If you enjoy pursuing big game, I dare say you are always looking for a new challenge to add to your list of hunting accomplishments. My suggestion would be to not overlook the pronghorn.
Today, pronghorn numbers are believed to be well over a half-million animals, scattered across mostly western states. Wyoming is the top producer of pronghorn with New Mexico, Montana, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Washington, North and South Dakota along with Texas all having huntable populations. Pronghorn are also be found in California, Canada, and Mexico in lower populations.
A Few Facts About Pronghorn Antelope
Despite popular belief, pronghorn are not actually antelope like the those found in Africa or Asia. Pronghorn are truly a unique North American species that use their incredible vision and speed to evade predators. They are most closely related to giraffe and okapi.
The pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in the western hemisphere. They can reach speeds of 60 mph making them the second-fastest land animal, second only to the African cheetah.
Both males and females (bucks and does) can have horns. Females however, if they have horns, rarely exceed the length of the ears. Males shed their outer black horn sheath once a year leaving the boney inner core atop their head for a short time until the sheath supporting the prong grows back. They are the only ungulates (hoofed mammals) in the world that have horns and shed the outer sheath. Bucks also have a distinctive, black cheek patch on both sides, while the females do not.
Hunting Methods
Hunting styles are usually focused on a spot and stalk approach. Pronghorn generally live in open, flat country, where tree cover is limited or non-existent. Pre-scouting your hunt area will give you some idea as to the number of bucks and whether there is a “really good buck” in the vicinity.
One hunting tactic I’ve used in the past is to be positioned on any elevated hilltop (if available) early in the morning with the sun at your back. Once the sun begins to rise, all pronghorn to the west of your position will stand out. The morning sun will reflect off their white and tan colored hides.
If you don’t spot a buck that you wish to try for, keep moving and repeat the process until you find a buck to your liking. Be sure to glass thoroughly. In years where the grass is high, a buck will often bed in the middle of these grassy areas. You may only spot the black horns poking above the grass line, rather than seeing the whole animal.
Once you have pinpointed the buck you want, a stalk may be in order (keeping the wind in your face). In some cases, you may be able to move in a vehicle (staying on established roads of course) until you can close the distance. As mentioned, pronghorn have excellent vision and can run like the wind, so your approach and stalk must be cautious.
Pronghorn Strategy
Pronghorn display a great deal of curiosity at times — a trait you may be able to use to your advantage. By raising a flag of some sort, you may in fact be able to get pronghorn to move toward you. I have never taken a buck in this manner. However, as an experiment, I have concealed myself in tall grass or a low spot in the terrain and waved a cap or neckerchief when pronghorn were already watching me. On more than one occasion, the pronghorn moved closer to me out of curiosity.
Archery hunters will most likely need to make use of a ground blind of some sort. In most states, archery hunts begin in later summer or early fall, making setting up around or near water (where legal) an ideal tactic. Pronghorn will utilize watering areas especially during the warmer months giving the archery hunter a chance within bow range.
Judging Trophy Class
There are three factors that make up a true trophy class buck — horn length, prong length, and the circumference of the horn, or mass along the length of the horn itself. Factors such as age, food, and genetics all play a role in a buck reaching trophy class status.
Without question, both a good pair of binoculars and a spotting scope are critical, especially when trying to determine horn length. Using these optics look for a buck with prongs well above the ears and lots of horn length above the prongs, particularly those with good hooks on top.
Although the quality of the buck — when it comes to trophy horns — is in the eye of the beholder, the following guidelines give you a general idea.
- Horn length of 12 to 13 inches should be easily obtainable in most locations and is a good minimal goal for a first pronghorn. The prongs will generally be even with the tips of the ears in this case.
- A 14-inch buck is getting to be of real interest. Depending on prong length and overall mass, it could make the records book. In these cases, the prongs are above the ear tips but not by much.
- A 15–16-inch buck will be viewed as trophy class in most areas. With good prong length and some mass, it could be a contender for the records book.
- A buck with 17 inches or more is exceptional and without a doubt a trophy-class animal.
There are always exceptions to the above guidelines. As a rule, however, the heavier the horn mass, along with length, and good prongs, the better the buck will score. Trophy bucks will usually have prongs in at least the 3-inch and above category. If the prongs start well above the ears, and the buck has good hooks on top with good prongs, he is worth a hard look.
Shooting Distances and Optimal Calibers
Pronghorn are not normally tough to bring down, but like any big game, they can go for long distances if wounded. Therefore, as in all hunting, a well-placed shot is required. Shots may be anywhere from less than 100 yards to as far as you can see. Most pronghorn I’ve taken have been 200 yards or less. Shots of 300–1,000 yards could be encountered. Your ability and skill to make these longer shots rests squarely on your shoulders. Your first goal should always be a clean, one-shot harvest. Please be responsible.
