ROADHUNTER: PRIMETIME PRONGHORN

from American Shooting Journal - August 2021

by Media Index Publishing Group

SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING: WHERE ‘JEDI’ MEETS MODERN SAMURAI

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 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

in order to have a chance at winning a coveted tag through a lottery system.

Once a tag is in hand, however, rest assured you’ll be pursuing one of the tastiest, most tender big game animals out there, no matter how strong they smell on the hoof. Despite what many people claim, pronghorn meat is excellent and many seasoned hunters rank them atop the most flavorful of all North American big game. My family has enjoyed eating numerous pronghorn over the decades, both bucks and does, and they are among our favorites.

The key to optimizing the quality of pronghorn meat comes in quickly taking care of it in the field. Avoid driving around with the hide on, showing friends or continuing to try and fill a buddy’s tag. In order to make the most of that meat, the moment your pronghorn is down, snap photos and immediately get to field dressing.

Get the animal into the shade, peel off the hide and quarter the entire thing – fast. Take a couple big coolers with ice and quickly get the meat cooling; don’t kill an animal and then drive to a little town in search of ice. Remove the backstraps, fillet the neck meat, grab the tenderloins and break down the rib cage. Pronghorn are surprisingly small and will easily fit into one large cooler or a couple midsized ones once quartered and cut.

Age the meat five to seven days in temperatures between 33 and 42 degrees Fahrenheit. An antelope is small and its parts will easily fit into a refrigerator. Be sure not to stack or cover the meat, as air must circulate around it.

An icon of the American West’s high desert, pronghorn can be hunted in multiple states.

After sitting in a ground blind for five days straight and not getting a shot, rains came and author Scott Haugen stalked to within bow range of this great buck. As with any big game, patience and timing are important when hunting pronghorn. HUNT PREPARATION Once you draw a pronghorn tag, start scouting. Even if drawing a tag out of state, it’s a good idea to scout your hunting area at least once before the season begins. Another option is to get to the hunting grounds a few days before the season so you have time to scout for a good buck. Whether you scout in late spring or anytime in the summer, bucks won’t be far from where you find them come August or September.

By late spring, pronghorn bucks are starting to mark their territories. They do this by rubbing scent glands and saliva on brush, typically beginning in May. They’ll keep marking these scent lines all summer long, often urinating and defecating in places where they paw the ground with their feet. Search for a buildup of droppings and fresh urine in these scrapes. Setting up trail cameras along scrape lines, as well as waterholes and on trails leading to and from waterholes, can provide a great deal of information.

Many pronghorn are hunted on

public land, and learning as much about the terrain and the animals as possible is key to success, making scouting crucial. If, however, you’re looking for permission to hunt on private land, make phone calls and knock on doors early, not a few days prior to the season. While many property owners might not allow strangers to hunt on their land for deer and elk, pronghorn can be a different story.

By the time August pronghorn seasons commence, the pre-rut will be taking place, so search for bucks and does when scouting. August is when mature bucks begin to separate from one another and hang around does. They’ll cover more ground and make more frequent scrapes, and large bucks will start chasing off smaller bucks.

While many hunters drive roads searching for pronghorns, most big bucks are taken by hunters who are willing to walk and glass hidden pockets. Being in good shape while scouting and hunting raises success rates, as the more ground you can cover on foot, the better.

Pronghorn hunting takes place in very hot conditions, so make sure all your gear is in order. Having a hydration system that holds plenty of water is important when scouting and hunting.

Prior to the hunt, practice shooting and know your effective range. Shots at pronghorn can be long, so know exactly what your shooting capability is, and practice shooting from various positions. Pronghorn aren’t very big animals, and a flat-shooting rifle in a small caliber, topped with a powerful scope, can aid in shot accuracy.

Make sure your vehicle is in good condition and has proper tread for rugged, rocky terrain. Carry extra water, a cooler of food, a big cooler with ice and two spare tires. Hunting from a mobile camp in the field is much more efficient than staying at a distant motel.

Ideally you’ll know the location of multiple bucks by the time hunting season arrives. While many archery hunters target waterholes, it’s not uncommon for mature bucks to drink at night, meaning sitting at a waterhole and waiting for them to arrive can be valuable time that’s wasted.

The thicker – and usually darker – the bases of a buck’s horns are, the older the animal will be. Search for these features, along with a prong that starts splitting above the ear tips and projects far forward.

THE HUNT When rifle hunting for pronghorn, spot-and-stalk allows hunters to cover much more ground than sitting in one or two spots and glassing. Pronghorn occupy a range of habitats, from farmland to sage, river bottoms to timber. Due to the varied terrain in which pronghorn live, glassing is an efficient way to find them. Invest in the best glass you can afford, including binoculars and a spotting scope. You’ll also want a rangefinder.

Early morning and evening are best to

find pronghorns on the move. During the heat of the day, pronghorns often bed down in shade, broken ground or even in open flats with a commanding view; it’s impressive the hot conditions these animals can tolerate. Pronghorns can easily hide in uneven terrain, grass and amid bushes, so cover ground in order to see all the land you can.

Due to a pronghorn’s two-tone coloration, the way they reflect light can make them surprisingly challenging to find. Pronghorns have exceptional vision, so locating them before they see you is important. If you spot an animal with your spotting scope 1,000 yards away, don’t get careless, and rest assured they can see you too.

Field judging a pronghorn buck is not easy, so don’t get in a rush. If hunting for a trophy-class buck, look for a dark face that runs from the nose to the base of the horns, which indicates a fully mature buck. On a trophy buck, the prongs start forking above the tips of the ears and they appear very large while protruding far forward from the horn. Overall horn length should be 2½ to 3 times the length of the ear; the average ear length is about 6 inches. The thicker the horns, the more mature the buck. Horns with a base circumference of 6 to 7 inches indicate a trophy-class buck. When looked at from the side, a buck’s eye is about 2 inches wide, and because it sits directly under the horn, it’s a good reference point with which to gauge horn circumference.

When it comes to the shot, take your time and shoot from a solid resting position. If you can’t shoot from a prone position, a tripod shooting stick will help steady the shot. Range a pronghorn before shooting, as their small size and contrasting colors result in shots often being missed high.

Finding a trophy pronghorn requires effort, and dedicated scouting greatly improves the odds of locating what you’re after. When on the hunt, be patient and enjoy what many hunters praise as the West’s most relaxing, enjoyable big game hunt, amid some of the country’s most breathtaking land. 

Shots can be long at pronghorn, and shooting from a solid rest is important. If you can’t get prone, be sure to have shooting sticks that allow you to set up above the brush, as the author did on this Wyoming buck. Editor’s note: Want to learn how to quickly break down a pronghorn in the field and cape a buck? Order Scott’s popular DVD Field Dressing, Skinning & Caping Big Game at scotthaugen.com or send a $20 check to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489. Follow Scott’s adventures on Instagram and Facebook.