First Time Pronghorn Tips

C

Cheater

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I'll be hunting speed goats for the first time this fall in Wyoming. I've done a ton of reading and am really excited. Summary of what I've read:

-Don't shoot the first buck (or ten) that you see, look over a lot of animals.
-Cover a lot of ground.
-Go for a hike, don't limit it to roads.
-Get the meat cooled ASAP.
-Mass is a big component of score.

What else should I consider?

Thanks!
 
I think one of the biggest issues that people are not prepared for is a proper rest and being able to hit a pie plate at 300 or 400 yards off of that rest. Antelope are only 15" wide. I would not shoot at them while running, really hard to hit a running lope at 200 yards.

I usually hunt with either a bog pod, primos trigger stick or have a shooting rest on my large tripod so I can take a standing shot if needed, I like the 3 legged tripods for the standing shot. I then have my harris 12-25" swivel bipod I can use for most sitting shots and some prone depending, I like the swivel so I can go level on long shots without adjusting the legs if I don't have time. I will have my backpack on in case I need that for the best prone option if my 12" is too high or I am in rocks...

If they run over the hill and are not too spooked, they are often just over the hill and you can walk right up to the top and see them.
 
Great advice, thanks. A standing shot is something I never practice, but could be useful in flat sagebrush terrain.
 
If you can't scout before the hunt and are going into this blind, you may want to lower your expectations size wise.

Locals know where the good ones are for the most part, and will be hunting them the first few days. During the week not many put a lot of effort into it.
 
Thanks for the input. Just like everyone else, a big one would be great. However, I'm not confident in my field judging abilities, so I think for now I'll just be trying to find one that has a nice look to it.
 
Here is another, be prepared for the wind when shooting. Be careful shooting at your buck if they are bunched up as you could easily get into an issue if you catch my drift (pun intended).
 
My best advise is to take two of your days on this hunt prior to the hunt opener. You will know the roads and area. You will have seen what is in the unit to know what is a good animal for the unit. You may even have a dandy pin pointed and put him to bed the night before and tag him opening morning before they are shot at. This worked for me a couple of times with antelope. The pre-scouting was part of the hunt and enjoyed it without pressure from yourself because the hunt is not even on and nobody else even around to bother you or the animals.

Good luck. Antelope hunting is low pressure and a great fun hunt.
 
Score isn't everything, but if you want a decent scoring buck you'll likely need a decent spotting scope. As you mentioned in your first post, mass is a large chunk of the score. If you can get your hands on a tape and several antelope horns you can get familiar with mass, prong length, and overall horn length. It's often wise to get a view of a buck from several angles before making a shot. Have a great time and enjoy your time in Wyo!
 
WATCH WHERE YOU STEP/PUT YOUR HANDS........RATTLERS LIVE OUT THERE. I WEAR KEVLAR LEGGING SO I CAN WATCH LOPE.....NOT SNAKES. SOME SNAKES LIKE TO GET INSIDE A LOW PIECE OF VEGETATION/ AND OFF THE HOT GROUND FOR COMFORT. WE HAVE KILLED 3, AND BEEN HIT ONCE..........YD.
 
>
> WATCH WHERE YOU STEP/PUT
>YOUR HANDS........RATTLERS LIVE OUT THERE.
> I WEAR KEVLAR LEGGING
>SO I CAN WATCH LOPE.....NOT
>SNAKES. SOME SNAKES LIKE
>TO GET INSIDE A LOW
>PIECE OF VEGETATION/ AND OFF
>THE HOT GROUND FOR COMFORT.
> WE HAVE KILLED 3,
>AND BEEN HIT ONCE..........YD.


You mean this little critter YD! We had just sat down last year to set up for a shot after a long stalk on a nice buck. All of a sudden John made me aware of a rattler and I couldn't even hear it with my bad ears. He was in the grass all coiled up not very far in front of us and we eased back so as not to bother him, took a couple quick pictures, and then had to go on to set up again for that buck that John ended up getting. This IMHO was a big snake as far as prairie rattlers go and would have cause some discomfort if he had hit either one of us!

27275p1020908.jpg
 
TG........OH YEA !!! LOOKS LIKE A HEALTHY SNAKE TO BE AVOIDED, ALTHOUGH THEY DO WELL ON THE BBQ........TASTE LIKE CHICKEN !!!!!.............YD.
 
LAST EDITED ON Jun-27-18 AT 03:14PM (MST)[p]>Uggh, snakes. We'll keep an
>eye out for the buzztails.
>

Yep, but in the 20+ years I've been going out there and for lengthy times for quite a few years I have only seen two other rattlers. One was on my first trip in 1992 and the other was close to 20 years ago. Both were very small at probably less than 18" and not much girth. As you can see in this picture I posted, this one was huge and I would guess would go more than 3' long with massive girth over his entire length. When John heard him and then we saw him I about had a heart attack as close as he was to us and we were both already sitting down!
 
