The All-American Pronghorn
By Bob Robb
We found the Antelope shy and watchful insofar as we were unable to get a shot at them. I got within about 200 paces of them when they smelt me and fled … The antelopes which had disappeared into a steep ravine now appeared at a distance of about three miles. So soon had these antelopes gained the distance that at first I doubted they were the same I had just surprised, but soon my doubts vanished when I beheld the rapidity of their flight along the ridge before me. It appeared rather the rapid flight of birds than the motion of quadrapeds.—Meriwether Lewis, September 17, 1804, from The Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
It’s Not Really an Antelope
I’ve been pursuing pronghorn since the 1970s and doing so is truly one of the hunting trips I love most. Seasons are long, stretching from late summer past Halloween, depending on the state and weapon, and pronghorn are one of North America’s most fascinating big-game animals.
Pronghorn are the second-fastest land animal on earth. Only the cheetah is faster.
But, first, a question: Why do people call them “antelope?” Even the Wyoming hunting regulation booklet refers to them as “pronghorn antelope.” Pronghorn, however, are not related to antelope, goats or sheep. They are, instead, the remaining member of an ancient animal family dating back 20 million years. They even are their own scientific genus—Antilocapra americana. They are also the second-fastest land mammal in the world—only the cheetah is faster—able to attain speeds of nearly 60 mph over short distances and able to hold half that speed for miles. They have adapted physically for this, with long limbs, lightweight bones, a small digestive tract that enables them to use less energy during locomotion, and large tracheae, lungs and heart for rapid intake of oxygen and increased rate and power of circulation. They have pointed double hooves with cartilaginous padding to cushion shock when running over hard ground and rocks, with the front hooves larger than the back ones as the front carry most of the weight while the animal is running.
Spot-and-stalk hunters need cover to make it work, one reason the author prefers to hunt pronghorn in broken terrain with lots of big cactus cover.
Historically, pronghorn have ranged from southern Alberta and Saskatchewan south to northern Mexico and from the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast of Texas in the east to California and Oregon in the west. Today, the largest populations are found in Wyoming and Montana. They are found primarily in shrub lands, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, grassland and temperate desert (though deserts support less than one percent of the population) and are associated most frequently with treeless, flat terrain and short-grass prairies. They are also found in steppe-like terrain with vegetation ranging five to 30 inches in height. Animals have been found from near sea level to 11,000 feet elevation, but most live in elevations ranging between 3,000 and 8,000 feet.
Both sexes have horns, not antlers. Male horns range from 10 to 20 inches in length, though anything measuring over 16 inches is considered exceptional. Female horns rarely exceed four inches. The horns are fully developed by three years of age, are coal black and are composed of a bony permanent interior knob covered by a keratinous sheath, which is shed annually like antlers. The typical horn is lyre shaped, curving back and slightly inward near conical tips, each with one broad, short prong that juts forward and slightly upward approximately halfway from the base.
Pronghorn have unbelievable eyesight. To locate and evaluate them, it’s best to do it from afar using a top-notch binocular and spotting scope while remaining out of sight.
Pronghorn rely primarily on their keen sense of sight for defense. They have large protruding eyes that appear to be located on the side of the head but are oriented forward enough to allow limited binocular vision. They have the largest eyes of any North American ungulate in relation to body size; each eyeball is about 1.5 inches in diameter. They have nearly a 300-degree arc of vision without moving head or eyes and can easily detect movement up to four miles away.
Watch the Wind, Stay Out of Sight
It is that amazing vision that makes stalking within range of pronghorn so difficult. When not hunting from a blind (or using a decoy during the rut), pronghorn hunting is pretty much a spot-and-stalk game.
The key to a successful pronghorn stalk is staying out of sight, using terrain features to hide you.
One thing all pronghorn hunters quickly learn is that you have to both stay out of sight and watch the wind to be successful. There’s generally a lot of belly-crawling and hunched-over walking involved. In addition to their amazing eyesight, pronghorn also have an excellent sense of smell. If they get a whiff of you, it’s adios amigos.
The standard tactic is to access a high vantage point overlooking a massive amount of territory, employ high-quality optics and glass until a buck is located. A stalk is then planned, taking into account the need to stay out of sight and the wind direction. This cannot be overemphasized. I’ve seen pronghorn on heavily-hunted public lands spook at the sight of a pickup truck topping a rise at a distance of two miles. For that reason, it’s best to get out of the vehicle and hike to the top of a hill or ridge, belly-crawling the last few yards, then slowly peeking over the top. I often put a large piece of sagebrush in front of me as I belly to the top if the rise to further hide my face. Wearing a camouflage facemask will also help hide the glare from your face.
A spotting scope is extremely valuable for evaluating animals at long range.
