Central Alberta is the northern fringe of the pronghorn's range. The area is on the blurry boundary between the plains and the parkland, with cropland, parkland and prairie intermingled based on what the soil and rain will allow. The big herds are far to the south, but there are always a few antelope around. Weather has a big impact on the populations and 3 of the last 4 years have been hard. Despite that, I decided not to grow any older waiting for a high point in the population cycle . We have a place 4.5 miles from the northern boundary of the northernmost antelope zone in Alberta and this is where I decided to hunt. There are a few grazing leases in the area where the access is easy and hunting pressure is light. I wasn't in the mood to be too fussed about inches and had the idea that it would be cool to get an pronghorn at the very northern edge of their range.

I expected antelope to be thin on the ground, but I only needed one. A scouting trip the week before the season got me worried though. Of course there were lots of deer and a few moose about. What I didn't see was a pronghorn. Not one. A week later, on the way from Calgary to our farm I hastily scouted out Plan B on the southern edge of the hunting zone. I only got a quick look at a young buck, but I got permission to come back the next afternoon if need be.

The early afternoon of opening day found me waiting out a thunderstorm before going after Plan B. Again I got just a short glimpse at him from a long way off. He still looked young, but he was the only game I had going so I set off on a long circuitous stalk. I wouldn't see him again for over hour when I'd gotten into shooting position. The stalk was long and fun and the buck was too young. Not a first day buck and not a last day buck, just a buck to let grow and breed. With nothing better to do, I closed in just to see how close I could get. The little buck had had enough at about 80yds and slipped away, leaving me with dark thoughts for my prospects.

Day 2 of the season saw me starting from scratch, with no mature bucks (or even does for that matter) spotted where I had permission to hunt . I'd decided to give the northern half of the zone another try and spent the morning driving and glassing. About the time I started to think about lunch, I spotted a mature buck herding a doe. 20 minutes later, I had permission to hunt and was getting some tips from the land owner on the lay of the land and where the antelope had been hanging out. Another look at the map and check of the wind and I came up with a plan.

I thought the buck I'd seen was a satellite buck hanging around the fringes of a small herd the landowner had filled me in on. I drove a ways downwind of where I'd spotted the buck and turned up a dirt track. I planned on driving 2 miles north and leaving the truck in a shallow ravine I'd been told about. This would put me ~1.5 miles downwind of where I'd seen the buck with a gentle roll of higher land between us. The only complication was the unseen herd. I'd deal with them by getting out and creeping to the tops of rises and carefully glassing the dead ground as needed. The plan worked well, but I'd made a dumb mistake. Since I wasn't really hunting yet, I didn't think to bring my hunting gear on these short walks. Of course I blundered headlong into a moving buck.

He was a ways off, walking with a purpose and hadn't seen me. A quick crawl off the top of a rise was followed by a sprint to the truck and a frantic collection of gear and loading of rifle. Then it was a quick walk to get the wind and terrain in my favour again. I had just sat down in the grass of a draw leading to a farm dam to glass and gather my thoughts when the bucked walked by at ~60m. I brought my rifle up, and in haste shot right over his back. The buck saw the movement and put a bit of distance between us as he circled down wind. I got down behind the rifle on its bipod and waited. The buck got straight down wind and stopped broadside to let his nose sort out what his eyes couldn't. Between the 10" grass and my wide brimmed hat and camouflaged pack I must have looked like an ant hill or something even to a pronghorn's sharp eyes.

The chance would only last a couple of seconds, but this time I got it right. Rifle tight to shoulder, proper sight picture through the scope and cross hairs in the right spot. Through the scope I saw the buck rear up at the shot and the thump of the bullet registered in the back of my head. As I came down out of recoil I saw the buck come down on 4 good legs and half turn downwind. I lost him in the scope as I worked the bolt out of instinct. When I looked up, he was gone. The hill was bare, even through the binoculars. Then I made what I think was a good decision, but which caused me a bad half hour.

The book solution to this situation is of course to wait a few minutes and walk to where the animal was standing. However, that would involve walking straight downwind. If the buck was dead, no problem. If he could still run, there was a property line a half mile down wind and a paved road a mile further along. With that in mind, I headed back to the truck and to that property line. Glassing from a corral I saw nothing. I saw nothing as I glassed and quartered through patches of higher grass for 1/2 a mile. On the way back to the corral I followed a dirt track that had been softened by rain the day before. I found where the unseen herd had milled around that morning, but there was no sign of an injured animal crossing it. I felt a lot better.

A quick return to the place of the shot was followed by a walk to where the buck had stood. I got to the spot and saw nothing. Looking left I thought "Oh oh". Then I looked right and saw the buck half covered in grass 20 yds away. He hadn't dropped to the shot but had made it 2 steps and maybe 4 feet. I later teased the land owner about the grief their good range management had caused .

Relief! He glows in the photo, but I'd earlier passed within 50m without seeing him.


Average Alberta pronghorn buck. The reference books say their ears are ~6 inches long. That is probably true in warmer places but I'd be surprised if these ears got close to 5 inches.



Big country, small animals.



I find pronghorns fascinating. They are smart, beautiful and live in lovely country. Well, if pronghorns are really smarter than your average cabbage, why did that buck not just put the hammer down and leave at speed like a whitetail? If like me, you find Dr. Valerius Geist's interpretations credible then the answer seems to be that he was a victim of his ancestor's success. Pronghorns are a unique holdover from the last ice age. They were fortunate in that unlike the mammoth, short faced bear, giant sloth and the like, their ice age specialisations were compatible with our post glacial world. For this buck though, that specialisation cost him. Pronghorns are highly adapted to an ice age environment rich in highly specialised predators. The energy costs of running from every predator in that environment would be prohibitive. Natural selection favoured pronghorns that made sure a predator actually had a chance of catching them in a race before they bothered to run. That strategy was great against cheetahs and sabre toothed cats, but worked against him here and he became, maybe, the most northerly antelope taken this year.

Cheers,
Dean

Very nice Dean, lots of mass on that buck.

Good on you, amigo !!!

Thanks guys.

The rifle used was a Mauser Model 2000, a 70's era push feed. It was a gift from my mother's late second husband. For years it was my go to (only) hunting rifle. Never a pretty rifle, I have great faith in it and call it Mr.270 out of deference. For the first time, I used factory Barnes VOR-TX 130gr ammunition. The bullet hit the middle of a rib on the way in and sent a bone fragment out the top of the back alongside the spine. The holes on the inside of the carcass were both quarter sized. There was no bruising so you could eat right up to the hole.



Scruffy, how is your season going?

Dean

Great report! I enjoy the country the pronghorn is found in... big, big country! Well done.

Dean,

Congrats on a nice buck.

Mark

Nice speed goat!