I'd highly recommend giving yourself at least one day before season opener to locate a good buck that you may want to shoot. This way you can learn the area and hopefully find a shooter so that you don't have to pass several bucks the first day while you size them up. I've had good success locating a buck I'd like to shoot the day before season opener and putting him to bed the night before the opener. Arrive before daylight and put yourself in a good position to locate him quickly and seal the deal. If you don't locate him early, or someone else get to him first, you've already familiarized yourself with the area and can go looking for plan B.

Antelope hunting is always a lot of fun and I enjoy it the most when I spend a good deal of time on foot. It never ceases to amaze me how antelope will seemingly pop up out of the middle of no-where in a cut or drainage that most people will miss while road hunting. Good luck on your hunt. BTW, I'll be bringing my three teenage boys to Wyoming to antelope hunt this fall as well.
 
Ears= 6 inches, look for a buck with horns MORE than twice the ear length.
Mass- look for horns where the base is bigger than the eye right below it.
Prongs - look for long ones, you'll know them when you see them, lol.

Yes get there a day early if hunting the opener and look some over.

A good curl on the end of the horns adds length, look at them from the front and from the side, curls that go back are hard to judge from the front view.
 
Last year was my first time hunting antelope, not in Wyoming (Nevada). And it was not as ?easy? as I thought it would be? Not sure I did enough homework?
This year I will be hunting Wyoming in 95, and from what I'm hearing, it will be a totally different experience!!!
Not trying to highjack the thread, but I really appreciate this info.
I will totally agree with upper comments on being ready to shoot, and having a steady rest. Opportunity may not always be ideal, so be prepared!
Really I think just having fun is top priority, and the rest should take care of itself...
Good luck, I will be looking for pics!
 
>Last year was my first time
>hunting antelope, not in Wyoming
>(Nevada). And it was not
>as ?easy? as I thought
>it would be? Not sure
>I did enough homework?
>This year I will be hunting
>Wyoming in 95, and from
>what I'm hearing, it will
>be a totally different experience!!!
>
>Not trying to highjack the thread,
>but I really appreciate this
>info.
>I will totally agree with upper
>comments on being ready to
>shoot, and having a steady
>rest. Opportunity may not always
>be ideal, so be prepared!
>
>Really I think just having fun
>is top priority, and the
>rest should take care of
>itself...
>Good luck, I will be looking
>for pics!

I've hunted pronghorn in Nevada three times, and it's never as easy as Wyoming. You can go 2 days and not even see one in Nevada, but it's hard to go even 2 miles and NOT see one in Wyoming. :D
 
Back in the day when tags were plentiful, I hunted Wyoming Antelope almost every year. We'd always go up a day or two ahead of time and find some good bucks. On opening morning we usually filled our tags and headed home.
The last time I went, we waited until late September when the bucks started rutting and all the hunters were home. We had the place to ourselves. Picked over lots of bucks. Spent 3 days looking and had the best antelope hunt ever.
My point is, antelope hunting is just a fun time. Don't stress and find one you like. And if you don't find one early, come back a few weeks later if you can.
 
LAST EDITED ON Jun-30-18 AT 01:37AM (MST)[p]>>Last year was my first time
>>hunting antelope, not in Wyoming
>>(Nevada). And it was not
>>as ?easy? as I thought
>>it would be? Not sure
>>I did enough homework?
>>This year I will be hunting
>>Wyoming in 95, and from
>>what I'm hearing, it will
>>be a totally different experience!!!
>>
>>Not trying to highjack the thread,
>>but I really appreciate this
>>info.
>>I will totally agree with upper
>>comments on being ready to
>>shoot, and having a steady
>>rest. Opportunity may not always
>>be ideal, so be prepared!
>>
>>Really I think just having fun
>>is top priority, and the
>>rest should take care of
>>itself...
>>Good luck, I will be looking
>>for pics!
>
>I've hunted pronghorn in Nevada three
>times, and it's never as
>easy as Wyoming. You can
>go 2 days and not
>even see one in Nevada,
>but it's hard to go
>even 2 miles and NOT
>see one in Wyoming. :D
>
Thanks eelgrass, I thought maybe my efforts were lacking?
I had to make a second trip, but got it done!
Rewarding, but not as ?fun? of a hunt, as I was hoping for...
I'm going the first five days of this hunt in Wyoming, hoping to beat ?most? of the crowds, and enjoy myself, and find a nice antelope!
I know nothings for sure, but I think I can better the buck I got in Nevada?
Happy hunting, and good luck to everyone in the field this year!!!
 
