Decoys for Antelope

[coolpapabill]

Sitting water or a fence crossing  seems to be the
most used approach for Antelope. How many of you
have tried decoys as well, and with what results?

[Paul Collins]

A decoy at a waterhole works well, to give them confidence that the waterhole is safe.  But a 2-D decoy isn't good for that application, because they have a lot of time to scrutinize it and I think it spooks them eventually.  I bought a lifelike 3-D target and it worked great, even though I had just set up my blind.  The antelope walked right in and drank, in a place when they are usually nervous to come to water.  Sneaking up on the antelpe and hiding behind a decoy is a low-odds proposition in my experience. Walking around in the middle of a bunch of horses works well, although they get a little antsy when you get closer than about 50 yards.  I did that once when the rancher's horses all ran up to me.