Thats no fair getting to hunt already!!! Congrats, nice one. I like the pic. Feel free to elaborate on the hunt or the rifle or shooting position etc. Those things seem more of interest on an open country type hunt. Maybe especially on Pronghorn cause most folks go prepared for possible long range shots and I know you have some expertise in that.
In the area I hunted, there are some old rock corrals and hooches built by Basque sheepherders around 1900. All morning long, there were antelope within 100-300 yards of one of the hooches. I was east of this area, moving/sitting/glassing all morning, and though it would be a good area later in the day.
As afternoon broke, there were antelope in the middle of the pasture, south of their morning location. I drove up a draw east of their position and after an unsuccessful stalk, hiked about 1200 yards to this particular hooch (think shortwalled rock cabin, long devoid of a roof). My plan was to sit and glass and shoot from there or make stalks on anything further out.
Almost from the start I had antelope all around me. There was a nice buck in a group 800 yards south of me, and I was thinking of making a play on him when a doe broke from his group and quartered west across my position. She brought the buck to within 500 yards before they went over a rise and out of sight. I never had a clean shot at him. With nearly three hours of daylight I decided to wait and see what else might come by, rather than trying a stalk on animals I could no longer see.
I watched the rest of the group to the south while continuing to glass 360 degrees around me. Another buck joined that group, but they moved farther south and I had no chance to pursue them. The buck that had come by to my west showed up north of me in the neighbor's-he was a little better than the one I took. He started working back south, got to within a few yards of the fence, but never came back.
Around 6pm a truck showed up 1400 yards northeast of me on the neighboring ranch. They spotted and watched some antelope that were between us but the buck in that group was small. They came through a gate into the pasture north of me and headed northwest. Having been watching that direction I didn't expect much to come, as there were only two visible antelope within 700 yards of me.
I was sitting on the ground against one of the rock walls watching the group to my south at 6:15. I looked back northwest to see a line of 20-25 pronghorn running southwest. I jerked the rifle around and put it on top of the rock wall. I had seen that it was mostly does but there was a buck in the middle of the group. They came by at 189 yards; I had found the buck in the scope and thought this might be too good to pass up. He stopped, quartering to me, and stared at me. I saw tall-enough horns with good sharp hooks and the classic heart shape. I found his shoulder, aimed about 3/4 up his body, and the Tikka CTR fired. The 143gr ELD-X hit him just behind the shoulder, catching two ribs on the way in and taking out his lungs. He went straight down, raised up on his front legs for just a second, and then fell again.
This ranch is mainly rolling prairie, with a couple of ridges and draws that cut across it. Hunting here for the second year I had a good idea what to expect. The difference between this year and last year was moisture. It was much greener this year and I think that helped hold more antelope on the ranch. Last year I saw a lot but they seemed to travel more between the ranches.
You can hunt them by stalking but IMO your best chance is to find a travel corridor and ambush them. Their eyesight is so amazing you get spotted in a hurry, even at 1000+ yards. They know their area and know when something's amiss. If you do stalk them I recommend a taller bipod or even a tripod to shoot from. If you lay prone you'll find yourself fighting to see over the weeds and grass.
The further you can shoot, the better your odds. Here are the calibers used and distances on each of the four from our camp:
160 yds, 260 Rem, not sure which bullet
189 rds, 6.5 CM, 143 gr ELD-X
370 yds, 155gr Scenar from I *think* a .308, but it might have been a .30-06.
526 yds, 6.5 PRC, 143gr ELD-X
Yes, one of the other guys (who got the only goat better than mine) took his at 526 yards Sunday morning.
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