Antelope Hunting

If you are lucky enough to draw an Antelope tag for the Steens Mountains in Oregon not only will the beauty of the mountains leave you breath taken so will all the wildlife you will see. The antelope hunting is so remote it's best to take everything you will need for the time your there. Burns Oregon is the closest town for any reasonable resources needed at 60 miles away. There's Frenchglen at the northwest edge of Steens Mountain Wilderness area, but you better bring your loan officer to get an advancement to pay for the fuel and goods. We saw close to 75 wild horses the three days we were there. Above are the first wild horses that we saw on our hunting trip. You want to arrive a few days early to scout for the antelope herds because by opening day they have been scattered and are more difficult to find. Opening day at Steens Mountain becomes a highway, but by Monday it's nice and quiet and most of the hunters have cleared out. Antelope here like to hang out in the open which makes it difficult to get withing 500 yard of them. They feed in the grassy areas that are just a tint greener than all the surrounding areas. You will notice the difference of color once you see the antelope feeding. Make sure if you see a herd you are the only hunters advancing on them. I could see a herd from camp and watched two separate groups of hunters stalking this herd. They were on the opposite side of the field from each other and didn't see each other until the herd was running away. Both groups had to walk 4 miles to get to the remote herd. About an hour after the hunters left the herd came right back to where they were feeding. The antelope were so far in I didn't even attempt to hunt that particular group of antelope. I took my antelope on Monday two days after opening day at 10:30 am. The pictures above are the animals and the surrounding area that I took while I was at Steens Mountain. Steens Mountain has camping,fishing,hiking,horse trails and at night the stars are countless. If you are ever looking for adventure take a drive to the Steens Mountains in Oregon you wont be disappointed.