Have fun. Its a high success hunt and should have ample opportunities.
I learned in high pressured hunts to find a good place in the sage and hunker down. Antelope will be moving around a lot and there have been many times when the will amble close enough for a shot.
As far as size, I use MPH as an easy acronym for such a fast animal. Mass, Prong length followed by Height.
Pick a goat that is pleasing to your eye and have a blast.
Enjoy.
 
Cheater,
Not having a lot of experience myself, the best advice I can give you is, as stated above...
You?ll know the one you want when you see it, and don't put a lot of pressure on yourself, and have fun!!!
Good luck!!!
 
Plenty of goats to choose from in most units. Last time I hunted them in WY we found a good one on the 3rd day at 300 yards, wind was blowing and I couldn't get steady standing so I told the wife to get on her knees and get that butt up in the air and rested my rifle right between her back pockets......perfect shot . She takes all the credit every time I tell that story. Have fun !
 
>Plenty of goats to choose from
>in most units. Last time
>I hunted them in WY
>we found a good one
>on the 3rd day at
>300 yards, wind was blowing
>and I couldn't get steady
>standing so I told the
>wife to get on her
>knees and get that butt
>up in the air and
>rested my rifle right between
>her back pockets......perfect shot .
>She takes all the credit
>every time I tell that
>story. Have fun !


Haha that's a true wife who supports you!
 
Cheater, go and have fun! There should be plenty of goats to look at, and they really are pretty cool animals if you've never been around them before.
I've been to WY for speed goats 2 times. First time i was on my own and scouted the day before opener and killed an average goat on the first day. There was quite a few other hunters around and that gave me the feeling of competition, even though there were plenty of goats to go around. More in my own head than anything.
Second trip out i went with buddies and didn't hit the opener, we were about a week late and started mid-week.
I know for a fact from talking to a local that the week before the place was really busy... and we found several kills from the previous hunters to confirm. But when we were there we had no crowds to speak of... I'm sure there were some big goats taken early but still seemed to be goats everywhere.
We hunted 6 days total and killed 2 avg goats, and a funky horned goat that was just too cool to pass on in the first 3 days. Day 4 we found the big dog and my buddy who'd been holding out for a trophy, hunted for for 3 days and finally took him on day 6. His was 17+ and really was significantly larger than any of the other 3.

For ME... the later hunt was much more enjoyable w/o the crowds. Trophy potential was still there, just needed to work a bit harder.
Might want to bring knee pads and leather gloves if there is cactus in the area, damn things hurt when you crawl across them!
Also, if you find a big buck an you bump him. He'll often be very close to the same spot the next day, and the next... they have surprisingly small home ranges for such big open spaces.
Look at a lot of goats on the hoof... big is big and you'll know it when you see it. you'll probably see lots of cookie cutter bucks at 12-14" and a 17"-er will look like a monster to them.
 
You have already been given some good advice. I would tell you to just enjoy the hunt and take your time. I've done 5 pronghorn hunts in Wyoming and been along with friends on several more and have only had one hunt last more than 24 hours. It is really hard to keep your finger off the trigger.
As long as you can shoot strait you will get a pronghorn. In most Wyoming units I would expect to look over 100+ pronghorn bucks a day. Practicing your shooting before the hunt is one of the best things you can do to prepare. Unlike deer and elk, the first couple hours in the morning and last hour in the evening are not as important when hunting pronghorn. As long as heat waves don't make judging horn size difficult, hunting pronghorn at 1pm can be just as productive as hunting at 7am.
Pronghorn have amazing eyesight and will run away from you at distances deer and elk won't even spot you. It is very common for pronghorn that are 1000 yards or even a mile away to look at you when you are looking at them in a spotting scope. Even when they are 1000+ yards or even a mile away, I've had many pronghorn run away when I stop my truck to get a better look at them. Other times I've had pronghorn less than 100 yards away not care too much when I stop my truck.
One of the most difficult things for a new pronghorn hunter to master is being able to judge their horn size. I've been hunting pronghorn for more than 20 years and I still find them much more difficult to judge than deer or elk. A good quality spotting scope will allow you to be more effective and efficient at judging horn size.
I would wish you luck on your hunt but you won't need any luck for a pronghorn hunt in Wyoming but I will tell you to have a good time.
 
Get the meat and cape on ice or better yet, in a freezer asap.
Be easy on your animal while skinning as the hair pulls out easily.
The meat is great ,but it will turn rancid quicker than other game animals.
Hope you have a great time hunting and eating antelope.
 

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