Field care of Antelope

[buffybr]

I haven't had an antelope spoil in over 50 years of hunting them, but I've always lived within a days drive of where I hunt them.
Like deer, elk and just about everything else, I gut them where they fall. I get them back to camp as quick as I can (sometimes I have to go back to camp for my wheeled game carrier), then I hang them head up in the shade. If it's warm enough for flies, hang them in a breathable game bag.
When you gut them be careful not to get stomach, intestinal contents, or urine on the meat.
I usually like to hang them for a few days, depending on the temperature.
I have different knives for processing them, but any sharp knife will work if you keep it clean and sharp.
I trim off as much white as I can from the meat, and all bloodshot meat.
I then double wrap all meat cuts and burger, and cook it like any other meat. I like my steaks rare.

If the daytime temps are above about 60* I'll bone out the meat and put it in gallon zip lock plastic bags in a cooler with ice.

For taking game back home, several states away, I would recommend the boning out and putting it in zip lock plastic bags in a iced cooler.

I also don't like to use saws as the sawed bone particles on the meat will taint it.

 

[WyoDoug]

Exactly.

My son shot two does last week inside about a minute. This was last Thursday when the wind kicked up to 35-40 mph around noon. We thought we were being really smart by laying the quarters over those stunted sagebrush stalks to cool them. I wish we had put them in game bags first because the crust that formed on them made us trim a lot of meat and the yield was terrible on his critters.

The next day wasn’t nearly as windy and the quarters off the doe I shot were laid out on the tailgate for about 30 minutes and in plastic trash bags and on ice within an hour. I got nearly as much meat off my one as we did off of his two.

Exactly true. Wyoming wind dries the meat out most of the year unless you do it after the first hard frost when the air is a bit more humid, but even then I quarter mine and get it into coolers, one so the meat don't dry out and start forming crusts on outside and two, it does enhance the flavor of the meat getting it cooled quickly. And contrary to what has been said before, that is not misinformation.