bmack
Member
A bit tardy, but here are a few pictures from a really fun pronghorn hunt this year. I've been fortunate to make some nice connections (thanks nmelktrout) allowing me to pick up some reasonable land owner tags in NM.
We hunted the NE section of the state which is very beautiful and plentiful with pronghorn. Not quite the quality of some other parts of NM, but still some nice mature animals if you search hard enough.
We stayed at the really neat old ranch house on the property. Can literally glass from the porch.
Some incredible sunsets in that country.
The season is only 3 days so not much time. We spent the entire first day covering the entire ranch and looking over various bucks. The biggest was living in the pasture to our south just off the ranch. Unfortunately, we didn't have much land to hunt there before it crossed to another property. He did set the bar though.
The evening of day one I glassed this guy running a herd of about 25 other antelope. He was the dominate buck pinning his ears back and posturing the other bucks in the group. Once I got the spotter on him I liked what I saw.
There is virtually zero cover which makes the stalk challenging. Fence posts, undulation in the landscape and cows are the best form of cover. Still a 1,000 yards away and the herd busted off in a flash.
Thinking it was over I was about ready to call it a night. For whatever reason this dude took off on a sprint away from the herd towards a bunch of cows. New life was born...
Got to a comfortable yardage...sent one warning shot and then made my connection.
With out question the prettiest buck I've killed. Love everything about him.
The next day my buddy got a crack at the big guy but didn't connect. So, he settled for this guy. Cool character.
Hunting pronghorn continues to provide a level of enjoyment for me only trumped by elk hunting.
We hunted the NE section of the state which is very beautiful and plentiful with pronghorn. Not quite the quality of some other parts of NM, but still some nice mature animals if you search hard enough.
We stayed at the really neat old ranch house on the property. Can literally glass from the porch.
Some incredible sunsets in that country.
The season is only 3 days so not much time. We spent the entire first day covering the entire ranch and looking over various bucks. The biggest was living in the pasture to our south just off the ranch. Unfortunately, we didn't have much land to hunt there before it crossed to another property. He did set the bar though.
The evening of day one I glassed this guy running a herd of about 25 other antelope. He was the dominate buck pinning his ears back and posturing the other bucks in the group. Once I got the spotter on him I liked what I saw.
There is virtually zero cover which makes the stalk challenging. Fence posts, undulation in the landscape and cows are the best form of cover. Still a 1,000 yards away and the herd busted off in a flash.
Thinking it was over I was about ready to call it a night. For whatever reason this dude took off on a sprint away from the herd towards a bunch of cows. New life was born...
Got to a comfortable yardage...sent one warning shot and then made my connection.
With out question the prettiest buck I've killed. Love everything about him.
The next day my buddy got a crack at the big guy but didn't connect. So, he settled for this guy. Cool character.
Hunting pronghorn continues to provide a level of enjoyment for me only trumped by elk hunting.
