After 40 years, my first pronghorn!

[Guy M]

It's been a dream of mine since I was a kid in high school. Made it happen this year. Rest of the story is up in the deer hunting section, as I was also after mule deer.

This pronghorn hunting stuff isn't necessarily as easy as I'd believed! We made multiple stalks. Got busted time after time by the does or lesser bucks. Sat through a couple of hours of heavy rain and wind. Missed one easy shot because I was wobbling around too much. Phooey. Finally it all came together. We got close without them knowing it. They ran, then inexplicably stopped! A quick shot from 160 yards and my pronghorn was down! Cool... Only 40 years in the making. Just had some tender antelope backstrap steaks for dinner tonight... Ummmm Good!

Hope it's not another 40 years for the next pronghorn - I don't think I'll last that long!

Guy

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

Well that's awesome, I have heard that they can see very well. Sounds like a great time, let me know how it taste I have never had it.

 

[Derek M.]

Thank you for your story. All the best to you!

Nice pronghorn!

Why don't you cut/paste your whole story here so we don't have to find it elsewhere?

 

[Canvsbk]

Nice buck, sounds like a great time.

 

[Guy M]

Pronghorn steaks taste like... Venison steaks! Really good. These were very tender. All I did was marinate them in some oil & vinegar based salad dressing for a couple of hours, then sauteed them in a hot pan with olive oil & butter. Cooked medium rare and so tender we cut them with our butter knives.

Not a real big story - just finally made it happen. I met a fellow who has been hunting the same ranch 12 of the past 20 years. He told me that he normally gets his mule deer in the first two or three days, and then spends a half day chasing pronghorn. It sounded good to me so I put in for my deer & pronghorn tags. We don't live near each other, so we met at the ranch where we stayed and hunted. The rancher put us up in an 1890's log cabin that he had refurbished as a hunting lodge. Pretty cool.

Hunted hard. Up early. Lots of glassing. Some stalks and walks as well. Stayed out all day, no matter what the weather. Enjoyed every minute of the hunt. There were three hunters on thousands of acres of mostly undeveloped prairie lands. We each managed to take a mule deer buck and a pronghorn. The rancher told us that the drought had really inhibited horn growth on the pronghorns this year, and I believe him. I shot the biggest one we found, and he only measures about 12.5" or so. Good looking antelope though.

We saw a lot of pronghorns, and quite a few mule deer. Also a surprising (to me) amount of whitetail deer in the river bottom. The pronghorn are particularly difficult to approach as they work together, watching for danger. When one decides to run, the others don't question it, they all just leave together. Often the buck I wanted was near the center of his little herd, which varied from a dozen to thirty or so animals. That's a lot of eyes and ears to avoid!

Here's a link to some more photos - up in the deer hunting section:

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f84/good-wyoming-hunt-100350/

Managed to shoot a coyote at 420 yards, the pronghorn at 160 or so, and the mule deer at about 260 yards. All with my .25-06 Rem 700 CDL with a 6x Leupold. It's my "go to" deer rifle. I keep it sighted-in at 300 yards. This year I used 115 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips. Pretty good setup for my hunting style. It's light enough to hike with for hours, fast to get into action and sub MOA accurate.

Regards, Guy

 

[JackinSD]

Great story and thanks for sharing. Hopefully, you will get the chance to chase the speed goats again.

Somebody mentioned earlier about the vision of antelope. They have great eyes. Basically, between 6-8 times better than ours. And **** near 360 degree vision.

Their biggest downfall is curiousity.

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

I like the way you described the taste made me laugh. Thanks for posting the rest of the story I missed it some how. Sounds like a great trip very jealous, only hunted out west 2 times when I was stationed in Washington and I didn't get anything.

Jon

 

[Joel Russo]

Congratulations Guy, glad it finally happened. I see the trusty old .25-06 struck once again..
The last picture is stunning.

 

[jmden]

Cool to finally have that come together for you Guy!

 

[Guy M]

Congratulations Guy, glad it finally happened. I see the trusty old .25-06 struck once again..
The last picture is stunning.

Thanks Joel - hope all is well with you. Yeah, the trusty .25-06 and I seem to get along pretty well. Guess I shouldn't mention the miss I made, shooting high over a pronghorn... Oooops!

Guy

 

[Buffalobob]

Nice story and animal.

 

[J E Custom]

Congratulations.

The first anything in hunting is always special.

Now you will have to top it with another one.

Nice buck !!!!

J E CUSTOM

 

[Nomad]

Good Shooting.......Great story ..........Guy Hope you keep hunting and posting your stories.

 

[Dalebow]

awesome, congrats, good job!