The Perfect Western Adventure

The pronghorn is the symbol of the American West. Beautifully colored and fleet-footed, these plains dwellers are the fastest land animal in North America and second in the world. Only the cheetah outpaces them.

Often called an antelope, the pronghorn isn't even in the antelope family and has no antelope relatives. Instead, the pronghorn is a member of the superfamily Giraffoidea; its closest living relatives are the giraffe and okapi.

OK, enough with the biology lesson. You're reading this because you're coming West this fall or toying with planning a future pronghorn quest. Great. You've come to the right place.

The Perfect Start

The West is big, vast and intimidating. I live in Colorado, and we have the world's largest elk herd, hovering at around 290,000 animals. Thousands of hunters come to the state each year to make their elk dreams come true.

But less than 10 percent do, and only about 30 percent even see an elk.

Pronghorn are different. They don't have dense forests, rugged canyons, and out-of-the-way mountain basins in which to vanish. Pronghorns live in the cactus and sagebrush, and when you go after them, you will see them.

An element of confidence comes with laying eyes on the animal you're hunting. It keeps you motivated and keeps you on the hunt. Bring the best glass you can afford—binoculars and spotting scope—and you'll find plenty of speed goats.

Plus, you get to dip your feet in the western hunting world without having a 50-pound pack on your back while trekking through daunting terrain. Often, it's better to crawl before you walk. I use my truck and UTV a lot when hunting pronghorn.

Tags & Land

Western tags are hard to obtain, and with the current point creep, it's only getting more complex. Still, depending on the state and area, rifle tags are relatively easy to come by. If you learn the Western draw system and keep your name in the hat, you could be hunting pronghorn in one state or another every year.

You must do your homework and choose your hunt area wisely, but the West is rich with public land. For instance, after 22 years of chasing pronghorn with a bow in an OTC (over-the-counter) unit in Colorado, I drew a rifle tag this fall, and the unit is 98 percent public.

From State Wildlife Areas to Walk-In Access to BLM to National Forests, there is no shortage of room to roam in search of the prince of the plains.

Purchase and download a solid land-boundary hunt app. Both show public-private boundaries; their 3D aerial maps are second to none.

Keys To Winning

I have penned a pronghorn book, written hundreds of articles about hunting the species, and do many seminars each fall. I have harvested 23 bucks with archery tackle and many others with my rifle.

I don't tell you this to brag. You don't care how many speed goats I have killed, and you shouldn't. This is about you being successful. I only start this section to grab your attention and let you know that if you follow this advice, you'll head home with meat for the freezer and a beautiful mount for the wall.

Most of you reading this will be chasing pronghorn with a rifle, and in most states, that means an October hunt. October in the West is tricky. I've hunted pronghorn on days that pushed the thermometer above 90 degrees Fahrenheit and days when snow was blowing sideways.

On sultry days, know where the water is. Pronghorn, in most locales, are in a post-rut mode. There is still some chasing and even late breeding, and satellite bucks are roaming pasture to pasture, trying to steal away a doe or two from a herd. Bucks with a herd will still defend their ladies, and heat mixed with running means goats will seek water at some point. Know where stock tanks and ponds are in your hunt area.

If it's a cool, crisp morning and bucks are feeling spry and chasing the girls around, I like to use the vehicle, cover ground, and look for a big buck chasing a doe or running off a lesser buck. If the area you're hunting is dry, look for dust trails on the prairie and chase them like a tornado chaser follows a twister.

When you see a buck chasing a doe or another buck, let him run out of sight, and then slip in between where you last saw him and his harem of ladies that will likely be feeding or bedded. He will come back to them, and if you can get in rifle range, you'll get a shot.

If rut action seems sparse and bucks and does are mostly up feeding and wandering from pasture to pasture as speed goats tend to do, gain a vantage point, understand that vantage point may be a tiny hill, and spend time behind the glass.

Though pronghorn are unpredictable, watching them can reveal some tendencies you can exploit. Often, I find an area of the prairie where water gathers in a small valley, and that valley will have the best grass for miles. A good buck will wander to that valley to grab a bite at some point during the day. I have also discovered areas where bucks and does prefer to bed or a fence-crossing they use to move from one pasture to another.

When you know where a buck wants to be, you can make a plan and be there before he arrives. Then, of course, you can glass goats and go after them through spot-and-stalk. This is the most fun way to hunt pronghorn, but remember, these critters are fast and have amazing eyesight. Plan your stalks carefully, keep the sun at your back, and stalk on days when the sun isn't beating down.