All flat-shooting, centerfire rifle calibers are appropriate for hunting pronghorn. Personally, I have taken them with everything from a .243 Win. to .270 Win. to .30-06. Most recently, I used a 6.5 Creedmoor. Newer calibers, such as the 6.5 PRC and the like, would of course be excellent choices (when paired with the proper bullet).
When it comes to table fare, some folks say pronghorn is great, others not so much. Since the weight of a mature buck is normally only around 100 pounds (60 or so pounds of useable meat), I usually have the whole animal made into summer sausage or breakfast sausage. I have found it to be excellent eating.
With pronghorn being the iconic plains game of North America — quite the striking trophy with solid-black horns against tan and brown hides — it’s no wonder they are on most hunter’s bucket list. If you’re looking for a different big game hunt this fall, that will challenge your stalking and marksmanship abilities, look to the west and the American pronghorn antelope.
Have you hunted pronghorn? What tips can you offer new hunters? Share your answer in the Comment section.
The Pronghorn Antelope is perhaps the most iconic big game animal associated with the wide-open spaces of our country’s western prairies and grasslands less it be the American bison. 
Note the black cheek patch on this buck, a trait doe pronghorn does not possess. 
Quality binoculars, such as these 10-40x from Lucid are essential for spotting and assessing a pronghorn buck in the hunting field. 
In addition to good binoculars, a high-powered spotting scope such as the Riton 5 Primal 15-45x is invaluable in helping to judge horn length on a pronghorn buck. This buck is in the 13- to 14-inch category, and a very respectable first-time buck for any hunter. A nice buck in the 14- to 15-inch category, taken with an AR platform rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor. A trophy class buck, over 16 inches with nice prongs and deep hooks on top. 
An old pronghorn buck that was nearly 15 inches and heavy with tons of character! Glassing, glassing, and more glassing is the name of the game for most pronghorn hunts.
It’s about time someone does an article on speed goats. I lived in southwestern South Dakota for 17 years and used to take 2 per year. My biggest buck was 18 7/8 with 5 1/2 inch prongs. In South Dakota they get signifucantly larger than Wyoming. You’re wasting meat by having it made into sausage. The meat’s a bit different from other animals in the U.S. They have much more iron in their blood than any other animal that I’ve eaten other than horse. You need to clean them of blood quickly in order to keep the meat from turning and also to make the flavor better. There’s nothing like antelope steaks as far as tenderness goes. It’s literally the most tender game meat that I’ve ever had. For me I’ve never had a shot under 200 yards on them and most of them were beyond 500. I’m handicapped and had to learn long distsnce shooting to be able to take them. If you have the chance to hunt the high plains for speed goats you should definitely go for it. As for speed they actually get up to 65 moh. I once had one alongside me in Badlands national park at 65 mph for over 10 miles. They are curious and a trick that I know of is to place a white cloth on a hillside where you want to target them. Since they have large white patches on gheir sides they will approach anything white like that. Go find out how great they are if you can and enjoy the meat, it’s incredibly good.
For pronghorn success, use a good tripod and take a steady rest. My rifle of choice is a Model 70 in .270 caliber, firing a 130 grain bullet and sporting a K-4 Weaver scope. Yes, this is a Jack O’Conner special. This combination was good enough for ol’ Jack, and it is just as good today.
Try northeastern Wyoming near Buffalo where there is a good concentration of pronghorns. My son-in-law, his father and I all shot good “goats” in that area.
My favorite and most fun hunting have been for Prong Horn Antilope in Wyoming. They are funny to watch and even more fun to hunt, you never know what they will do. They don’t like to jump fences so they will go a long way to find an opening to cross into another area, but I did witness a buck jump a fence to fight off another buck and then watched him try to figure out how to get back to his harem, having jumped the fence without thinking. My first one was about 75 yards away, facing me, when I took the shot, he must have put his head down when I squeezed the trigger, he started jumping up and down going nuts and shaking his head. He finally stopped and started toward me again and I took him head on in the chest. When I looked at him, I saw what happened, He had put his head down as I pulled the trigger and my bullet had nicked his horn and that’s what caused him to go crazy, can’t blame him. Some of my most enjoyable hunts have been for them. Thank you for the article.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) still calls them antelope. I don’t even think they use the word “pronghorn” in their regulations. When I first moved here I was told they were strictly plains animals and would not be found in the mountainous region where I live. I guess nobody told the pronghorns that I’ve found around my place.