Crazy Horned Pronghorn


I think Gordy Krahn deserves a shirt that says,
“I shoot crazy-horned bucks.”
 
Whether it’s Texas or New Mexico, Gordy and I have a knack for finding non-typical, crazy-horned pronghorn bucks. Last year we were hunting the panhandle of Texas and came across this pronghorn that curved in low with oneprong and high with the other. We spotted him from a distance and quickly decided that was the buck we wanted to take. After a long stock, we arrived at our stopping point and started glassing.

I was rolling tape throughout the entire stalk getting great footage of everyone’s yelps as they crawled over cacti and other prickly pears. As Gordy and the guide were glassing the land in front, this little rascal spotted them from the side and started darting away. I had been filming them glassing and watched the ent
ire situation unfold through the viewfinder. 

Normally during moments like this you only wish you were rolling, and you're caught without a camera, but I got the action right as it unfolded. Gordy and the guide caught the buck’s movement, turned to prepare for a shot, but he was already on a dead sprint. The guide whistled, and out of curiosity, the pronghorn stopped. 
Bad move, buddy! It only took a split second and Gordy dropped him, crazy buck No. 1 down.  Now, here we are one year later, back on the trail, same species, but a new location.  This time we’re in New Mexico hunting with Kiowa Guide Service. 

As the sun peeked over the horizon the first morning, Gordy and I joked that we should probably find a “normal” buck this year. We explained our story from the year before to our guide and continued glassing. As the morning warmed up, there were bucks dotting the hillsides, but no sign of a shooter. The pronghorn were starting to rut and we observed one buck running from scrape to scrape. He was on a mission to cover as much ground as possible, check his scrapes, and rub his scent gland on every piece of sage in the field.
Mid-morning we saw another mature pronghorn that was obviously gearing up for the rut and running off every buck in sight. I setup my tripod to get some footage, zoomed in, and the next thing I know I’m pulling out the zoom because he’s getting closer and closer.

Everyone brags about a pronghorn’s eyesight, but last time I checked I don’t look much like a four-legged critter.  This buck was convinced he needed to show me who’s boss, so he ran all the way to me and stopped 40 yards away!
He strutted his stuff showing off his dominance then decided he had enough and retreated back into the hillside. Guess he showed me!

Just before lunch we decided to glass one last section, and to our stomach’s dismay, there was a shooter buck.  He stuck out like a sore thumb, and he was anything but normal.
This pronghorn had horns sticking straight out of his head shooting straight toward the tip of his nose. He obviously had a ton of mass and length, and I can promise you, he was one of a kind. Within minutes of seeing the buck we started our stalk.  Over an hour later we were finally getting close, but hunting was tough.  The cover was sparse and Mr. Crazy Horn was with a few other animals.

This meant quadruple the eyes, all just waiting to pick up the slightest movement. After a five-minute stare down, which seemed to take an eternity, we were in place for the shot.  He was initially hidden in the shadows but finally stepped out and Gordy made a great shot.
Upon retrieval of our animal we were stunned to find that he was even crazier than the last buck we shot last year.
If we intend on shooting an even crazier buck next year we may need to broaden our horizons and look for land near nuclear power plants.

No comments:

Post a Comment