Decoys for Antelope

[firefighter166]

I was just wondering if anyone on here has tried using decoys for antelope in AZ... If you have, what has been your experience? Good or Bad.

[matthewp45]

If the moon is in line with the sun and mars is in the right orbit it might work. On my last archery AZ antelope hunt I used a montana buck antelope decoy a lot and I did not have any bucks come running over to me but it seemed in some situations to relax them and let me stalk in closer. Other times it seemed to make the does nervous and take off along with the bucks. The whole hunt I was watching the dominant bucks chase other bucks off like crazy but they never wanted to chase my decoy off. I have seen on TV and heard of people being successful having bucks charge their decoy and getting shots but I think thngs have to be just right and the bucks better not have been pressured to much. They also make some cow decoys now that you can hide behind to use to sneak in on antelope. They sale them at paysonoutfitters.com. Check them out too. There are probably some guys on here that have had better success than I have hopefully they will share some of their experiences with you.

[grizzly]

 

This one should work great.

[Red Rabbit]

How about a moo-cow deke instead?

 

Or wonder how a mirror shield would work that would be like a GhostBlind but hand-held

http://ghostblind.com/index.html

 

Found it...called the Stalker Shield

http://www.sportclimbers.com/antelope.htm

http://www.sportclimbers.com/stalkerindex.htm

[Santana Outdoors]

 

Thanks Matt for the referral

 

Success!

 

A few years ago Mike and myself was archery hunting in unit 10. He took off after some antelope and I took off about a mile south of him. A few hours passed and he radioed me asking for my help to find his arrows so I hiked back up to him, by now it was 10am. We sat down to eat lunch, mike had his Antelope buck decoy set up in front of him a few feet kind of out in the open. i sat down by a tree and we started to eat lunch.

 

Within a few minutes Mike noticed a buck and doe running down this ridge towards us from a mile away. As they got closer I grabbed my bow and waited, not really expecting anything to happen. Then they got closer and closer. They were still out about 400 yards almost directly across from us when they turned and jogged straight towards us, when they hit the 60 yard distance they turned sideways and slowed down, Mike wispered to me "60 yards". I set my 60 yard pin on him and followed him until Mike made a noise and the buck stopped. For some strange reason I said "Here you go sucker" as I released my arrow. The buck ran off 75 yards and piled up.

 

If it wasn't for the decoy he wouldn't had come that close. Now comes the crazy part. While we were sitting the laughing, not believing what just happened. Mike had questioned my talking while releasing the arrow. Again, I dont know why I said that.

 

Mike looked down where the buck came from and here comes another buck following the same trail and path the other antelope took, except for he came running right up to within 25 yards of the decoy. I had the range finder and wispered "25 yards", This time Mike raised his bow and stood up over the decoy and took a shot. His arrow missed. We couldn't figure out what happened and how he could have missed. The buck ran off and we went to get my antelope and headed back to camp.

 

The next day I noticed why he missed the shot, He shot through the decoy!!!!! LOL

 

2 years later we had another tag in unit 10 and opening day we had the decoy and ran up a hill after a buck following some does, luckily there was enough of a rise in the hill and a little valley on the other side that we were able to chase after them and them not see us. Once we topped out I saw the buck out 150 yards so when he saw the decoys in front of us the buck come running at us at full speed and stopped at 50 yards. Mike took the shot and nailed him.

 

I myself like decoys but we also spend lots of hours in the field and lots and lots of time looking for opportunities and did I say lots of luck yet!

 

Good luck ,

 

Eric

[matthewp45]

I forgot to mention that my archery hunt was in unit 19A. I had a lot of people tell me that those antelope have seen it all and get tons of pressure. So hopefully my unit 1 archery tag that I have this year will yield some dumb antelope that will try and run over my decoy. Hopefully they will have terrible eye sight in unit 1 too.

[matthewp45]

Here is the antelope decoys that I would recommend:

http://www.paysonoutfitters.com/servlet/th...Buck-Doe/Detail

Here are those cow decoys as well. Looks pretty cool but you may look like an idiot carrying a life size cow cut out across the prairie:

http://www.paysonoutfitters.com/servlet/th...ow-Decoy/Detail

http://www.paysonoutfitters.com/servlet/th...-the-Cow/Detail

[Bucks_N_Yotes]

I got a setup thats going to catch on like wildfire for both antelope, and elk! I just got mine in this week and can't wait to get it out in the field!

 

I have attached a couple photos of it. Its like an umbrella that you pop out and can hold infront of you, or you can set it up as a blind and sit behind it. Light weight and you can also use it as a trekking pole!

 

Here is their website.

 

http://elkmtngear.com/

 

If you want more info on it, i can get you the owners number or email address.

[firefighter166]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will look all the decoys over. Hey matthewp45, I also have the Unit 1 archery tag, should be an awesome hunt! Bucks and Yotes could you get me that e-mail address? Thanks again brothers.

[TLH]

 

The Cow Decoys do work very well. This decoy is called the Zebu and i used it to get my client from a mile to 46 yards to shoot his buck. The trick is move slow like a cow and just do what a cow would do. Oh, you need to be down wind from the antelope too. This decoy works on everything--elk, deer, coyote's you name it. It has a shoot through hole in the middle of the body and a rifle rest if you are hunting with a rifle. If you are by yourself it has Velcro straps that you can strap your bow to.

 

Good luck!!!

[ruthunter]

Check out challenger decoys there inflatable and can rolled up and put in a backpack.www.challengerdecoys.com

[az4life]

It may sound weird but in addition to the decoys, you should try your stalk with a white shirt. It's amazing if you move slow and keep just on the edge of a ridge or valley, they seem to think the white is another antelope. A lot of times they come right in to you in wyoming like this.

[Coach]

Interesting stuff. I like the cow blind/decoys. My buddy tried one of those older-style-fold-in-half foam antelope jobs a couple years back, and I watched as he emerged into sight - they were having NOTHING of it. The colors were all wrong - too reddish. They bolted immediately.

 

Just don't use an antelope-looking decoy to hide behind during a rifle hunt. You might find yourself dodging bullets.

[dchamsr06]

I was watching Arrow affliction the other day. He was hunting Antelope in North and South Dakota. He took a bunch of Whitetail decoys painted them to look like Antelope and tagged out within the first hour of each hunt.

[hoghntr]

 

This one should work great.

 

FLIPPIN FANTASTIC VID YOU FOUND!