ROAD HUNTER
Decoying pronghorn can be very effective, but be ready when you set up, as bucks can come charging in at top speed.
PRIMETIME PRONGHORN
How to successfully hunt and field dress those fleet, far-seeing icons of the West, antelope. STORY AND PHOTOS BY SCOTT HAUGEN
M
y dog wouldn’t even eat that stinkin’ thing,” scowled the rancher as he looked over a pronghorn I was skinning. It was an old, record-class buck I’d taken during the peak of the rut and you could smell it from 10 paces away. But once the hide was removed and the buck quartered and in cold storage, the clean, odorless meat was sure to yield
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many great meals, and it did. The key to optimizing the flavor of any big game taken in hot conditions is quickly removing the hide and cooling the meat, and this is especially true with pronghorn. In addition to great tasting meat, pronghorn hunting throughout the West has much to offer. During the August and September hunting seasons, the weather is warm with the high desert often ensconced by stunning blue skies. It’s a great time to be afield.
Pronghorn are also plentiful, meaning if you blow one opportunity, there’s likely another around the next corner. Nothing quite cleanses the soul like being in our West’s vast desert, a habitat full of life the closer you look, and so rich in history. OPTIMIZING THE MEAT For many of us, drawing a prized pronghorn tag is the biggest challenge of hunting them. This is especially true if applying in trophy units, where many preference points must first be acquired americanshootingjournal.com 65
