How do drought conditions affect antelope?

[jheil]

My wife and I have talked about doing an antelope hunt in SD. She went two years ago with her dad and he was successful. My wife did not have a tag at the time. The drought conditions have made us weary as we are mainly whitetail nuts and know very little. Will these drought conditions affect Antelope? How will they affect them? Would we be better off getting preference points this year?

We know other states are better for Antelope, but SD is much more convenient for us.

Thank you for all your input.

 

[Wildabeest]

Droughts and tough winters both affect the number of antelope on the range. Drought, however, can concentrate them around more dependable water sources. That’s a double edged sword, since it makes it a little more predictable where you can find them, but also concentrates the hunting pressure. Bottom line is just go hunt when you can, and then plan your strategy around the current conditions. Contrarian thinking is not a bad strategy. If everyone else is thinking hunt near water, it may push the more mature bucks to other sanctuaries. Think like the game, not like the hunter.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

The drought can lead to a big die off from Bluetongue.