Getting the Horn
- This topic has 11 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated Oct 5, 2013 at 7:56 am by
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Late September usually brings the pronghorn rut, which makes buck antelope slightly less likely to gallop off until they are concealed by the curvature of the Earth. This weekend Jason Morrison and I decided to chase a few speed goats and were fortunate to succeed in a couple of different stalks.
Nice job Brett! Tack sharp…and I know that ain’t easy to do.
I know those pronghorn can be skittish….either your stalking ability is top notch….or you have a hefty telephoto lens….or a combination of both. 🙂
Tripod w/ remote release?
I know those pronghorn can be skittish….either your stalking ability is top notch….or you have a hefty telephoto lens….or a combination of both.
Thank you Steve! My stalking abilities probably leave quite a bit to be desired – what you don’t see is the various failed attempts that end up with a buck showing me his unmentionables through a comet-like dust trail. 🙂
In the case of one of these bucks, we spotted him with a pair of does from the East. It was evening, so the light was from the West which meant we had to figure out a way to get around him and approach from the other side. After making a rather long, semi-circular stalk downwind we were excited to end up in an ideal position between the ladies and a rival satellite buck.
These images were captured from a distance of 15-25 yards. The last shot is uncropped from 15 paces and is all I could fit in the frame. Due to the fluid nature of the stalk and the low profile we had to maintain in the sparse cover, I’m hand-holding a 400mm f/2.8 with no support or release aid. If I’m honest it’s quite tiresome supporting a 13lb rig and it takes some practice, but I very seldom get the chance to use a tripod in a spot & stalk scenario.
Very cool Brett! Outstanding images, as always.
Very much appreciated Tim. Pronghorn bucks are amazing to watch at this time of year. It’s hard to believe how much energy they expend racing around at full tilt. It seems as though they are either herding females or charging interlopers almost the entire time.
That’s awesome guys.
I have never hunted pronghorn but I was very curious about them when I saw them out west. They’re a relic of the Pleistocene. The reason they’re so fast is that they evolved to evade the North American Cheetah.
That kind of tidbit always piques my interest. For example I read a story one day on the cama, a llama-camel hybrid, and I asked myself, how come a llama, from South America, is genetically-similar enough to a camel, from Arabia, to be cross-bred? Turns out it’s because both are descended from the North American Camel, which was running around at the same time as those cheetahs and the granddaddies of your pronghorns.
I guess extreme speed was a good enough defense against men with spear-chuckers and bows and arrows to allow a species like pronghorns to make it all the way through. (Men didn’t have horses in North America until the 1600s, having eaten all the native horses. The horse was also native to North America, much like the first camels, and spread back to Eurasia across Beringia. Thus the Spaniards were actually re-introducing the horse after a 13,000-year interstitial, which is one reason why they did so freaking well on the Great Plains).
Anyway, I learned all of that after seeing pronghorns for the first time and getting curious, and these pics brought it all back to mind. Thought you guys might enjoy.
Zach
These are fantastic!! I love seeing these when I go to Montana. Last time I was there, in fact, Joel grilled up some fresh antelope the first night I arrived! It all felt very Western. 🙂
Great photos, guys. As always.
Zach – very interesting backstory. The Pronghorn overall is a fascinating animal simply because they seem so different in certain ways from other regional big game. The black on the horns, for example, is actually a fibrous sheath that is shed annually, revealing the much whiter and bony horn itself underneath. The sheaths are odd, and almost hair-like. You don’t find them very often as you would shed antlers, because they deteriorate quickly and are consumed by rodents etc.
During the rut they are quite vocal too, producing all manner of grunts and at times almost bird-like calls.
Ed – thanks for the comment buddy. I see your Redskins eked out a win over Oakland. If you happen to see RGIII around, tell him that he’s really been a disappointment to my fantasy team this year. 🙂
Wow, Brett, that is extremely interesting. I did not know that. Do their antlers look like deer antler when they shed the sheath or what?
Yeah it’s quite the oddity. The horn underneath the sheath is like a bone spike:
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