Antelope Decoy Lures an Antelope and a Moultrie GameSpy Captures the Encounter

Bob Severe is a Western type of guy. No, he doesn't wear a goofy 10-gallon hat or anything. But he does live out West, where the antelope roam. Severe is PRADCO Outdoor Brands' Territorial Sales Representative. He covers Wyoming and Utah and is a lifelong hunter who specializes in predator and western species like mule deer, elk and, of course, antelope.

Severe had a big hand in the development of the Carry-Lite Antelope decoy, a full-body, 3-dimensional antelope buck. He was excited to get it out in the field and see the reaction of his local speedgoats.

"Antelope are so territorial," said Severe. "They make scrapes year round. People also think that if the rut's not going hot and heavy, you've got to hunt waterholes or spot and stalk from long distances - which can be a low percentage venture for bowhunters. I wanted to prove that with a good, realistic decoy, you could pull antelope bucks from long distances."

Severe lives in the small town of Evanston, Wyoming. It's in the high-mountain dessert of the extreme southwest corner of the state. Out there you can see for miles, and that's a key to using antelope decoys in your antelope hunting.

"You want to set it (your Carry-Lite antelope decoy) up where they can see it for a long way," he said.

On the afternoon of Sept. 13, 2007, Severe took his antelope decoy only about a mile out of town to a rancher friend's hay meadow, where he had regularly seen a herd of antelope. He placed his antelope decoy in a highly visible spot. He placed a Moultrie GameSpy camera on a fencepost 15 yards away and left them both overnight. When he returned he could tell he had had a visitor.

"One of the (antelope decoy's) horns and an ear were pitched away from the decoy, and the back leg was cracked," Severe said. "I placed that decoy where anything that came into the valley would see it, and I was excited to see the pictures on the camera."

The images were near perfect. Image 1 shows the young buck approaching the antelope decoy head-on, and the next two shots show the buck approaching closer to the antelope decoy.

"Look at that first picture," Severe said. "Look at that hair on the back of his neck – his hackles are raised, showing aggression. This is early pre-rut here. Within a one-week period, I had three more attacks on the decoy on that same field."