I cut up and put on ice, just because I wanted to stay out hunting longer.

Today I gutted one and through it in the back of the Tahoe and bee lined for home. Smell wasn't great but we made it.

 

[MachV]

Today I gutted one and through it in the back of the Tahoe and bee lined for home

Your my hero...if you do it again.
The better ½ went out and bought me a big white cooler and a box of garbage bags. She handed them to me with a warning to NEVER put a whole goat in the back of the Tahoe again!!
For some reason she is a little touchy about the smell of a goat in her Tahoe

 

[chucknbach]

Today I gutted one and through it in the back of the Tahoe and bee lined for home

Your my hero...if you do it again.
The better ½ went out and bought me a big white cooler and a box of garbage bags. She handed them to me with a warning to NEVER put a whole goat in the back of the Tahoe again!!
For some reason she is a little touchy about the smell of a goat in her Tahoe

LOL Good thing it's my Tahoe and she wasn't with me. Kids complained, especially when I opened the window and it stirred up the fragrance.

Had the cooler of ice but forgot the bags.

 

[MachV]

Ya I thought it was my Tahoe too...Silly me