Couple of weeks ago my neighbor and I headed to Wyoming to try our hand at shooting pronghorns. First day travel was quite limited due to wet/muddy roads and the HMA rules. We made the best of it! We spotted multiple groups on a flat below a bluff so we made our way about ½ way down the side of the bluff and waiting. A group with about 9 does and a buck started making their way towards the saddle we were overlooking. There was a hill in front of us a couple of yards out. They made it to the base of the hill and started towards our side. My neighbor got set up on the sticks and was getting ready. But, as pronghorn are apt to do they switched direction and started heading around the hill away from us, taking them out of his range. He asked if I could make the shot, so I got prone and every thing felt good, so I ranged the buck at 350, but he was walking quartering away. I adjusted the scope and shot….WHAP. The does ran to the top of the hill and kept looking to the back side. Neighbor got on the does and couldn’t get his gun to shoot! Once they ran off, we figured out that he hadn’t taken the safety off. Being a first timer he got a bit excited. We made it to the backside of the hill and found the buck, still alive (first shot was a touch back). A finisher and we had the first pronghorn of the trip. Not the tallest buck I’ve shot, but the heaviest is both body and horn. I was tickled.
My neighbor is an engineer at a metal plant. Over the summer I had discussed a hoist that would mount in the receiver hitch to get the critters off the ground for skinning and boning. A bit of CAD work and some discussion with a fabricator he works with and this is what we had. Worked slick.
A bit later in the day while driving we spotted a lone pronghorn feeding in a draw that didn’t see us as we drove by the head of it. We made it behind the hill and snuck up over the top. We got to where we could just see the top of the buck and dropped to our knees. Neighbors asks, “How do we get from here to where we can get a shot?” I replied, “You can Army crawl.” The look on his face would have probably shown less surprise if I had asked for an ‘unnatural’ act be performed by him to me!
He crawled about 10 yards forwards where the buck caught some movement and moved to our left. I ranged him at 230yds, but he was having trouble finding him in the scope as the rain was coming from directly behind the ocular making it hard to see. A couple of shirt collar wipes and boom! Buck ran about 30 yards and tipped over! Neighbor had his first pronghorn on the ground!
Over the next couple of days I filled both my doe/fawn tags off the same hill I shot my buck. In fact, a 200yd long tape could have probably be strung between all three gut piles!
Neighbor filled one of his tags on the third day and struck out on the last tag on the fourth day. Day five we headed to some nearby high country for some sightseeing. Other than the prick of a guide we had for that trip it was good trip in lots of neat country. Saw a few critters and caught a couple of fish.
This was the first hunt for me with a new rifle (Savage 260 Rem) and bullets (Scenars). Four of the five critters were shot with this combo and I was very pleased with it. The loads I used are pretty slow (~2500 fps) due to some gun issues this summer, but they worked well. We found one bullet, from his buck, after it had broke both shoulders. If I can still find it I will get a pic and a weight of it. I have no more reservations using Scenars are deer-ish sized game. Similarly, I don’t see any reason, other than want, to use a cartridge burning more than 50gr of powder on this class of game.
My neighbor is an engineer at a metal plant. Over the summer I had discussed a hoist that would mount in the receiver hitch to get the critters off the ground for skinning and boning. A bit of CAD work and some discussion with a fabricator he works with and this is what we had. Worked slick.
A bit later in the day while driving we spotted a lone pronghorn feeding in a draw that didn’t see us as we drove by the head of it. We made it behind the hill and snuck up over the top. We got to where we could just see the top of the buck and dropped to our knees. Neighbors asks, “How do we get from here to where we can get a shot?” I replied, “You can Army crawl.” The look on his face would have probably shown less surprise if I had asked for an ‘unnatural’ act be performed by him to me!
He crawled about 10 yards forwards where the buck caught some movement and moved to our left. I ranged him at 230yds, but he was having trouble finding him in the scope as the rain was coming from directly behind the ocular making it hard to see. A couple of shirt collar wipes and boom! Buck ran about 30 yards and tipped over! Neighbor had his first pronghorn on the ground!
Over the next couple of days I filled both my doe/fawn tags off the same hill I shot my buck. In fact, a 200yd long tape could have probably be strung between all three gut piles!
Neighbor filled one of his tags on the third day and struck out on the last tag on the fourth day. Day five we headed to some nearby high country for some sightseeing. Other than the prick
of a guide we had for that trip it was good trip in lots of neat country. Saw a few critters and caught a couple of fish.
This was the first hunt for me with a new rifle (Savage 260 Rem) and bullets (Scenars). Four of the five critters were shot with this combo and I was very pleased with it. The loads I used are pretty slow (~2500 fps) due to some gun issues this summer, but they worked well. We found one bullet, from his buck, after it had broke both shoulders. If I can still find it I will get a pic and a weight of it. I have no more reservations using Scenars are deer-ish sized game. Similarly, I don’t see any reason, other than want, to use a cartridge burning more than 50gr of powder on this class of game.
