Arizona Antelope Hunting Workshop/Scouting Field Trip

The Arizona Hunting Club & Outdoor Adventure Club invites you to attend an Arizona Antelope Hunting Workshop for Unit 7.

Part one of the Arizona Antelope Hunting Workshop consists of learning material from an Antelope Hunting Workbook, which to teaches students about the antelope game species, antelope feeding habit, antelope watering habits, the habitat antelope like to live in, antelope travel patterns as well as antelope hunting strategies, tactics and methodologies to successfully harvest a trophy antelope.

One important portion of the antelope workshop will show students how to use a topographic map and satellite aerial photos in order to predict where the highest concentration of antelope might be located within a given hunt unit. All students will need to bring a U.S. Forest Quadrangle Topographic map of the hunt, which can be purchased for around $10 at any map store.

Part two of Arizona Antelope Hunting Workshop includes taking students on an actual antelope scouting trip. Students will be armed with a digital camera and GPS unit and will spend an entire weekend scouting the areas predicted in class to hold large concentrations of antelope based on sources of food, water, bedding areas and known travel patterns.

The purpose of the Antelope Scouting Field Trip is to find good places to hunt antelope the following week during the actual antelope hunting season. The scouting field trip is important because it teaches students how to adjust their hunting plans in the field based on animal signs such as droppings, grazed eating areas, fresh antelope tracks and visual sightings of antelope herds.

Each day the class will be split up into small groups and sent into the field to scout during the morning and evening. At the end of the day every team will share their findings, their digital pictures and their GPS waypoints of important areas where antelope or fresh signs of antelope were found. Students will learn to appreciate the fact that working together as a team is the best way to find the animals prior to the hunt.

The Arizona Antelope Hunting Workshop will be held in Gilbert on Wednesday night, August 27th at 7:00 pm. For the Antelope Scouting Field Trip, students will depart from Gilbert on Friday, August 29th at 7:00 pm. Students have the option of meeting us at the campsite or carpooling with the group to Unit 7.

The Arizona Antelope Hunting Workshop and Antelope Scouting Field Trip will cover the following topics:

Arizona Hunting Workbook Table of Contents:

1. Understanding the Energy Dynamics of Wildlife
2. Arizona Game & Fish Wildlife Hunt Unit Managers
3. Arizona Game & Fish Hunting Unit Scouting Reports
4. Profiling Big Game Animals and Their Preferred Habitats
5. Profiling Hunters and Their Predictable Hunting Patterns
6. Hunting with Topographic Map Software
7. Hunting with Satellite Aerial Images
8. Hunting with 3D Virtual Maps that Show Terrain Features
9. Using a Global Positioning System (GPS) Unit
10. Planning a Scouting Trip Complete with Predefined GPS Routes
11. Recording Fresh Sign with Digital Cameras and GPS Waypoints
12. Building a Hunting Journal for Future Generations of Hunters
13. What to Scout for around Watering Holes
14. What to Scout for around Feeding Areas
15. What to Scout for around Bedding Areas
16. What to Scout for around Game Trails
17. What to Scout for around Dirt Roads
18. Using Premium Optics to See Animals Before They See You
19. Building a Food Buffet for Big Game Animals
20. Using Game Cameras to Scout 24x7
21. Building a Ground Blind
22. Installing a Tree Stand
23. Understanding Prevailing Wind, Landscape Features and Heat Thermals
24. Understanding Sound Barriers that Isolate Human Activity
25. Using Scents to Mask Human Smells
26. Using Camouflage to Hide Human Profiles
27. Building a Big Game Funnel/Choke Point
28. Using Game Calls to Lure in Big Game Animals
29. Selecting the Perfect Weapon for Hunting
30. Learning Your Weapon's Unique Shooting Characteristics
31. Practice Shooting at the Gun Range or the Archery Video Range
32. Setting Up a Hunting Camp for Comfort within Walking Range of Hunting Areas
33. Setting Up a Hunting Backpack with Every Thing You Need to Hunt
34. Processing the Meat and Preparing for a Trophy Mount
35. Improving Your Odds of Getting Drawn in Arizona
36. Improving Your Odds of Locating and Harvesting Big Game Animals