Though tenacious, pronghorn are relatively small and, thus, when selecting a cartridge, hunters don’t need a hand cannon. Any relatively flat-shooting cartridge from the .243 Win. up through any of the .300 magnums will suffice, as long as your rifle/ammunition combination is an accurate one. Variable riflescopes in the 2.5–10X and 4–14X magnification class are perfect. Binoculars in the 10×42 class are excellent, and a spotting scope that can be mounted on both a tripod and a truck window is extremely helpful.
Many pronghorn hunters find a bipod valuable to help get their rifle’s muzzle above the sagebrush when shooting from the prone position, which is common.
Shooting sticks will be helpful when shooting from the sitting position. Many pronghorn hunters find a bipod valuable to help get their muzzle above the sagebrush when shooting from the prone position, which is common. A puffed-up daypack can help with this as well.
Where Are the Biggest Bucks?
If you’re looking for a really big buck, you’re probably wondering where you can find them. Generally speaking, your best chance at a true monster pronghorn will come from states with a very limited number of permits available through the tag draw. Expect that it will likely take a decade or more to draw (if you ever do), so patience is needed. Alternate tag acquisition routes include tag auctions or landowner tags, available in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico. States with the highest pronghorn populations, Wyoming and Montana, also annually produce record-class bucks, but far fewer per capita. A good way to get a handle on where monster animals come from is to research the Safari Club Online Record Book. The current edition shows that Arizona and New Mexico dominate, with Arizona producing 23 and New Mexico 21 of the current top 50.
The biggest bucks are found in Arizona –where tags are extremely hard to draw—and New Mexico. Robb took this 16½-incher in New Mexico.
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Very rarely do deer "drop in their tracks" at the shot. Once you make your shot, stay focused on the deer noting where it was when you fired and the direction it took off in.[/caption]
Despite what we may see on television, deer usually do not drop in their tracks at the shot. Sometimes, too, “stuff” happens and the shot is less than perfect. That’s when you have to unleash your tracking skills and go find them. Here are 10 tried-and-true tracking tips that have served me well over the years in finding deer after the shot.
Before you leave your stand, use your phone to take a photo of where the deer was standing when you shot and the landmark where you last saw the deer before it disappeared.[/caption]
Go to where you last saw the deer and look for blood and tracks. Remember to look on the bushes as well as on the ground for blood. If you fail to find any, go to spot where you shot the deer and search for blood and/or hair. If you still don’t find a blood trail of any kind, go back to your stand and double check to make sure you were looking in the right places.
Next, start where you last saw the deer and walk to the location where you last heard the deer. Watch for blood and other sign along the way. Sometimes it takes a while for the blood trail to start.
When looking for a blood trail, heavy signs higher up on bushes or spurts off the trail may indicate arterial bleeding, which means you should find your deer shortly.[/caption]
Did you find pieces of bone? Trust me, it’s not ribs as so many people think; 95% of the time it is pieces of leg bone. You may get that deer, but it’s not going to be easy.
A lot of blood at the start that turns into a few drips and then stops in a ¼ mile or so, is usually a low hit in the brisket. You are in for a long day with that deer.
With a leg or brisket hit, the deer is very mobile and will keep moving if pushed. If you can get some help, it’s best to place hunters along the escape routes and hope the deer comes by as you track the blood.
If you simply cannot find a blood trail of any kind, divide the land where you last saw the deer into a grid and walk each grid point until you find the deer or a sign of its trail.[/caption]
In that case, expand the grid and repeat. Look under every bush and in every brush pile. A mortally wounded deer will often crawl under cover and will die there.
Photograph Courtesy of Leupold® & Stevens, Inc.[/caption]
I have been using a 
Public land from coast to coast has one common denominator: It’s marginal. These lands entered the public domain because they weren’t valuable for agricultural, residential or other private commercial use. Consequently, the best public deer ground is often steep, rocky, weedy, and raw—all factors that can improve the hunting if you know how to read the terrain.
On public land, the variables are too numerous to mention, but they tend to fall into three themes: accessibility, landscape type, and hunting style.
We’ll pick apart three different-but-common landscapes, and then apply the other two variables—accessibility and hunting style—to each. I hope you recognize your local public parcel in these descriptions.
Dense timber can be hard to hunt, because there aren't many defined edges. In these places, look for tracks, scrapes, and rubs, and set up downwind of those signs.[/caption]
These public properties tend to be grown over and fairly sterile in terms of wildlife value. But they serve as productive transition zones for whitetails, providing bedding areas, mast production in good acorn years, and terrain that rewards hunters who get away from the easy access spots and work the interiors.
