Considering a Pronghorn hunt this fall. Having never hunted Pronghorn I have no idea how to field judge them. Are there any �rules of thumb� to go by and what would be considered a �good� buck as opposed to a �trophy� buck.

Thanks, and shoot safe.
cjw3

Here's one, and it's the same rule I use for all trophy big game: If you have to think "is this animal big enough?" then it's NOT BIG ENOUGH!!

I gage by comparing horns to ears. If you find one with horns twice as tall as the ear you're probably looking at a 12" horn. Bases are important too as you could get a long skinny horn which wouldn't necessarily score higher than a shorter horn with heavier bases. I find that a pronghorn buck of most any size is a beautiful trophy. It is not uncommon to see them with unusual horn configurations either. The classic is the "V" of course, but I've seen them parallel straight up, parallel sticking forward out over their nose, and in a flattened "V." I pursued one buck last year which had the flattened horn look to him. It sure was neat to see those horns sticking out to the side like that. Unfortunately he knew what land I didn't have permission to hunt on. I ended up with what will be a higher scoring one (14 1/8" + heaviest bases I've ever taken), but unusual bucks make a nice trophy too. I love hunting pronghorn. To first see them out there a 1/2 mile or mile and make your stalk is great fun. When you see black at a distance without the aid of glass you get excited. They're small, probably end up with 40 lbs meat max., but boy is it tasty. good luck.

They will always look "bigger" if you are viewing them from face on. This is because they have a black or very dark face (on top of the nose running from their black nose up to their forehead).

One of the things I consider is their ears are 6 1/2 to 7 inches long. If you can get a view of them from the side and they cooperate by holding their ears just so, you can base your estimation of the length of their horn on the length of the ear.

You should look for goats which have their prong or the cutter as it is sometimes called start to emerge from the horn above the ear.

I found it very frustrating when I asked that same question of others a long time ago to have them tell me "You'll know a good antelope when you see one". Well, after hunting them and looking at them as much as I did prior to bagging a couple that made the book, and helping a buddy do the same, I found that statement to be absoultely correct.

When I have decided to go for a trophy, I have started to scout in early May to find the ol' bucks home territory. I found out that the conversation with my buddy who was helping to spot would go like this;

"There's a goat over there but keep going".

"There's a goat over there, hold up a minute while I get out the binocs, OK go on".

"Shut it off, I need to put the spotting scope on this one".

Basically, you will know when you see a big one after looking at several hundred of them. But time may not be on your side. If at all possible, go to where you are going to hunt as soon as you know you have drawn and do some scouting.

Good Luck!!

Very good advice from Ostlund and Elkslayer.
Getting an antelope is not very difficult once located. My advice to those who have not hunted them much who are in a good area and want a nice buck is to NOT carry a gun until you find the one you want. Typically I tell people not to carry a gun the first day since it can be just too easy to get "buck fever" and shoot the first mature one you see - only to realize ground shrinkage has set in and you are looking a a very tastey disappoinment.

My .02
Mass counts for alot.I would rather have a 14 "
with alot of mass than a skinny 15"
And big cutters never hurt.
Speed goats are fun to hunt.
Jeff

You are correct, mass does count for something as I passed this buck along to my brother who took him, I wanted 16" but the extra mass on this one made a score of 78 B&C at just under 15"

A real nice buck for Alberta

BR

The only thing I would of passed on him is the
salt & pepper.

Judging Antelope: A good buck is:

1. The lenth to the fork, should be at least the same as leanth as from the base of the horn to the nose....Normally 10 inches average.

2. The upper prongs should be at least half as long as the bottom half (the fork)therefore a nice 15" buck.

3. based on this for a nice buck, if any part exceeds the above then your getting a better quality trophy..

4. Add mass to this and things get even better...The curve or hook at the top is normaly about 3 to 4 inches and you need to take this into consideration, big hooks add inches..

5. You want to take an over all look at the buck looking for that balance, then compare the above..

6. I like a buck to have the same lenth from nose to base of horns as from base of horn to the tip of the first prong or BETTER...then that much again or as close as I can get to it...If the two halves are very close, based on the above then he is one heck of a buck, so do not get carried away trying to find this holy grail of Pronghorn..

For the uniniated such as you profess to be, I would just go for that first measurment, then try to get as close to 6 inches as I could for the second, counting 3 inches in the top curve....A word of warning, be sure his head is up and stright when judging..If he tips his head and looks at you it can be very decieving..

I hope this helps you, it is really easier than I have described, and there are some varibles that contradict the above such as short first measure and long in the second, so one must take all this into consideration..I can do all this at a glance but I have been around Antelope all my life...

It doesn't take long to figure it out once you have put it to practice a few times and looked at enough antelope...

After two days of looking I was pretty sure not to pass this one up! 16"

Very good Lope, 16" bucks are a lot easier to judge than 14.5" heavy ones, Kind of like Mules in that regard(Mass).

BR

If he looks like any of these below . . . he's big enough.

JohnTheGreek







Even though he might not score as well as that top buck, that tall boy in the middle makes my mouth water and my trigger finger get REAL itchy . . . Now where did I put that Remington 40X?


[ 02-14-2003, 00:12: Message edited by: JohnTheGreek ]