There is a trick to making antelope meat good. First off, don't run them down in a pickup, which a lot of people do. Running them builds up adrenilin in the tissue. Second, the hair on antelope is hollow and really insulates well. It needs to come of immediately and the meat needs to go on ice as soon as possible. If those precautions are taken, the meat is outstanding.
One common thread I've heard from everyone that says antelope meat tastes awful is that they shot the thing and then tossed it in the back of the truck while they drove around dirt roads looking for another one. Antelope hunting is a warm weather sport, so the animal is tossed unskinned, with a heavy insulating hide, onto a hot metal truck bed and then driven all over the county getting covered with dust. And then people wonder why the meat tastes bad. If you did the same thing with prime beef, it would taste bad too.
I always hunt on foot and don't run the game down and then I bone the animal out immediately upon kill, bring it out on a packframe and put it in a cooler on ice as soon as I get it out. I've never had a bad antelope that has handled that way. But I've had some that the meat wasn't taken care of properly that were foul, but I can say the same thing about deer and elk too. Most people don't take meat care into consideration until it is too late. They simply are not prepared to bone and ice it immediately. Meat care should be the first concern, not one of the last.
As for me, I'll take 2 of them this fall, on foot, by stalking. I'll bone and chill the meat immediately and will enjoy the bounty on the table come winter.
Flags
my 2 cents to ad with flags info the meat can have a very wild taste during the rut also if not cared for ASAP.Other than that we have had several over the years and just a few "bad" ones per say.