Accessibility: You’re likely to see lots of vehicles at the access points and trailheads, but don’t let that deter you. Prepare to hike, maybe only a few hundred yards or perhaps as far as two miles, to get into the best hunting terrain. If possible, you’re going to want to hike a ridge, maintaining your elevation as you work into the interior.
Keep your eyes peeled for deer sign—maybe a rub or a scrape, or a well-used trail. If you’re packing a treestand, the very best spot to erect it is on the nose of a distinct ridge that overlooks a saddle. Bonus points if you can find a good tree that commands the spot where two major ridges meet.
Some access points will be at the lower margins of the property, in which case you have some climbing to do. Find the dominant ridge of the parcel and hike up it, keeping your eyes peeled for sign.
In areas where water is abundant, look for mast-producing trees. In areas where water is limited, look for little seeps and springs—places that might concentrate deer.
Hunting Style: Your hunting style in these woodland habitats will likely be from a treestand. Many public properties don’t allow permanent stands, so think about bringing a climber and setting up over a defined trail. Alternatively, try making a mock scrape, and see if it’s being tended. If it is, that’s the spot for your stand, just downwind of the scrape. This is the perfect terrain for stump-sitters, folks who simply plop down and watch. It’s an old and very effective method for woodland hunting.
If you intend to hunt from the ground, plan on using deadfall and slash vegetation to build a ground blind. No need to bring in a commercial blind, especially if it limits your mobility.
A killer spot to set up for ag-land deer is just inside a timbered edge overlooking a field.[/caption]
These landscapes range from the monoscapes of the Great Plains wheat belt to the corn and soybean country of the Midwest to the smaller pastures of the Southeast. What they all have in common, however, is very productive edge habitat, the line between cropland and nearby woods, or pasture and brushy cover. You should be hunting that edge.
Hunting Style: Prevailing wind direction can make or break your hunt. Walk that edge, looking for places where deer routinely jump a fence, rub a cedar fencepost or where they scoot between hiding cover and feeding areas. Because deer tend to be equal-opportunity foragers, it can be hard to tell precisely where they feed, but you should be able to identify these movement corridors.
If you can’t predict wind, identify stand locations on either side of a corridor. But if there’s a prevailing wind, set up downwind of the crossing and plan to be in place in the evenings. These are typically not morning spots, but they are good places to intercept deer moving from cover to feed in the evenings.
In mountainous country, set up on edges, including those spots where timbered slopes meet creek drainages, and watch for migrating deer.[/caption]
Accessibility: When thinking about seasonal migration corridors, target your scouting and hunting activity on food sources. Think about the lower-elevation attractants for deer. Maybe that’s an irrigated alfalfa field where they’ll find succulent forage once frost nips the higher-elevation plants. Or perhaps it’s a cut corn field adjacent to weedy bedding cover.
Hunting Style: Regardless, you want to find those riparian corridors that offer easy access from the high country to the foothills. Finding fresh sign can be tough here, since the transitional landscapes are often dry and rocky. So instead, hunt the weather. Wait for a snowstorm to hit the high country, and then set up on a promising canyon a day or two later. If you’re in the right place, you should start to see does and yearlings moving downhill. The mature bucks will wait a couple of days and then start to move.
Good hunting strategies for this landscape include using a spotting scope set up on a vista that allows you to look into a number of drainages, a pack that is stout enough to pack out a portion of a deer but light enough so it won’t slow you down as you intercept promising bucks, and a GPS with a landowner chip that will alert you when you reach that public/private land interface.
About the Author
Andrew McKean is a longtime outdoor writer and the former editor-in-chief of Outdoor Life. He lives in northeast Montana with his family and yellow Lab. You can follow his adventures on Instagram 
Rattling can be a deadly tactic to try during the “chase phase” of the rut, which occurs in the first and second weeks of November.[/caption]
During the "lock-down phase" the advantage to hunters is that bucks are so intent on breeding that they often overlook small movements that would otherwise blow a setup earlier in the season.[/caption]
During the "post-rut phase," look for bucks to feed in remote areas where high-energy forage, such as brassicas, winter rye, uncut soybeans and apples in abandoned orchards, are readily available.[/caption]
How To Hunt: If you’re a food-plotter, this is the time to concentrate on high-energy forage, such as brassicas and winter rye. In agricultural country, find uncut soybeans and corn. Bigger bucks will spend more time in solitary bedding areas, so set up on trails between those overgrown, brushy areas and prime food sources. Here again, try to hunt the weather. If you can be out before a big winter storm blows in, you’ll see enhanced deer activity. And hunt fields the day after a snowfall or winter storm when deer become more active again.
Pro Tip: Find native fruit sources—wild plums, persimmons, and even neglected apple orchards. Those fruits have sweetened with cold weather, and calorie-desperate bucks will focus on these high-sugar food sources.