From September 29th through October 6th, my brother and I, along with a few of our cop buddies headed off to Wyoming for a pronghorn hunt. We talked to a fellow wildlife biologist in Douglas, Wyoming, who stated that the antelope population is down up to 55% for unknown reasons, possibly drought related. We had to hunt hard to get the antleope we took from Unit 29, but some of us did find success!

The following is an excerpt transcribed directly from my hunting journal:



October 2, 2011


Up kind of late this morning, but we still had time to fry some bacon for breakfast, and then head back out to an isolated piece of public property surrounded on 3 sides by private property and a county road on the North side which served as our access point. At 10:15am, Jordan was dropped off at the far North East corner of the property while Doug, Ben, and I continued 1 mile west to the far side of this piece of public land. I spotted 11 pronghorn antelope that were bedded not 300 yards from the road, but they immediately spooked as we pulled into the drive and vanished over the hill crest. Ben, Doug, and I all began to stalk in separate directions, spreading out some 300 yards apart, trying to cut these goats off before they crossed over the property lines onto private property. Jordan had surprised these same 11 antelope as he cautiously crested the ridge, causing the goats to take off and circle back towards the north, close to where Doug and Ben were positioned. I literally crawled on my hands and knees and even at times dragged myself across some barren land littered with sage brush, prickly pear cactus, and fire ants. My objective was to crawl, unobserved, into a narrow ravine that bifurcated the 1 square mile property into east and west halves. From this ravine, I lay down prone amongst a cluster of sage brush and prairie grass in wait for my quarry to present a shot. Doug and Ben were positioned the the west of me, and from my position, Jordan was herding this group of antelope from the east towards our positions. The 10 does and 1 buck began to run in circles, and each pass came closer and closer to my nest. Finally, after what seemed like 20 minutes, the buck broke away from the 10 does and was on a full tilt run quartering too me. At this point, I'm steadied behind my Savage model 10 Law Enforcement .308 cal rifle and it felt as if time stood still. In a matter of seconds, I slowed my heart rate and controlled by breathing as I led that buck ~.5 mil through my Leupold Mark 4 LR/T scope and gently broke over the finely tuned 2 pound trigger on my rifle sending a handloaded 165 gr Hornady SST bullet through his lungs and out behind his left rib cage. Before the recoil bounced my objective off sight of my quarry, I witnessed the coveted pink mist as my pronghorn toppled over at 158 yards.

Later that evening, after we took my buck into Douglas, Wyoming to the taxidermist...we celebrated with my brother Jordan, Doug and Ben, and our Indiana friends Doug, Jason, and Brent at a local pub for a beast feast where not only did we dine on antelope, but also rattlesnake, prairie dog, elk, mule deer and turtle! On the second day of season, I had tagged a respectable buck, and was anxiously waiting to fill my remaining doe tag


Me setting up to take a shot at the running pronghorn.


My prize



For my first pronghorn, I'm more than happy with this one. I would like to build up some points and get in an area that has larger bucks but this one definitely has me hooked on pronghorn hunting. That spot and stalk style of hunting is way different than hunting whitetails back home.

mallard_drake85

Welcome to AR!

Congrats on the buck. Hunting antelope with friends and family is always a highlight of the year!

Congrats on your goat, nothing like hunting with friends and family and bringing home a nice trophy as well.

Very nice. Antelope hunting is very addictive, without a doubt. Enjoy the meat too, my family actually prefers it over whitetail deer!

Thanks all for the replies. I can definitely see how this is addicting and we are already planning another trip with the same group of guys for 2013!!

jdunlapmo, I really couldn't tell the difference between antelope and whitetails...It all tastes good to me!!

mallard_drake85

quote:

Some people shouldn't be allowed to breed!

Nice pronghorn! Thanks for sharing the hunt!

Congrats. I am glad you came out here & enjoyed yourself.

Congrats on your successful hunt!

I hunted near Newcastle, WY this year and took my first pronghorn buck. Two years ago I had a doe tag. It was a great hunt. We also met some locals who were some of the nicest folks I've met.

I absolutely love going out there, though it was darn hot this year, but not so windy this time!