Just a few days have passed since I went on my first pronghorn hunt. It was an out-of-state archery hunt and one that I looked forward to immensely. I did a fair amount of e-scouting, had a great plan, but honestly didn’t have the foggiest idea of what I was doing. Since it was my first time ever chasing pronghorn, I wanted to ultimately just learn about this new species and the country they called home. I did just that and have some great takeaways.
I quite literally could not have done this hunt without the onXhunt app. There was a ton of private ground around me, and being able to see where I stood in relation to those boundaries was absolutely essential to staying legal out there.
Throughout my entire time in pronghorn country, I was constantly amazed at how curious pronghorn were. So much so that I remember thinking if other animals had the curiosity of pronghorn, bowhunting wouldn’t be as hard as it is.
On several occasions, I had bucks come to me. I had no decoy, funny hat, or white rag waving in the air. They were purely curious about what I was. Bucks would stare at me, take a few steps, stare more, and repeat. This curiosity pulled several bucks into bow range for me, but once I drew back, they’d leave in a hurry.
Because of this, I will for sure be using a bow-mounted decoy the next time I go pronghorn hunting. They say curiosity killed the cat. I think curiosity could also kill the pronghorn, though.
The number one defense mechanism for a pronghorn is their eyes. It’s why they like hanging out in open country. They want to see what’s around them at all times, unlike a deer, elk, or bear that wants to bury themselves in cover to not be seen. This is not the case with pronghorn.
With other animals, what usually busts me on stalks is a change in wind direction. Wind didn’t seem to bother the pronghorn that much. I think they were aware of it, but it wasn’t at the top of their alerts to danger. They can see 270 degrees around them, though, which explains the times I was busted and didn’t know why at the time. Now, I know they were indeed seeing me. Fool this animal’s eyes and you can get into bow range.
Stalking pronghorn bucks is some of the most finicky stalking I’ve ever done. I archery hunt coues deer a lot and have done so successfully for many years. That stalking is fairly easy compared to stalking pronghorn. And I really think that is because of the landscape. With coues deer, I have much more cover. Trees, topography, cacti, boulders, etc. With pronghorn, there is dang near nothing but sage to cover your movements.
Every stalk for pronghorn found me either on my hands and knees or on my belly. I also learned that stalking them on their feet isn’t a great idea. So, I looked for bucks bedded. This proved to be the most successful way to stalk into bow range. I’d put the tallest piece of sage I could between me and their eyes.
This next bit is a hard one for me to write and somewhat of a sour spot in my hunt. Over the course of 8 days, I missed 4 pronghorn bucks. Yes, I got 4 chances to bend the limbs back on this highly jumpy big game animal. For that, I am proud. The reason for the misses, I am not proud in the least.
I shot my bow the morning after I got to camp, and everything was fine. Broadheads were dead center out to north of 70 yards. At some point during the trip, though, things changed. My first few misses I attributed to string jumping. It was the next one that threw me for a loop and caused me to really start digging for answers.
My string decided to stretch during the hunt. I have been shooting this bow since the springtime and had thought that the possibility of string stretch was long gone. I was sorely wrong. After further investigation, my broadheads were now 1 foot to the left at 60 yards. String stretch moves everything. Nock height, cam timing, draw weight, etc. In other words, it throws you out of tune. This, without a doubt, cost me my 2025 pronghorn buck.
The reason I say I’m not proud of this tuning issue is that I know better. I should have checked all of my specs before I left, but I didn’t. I just knew that my arrows were hitting where I wanted them to. My suspicion, though, is that I had the stretch going on before I left, as I missed a mule deer buck and experienced some random tuning inconsistencies at home. It was a hard lesson, but a lesson learned for the betterment of my bowhunting in the future.
By the time I got things figured out in camp, I had one morning left. That morning greeted me with dense fog and only about 50 yards of visibility. I never got another chance at a pronghorn buck before heading back home to Arizona. Until next time.
I’m taking a page out of the book of pronghorn and putting my eyes well into the future after this trip. From now on, I’ll be creating a protocol for each new bow I receive. One that lends towards avoiding these pesky issues I’ve had in the past. I’ll be sharing that with you in the future. This isn’t the tag I’ve had not filled due to a bow coming out of tune in the field. You can’t control everything, but these are things that are largely avoidable.
What’s next? I’ve got a rifle mule deer tag in October that I am super excited for, and then after tha,t it’s back to the bow for bull elk in my home state of Arizona. Between now and then, you can bet I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure that my bow is ready for desert bulls. Good luck out there. Fall has just started!
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