Pronghorn rifle season opened on 10/10/2020. My buddy Sam and my girlfriend had tags. We met up with Sam at an AirBnb Friday night (10/9/2020). Sam has a buddy with access to a large chunk of private land, and we planned to hunt there opening morning. Sam's buddy completely flaked, no call, no show, so it was on to plan B, public land
Opening morning was pretty crazy. We got a little bit of late start and arrived at a large chunk of public around an hour after light. Holy hunters, batman! We probably saw 50-75 trucks in a 10-mile stretch. Most guys were just glassing from trucks and then making moves, essentially road hunting. We weren't seeing any goats, so we decided walking in 1-2 miles in a few different areas to get away from the crowds was probably the best play. Our first foray into a deeper section and we spotted a group of about 15, with two bucks, one really nice one. We were all a little amped up, and aggressive, and they ended up spotting us and blowing out and onto private land before we could get a shot off. Pronghorn - 1; Us - 0.
That evening we were headed back to town around 6 p.m. (gets dark 7:30ish) and we spotted a group of does pretty near the road on a corner of public. Sam had a doe tag, so we put the moves on, and Sam knocked down a doe on a 250yd shot. We got her gutted and after a short drag with a lighter critter, we were on the way back to the base camp. Pronghorn 1; Us - 1
The next day, we met up with a different buddy of Sams. The friend is a rancher also, and he took us to two different pieces of property they own. On the first section we spotted a really nice buck about a mile off, maybe the #1 or #2 buck of the trip. We closed in on the area we had seen the buck, and it kind of surprised us. I got my pack off and on readied to shoot. Just as I got the buck in the scope it hit the horizon and a second later he was gone. Pronghorn - 2; Us - 1. We ran into a big bull by the truck. Luckily, he was a friendly fellow.
That afternoon, the rancher took us to another piece of pastureland they owned. We got on a group of about 12 right away. I belly crawled out to a point and looked over the group from 300yds. 11 does and 1 really small buck. We decided to hold off for something at least average sized. Shortly after we spotted a group of 25 about 2 miles out bedded on a hillside. We drove around to the backside of the property and started putting the sneak on them. I was the point man, and we crested a ridge (just our heads) and expected the pronghorn to be about 300 yards away. I glassed the distance and didn't see anything, as I brought the binos lower (closer) I had a doe pronghorn filling up the lens, they were close! We ended up sneaking to within 80yds unknowingly. I got my pack off quick and readied to shoot. I could see a nice buck, but only his head and maybe 2-3" of neck. The group spooked, but stopped at what I thought was around 200 yards later. I didn't have time to range. I guessed them to be 300 yards and shot at the buck. It went about 8" high based on the dust cloud. It turns out they were only 170yds away...
Pronghorn - 3; Us - 1We got back on that same group about 2 hours later. By this time the wind was blowing a steady 25mph with 30-40mph gusts. We were 350 yards out, and we counted 6 bucks, one really nice one, the #1 or #2 buck of the trip.
Here we are looking at the 6 bucks.
I dialed the elevation turret on my scope, got a good solid rest, held off about 8" for wind, and squeezed off a great feeling shot, and....I missed high again.
Not making excuses, but I forgot to update my ballistic calculator app for my reloaded ammo (quite a bit faster than factory ammo), and it was still set to my original sight in ammo (factory stuff) and my rifle was shooting higher than my chart. This will come into play later. Pronghorn - 4; Us - 1It was around 5 p.m. and Sam and my girlfriend were getting tired (we had close to 10 miles of hiking in at this point). We spotted the same group one more time on the opposite side of the property as we were. Sam and my girlfriend decided to watch me from the truck with the spotting scope, and I tried to put the sneak on for the third time. I had a pretty good landmark to head towards, so I beat feet about a mile to an isolated knoll in the prairie. The pronghorn were just beyond that. I army crawled up to the top of the point, and started looking towards where I thought the two bigger bucks were. I caught movement to my right and a group of 4 does had spotted me and took off, shortly after the whole herd was gone. Sam told me later I had crawled to within 80yards of the two bigger bucks, but I was looking straight ahead and the bucks were off to my left more than I thought.
Pronghorn - 5; Us - 1.Sam had a long drive home, so he left Monday a.m. We packed up and headed home as well, but took the scenic route along a lot of back roads with a fair amount of public land. About 45 minutes into the drive and we spotted a group of 4 does and a buck on a piece of public ground. We put the sneak on and spotted them before they spotted us. We crawled out to a point and got a good look at the buck through the binos. It looked like a solid, average type buck. I ranged him at 474 yds. At this point, I had trued up my ballistic calculator app on my phone for my reloaded ammo. I dialed up the scope, got a good rest in the prone position and my rifle on a bipod. There was no wind on this morning, a nice change from the day before. I squeezed off a good shot and dropped the buck right where he stood. Pronghorn - 5; Us - 2.
I definitely had a few hiccups on this trip, but in hindsight, I'm glad I didn't get one right away and got to experience more of the hunt. Ended up bagging my first pronghorn and got a few cactus needles in my knees and feet as a bonus. If anyone is curious,I think the meat is delicious, and I would highly recommend an antelope hunt. It was a great time.
