Pronghorn Party Hunt 2020

[jryoung]

Got roped in to organizing a pronghorn hunt for 10 people....piece of cake right. Three different party apps, buck tags for everyone, doe tags for half of us too, and two HMAs to try and get into. Found a VRBO in town for 8, which was no problem because my wife and I could share a bed and by dad's buddy Terry sleeps in a lawn chair (I didn't ask too many questions). Two inbound from north Idaho, my brother from Georgia, four of us on the road from CA and two flying in mid week. We ended up with 9 total because one guy broke his neck in his kids bouncy house.....he's fine, but may never recover from our ridicule.


So we drove, I-80 is long and straight.

and then we got thirsty in Salt Lake



They have interesting people there, I think this is KUIUs new camo prototype.



Finally we got to the hunting grounds, or a Ford commercial shoot


That's no sagebrush, don't sit there.


The pronghorn were spooky after being hunted for a few weeks, it made for a rough start, but we tried to make ourselves look cool and tried to coax them closer to us.









I read on the internet that this works sometimes.



My brother was able to get in on one after a stalk down a wash, and we got to put the hitch hoist my buddy Justin (the guy with the broken neck made) to work.






On day two, Don got on the board with his first big game animal. He stalked in from almost a mile out, and made a great shot. Don has only been hunting 2 years and once hilariously missed a wild boar at 53 yards, but he is getting the hang of it now and having a blast with his new hobby.




The next day my wife and our friend Mike arrived, and the gang was all there. We even took a selfie.



Brian got on the board early, his first pronghorn.


My wife had the idea of having a pronghorn just come to her, so we took a nap for 15 minutes, opened our eyes and sure enough here comes a buck. Walked all the way into 200 yards from 1000.

 

[JCS]

Looks like a great time

 

[Elkoholic]

Nice work JR and gang! Good to see a few familiar faces in those pics too!
And of course you never disappoint with food pics! Congrats to all!

 

[chuckchili]

Cool adventure, nice pictures. That feast looks terrific!

 

[jryoung]

With the meat coming in, evenings were spent processing in the garage of the VRBO, and we brought a full chest freezer and vacuum sealer. We made pretty quick work of everything, especially the beers and scotch.





The next day I spotted pronghorn from way off, but they were bedded on a bench and it looked like we could get right up underneath them.



I was right, and then I shot the pronghorn we dubbed Mongo. Goofy horns, no penis other than a urethra, and my wife wen't digging into the abdomen to find one undescended testicle. Paul liked it so much he wanted in on the photo.





Not wanting to get piss on the meat my wife employed a new technique for an odd buck.



She's awesome at the guttin' and gillin' though, loves a scalpal blade.


Trophy tailgate.


And as if Mongo wasn't weird enough the next day it go really weird. My wife, Paul and myself went out to a place he and the other guys dubbed "kill bowl" earlier in the week. We went, and when we parked we saw a doe up a draw but no way to get to her as she had line of sight, so we walked over to the kill bowl which was just to our north...nothing there. We head back to the truck and that doe is still in the draw and hasn't moved. We glass her up, and see she is bleeding out of her hind and can't really walk. Paul and I agree, let's go finish her off.


We walk down the draw and get out of sight of her and start making our way towards here when I look over to my right and see a dead buck. WTF? Just laying there, right next to a two track. It was fresh, like really fresh, no green haze in the eyes, wet blood on the entry and warm in the armpits. But, there was no one around, no one close and we had been there for close to a half hour at this point? The entry was a vital shot, and nicked the spine, whoever shot this animal dropped it in it's tracks and likely shot the injured doe. So, Paul said he was going to tag it. Our only guess was that someone shot it and only had a doe tag and bailed, or was just shooting for shits and giggles. It was pretty disgusting, but we weren't going to let the meat go to waste. So, we kept moving towards the doe that was injured but alive and took care of her and I punched my doe tag. At this point another 5 minutes had passed and no one was close so Paul punched his tag on the animal and we had two more pronghorn.





Overall we filled 9 tags for 9 people and had as much fun as pronghorn hunting provides. We got home and finished off the meat and we've been enjoying it for a couple of weeks.







It even goes on pizza.

 

[Summitthunting]

That action shot is spectacular. Looks like a good time.

 

[Crumb]

Looks like a great time!!

 

[ashersdad]

Wow!! Now that is an epic trip! Good for you guys for taking care of the dead buck and wounded doe as well.

 

[kansasdad]

“Bouncy Justin” missed out on a huge great adventure.

Congratulations to your whole party.

I’m sorta dreading next year’s Wyoming trip as I’m sure I’m going to be the arranger and logistics coordinator for the group.

 

[ID_deerslayer]

Heck of good time had by the entire crew. Congrats.

 

[Ben Lamb]

This is a poem of loamy earth & good deeds.

Eleventy thousand stars.

 

[marksjeep]

That looks like a pile of fun! Congrats and thanks for sharing.

 

[Walkathon]

Great write up ! Looks like you all had a great trip. Congratulations.

 

[Mica Man]

Thanks for sharing and I enjoyed your pictures and perspectives. With your father living in prime whitetail habitat am I wrong to expect a North Idaho hunt adventure write up from you one of these years?

 

[Deleted member 20812]

This is a poem of loamy earth & good deeds.

Eleventy thousand stars.

And a #makehunttalkgreatagain

 

[Coach]

Great write-up. Thanks for the story and pics. Wyoming?

 

[BearFoot]

A great time, and awesome photos!

 

[JMBC]

I enjoyed that. good people it looks like.

 

[CRAZYCARL]

Looks like a great trip, congrats

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Pic of your wife guttin and gill’n reminds me of mine yelling at me for getting hair on the meat during our first hunt together.

Love everything about this hunt and jealous of your kitchen!