Search for an 80+ inch antelope

[hoshour]

Boone and Crockett only lists 69 pronghorn of 90" or more. Of course, not everyone submits their trophy to B&C, but let's go with that.

Wyoming alone has issued 45-75,000 tags per year over the last 10 years. Let's use 60,000 tags as an average and multiply that by 50 years. That's 3,000,000 WY pronghorn tags and makes a harvested 90" pronghorn a 1 in 43,478 occurence. Add the tags for all other states and you are probably somewhere around 1 in 60,000. I'd call that pretty rare.

 

[2rocky]

I think the toughest thing is to know what an 80" antelope looks like. Folks who live in Antelope country certainly get an advantage looking at live ones on a regular basis.

After 3 antelope hunts in my life, I've been able to get one mid-70's and one high 70's buck. Neither one have I ever agonized over if he would "Make 80". Maybe if I draw another WY tag, I will be more picky, but they are just too fun to shoot.

 

[OldGuy]

This post has been deleted.

 

[jimss]

I'm kindof suprised that no one listed New Mexico in the mix? There are a heck of a lot of booners that come out of NM. If you have the $ it's possible to hunt NM every year by purchasing a landowner license. They also have a limited draw for guided and nonguided tags. Unfortunately the DIY rifle hunters are pretty muched screwed in NM. You have to apply for a group of units. The good news is you get assigned a private ranch to hunt...the bad news is you have no idea which ranch you'll get drawn in the group of units. Many ranches don't have many antelope or decent bucks but you might get assigned a ranch that has 80 to 90" bucks! It's pretty sad it's not possible to apply for a particular NM rifle antelope unit and make your own choice of hunting public or private land! If you are willing to spend $2,000+ for a guided hunt you can hunt every year and have a chance at 80+" bucks in NM. If you think about it, over several years you could hunt NM for the cost of applying in multiple states. Application and license fees of $50 to $200/year per state adds up and doesn't guarantee a tag.