PURSUING PRONGHORN IS AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET TO AN AFRICAN BIG-GAME HUNT WITHOUT FLYING HALFWAY AROUND THE GLOBE. BY HENRY GOULD
JUDY WANTULOK
TIM CHRISTIE
he Great Plains region, pursuit, besides being a poor which includes much of sport, lends needless credibility eastern Montana, has been to the propaganda of individuals called “America’s Serengeti,” a refand groups that are inclined to erence to Tanzania’s vast grasslands label all hunting as unfair and and their abundant and diverse inhumane,” he wrote. wildlife, including wildebeest, Though he shot his share of giraffes, and lions. Montana’s expanlarge pronghorn bucks, O’Gara sive plains boast their own rich and believed that “any mature buck, varied species, such as mule deer, fairly stalked and humanely sage grouse, golden eagles, coyotes, killed, is a grand trophy.” and North America’s answer to the In the hunting chapter of African gazelle: the pronghorn. Pronghorn Ecology and ManageThough commonly called antement, O’Gara notes that many lope, the pronghorn is a unique new antelope hunters are surspecies not related to gazelles or any prised the animals are so unlike other antelope. In fact, it’s not really deer: “When seeking their first related to anything. “The prongpronghorn, deer hunters soon horned antelope is found only in discover a different kind of huntAMERICA’S SERENGETI The vast grasslands, abundant hoofed North America, and it possesses so wildlife, and crawl-on-your-belly stalks make Montana antelope ing. Deer are neutrally colored, many anatomical peculiarities, hunting akin to pursuing gazelle in Tanzania. blending into their habitat; found in no other animal, that zoolopronghorn, with their contrasting gists have created for it a separate Family color, are sharply visible. Although mule deer O’Gara, who died in 2003, recognized the (Antilocapra americana), which it occupies unique qualities of pronghorn and prong- share parts of the pronghorn range, they usuin solitary state,” wrote William Temple horn hunting. “Now that free-ranging bison ally shun the open terrain where pronghorn Hornaday, director of the New York and elk have been nearly eliminated from thrive. To detect danger, deer rely primarily Zoological Society, in 1904. “It is like an their pristine habitats on the prairies, the on hearing and a keen sense of smell; prongisland in a vast sea, unrelated . . . an animal pronghorn is the only big-game species truly horn rely on their extraordinary sight. Deer more wonderful than the rarest orchid that at home on the wide plains and provides the use cover and stealth to escape peril; prongever bloomed.” only chance most North Americans have for horn avoid cover and depend on speed.” In Montana, we not only have the great a big game hunt on the prairie,” he wrote. Within O’Gara’s description of the differopportunity to see this remarkable creature, “Crawling over a landscape covered with ences between deer and pronghorn lie the but we also can hunt it in a manner that cacti, sagebrush, sharp rocks, and an occa- basics of successful pronghorn hunting. closely resembles an African safari. sional rattlesnake to get close enough for a WHY Visible doesn’t shot can be exciting.” An Expert’s Perspective Clearly, O’Gara felt the essence of ante- necessarily mean huntable One of the greatest admirers and advocates lope hunting was in the vastness of the On the wide-open plains, it’s easy for a hunter of pronghorn was Bart O’Gara. For years plains, the calculated and painstaking stalk to see the leggy profiles of a distant pronghorn head of the Montana Cooperative Wildlife on foot (not to mention hands and knees), herd. The animals’ distinct reddish tan backs Research Unit at the University of Montana, and the carefully placed, well-earned shot. and legs are highlighted by their stark white O’Gara also co-authored two pronghorn He deplored the blast-away mentality of rumps, bellies, neck bands, and cheek patchbooks unparalleled in their scope and depth: those he called “despoilers,” who chase es. Locating pronghorn is not a problem; the Prairie Ghost: Pronghorn and Human Inter- pronghorn with vehicles, “flock shoot,” and problem is how far away they are. action in Early America and Pronghorn Ecol- fire at running animals. A pronghorn’s primary means of protecogy and Management. tion is the ease with which it can see preda“The sort of person who indulges in such
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